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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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6 Easter
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Sixth
Sunday of Easter - Cycle C
John 14:23-29
Francis of Assisi, Arthur Tonne tells us, chanced upon a woman who told
him she did not love God. She had no intention of ever obeying Him. As
he and she walked along together, they passed a man who was both blind
and crippled. Francis asked him, "Were I to give you sight and enable
you to walk, what would your response be?" As you might imagine, the
man said eagerly, "I would both love you and be your servant forever."
Il Poverello turned to the woman and quietly queried, "You just heard
him. He would both love me and obey me. Why then do you not cherish and
obey the Almighty who has generously allowed you to both see as well as
run if you choose?"
But the fact of the matter is God does ask us the same question every
day. "Why do you not both love and obey me? Consider all I have given
you all your life." On the face of it, there is no one of us who can
take umbrage at the question. In the best possible scenario, we
should bolt out of bed in the morning, crash down on the floor at risk
of water on the knee, and pray with absolute conviction. What should we
say? How about this for openers? "Dear God, once again my name is not
in the Irish funny pages aka the obituary column. In gratitude, I will
expend myself for you all day." As Robert Frost puts it, earth's the
right place for love. The Swedes would remind us that those who wish to
sing always find a song.
In today's Gospel, Jesus is clearly on the record saying, "If you love
me, you will keep my commandments... Those who do not love me do not
keep my words." Why should anyone of us be in a state of shock at this
pronouncement? The Christ has been called many names by His enemies
down the centuries, but no one ever called Him dumb.
And the sublime wordsmith Mr Shakespeare might well have had John 14 in
mind when he wrote, "They do not truly love who do not show their love."
After all, every mother's child of us is, as someone has pointed out, a
forgiven sinner. Much love and likewise obedience then should be justly
expected from those to whom much love has been shown. Love then in this
context is, in James Tahaney's incisive language, a four word synonym
for grow.
Happily for us what the Teacher wants from us is written in black and
white in the Ten Commandments. No matter from what angle one approaches
these commandments, no matter how one shakes them, the color gray is
never seen. One does get the distinct feeling that gray was the least
favorite color of the Master.
There are some of us who think if we attend the Eucharist, we can be
totally cavalier about the law of God. But such an approach will simply
not wash. Even the curmudgeon who was George Bernard Shaw saw the
fallacy in such an approach. He penned, "Beware of the man whose God is
in the skies." Shaw would applaud the aphorism that teaches a hypocrite
is a person who is not himself on Sunday.
We must establish our love by doing what God desires and fleeing, like
a case of the swine flu, what He says is a forbidden. To profess love
for God and forget His commands may be our idea of bliss, but it is not
Christianity. Rather, it is the Gospel according to you and me. It is,
in one man's terms, decaffinated Christianity. And one comes up with a
faux Jesus.
Too many of us have developed the nasty habit of keeping the New
Testament buried on our shelves instead of in our minds and hearts.
Today's Gospel advises us not to be in that company. "Be smart enough,"
St John is saying to us today, "to learn from the mistakes of others.
You may not live long enough to make them all yourself."
My Irish ancestors a long time ago wrapped today's Gospel up in a
clever lyric. "Paddy Murphy went to Mass, never missed a Sunday. But
Paddy Murphy went to hell, for what he did on Monday."
But do not lose heart. "God," said the pundit, "can make a great finish
out of a slow start."
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
6 Easter
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6th Easter: The Movie Was Not As Good As the Book
The
book was better than the movie. I’m sure you agree. The
movie was OK, but it just didn’t capture the images, the characters and
the drama of the book. Maybe those who only saw the movie thought
it was tremendous, but if you read the book first, the movie is quite
disappointing.
You
could probably say this about any movie you have seen based on a book
you have previously read. Maybe our young people could apply this
to a Harry Potter movie or to Lemony Snickett. There is no doubt
that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy or the Chronicles of Narnia, the
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, were great movies, but if you read
the books first you’d probably say that the books were so much better.
Perhaps our older folk (like me) would agree that the movie versions of
To Kill a Mockingbird or one of the Steinbeck novels like The Grapes of
Wrath just didn’t match up with the books, even though the movie may
have won awards.
Why
is that? Why is it that the movie is never quite as good as the
book? Well, when we read a book, we create images in our head
about what characters should look like, sound like, etc. We
create images of various scenes that were so intense, we just couldn’t
put the book down. We have in our heads ideas of how something
should look, or how something should go. It’s hard to change our
minds when we see it portrayed in a different way on film. It is
hard to change when we have pre-conceived notions.
In
today’s readings, God calls us to move past our pre-conceived notions
to a deeper understanding of Him, His Church and what it means for us
to be Catholic.
For
example, the people addressed in the first reading were absolutely
convinced that since salvation came through the Jewish people, a person
could not become a Christian unless he or she first became a Jew.
It might seem minor to us, but it was a huge decision when the apostles
got together, and prayed together, called upon the Holy Spirit, and
then decided that those who had been pagan did not have to become
Jewish first. They just had to stay away from immorality and from
joining pagan practices. “The Messiah of the Jews was also the
Messiah of the pagans? Unheard of. How could this be?” God
called the early Christians to move past their pre-conceived notions
and to allow Him to work His wonders on the world.
The
same could be said about the second reading. The Jewish people
could not envision a Jerusalem without a Temple. But now God was
calling them beyond these thoughts to envision a new world where
His Presence would permeate the world, where people, you and I, would
feel and be empowered by His Presence wherever we were.
