XVII- Sunday-1 KGS 3: 5, 7-12; ROMANS 8: 28-30;: MATTHEW 13: 44-52
There is a story from the Desert Fathers about a young monk who asked one of the older monks why it is that so many people came out to the desert to seek God and yet most of them gave up after a short time and returned to their lives in the city.
The old monk told him, "Last evening my dog saw a rabbit running for cover among the bushes of the desert and he began to chase the rabbit, barking loudly. Soon other dogs joined in the chase, barking and running. They ran a great distance and alerted many other dogs. Soon the wilderness was echoing the sounds of their pursuit but the chase went on into the night.
After a little while, many of the dogs grew tired and dropped out. A few chased the rabbit until the night was nearly spent. By morning, only my dog continued the hunt. "Do you understand," the old man said, "what I have told you?"
"No," replied the young monk, "please tell me father."
"It is simple," said the desert father, "my dog saw the rabbit."
Jesus told a parable about a man who one day in the market place saw the pearl of great price. The merchant understood at once the value of the commodity before him and he sacrificed everything to obtain it.
The Kingdom of God is a treasure worth selling all that we have in order to possess. This treasure is of such great value that anything else we may own pales in comparison. It would be easy to give up everything else in order to have the Kingdom of God, and, unlike the treasure hidden in the field, the love of Christ is a treasure everyone is invited to possess.
Wisdom gives us insight into what is truly important in life, an awareness of the meaning and purpose of living, and of what really matters. Wisdom is an understanding of where our real well-being and happiness lie. Wisdom is indeed the “pearl of great price," that Jesus speaks of. Solomon discerns and follows the right way, and so he is a model and a challenge for us. His request invites us to cultivate his prayer for a heart and mind attuned to God's word and docile to His desires.
Ancient people hid their treasure in their fields. Frequent battles and foreign invasions encouraged the people of Palestine to bury their treasures like money and jewelry in their fields. For example, the great religious treasure – the “Dead Sea Scrolls,” discovered in the caves at Qumran in 1947 – was hidden there over 2,000 years ago. When enemies attack, they would flee for their life, leaving the treasure in the field. Years later a hired ploughman would find such treasure.
Sometimes unclaimed and forgotten, the hidden treasures awaited some lucky finder. Jesus tells the story of one such lucky treasure-finder who sold everything he had in order to get ownership of the field. According to the Palestinian laws of that time, the mere finding of buried treasure did not entitle the finder to possession unless he also owned the property in which it was found. In the parable of the treasure in the field and in the parable of the merchant who sought fine pearls, we see the image of one who recognizes the value of the kingdom of God and gives everything to possess it. Matthew, a tax-collector, might have experienced something like this when he discovered the eternal value of the kingdom preached by Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus wants us to know that the kingdom of God is worth all we have. He has come to offer us God's Kingdom, a unique pearl of the greatest price. The genuine disciples are those who respond to this opportunity with joy and selfless commitment, eagerly giving top priority to life in the Kingdom by doing God’s will. This parable teaches us that, although we are baptized Christians, we still need to pursue the true and full meaning of the Gospel which can escape us for many years. We always need to understand more, to love more, and to serve more.
What the parables really teach us is that, when one discovers Jesus and his vision of life, everything else becomes secondary. That is what St. Paul meant when he said: "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8), and again "For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil 2:21). To have a personal experience of Christ and personal relationship with Him is the most precious thing in the world.
At time we stay focused on things of little pleasure that we lose sight of the most precious pearl. Our hearts tend to remain satisfied with that.
Little Mary listened intently in Sunday school while the teacher explained the parable of the “treasure” and “pearl” and gave a detailed description of eternal bliss in heaven. The teacher concluded her class asking the question, “All those who are ready to go to heaven, raise your hands.” Every hand went up except one. “Why, don’t you want to go to heaven, Mary?” asked the teacher. “Well,” Mary replied, “Mom was baking apple pie when I left home!”
For Mary, Apple pie was more dear and attractive than heaven. What is our Apple pie ?
We should live every moment in view of our precious goal. Most of the time, we are chasing false treasures such as money, status or pleasure. Often we are locked into regrets over the past, or focused too much on the future. As a result, the enriching present passes us by, and the treasure is never discovered. Thus, the really valuable pearl of sharing in God’s life here on earth and later in heaven is never found. Let us always remember that heaven is within the reach of all who follow the ordinary vocations of life and partake of this world's joys and pleasures within the framework of God's commandments.
The kingdom of God is God’s reign in our hearts, in our lives, in our homes, in our society, and in our world. Only those who develop a searching mind and are willing to give up everything for the great treasure of God’s kingdom, will be rewarded.
During these precious moments with the Lord, let us ask ourselves: Have I experienced the joy of finding the treasure and the precious pearl? Am I ready to sell everything in order to enter into the Kingdom of heaven? Let us ask for the wisdom of God to recognize the preciousness of God’s Kingdom.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
XV-Sunday in Ordinary TIme
XV Sunday -A
ISAIAH 55: 10-11;: ROMANS 8: 18-23;Gospel: MATTHEW 13: 1-9
The young man Eric was giving testimony to the turnaround in his life since he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. Two years before, he confessed, he had no appetite for the Word of God. On Sundays he used to shop around the neighbourhood churches for the priest that gave the shortest homilies. His idea of a good church service was one that took as little time as possible. The shorter the better. But now that he is born again he could sit down and listen to the preaching of God’s word for hours on end. Our disposition for the Word of God is a good indication of our relationship with the Lord. Today’s gospel is an invitation to review and renew our attitude to the word of God.
Jesus’ parable of the seed sown in various soil types was an attempt to boost the morale of his frustrated disciples. They were upset and discouraged because they realized that their master was facing opposition and hostility from the scribes, Pharisees and priests. The synagogues refused to admit him to preach. So Jesus had to go to beaches and hillsides. Some of the Pharisees were planning to trap him, and the common people were more interested in his ability to heal them than in his preaching. Using the parable of the sower Jesus assured his confused disciples that the “good news” he preached would produce the intended effect in spite of opposition and controversy.
