Cycle B                                                                                     2012

Pope John Paul II proclaimed this Sunday to be Divine Mercy Sunday, a day on which a plenary indulgence can be obtained for all those, who repent of their sins, and then  make a good confession

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 11: 2-4, 13-1-15; 22-24;  1 John 5:1-6;  John 20:19-31

Divine Mercy

All the readings, in some way, refer to the Divine Mercy of our God starting with the Opening Prayer,  in the Psalm Response and the Gospel: So let us celebrate this Feast of Divine Mercy with joy and gladness.  Let us pray for all  those who need to come home to the Church by making a good confession and receiving absolution from sin, from the priestly power breathed on the Apostles in today’s Gospel.

One of the most amusing confessions I ever heard came from a young child who began by saying. ‘Bless me Father for I have sinned, this is my last confession.’ When asked why it was his last confession, he quickly responded, ‘Because the other one was my first one.’ As amusing as this story is, it is a serious matter that there are literally millions who can’t remember when their last confession was. On this Divine Mercy Sunday, the Church invites them, and us, to come home if we have strayed. Those of us who are older can remember the long lines at the Confessionals every Saturday Evening and even during the Sunday Masses where there were extra priests to hear them. Now, there are no longer long lines even on Saturdays. Where have all the sinners gone? How often do we take advantage of His Divine Mercy?

Sin is a serious offence against the God who loves us with an infinite love because it harms us and destroys our relationship with him and each other. When we remain in a sinful state, we are not at peace and we feel the guilt of our sins within us. Jesus died for of our sins on the cross, where each and every one of them has been  nailed. He has already paid the price for all of our sins because of His Divine Mercy, and infinite love, for even the greatest sinner. If our sins be scarlet they shall become whiter than snow. As far as the East is from the West so shall our sins be taken from us. Let us give them to Him this Divine Mercy Sunday by making a good Sacramental confession if we are not in a State of Grace. In today’s Gospel Jesus initiated this Sacrament when He breathed the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and gave them the power take away sins. It was the first Charismatic Gift given to His Church.

This Sunday, the Church is reaching out to the lost sheep and all those of us who are aware of our own sinfulness to invite Jesus into our hearts to be filled with His love as we receive His DivineMercy. Remember your last confession and how you felt after you received that absolution now resolve to come home today to receive……..

His  Divine Mercy  again

Cycle B                 Mark 11: 1-10            Year 2012

To be read during introduction of Mass with blessing and procession of Palms.

Scriptures to be read during the Liturgy of the Word .for this  Mass are below.

Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22:8-9,17-20,23-24; Philippians 2-6-11; Mark 14:1-15-47

Choose your Role This Week

This Sunday, we will celebrate the beginning of Holy Week with the Liturgy of Palm Sunday, during which the Solemn reading of the Passion of Our Blessed Lord will be proclaimed. Most priests will not preach a homily due to the length of the Gospel reading, so I have chosen a few thoughts for us all to ponder and consider during this Mass and the coming Holy Week Liturgies when we will hear different versions of the Passion read us.

In the procession of palms, after the initial reading today, there is a great crowd crying out in acclamation to Jesus. It is so easy to be moved by a crowd. It would have been great for us to have been there greeting Jesus, but we are also there as we all wave our Palms today. Just a few days later the crowd will cry out again, only this time, it will be for His death.  “Away with Him, Crucify Him” Even His closest friends will desert Him: just His mother and a few women along with the youngest Apostle John are there to the end.  No public opinion polls for them. It is love and faith that gives them the courage to stand out from the fickle, changing, crowd.

We still have the cheering crowds and the shouting mobs in our day, and there are those who will avoid being either: they never get involved.  Pope Benedict knows what it is like to see the cheering, flag waving crowds and the negative mob of the media after his visit is over.  We have just watched him in Cuba on EWTN but the secular media never even covered his visits in spite of the great crowds.  It would have been too positive for them.

This is the beginning of the holiest week of the Liturgical Year when the church has the most beautiful of all its ceremonies. Have you ever attended them in previous years? Will you be there this year? The crowd will be back in church to sing Alleluias on Easter Sunday, but will all the people be there on Holy Thursday to celebrate the washing of the feet and the Last Supper? Many churches will sing the hymn, “Were you there when they crucified My Lord?” Will you be there on Good Friday to console Him with your love? What about the Easter Vigil? It is the most beautiful ceremony of the week when new converts are welcomed into the Church. Will you be there to welcome them?

As you ponder the readings this Palm Sunday and hear about  all the different types in the scripture readings, ask yourself  Which One Will I be?