One important truth this parable teaches is that our freedom doesn't operate in a vacuum. We truly are free to choose to follow Christ or not follow Christ, but outside factors influence that freedom, trying to get us to choose a self-centered life over a Christ-centered life. The first influence is the devil, represented by the birds that eat the seed of the path. The devil is real. He and his army of fallen angels hate God and God's followers. They influenced our first parents, Adam and Eve, successfully tempting them to disobey God's commandments, thereby breaking off their friendship with God. The devil wants to do the same thing to us. So he is always planting half-truths in our minds: God won't mind if you have a little fun; God won't be able to forgive that sin; you don't really need the sacraments, you can just go to God directly, all by yourself...He uses subtle deceptions to uproot our friendship with God.
The second influence is our own tendency to laziness and comfort, what St Paul calls "the flesh." This is represented by the rocky soil. Many times, God's will demands self-sacrifice - we have to carry crosses, just as Jesus did, if we want to be faithful to our life's purpose. Our ingrained love for comfort resists self-sacrifice.
The third influence is the culture around us, which is a product of fallen human nature. This is represented by the thorns. This fallen world promises perfect happiness in money, achievements, popularity, or passing pleasures. That's a false promise, because God alone satisfies the human heart. When we follow God's will and stay true to our friendship with Christ even in the face of these contrary influences, then our lives bear the abundant fruit of wisdom, compassion, and lasting happiness.
Different circumstances control our reaction to the word of God. Some days we would feel like we are on road side being tormented by Satan; other time we feel like we are not open to any kind of spiritual food; some days we feel like full of so much preoccupation that we don’t find time for any spiritual things; and some days we feel great spiritual hunger and perk up our ears for the word of God.
Comparing our different dispositions to different types of soil has one crucial limitation. Soil cannot help being what it is. We can. And so the question that follows is: “How can I improve the disposition of my heart so that the word of God can bear fruit in my life or bear fruit more abundantly?
The questions we need to ask ourselves today are: Am I merely hearing God's word without understanding it? Does God's Word meet with a hard heart in me? Am I too anxious about money, security, provision for retirement or old age? Is God's word taking root in me? Converting me? Transforming me? Enabling me to sacrifice? And what about the "fruits" that we are being invited to produce: justice and mercy, hospitality for the immigrant and those with AIDS, the dispossessed, the unborn, the single mother? By refusing to consider these, we may be missing the healing that the Word of God can bring into our lives.
How we respond to the Word of God is the key to how fruitful the gospel is going to be in our lives. Unlike the situation in nature, we can, as it were, change the kind of soil that we are. God allows the seed to land on the hard paths, on the rocky ground and in the thickets of our lives in the hope that in those places it will find a place to mature and bear fruit, that those things which impede growth will be removed and that the soil may be just a little deeper than it at first appears to be in those rocky places. We are always challenged in our faith, to grow deeper in the love of God and blossom.
There is a story about an old man who always had witty and wise answers for people who asked him anything. Once, a smart-alecky came to him with his hands covering something he was holding. He told the sage that he had a small, newly hatched bird in his hands. He challenged the old man to tell him whether the bird was alive or dead. He, of course, planned to prove the old man wrong, because if he said the bird was dead, he would simply open his hands to expose a perfectly healthy baby bird. But if he said the bird was alive, then he would crush the bird before opening his hands. The old man proved wiser than he thought, because he said, "The bird is whatever you choose him to be."
And that's the way it is with the kingdom of God. The choice for the kingdom to live or die is within your grasp. What do you chose?
ISAIAH 55: 10-11;: ROMANS 8: 18-23;Gospel: MATTHEW 13: 1-9
The young man Eric was giving testimony to the turnaround in his life since he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. Two years before, he confessed, he had no appetite for the Word of God. On Sundays he used to shop around the neighbourhood churches for the priest that gave the shortest homilies. His idea of a good church service was one that took as little time as possible. The shorter the better. But now that he is born again he could sit down and listen to the preaching of God’s word for hours on end. Our disposition for the Word of God is a good indication of our relationship with the Lord. Today’s gospel is an invitation to review and renew our attitude to the word of God.
Jesus’ parable of the seed sown in various soil types was an attempt to boost the morale of his frustrated disciples. They were upset and discouraged because they realized that their master was facing opposition and hostility from the scribes, Pharisees and priests. The synagogues refused to admit him to preach. So Jesus had to go to beaches and hillsides. Some of the Pharisees were planning to trap him, and the common people were more interested in his ability to heal them than in his preaching. Using the parable of the sower Jesus assured his confused disciples that the “good news” he preached would produce the intended effect in spite of opposition and controversy.
One important truth this parable teaches is that our freedom doesn't operate in a vacuum. We truly are free to choose to follow Christ or not follow Christ, but outside factors influence that freedom, trying to get us to choose a self-centered life over a Christ-centered life. The first influence is the devil, represented by the birds that eat the seed of the path. The devil is real. He and his army of fallen angels hate God and God's followers. They influenced our first parents, Adam and Eve, successfully tempting them to disobey God's commandments, thereby breaking off their friendship with God. The devil wants to do the same thing to us. So he is always planting half-truths in our minds: God won't mind if you have a little fun; God won't be able to forgive that sin; you don't really need the sacraments, you can just go to God directly, all by yourself...He uses subtle deceptions to uproot our friendship with God.
The second influence is our own tendency to laziness and comfort, what St Paul calls "the flesh." This is represented by the rocky soil. Many times, God's will demands self-sacrifice - we have to carry crosses, just as Jesus did, if we want to be faithful to our life's purpose. Our ingrained love for comfort resists self-sacrifice.
The third influence is the culture around us, which is a product of fallen human nature. This is represented by the thorns. This fallen world promises perfect happiness in money, achievements, popularity, or passing pleasures. That's a false promise, because God alone satisfies the human heart. When we follow God's will and stay true to our friendship with Christ even in the face of these contrary influences, then our lives bear the abundant fruit of wisdom, compassion, and lasting happiness.
Different circumstances control our reaction to the word of God. Some days we would feel like we are on road side being tormented by Satan; other time we feel like we are not open to any kind of spiritual food; some days we feel like full of so much preoccupation that we don’t find time for any spiritual things; and some days we feel great spiritual hunger and perk up our ears for the word of God.
Comparing our different dispositions to different types of soil has one crucial limitation. Soil cannot help being what it is. We can. And so the question that follows is: “How can I improve the disposition of my heart so that the word of God can bear fruit in my life or bear fruit more abundantly?
The questions we need to ask ourselves today are: Am I merely hearing God's word without understanding it? Does God's Word meet with a hard heart in me? Am I too anxious about money, security, provision for retirement or old age? Is God's word taking root in me? Converting me? Transforming me? Enabling me to sacrifice? And what about the "fruits" that we are being invited to produce: justice and mercy, hospitality for the immigrant and those with AIDS, the dispossessed, the unborn, the single mother? By refusing to consider these, we may be missing the healing that the Word of God can bring into our lives.
How we respond to the Word of God is the key to how fruitful the gospel is going to be in our lives. Unlike the situation in nature, we can, as it were, change the kind of soil that we are. God allows the seed to land on the hard paths, on the rocky ground and in the thickets of our lives in the hope that in those places it will find a place to mature and bear fruit, that those things which impede growth will be removed and that the soil may be just a little deeper than it at first appears to be in those rocky places. We are always challenged in our faith, to grow deeper in the love of God and blossom.
There is a story about an old man who always had witty and wise answers for people who asked him anything. Once, a smart-alecky came to him with his hands covering something he was holding. He told the sage that he had a small, newly hatched bird in his hands. He challenged the old man to tell him whether the bird was alive or dead. He, of course, planned to prove the old man wrong, because if he said the bird was dead, he would simply open his hands to expose a perfectly healthy baby bird. But if he said the bird was alive, then he would crush the bird before opening his hands. The old man proved wiser than he thought, because he said, "The bird is whatever you choose him to be."
And that's the way it is with the kingdom of God. The choice for the kingdom to live or die is within your grasp. What do you chose?
Saturday, July 2, 2011
XIV-SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
XIV-SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
ZECHARIAH 9: 9-10;: ROMANS 8: 9; MATTHEW 11: 25-30
Once a lady brought her husband to a doctor. After examining the Doctor said: Your husband needs rest and peace. Here are some sleeping pills.
When must I give them to him? The wife asked.
Doctor said in reply: “No. No. No. They are for you...”
We live in a world where we are not often treated directly for our ailments. We get to the proper solution or treatment may be as the last step. When we are tired and weary we go to many other places, but to Jesus, who is the real source of strength and refreshment. Jesus invites those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him for rest and peace.
Jesus addresses people who are desperately trying to find God, who are exhausted with the search for the truth, and who find the task impossible. God gave His People basic guidelines for a holy life, but the Pharisees ended up making God's Law inaccessible and impossible to follow. For the orthodox Jew, religion was a matter of burdens: 613 Mosaic laws and thousands of oral interpretations which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus invites burdened Israel and us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were made to fit the ox comfortably. The yoke of Christ can be seen as the sum of our Christian responsibilities and duties. To take the yoke of Christ is to put ourselves in a relationship with Christ as his servants and subjects, and to conduct ourselves accordingly. The yoke of Christ is not just a yoke from Christ but also a yoke with him. A yoke is fashioned for a pair -- for a team working together. So we are not yoked alone to pull the plow by our own unaided power but are yoked together with Christ to work with Him using His strength. By saying that his “yoke is light, Jesus means that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly. Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ
When Jesus claims that his burden is light, Jesus does not mean that the burden is easy to carry, but that it is laid on us in love. This burden is meant to be carried in love, and love makes even the heaviest burden light. When we remember the love of God, when we know that our burden is to love the God Who loves us, both directly and by loving men, then the burden becomes easy. By following Jesus, a man will find peace, rest, and refreshment. Although we are not overburdened by the Jewish laws, we are burdened by many other things: business, concerns about jobs, marriage, money, health, children, security, old age and a thousand other things. Jesus' concern for our burdens is as real as his concern for the law-burdened Jews of his day.
One of the functions of Worship for many of us is to give us a time for rest and refreshment, when we let the overheated radiators of our hectic lives cool down before the Lord. This is especially true when we unload the burdens of our sins and worries on the altar and offer them to God during the Holy Mass. The absolution and forgiveness which we have received as repentant sinners take away our spiritual burden as well and enable us to share the joy of the Holy Spirit.
To take the yoke of Christ is to associate and identify ourselves with him: our destiny with his destiny, our vision with his vision and our mission with his mission. It is to know that we are not pulling the yoke alone and by our power but together with Christ and by the strength that comes from him. It is to know that Jesus is not just a teacher who gives you homework but also a friend who helps you do it.
There is an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt. Often we try to carry our burdens alone like this boy, caring not to ask the Lord to be partner with us in carrying the burden.
"Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Humility is the secret to experiencing Christ's peace. The more we grow in humility, the more Christ's peace, strength, and wisdom takes over our hearts. Like all the virtues, humility grows gradually, like a muscle, if we exercise it. Lucky for us, there are three very easy ways to exercise humility. First, prayer. Every time we pray sincerely, we acknowledge our dependence on God - an act of humility. This is why St John Vianney used to say, "God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry." It was his variation of the old saying, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Second, speaking well of other people. Every time we observe and praise the good points of others, we loosen the shackles of arrogance and envy that bind humility. Third, obedience to God's will. When ever we conscientiously fulfill our responsibilities in life, follow our conscience, and obey Church teaching, we are humbly reversing the arrogant rebellion of original sin. Today, Jesus will once again prove his own humility and love by coming to us in Holy Communion. When he does, let's tell him how much we long for his peace, and ask him to lay his restful yoke of humility upon us.
We should never forget that we are yoked with Christ. When life mistreats us let’s turn to Jesus for comfort and consolation as Jesus turned to his Father. And confidently let’s pray: “Lord, help me to remember that there is no problem I am going to face today that you and I together cannot handle.”