Cycle  B    Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33 Year 2012

This SundayCycle A readings will be read in parishes where there is RCIA present

Life & Death

If you are at a Mass where either Cycle A or B readings are read this week, you will definitely hear about Life & Death, words that are found in both sets of readings. Death is a subject that most of us would prefer not to dwell on, but it is also a subject we should contemplate. Even though everyone of us must eventually suffer death, we are all destined to live for ever in eternity, with or without God.

In the first reading this week, God promised a New Covenant for His people. But we have sinned and broken His Covenant. Some of us have sinned grievously and often. We need to make a good confession and turn back to God.

In the psalm we will cry out to the Lord to create a clean heart within us. We ask him to wipe out our offences and thoroughly wash us from our guilt. How many times have we done this in our lives? How many confessions and how many absolutions have we already received? Have we ever really died to ourselves in order to live for Him? Our Salvation is a free gift from God. He has paid the debt of our sins. If our sins be scarlet they shall become whiter than snow. Remember, the greatest sinners have become the greatest Saints. All we need to do is repent and confess our sins. Do not delay it.

Paul tells us in the Epistle, that Jesus has become the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. Just think of it, Jesus, the Son of God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, loves you so much that He died for you so that you can live forever with Him.

Let us be like the grain of wheat in the Gospel, let us die to ourselves so that so that new life might bear fruit in us. We are going to live forever and ever whether we want to or not. How we are going to spend that eternal life is up to us now. Don’t make the wrong choices like those who want God but do not want to follow His Church’s teachings.  The war on women is not from the Church but from politicians who twist words and encourages those who are weak in faith to follow them instead of God. Life in this world is a mere breath compared to eternity. Choose now where you wish to live your eternal life. If you are not happy living according to God’s rules here, you wont make it to heaven, and you certainly will not like the alternative. Whether you believe it or not, you are destined to live forever and ever, but how?

Death is Temporary but Lifeis Eternal.

In the first reading this week, those that were supposed to be children of the light, walked in the ways of darkness, choosing evil calling it good. In the darkness of their spiritual blindness they became an abomination to the Lord, but God’ sent them messengers and they mocked them and rejected their teachings which were of God.

In our own day we repeat this process. God has sent us wonderful messengers such as Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We have lived in a period of great Saints such as Saint Padre Pio and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, but our world has chosen the darkness instead of the light. We have millions of baptized Catholics who claim the name Catholic but live their lives in the darkness of sin and ignorance of the teachings of the true Faith. Millions no longer practice the Faith. They should be walking in the light of the TeachingChurch but they have chosen instead to walk in the darkness of secular thinkers and false teachers. They do not see the evil of their sins because of their lack of true spiritual insight. This is an abomination to the Lord and a cause for His retribution. There is no excuse for us since He said to the Apostles those that reject you reject me. Millions are rejecting the truth taught by the infallible teachings of the Church.

The chosen ones of the Old Testament sat and wept as they pondered their previous prosperity.  The present global economic crisis and a collapse of the world markets has made us more aware of own dependence on God. Those who have lost money in the stock market or who have lost their employment can really relate to this weeks psalm. Many of them are now weeping at the well of doom and gloom.

Both the second reading and the Gospel give us hope, assuring us of redemption for all those who choose to repent. God in His merciful love sends His only son to pay the debt of our sins. So that we do not boast of our own righteousness, we are reminded by Paul, ‘it is by grace that we are saved not by any works ours.’ Who among us can say we have never sinned nor chosen to walk in darkness?  Let us reach out in love this Sunday to all those who are still in darkness and pray for their return to the Lord who died for them and their salvation.  Ponder the words of the Gospel today and feel the presence of the God who loves us.  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. The choice is ours to make.  Light or Darkness?

Let us choose Jesus the Light so that we can see His way.