ZECHARIAH 9: 9-10;: ROMANS 8: 9; MATTHEW 11: 25-30
Once a lady brought her husband to a doctor. After examining the Doctor said: Your husband needs rest and peace. Here are some sleeping pills.
When must I give them to him? The wife asked.
Doctor said in reply: “No. No. No. They are for you...”
We live in a world where we are not often treated directly for our ailments. We get to the proper solution or treatment may be as the last step. When we are tired and weary we go to many other places, but to Jesus, who is the real source of strength and refreshment. Jesus invites those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him for rest and peace.
Jesus addresses people who are desperately trying to find God, who are exhausted with the search for the truth, and who find the task impossible. God gave His People basic guidelines for a holy life, but the Pharisees ended up making God's Law inaccessible and impossible to follow. For the orthodox Jew, religion was a matter of burdens: 613 Mosaic laws and thousands of oral interpretations which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus invites burdened Israel and us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were made to fit the ox comfortably. The yoke of Christ can be seen as the sum of our Christian responsibilities and duties. To take the yoke of Christ is to put ourselves in a relationship with Christ as his servants and subjects, and to conduct ourselves accordingly. The yoke of Christ is not just a yoke from Christ but also a yoke with him. A yoke is fashioned for a pair -- for a team working together. So we are not yoked alone to pull the plow by our own unaided power but are yoked together with Christ to work with Him using His strength. By saying that his “yoke is light, Jesus means that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly. Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ
When Jesus claims that his burden is light, Jesus does not mean that the burden is easy to carry, but that it is laid on us in love. This burden is meant to be carried in love, and love makes even the heaviest burden light. When we remember the love of God, when we know that our burden is to love the God Who loves us, both directly and by loving men, then the burden becomes easy. By following Jesus, a man will find peace, rest, and refreshment. Although we are not overburdened by the Jewish laws, we are burdened by many other things: business, concerns about jobs, marriage, money, health, children, security, old age and a thousand other things. Jesus' concern for our burdens is as real as his concern for the law-burdened Jews of his day.
One of the functions of Worship for many of us is to give us a time for rest and refreshment, when we let the overheated radiators of our hectic lives cool down before the Lord. This is especially true when we unload the burdens of our sins and worries on the altar and offer them to God during the Holy Mass. The absolution and forgiveness which we have received as repentant sinners take away our spiritual burden as well and enable us to share the joy of the Holy Spirit.
To take the yoke of Christ is to associate and identify ourselves with him: our destiny with his destiny, our vision with his vision and our mission with his mission. It is to know that we are not pulling the yoke alone and by our power but together with Christ and by the strength that comes from him. It is to know that Jesus is not just a teacher who gives you homework but also a friend who helps you do it.
There is an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt. Often we try to carry our burdens alone like this boy, caring not to ask the Lord to be partner with us in carrying the burden.
"Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Humility is the secret to experiencing Christ's peace. The more we grow in humility, the more Christ's peace, strength, and wisdom takes over our hearts. Like all the virtues, humility grows gradually, like a muscle, if we exercise it. Lucky for us, there are three very easy ways to exercise humility. First, prayer. Every time we pray sincerely, we acknowledge our dependence on God - an act of humility. This is why St John Vianney used to say, "God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry." It was his variation of the old saying, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Second, speaking well of other people. Every time we observe and praise the good points of others, we loosen the shackles of arrogance and envy that bind humility. Third, obedience to God's will. When ever we conscientiously fulfill our responsibilities in life, follow our conscience, and obey Church teaching, we are humbly reversing the arrogant rebellion of original sin. Today, Jesus will once again prove his own humility and love by coming to us in Holy Communion. When he does, let's tell him how much we long for his peace, and ask him to lay his restful yoke of humility upon us.
We should never forget that we are yoked with Christ. When life mistreats us let’s turn to Jesus for comfort and consolation as Jesus turned to his Father. And confidently let’s pray: “Lord, help me to remember that there is no problem I am going to face today that you and I together cannot handle.”
XIV-SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
XIV-SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
ZECHARIAH 9: 9-10;: ROMANS 8: 9; MATTHEW 11: 25-30
Once a Doctor said: Your husband needs rest and peace. Here are some sleeping pills.
When must I give them to him? The wife asked.
Doctor said in reply: “No. No. No. They are for you...”
We live in a world where we are not often treated directly for our ailments. We get to the proper solution or treatment may be as the last step. We are tired and weary and go to many other places, but to Jesus who is the real source of strength and refreshment. Jesus invites those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him for rest and peace.
Jesus addresses people who are desperately trying to find God, who are exhausted with the search for the truth, and who find the task impossible. God gave His People basic guidelines for a holy life, but the Pharisees ended up making God's Law inaccessible and impossible to follow. For the orthodox Jew, religion was a matter of burdens: 613 Mosaic laws and thousands of oral interpretations which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus invites burdened Israel and us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were made to fit the ox comfortably. The yoke of Christ can be seen as the sum of our Christian responsibilities and duties. To take the yoke of Christ is to put ourselves in a relationship with Christ as his servants and subjects, and to conduct ourselves accordingly. The yoke of Christ is not just a yoke from Christ but also a yoke with him. A yoke is fashioned for a pair -- for a team working together. So we are not yoked alone to pull the plow by our own unaided power but are yoked together with Christ to work with Him using His strength. By saying that his “yoke is light, Jesus means that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly.
When Jesus claims that his burden is light, Jesus does not mean that the burden is easy to carry, but that it is laid on us in love. This burden is meant to be carried in love, and love makes even the heaviest burden light. When we remember the love of God, when we know that our burden is to love the God Who loves us, both directly and by loving men, then the burden becomes easy. By following Jesus, a man will find peace, rest, and refreshment. Although we are not overburdened by the Jewish laws, we are burdened by many other things: business, concerns about jobs, marriage, money, health, children, security, old age and a thousand other things. Jesus' concern for our burdens is as real as his concern for the law-burdened Jews of his day.
One of the functions of Worship for many of us is to give us a time for rest and refreshment, when we let the overheated radiators of our hectic lives cool down before the Lord. This is especially true when we unload the burdens of our sins and worries on the altar and offer them to God during the Holy Mass. The absolution and forgiveness which we have received as repentant sinners take away our spiritual burden as well and enable us to share the joy of the Holy Spirit.