              Life or Death In the first reading this week, Abraham is asked to sacrifice his only son on a mountain top. As he is about to take the life of his son, Isaac, God the Father accepts his offering but stops the death of Isaac his son and allows him to offer a male lamb that is caught in the bush by its horns. This ram is yanked from the thicket with a crown of thorns on its head. This is a prophetic sign of what God intends to do for us by offering His only son on top of hill. He will be crowned with thorns and suffer death for us so that we may have eternal life. The Almighty has such love for us that He will do for us what He did not permit Abraham to do for Him. To sin mortally is to die a spiritual death but Jesus will pay the price of our sins by his painful death on a cross. Such is the immensity of God’s love for you and for me.  We are reminded by St. Paul, that God did not spare His only Son but handed Him over for us. He accepted His death so that we might have life forever, so great is His love for us. Let us think of this as we recite the psalm response that precedes the reading of St. Paul… I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, because Jesus has paid the debt for our sins and if we repent of them we shall have  life  God will spare us also because Christ Jesus who died and rose again, sits at the right hand of God the Father where He intercedes for you and for me.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain. It was after climbing this mountain that they are privileged to see Jesus in all of His Glory shining like the sun. The Father speaks to them, ‘This is my Son, listen to Him.’. They are in the presence of the Holy Trinity. This is a real mountain top experience. Jesus tells them to tell no one of the event until He has risen from the dead. They wondered what rising from the dead meant.  After their mountain experience they must to come back down to the real world. We too, may have a mountain experience if we are so privileged by God, but we can’t live our lives on a spiritual high. Later, these same three apostles will be taken to a garden where Jesus will sweat blood as He prepares to die for us. Let us die to ourselves so that we can live with Him forever. We must be like the first Christians and be true to our Faith in Him. We must really live what we profess to believe. Pro Lifers  Live that Faith……It is a matter of Life …….or……… Death.

Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51; 2 Corinthians 5:20—6-2; Mathew 6:1-6,16-18

Prayer  Fasting  Almsgiving

Many of us Catholics will be wearing a dirty mark on our foreheads this Ash Wednesday, even Catholics who don’t normally attend Mass on a regular basis. It is the one day in the year when you can tell who was in church for sure.  It would make a great  difference to our world, if all billion and a quarter of us baptized Catholics, also made a good confession and resolved to make a great Lent  also.

Listen carefully to the words the priest says as he bestows the ashes upon your head ‘Remember, thou art dust and unto dust you shall return’ or he may simply say.  ‘Repent and believe the Good News’.  Many of you may have visited Lourdes, Fatima or Medjugorje and were moved by that visit. Some others may have had a religious experience on a special weekend retreat or during a parish Mission. You came away with plans to change your life and put God first in it. You promised to Pray more and to Fast often, to be more generous with Alms Giving to the poor. Lent is a time to renew those promises and to really grow spiritually . It can change your life and the lives of those with whom you come in contact.

Many parishes during Lent will have a Parish Missions or some of you might  be able to make a Spiritual Retreat somewhere.  What an opportunity to  reach out to family members, friends and neighbors who don’t normally attend church and to invite them to come with you.   During such occasions, people who have been away from the Church for many years often convert and return to the practice of the faith.

The Church recommends we all observe  Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving in reparation for our sins and the sins of the whole world.  What a different world it could be for forty days, if we not only wore a dirty mark on our foreheads this Ash Wednesday, but we all  made a real effort to live the  faith  as it was meant to  be lived for all the  forty days leading up to Easter. Many people could be converted by such a powerful witness. We might even be converted ourselves., Ash Wednesday is a Fast and Abstinence Day as is Good Friday. Remember also all Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence from meat:. yet another opportunity to witness when people see you abstaining. Have a grace filled Lent and a wonderful spiritual growth.

2^ND Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B 2012

1 Samuel 3:3-10,19; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17-20; John 1:35-42

The Call: Hear & Listen

In today’s first reading the youthful Samuel is sleeping in the Temple when he hears a voice call him. He quickly asks the old prophet Eli whether he called him. Eli assures him that he did not and tells him to go back to sleep. After a couple of more wake-up calls, Eli realizes it is the Lord who is calling the boy. Samuel hears, but he is not used to listening to the Lord, so Eli tells him it is the Lord who is calling him and the next time he hears that internal voice, he is to say, “Speak Lord, I am listening”.

After more than 2000 years of Christianity how many youthful Catholics still need that guidance: and how many of us elderly Catholics also need it? What about you and me, do we really listen to the Word at Mass while it is being read to us from the pulpit? Do we also need a wake up call? When was the last time you were actually moved by the readings at Mass and felt that God was speaking directly to you? Do you remember what it was and you put it into practice in your daily life? When was the last time you were so spiritually moved by the readings at Mass that it changed the course of your life? If that has never happened to you, then you need an Eli to direct you. Perhaps this homily will do that for you this Sunday. Hear the Word at Mass and listen to God speaking to you; then quickly respond to the Lord in your heart by saying to Him, “Speak Lord I am listening”.

The second reading could change a few lives for those really listening..Anyone living an immoral life needs to really hear what Paul says about those who abuse God’s most holy gift of sex. The body is not for immorality it is for the Lord. Sex is not dirty, it is holy. It must be expressed in Holy Marriage only.

In the Gospel the first Disciples of Christ hear and listen to the words of John the Baptist. It is a life changing experience for them as they follow Jesus who invites them to come and see where he stays. They remain with Him that day and then Andrew brings his own brother Simon to Jesus who tells him he will be known as Peter, the rock. He will become the first Pope, because he not only heard, but also listened to his brother Andrew.

As this particular Gospel is read today in all the Catholic churches throughout the world let us all pray that many will hear and listen and receive an invitation by Jesus to come and see and then follow Him in the holy priesthood or religious life. One of them might be a future Pope, if he really says,

“Speak Lord I am listening”.

Cycle A,  B & C Year  2012

Isaiah  60: 1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6;Matthew 2:1-12

A  Revelation

Theword Epiphany means revelation or manifestation of something not known nor  seen before. On Christmas Day, God revealed Himself to Jews, when the angels told the shepherds to go the stable at Bethlehem where  they would find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. This Sunday the Church celebrates the  arrival of the Magi to whom the Christ is revealed as a Divine King to be adored as  God in the flesh. Today is the real celebration for us who are not Jews.  Epiphany  is our day of Revelation, . We should really celebrate it as do Italians and Mexicans do, with much  joy and festivity.

In the first reading, Isaiah prophesies a  light will shine in the minds of those who were in darkness. A Divine King will  be revealed to those open to see the light. The Epiphany to  the Magi is also prophesied in the final verses. In the Psalm Response, we will  be invited to proclaim. ‘Every Nation on  earth will adore you’. In the psalm itself, we will see how our tradition of  the kings bringing gifts and doing homage to a divine  child is described by the words of the psalmist. How Prophetic it  is!

In the second reading, Paul speaks of when  Christ was made manifest to him when he received his own Epiphany of Jesus as the Christ.  He was blinded by the light, a light that gave him a revelation and convinced him of the divinity of Jesus.  This same light of belief was also a gift to the Apostles when Christ manifested  Himself to them after the resurrection. Have we received our own Epiphany yet?  Remember Saul was a devout Jew and practiced the Law. He was scrupulously  religious but he persecuted the first Christians because he did not yet know  Christ as His Lord. and  Savior.

This Epiphany don’t let us be like King Herod in the Gospel who  sent others to find Jesus. Don’t send others to Mass to pray  but stay home ourselves. Jesus is waiting for you to come to receive your  Epiphany today. Really celebrate this feast as it was meant to be celebrated.  Let Jesus change your life as He did for those in today’s scriptures. Come let  us adore Him!

Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Psalm 98:1-4; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12; Luke 1:26-38

The Patronial feast for the USA is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is fitting therefore, to give a brief explanation of the dogma. It has been a constant belief of the Church that Mary was sinless from the moment of her conception. This is implied in Genesis 3:15. ?I will put enmity between you and the woman, your seed and hers.? Enmity means complete separation from the other with whom one has enmity. At no time during her existence could she ever be under the power of the devil, therefore, she has to be sinless and immaculately conceived. Proclaiming it as a dogma in 1857 was not inventing something new, but made it an article of faith that had to be believed by all the faithful, taking it out of the area of theological opinion.

An artist conceives a painting before he paints it; a carpenter conceives a piece of furniture before he makes it; an architect conceives a building before it is built: God conceives a baby before it is born. When God conceived Adam and Eve they were both conceived by Him, without sin: they were immaculately conceived. Could God repeat this? Yes, he could and did. Even the strictest evangelical Christians believe that God conceived the first humans without sin as immaculate conceptions. First God conceived Adam from whom He took Eve (Eva in Latin). Eve was the first to sin and caused Adam to sin also. This is the original or first sin. From then on, all humans inherit the original sin of our first parents. God starts a new creation with a new Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, from whom He takes a new Adam, Jesus the Christ. In the first creation God chose a male from whom He conceives a woman, but in the new creation, He chooses a woman from whom He conceives a male.

In the Gospel of Luke read at the Mass for this feast, the first word of the Angel Gabriel to Mary is ?Ave? Eva spelled in reverse. She is the new Eve, the mother of the living. Jesus is the new Adam. He will pay the penalty for the sins of mankind. Mary reverses the ?no? of Eve and Jesus reverses the ?no? of Adam. In the original creation God created the sinless male first from whom He took the sinless woman, but it failed. In the New Creation God reverses it, He conceives the immaculate woman first from whom He conceives the immaculate male. It worked and we are the sons and daughters of this immaculate family.

As Christians we also are declared immaculate at our baptism into Christ.

Mary is our Immaculate Mother.