To take the yoke of Christ is to associate and identify ourselves with him: our destiny with his destiny, our vision with his vision and our mission with his mission. It is to know that we are not pulling the yoke alone and by our power but together with Christ and by the strength that comes from him. It is to know that Jesus is not just a teacher who gives you homework but also a friend who helps you do it.
There is an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt.
"Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Humility is the secret to experiencing Christ's peace. The more we grow in humility, the more Christ's peace, strength, and wisdom takes over our hearts. Like all the virtues, humility grows gradually, like a muscle, if we exercise it. Lucky for us, there are three very easy ways to exercise humility. First, prayer. Every time we pray sincerely, we acknowledge our dependence on God - an act of humility. This is why St John Vianney used to say, "God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry." It was his variation of the old saying, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Second, speaking well of other people. Every time we observe and praise the good points of others, we loosen the shackles of arrogance and envy that bind humility. Third, obedience to God's will. When ever we conscientiously fulfill our responsibilities in life, follow our conscience, and obey Church teaching, we are humbly reversing the arrogant rebellion of original sin. Today, Jesus will once again prove his own humility and love by coming to us in Holy Communion. When he does, let's tell him how much we long for his peace, and ask him to lay his restful yoke of humility upon us.
"Learn from me," Jesus tells us, "for I am meek and humble of heart." Meekness is one of the secrets to experiencing Christ's peace. But what is meekness, and how can we exercise it? Meekness is not weakness, though subconsciously we confuse the two, because they sound alike. Meekness is the uncommon strength that enables us to treat other people with patience, respect, and kindness, even in the circumstances when that is almost impossible to do: First, when they don't deserve it. Second, when we don't feel like it. Jesus was meek, because even when people abused him, mocked him, tortured him, unjustly condemned him, and lied about him, he never lost his cool. He never lashed out at others to get back at them or to put them in their place. Even when he criticized the Pharisees, he did so out of love, trying to convince them to change the direction of their lives. And as he hung on the cross, he didn't condemn or disdain them, he forgave them. When we follow his example of meekness, it allows Christ's peace to spread in our hearts, because it frees us from being infected by the anger and pettiness oozing out of other people's selfish hearts.
Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ. We should never forget that we are yoked with Christ. To this end, it helps to start each day with a prayer like this: “Lord, help me to remember that there is no problem I am going to face today that you and I together cannot handle.” This is how the yoke becomes easy and the burden light.
ZECHARIAH 9: 9-10;: ROMANS 8: 9; MATTHEW 11: 25-30
Once a Doctor said: Your husband needs rest and peace. Here are some sleeping pills.
When must I give them to him? The wife asked.
Doctor said in reply: “No. No. No. They are for you...”
We live in a world where we are not often treated directly for our ailments. We get to the proper solution or treatment may be as the last step. We are tired and weary and go to many other places, but to Jesus who is the real source of strength and refreshment. Jesus invites those who are weary and heavy laden to come to him for rest and peace.
Jesus addresses people who are desperately trying to find God, who are exhausted with the search for the truth, and who find the task impossible. God gave His People basic guidelines for a holy life, but the Pharisees ended up making God's Law inaccessible and impossible to follow. For the orthodox Jew, religion was a matter of burdens: 613 Mosaic laws and thousands of oral interpretations which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus invites burdened Israel and us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were made to fit the ox comfortably. The yoke of Christ can be seen as the sum of our Christian responsibilities and duties. To take the yoke of Christ is to put ourselves in a relationship with Christ as his servants and subjects, and to conduct ourselves accordingly. The yoke of Christ is not just a yoke from Christ but also a yoke with him. A yoke is fashioned for a pair -- for a team working together. So we are not yoked alone to pull the plow by our own unaided power but are yoked together with Christ to work with Him using His strength. By saying that his “yoke is light, Jesus means that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly.
When Jesus claims that his burden is light, Jesus does not mean that the burden is easy to carry, but that it is laid on us in love. This burden is meant to be carried in love, and love makes even the heaviest burden light. When we remember the love of God, when we know that our burden is to love the God Who loves us, both directly and by loving men, then the burden becomes easy. By following Jesus, a man will find peace, rest, and refreshment. Although we are not overburdened by the Jewish laws, we are burdened by many other things: business, concerns about jobs, marriage, money, health, children, security, old age and a thousand other things. Jesus' concern for our burdens is as real as his concern for the law-burdened Jews of his day.
One of the functions of Worship for many of us is to give us a time for rest and refreshment, when we let the overheated radiators of our hectic lives cool down before the Lord. This is especially true when we unload the burdens of our sins and worries on the altar and offer them to God during the Holy Mass. The absolution and forgiveness which we have received as repentant sinners take away our spiritual burden as well and enable us to share the joy of the Holy Spirit.
To take the yoke of Christ is to associate and identify ourselves with him: our destiny with his destiny, our vision with his vision and our mission with his mission. It is to know that we are not pulling the yoke alone and by our power but together with Christ and by the strength that comes from him. It is to know that Jesus is not just a teacher who gives you homework but also a friend who helps you do it.
There is an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt.
"Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart." Humility is the secret to experiencing Christ's peace. The more we grow in humility, the more Christ's peace, strength, and wisdom takes over our hearts. Like all the virtues, humility grows gradually, like a muscle, if we exercise it. Lucky for us, there are three very easy ways to exercise humility. First, prayer. Every time we pray sincerely, we acknowledge our dependence on God - an act of humility. This is why St John Vianney used to say, "God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry." It was his variation of the old saying, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Second, speaking well of other people. Every time we observe and praise the good points of others, we loosen the shackles of arrogance and envy that bind humility. Third, obedience to God's will. When ever we conscientiously fulfill our responsibilities in life, follow our conscience, and obey Church teaching, we are humbly reversing the arrogant rebellion of original sin. Today, Jesus will once again prove his own humility and love by coming to us in Holy Communion. When he does, let's tell him how much we long for his peace, and ask him to lay his restful yoke of humility upon us.
"Learn from me," Jesus tells us, "for I am meek and humble of heart." Meekness is one of the secrets to experiencing Christ's peace. But what is meekness, and how can we exercise it? Meekness is not weakness, though subconsciously we confuse the two, because they sound alike. Meekness is the uncommon strength that enables us to treat other people with patience, respect, and kindness, even in the circumstances when that is almost impossible to do: First, when they don't deserve it. Second, when we don't feel like it. Jesus was meek, because even when people abused him, mocked him, tortured him, unjustly condemned him, and lied about him, he never lost his cool. He never lashed out at others to get back at them or to put them in their place. Even when he criticized the Pharisees, he did so out of love, trying to convince them to change the direction of their lives. And as he hung on the cross, he didn't condemn or disdain them, he forgave them. When we follow his example of meekness, it allows Christ's peace to spread in our hearts, because it frees us from being infected by the anger and pettiness oozing out of other people's selfish hearts.
Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ. We should never forget that we are yoked with Christ. To this end, it helps to start each day with a prayer like this: “Lord, help me to remember that there is no problem I am going to face today that you and I together cannot handle.” This is how the yoke becomes easy and the burden light.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
FEAST OF PENTECOST
FEAST OF PENTECOST.
When Alfred Nobel discovered an explosive element that was stronger than anything the world had known at the time, he asked a friend and Greek scholar for a word that conveyed the meaning of explosive power. The Greek word was dunamis, and Nobel named his invention "dynamite."
Dunamis is the same word that Jesus used when He told His disciples, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). In other words, "You shall receive explosive, dynamite power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
Think about how this power transformed the first-century believers. Prior to Pentecost, Simon Peter couldn't stand up for his faith when strangers asked him if he was a follower of Jesus. After the power of the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, Peter stood up and boldly preached the gospel, resulting in 3,000 people being saved.
The crowd that had gathered from all over the world in Jerusalem for the festival heard the Christians explaining the gospel in their own language. The first Christian Pentecost was a dramatic, spectacular display. But we would be wrong to conclude from this that the Holy Spirit's normal way of acting in our life is through dramatic fireworks. In fact, it's just the opposite. God's action in our life is most often gentle and hardly perceptible at first. The Holy Spirit works quietly. This power is for a purpose. It is not power to be crazy or power to do weird things. It is power to be a witness . . . power to have the courage to tell someone about Jesus Christ . Power to tell people about what Jesus has done for you.
The Holy Spirit guides us from within, the way magnetism guides a compass. But unless we frequently look to see where that compass is pointing, we will never reach the destination we long for. The Holy Spirit
works quietly, but effectively. Like the sap or life of a vine, which constantly but silently carries nutrients to every branch, invisibly producing luscious, visible fruit, the Holy Spirit is always gently inspiring us to follow Christ more closely, so that we can experience a truly abundant life. But unlike vines, this process doesn't happen automatically. It depends partly on our free choice. That's why Jesus says in the Gospel, "Whoever loves me will keep my word." We don't obey the Holy Spirit's inspirations like robots; we obey out of love, because we know that Christ will never lead us astray, and because we want to stay close to him. That is our part, to obey God's will.
But how do we know what God's will is? The Holy Spirit quietly reveals God's will to us in two ways. First, he inspires and guides the teaching of the Church. We have: the commandments of the Bible, the instructions in the Catechism, the examples of the saints, the regular updates from the pope's encyclicals - the Holy Spirit wants us to know how a Christian should live, and he gives us the Church to keep us posted. In this way, the Church, under the pope's leadership, is like the conductor of a symphony: we have to keep our eyes on him if we want to play our part well. But the Church can only give commandments and guidelines that apply to everyone. That tells God's will 85% of the time. But 15% of the time we are faced with opportunities and challenges unique to our own life-circumstances.
That's when the Holy Spirit guides us more personally, through inspirations, through his seven Gifts, through wise advice.
The influence and action of the Holy Spirit in our lives increases when we are confirmed. In the Holy Spirit, the prophecy of "Emmanuel" (God-with-us) takes on unimaginable proportions: not merely God among us, as in the Incarnation, but God within us, a guest in our souls, a guide for our life's journey, a personal trainer for our spiritual fitness. An old beggar lay on his deathbed. His last words to his youngest son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips were: “Dear son, I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze bowl which I got in my younger days from the junk yard of a rich lady.” / After his father’s death, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him. One day a gold merchant dropped a coin in the boy’s bowl and he was surprised to hear a familiar clinking sound. “Let me check your bowl,” the merchant said. To his great surprise, he found that the beggar’s bowl was made of pure gold. “My dear young man," he said, “why do you waste your time begging? You are a rich man. That bowl of yours is worth at least thirty thousand dollars.” / We Christians are often like this beggar boy who failed to recognize and appreciate the value of his bowl. We fail to appreciate the infinite worth of the Holy Spirit living within each of us, sharing His gifts and fruits and charisms with us. On this major feast day we are invited to experience and appreciate the transforming, sanctifying and strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
When the Holy Spirit came down the people of different languages, they were able to understand each other –a kind of reuniting the divided human family with God and with each other. Love is the language that all women and men understand irrespective of ethnic background. Everybody understands when you smile. Love is the language of the children of God, the only language we shall speak in heaven. The Church has taught us many times and in many ways that the fundamental cause of disunity in the human family is lack of love, sin, the rebellion of the human heart against God.
The root of all the conflicts that threaten world peace are things like fear, misunderstanding, prejudice, jealously, envy, resentment, grudges. All those large scale conflicts can always be traced back to conflicts in individual hearts. If we learn to break down barriers in our own hearts, we will become more effective builders of unity in the world around us.
Holy Spirit came down on people who were together in prayer. Prayer binds us firmly to God, so that through us his strength can bring together the scattered pieces of fallen humanity. A mature prayer life makes us smart partners of the Holy Spirit. First, we have to make sure that prayer is our highest priority in life. What oxygen is for a flame, prayer is for our Christian identity. If you take away the oxygen, the flame will sputter and die. If we don't make an effort to pray each day, we will become joyless, mediocre Christians.
Fulton J. Sheen once said about the church that even though we are God's chosen people, we often behave more like God's frozen people. Frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our faith. We don't seem to be happy to be in God's house; we are always in a hurry to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God's love.
Today, when the Holy Spirit renews his presence in us and in the world during this Mass, let's renew our commitment to becoming mature men and women of prayer, so that we can boldly advance the Church's beautiful and urgent mission.
Let us repeat Cardinal Newman’s favorite little prayer, “Come Holy Spirit:”
“Come Holy Spirit
Make our ears to hear
Make our eyes to see
Make our mouths to speak
Make our hearts to seek
Make our hands to reach out
And touch the world with your love. AMEN.”
When Alfred Nobel discovered an explosive element that was stronger than anything the world had known at the time, he asked a friend and Greek scholar for a word that conveyed the meaning of explosive power. The Greek word was dunamis, and Nobel named his invention "dynamite."
Dunamis is the same word that Jesus used when He told His disciples, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). In other words, "You shall receive explosive, dynamite power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
Think about how this power transformed the first-century believers. Prior to Pentecost, Simon Peter couldn't stand up for his faith when strangers asked him if he was a follower of Jesus. After the power of the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, Peter stood up and boldly preached the gospel, resulting in 3,000 people being saved.
The crowd that had gathered from all over the world in Jerusalem for the festival heard the Christians explaining the gospel in their own language. The first Christian Pentecost was a dramatic, spectacular display. But we would be wrong to conclude from this that the Holy Spirit's normal way of acting in our life is through dramatic fireworks. In fact, it's just the opposite. God's action in our life is most often gentle and hardly perceptible at first. The Holy Spirit works quietly. This power is for a purpose. It is not power to be crazy or power to do weird things. It is power to be a witness . . . power to have the courage to tell someone about Jesus Christ . Power to tell people about what Jesus has done for you.
The Holy Spirit guides us from within, the way magnetism guides a compass. But unless we frequently look to see where that compass is pointing, we will never reach the destination we long for. The Holy Spirit
works quietly, but effectively. Like the sap or life of a vine, which constantly but silently carries nutrients to every branch, invisibly producing luscious, visible fruit, the Holy Spirit is always gently inspiring us to follow Christ more closely, so that we can experience a truly abundant life. But unlike vines, this process doesn't happen automatically. It depends partly on our free choice. That's why Jesus says in the Gospel, "Whoever loves me will keep my word." We don't obey the Holy Spirit's inspirations like robots; we obey out of love, because we know that Christ will never lead us astray, and because we want to stay close to him. That is our part, to obey God's will.
But how do we know what God's will is? The Holy Spirit quietly reveals God's will to us in two ways. First, he inspires and guides the teaching of the Church. We have: the commandments of the Bible, the instructions in the Catechism, the examples of the saints, the regular updates from the pope's encyclicals - the Holy Spirit wants us to know how a Christian should live, and he gives us the Church to keep us posted. In this way, the Church, under the pope's leadership, is like the conductor of a symphony: we have to keep our eyes on him if we want to play our part well. But the Church can only give commandments and guidelines that apply to everyone. That tells God's will 85% of the time. But 15% of the time we are faced with opportunities and challenges unique to our own life-circumstances.
That's when the Holy Spirit guides us more personally, through inspirations, through his seven Gifts, through wise advice.
The influence and action of the Holy Spirit in our lives increases when we are confirmed. In the Holy Spirit, the prophecy of "Emmanuel" (God-with-us) takes on unimaginable proportions: not merely God among us, as in the Incarnation, but God within us, a guest in our souls, a guide for our life's journey, a personal trainer for our spiritual fitness. An old beggar lay on his deathbed. His last words to his youngest son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips were: “Dear son, I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze bowl which I got in my younger days from the junk yard of a rich lady.” / After his father’s death, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him. One day a gold merchant dropped a coin in the boy’s bowl and he was surprised to hear a familiar clinking sound. “Let me check your bowl,” the merchant said. To his great surprise, he found that the beggar’s bowl was made of pure gold. “My dear young man," he said, “why do you waste your time begging? You are a rich man. That bowl of yours is worth at least thirty thousand dollars.” / We Christians are often like this beggar boy who failed to recognize and appreciate the value of his bowl. We fail to appreciate the infinite worth of the Holy Spirit living within each of us, sharing His gifts and fruits and charisms with us. On this major feast day we are invited to experience and appreciate the transforming, sanctifying and strengthening presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
When the Holy Spirit came down the people of different languages, they were able to understand each other –a kind of reuniting the divided human family with God and with each other. Love is the language that all women and men understand irrespective of ethnic background. Everybody understands when you smile. Love is the language of the children of God, the only language we shall speak in heaven. The Church has taught us many times and in many ways that the fundamental cause of disunity in the human family is lack of love, sin, the rebellion of the human heart against God.
The root of all the conflicts that threaten world peace are things like fear, misunderstanding, prejudice, jealously, envy, resentment, grudges. All those large scale conflicts can always be traced back to conflicts in individual hearts. If we learn to break down barriers in our own hearts, we will become more effective builders of unity in the world around us.
Holy Spirit came down on people who were together in prayer. Prayer binds us firmly to God, so that through us his strength can bring together the scattered pieces of fallen humanity. A mature prayer life makes us smart partners of the Holy Spirit. First, we have to make sure that prayer is our highest priority in life. What oxygen is for a flame, prayer is for our Christian identity. If you take away the oxygen, the flame will sputter and die. If we don't make an effort to pray each day, we will become joyless, mediocre Christians.
Fulton J. Sheen once said about the church that even though we are God's chosen people, we often behave more like God's frozen people. Frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our faith. We don't seem to be happy to be in God's house; we are always in a hurry to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God's love.
Today, when the Holy Spirit renews his presence in us and in the world during this Mass, let's renew our commitment to becoming mature men and women of prayer, so that we can boldly advance the Church's beautiful and urgent mission.
Let us repeat Cardinal Newman’s favorite little prayer, “Come Holy Spirit:”
“Come Holy Spirit
Make our ears to hear
Make our eyes to see
Make our mouths to speak
Make our hearts to seek
Make our hands to reach out
And touch the world with your love. AMEN.”
Monday, May 30, 2011
VI- SUNDAY OF EASTER
EASTER VI SUNDAY HOMILY
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
A young Hindu and a young Christian were attending a seminar on Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Early on they became friends. One day the Hindu said to the Christian, I know how this sermon affected Gandhi and influenced his life, but I fear its teaching is too lofty for ordinary people. Near the end of the course, the Hindu found answer to his dilemma. The ethic was too lofty, but he had overlooked Jesus’ promise to send the Spirit, who would not only guide the people, but also empower them to live by it.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings. Let’s prayerfully prepare ourselves for the feast of Pentecost that is coming in two weeks.
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
A young Hindu and a young Christian were attending a seminar on Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Early on they became friends. One day the Hindu said to the Christian, I know how this sermon affected Gandhi and influenced his life, but I fear its teaching is too lofty for ordinary people. Near the end of the course, the Hindu found answer to his dilemma. The ethic was too lofty, but he had overlooked Jesus’ promise to send the Spirit, who would not only guide the people, but also empower them to live by it.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings. Let’s prayerfully prepare ourselves for the feast of Pentecost that is coming in two weeks.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
VI- SUNDAY OF EASTER
EASTER VI SUNDAY HOMILY
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do. But we must come into his presence through prayer, through Bible, through the Eucharist.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings.
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17;1 PETER 3:15-18;Gospel: JOHN 14:15-21
Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer who discovered the South Pole took a homing pigeon with him on his trip. He told his wife that if he reached the end of the world, he would release the pigeon. His wife sat for hours, all alone in their big house looking up the sky for the promised pigeon. One day she looked out the bedroom window and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. “He’s alive!” she cried, “My husband is alive!”
As Jesus gets ready to leave his disciples, he promises to send them the Paraclete who is often depicted as a dove. But there are enormous differences between the pigeon that Amundsen sent to his wife and the Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples. The pigeon is merely a sign that the traveller has reached his destination. Beyond that the pigeon can do nothing more. The Paraclete that Jesus sent to his disciples when he reached the Father at his ascension, on the other hand, means to them everything that Jesus himself meant for them while he was with them. Jesus was a Paraclete to the disciples, and he promised them “another” Paraclete: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete” (John 14:16).
What is a Paraclete? Many words have been used to translate this word into English. They include: Advocate, Comforter, Counsellor, Helper. The Greek Paracletos literally means someone who is called to stand beside a client. In legal terms that would be your attorney. But a Paraclete is much more than an attorney. Probably the English word that we use today that most nearly captures the meaning of Paraclete is the word “coach.” The Paraclete is our coach, always by our side, to instruct and correct us when we make mistakes, to encourage and motivate us when we feel down, to challenge and inspire us to be the best we could, to defend us and fight for our rights when the judges are unfair to us. In short, the Paraclete means for us all that Jesus meant for the disciples.
Why do we need a Paraclete? For the same reason that athletes and sports people need coaches. No matter how good they are, sports people always need coaches. Even Tiger Woods has a coach. Left on our own, we are prone to mistakes and errors. Without God we can do nothing. In the 5th century AD there was a British thinker called Pelagius who taught that human beings have the natural ability to fulfill God’s commands if they so choose. The church condemned his teaching as a heresy, insisting that human beings always need God’s grace in order to please God. Pelagianism is the belief that we can fulfill our human destiny just by being ourselves, and that we do not need the grace of God that comes through faith, prayer or the sacraments. Many people today are Pelagians without even knowing it. Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that we all stand in constant need of divine help. We all need the divine Helper, the Holy Spirit who stands always by our side, the Paraclete.
Holy Spirit is a witness to Jesus; he will continue the work of Jesus, mediating the divine presence to the disciples; he will remind them of what Jesus taught them, he will continue to interpret Jesus to them.
Here is a striking sentence from Ignatius of Laodicea about the Holy Spirit. “Without the Holy Spirit God is distant, Christ is merely an historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is slave labor. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is memory and anticipation, and the labor of Christians is divinised.” The indwelling Spirit of God nourishes us each time we receive the sacraments, each time we pray, each time we read the Bible.
How then do we receive this all-important Spirit Helper? It is by striving to live according to the law of Christ which is love of God and love of our neighbour. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever” (John 14:15-16).
One of the most famous of all the English poets was a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid for many years, her illness so severe that in the end, she was so weak that she could not even raise her head from her pillow. One day, she was visited by a man by the name of Robert Browning, who had come to meet the author of the poetry that had inspired him so. After his first visit, an amazing thing happened. He left Elizabeth with such joy and happiness that she was able to lift her head. On his second visit, she sat up in bed. And on the third, they eloped and were married. Today she is known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the greatest of all of the English love poets. Such is the power of love. Love has the power to heal. It has the power to make well. It has the power to lift drooping heads and fill empty hearts. No wonder people were healed just by coming into the presence of Jesus. Did you ever wonder about that - those stories in the New Testament that tell of someone who came to Jesus and with just a touch or with just a word was made well? There's no secret to that. If we believe that Jesus was God's love incarnate, God's love in the flesh, why shouldn't people be healed by just coming into contact with him? For love has the power to do that. Love has the power to heal, and that's what Christ can do. But we must come into his presence through prayer, through Bible, through the Eucharist.
The gospel reminds us that the Spirit causes Jesus to be truly present in the Church. The risen Jesus’ continued presence in the Holy Spirit gives meaning and purpose to all we are and all we do in his name.
This indwelling Spirit enables us to manifest our love of God by observing the commandments of Jesus, especially the commandment of love. This commandment includes commands to recognize Jesus in the neediest, in the poor, in the sick, in the marginalized and even in the criminal ("I was in prison..."), and to be agents of healing and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
The purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid and gives us the strength to make difficult and painful decisions. God’s Spirit actually lives in us, and we hear the voice of the Spirit, counseling and guiding us in the way of truth. Let us open our minds to hear Him and to obey His promptings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