In
the Gospel reading Jesus tells the disciples and us that the peace He
leaves us is radically different than our concepts of peace. What we
consider peace and what God considers peace are two different
things. For us, peace means not to have conflict. But
Christ called us into conflict with the world. Still, God gives
us peace. A different peace, a peace within ourselves, a peace
that only comes through union with Him. We are not to be
troubled. We are not to be afraid. Rather we are called to
embrace the Lord and His Way. Then the Father and Son will love
us, come to us and make their dwelling with us.
But
we are afraid. We are afraid that if we abandon our pre-conceived
notions of happiness we will be left with nothing. So we work
like dogs not merely to provide for our families, but to purchase
happiness. I mean that is the message of our materialistic
society, isn’t it? Happiness can be bought. Or can it? It
takes a huge step to trust God to bring us happiness.
We
associate with a certain group that everyone looks up to; perhaps it’s
the in-crowd in the high school or college that celebrates the prom, or
graduation, or the end of the school year by getting drunk. We
are called beyond the notion that happiness is found in alcohol or in
having drinking buddies, to the notion that happiness is found in Jesus
Christ. But we fear, we fear being unpopular, losing our friends
if we don’t go along with them.
Our
sex saturated society says that physical relations is the greatest
source of happiness and that sex should be used for amusement, not for
the expression of committed love. And so many people buy into
this lie, and give themselves up because that is what everyone their
age is supposed to do, whether that age is high school, college, young
adult, or older adult and even senior citizen. But we are called
beyond this notion to the recognition that sex is good and beautiful
only when the Lord is present uniting His Love to the love of a husband
and wife. Still, we are afraid to trust God. And our fear
holds us back from enjoying His Love. Our fear prevents us from
running away from any relationship where His Love is not present.
Our fear binds us to pre-conceived notions of happiness. Our fear
prevents us from savoring the beauty of possessing God in our
lives.
“Do
not be afraid,” the Gospel tells us. Trust in God to bring us
happiness beyond any happiness the world presents, beyond any thing in
our minds that we conceive would bring happiness.
The
movie may not be as good as the book, but God’s Happiness, His Peace,
and His Love are infinitely greater than our ideas of happiness, peace
and love. We ask God today to take us beyond the limits this
world imposes to the Life where His Spirit makes all life complete.
(Alternate Opening Prayer of the Epiphany)
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http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see
Spanish homilies
6 Easter
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That
the World May Believe
(May 9, 2010)
Bottom line: Disunity, criticism and complaining can destroy faith, but
unity - working for a common vision - can lead others to faith.
I begin this Sunday by wishing all our moms a Happy Mothers Day. I am
offering this Mass for our mothers, living or deceased. The readings
address a theme dear to the hearts of moms: How to avoid complaining
and disunity - and how to achieve a unity that leads to faith.
On this Sixth Sunday of Easter, we have a choice: Since we celebrate
the Ascension of the Lord next Sunday, we have the option of using the
Seventh Sunday readings today. In the Gospel we hear this prayer of
Jesus: "Holy Father...may they all be one, as you, Father are in me and
I in you, that the world may believe you sent me."
"May they be one...that the world may believe." Our unity - our oneness
- draws people to faith. I'd like to illustrate this, first with a
negative example -how disunity can weaken, even destroy faith. Then I
will give a positive example - how our unity can lead other to faith.
Here is an example of how disunity weakens faith: In a certain parish a
controversy broke out - of all things - over what color to paint a
room. Some wanted a bright, lively color. Other preferred a more
subdued, mellow color. This innocent controversy soon became heated.
They began labelling each other. The "brights" were characterized as
elitists, the "mellows" as sticks-in-the-mud. Pretty soon, some became
convinced that the parish's future depended on the outcome of the
controversy. Parents could not avoid discussing the matter in their
homes and at their dinner tables. They thought their children would
appreciate their concern, their "passion," but it had a different
effect. What the children heard was not "passion," but anger. They
heard their parents criticizing other parishioners - and the parish
priest. All in all, it weakened the faith of children, young people and
other adults.*
Of course, controversies are inevitable. They have always been part of
Church life - even in New Testament times. God can use controversy to
purify his Church and to clarify the faith. But the devil can also use
controversy to create enmity, factions and bitterness - to destroy
faith.** For that reason, Jesus prayed, "Holy Father...may they all be
one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that the world may believe
you sent me."
Let me give an example of how unity can lead to faith. In this case it
resulted in a remarkable conversion. It happened that in a country
parish, one of the parishioners very much desired the conversion of her
husband. But he scoffed at the faith, especially at the priest assigned
to the parish. The priest had a problem with drinking and the people
never knew when he would disappear for an all night binge; the next day
the priest would be out of commission. The priest wasn't me, by the
way.:) Anyway, the parishioners had to station a cordon around the
rectory on Saturday night to make sure they would have Mass on Sunday
morning. The woman's husband at first made fun of all this, but little
by little he became impressed by the people's unity, that the Mass
meant so much to them. Eventually, the scoffing husband became a
Catholic. The parishioners' unity, their common vision led him to
faith.
So that is the message for this Sunday: For sure, disagreements and
controversies are inevitable, but much depends on how we handle them.
Disunity, criticism and complaining can destroy faith, but unity -
working for a common vision - can lead others to faith. "May they be
one...that the world may believe."
**********
*To give another example: Once a young couple had two teenage boys.
More than anything else, they wanted their sons to have faith in God,
to follow Jesus and to participate in the Church. This couple was
deeply involved in their parish, but one day they had a difference of
opinion with the pastor. As sometimes happens, a difference of opinion
can escalate and we can start thinking everything hinges on it. It
became quite emotional and the couple couldn't help talking about it at
the dinner table. They thought that their sons would appreciate their
"passion." Unfortunately, the boys didn't understand the whole issue.
All they knew was that their parents were angry - and it made them feel
miserable. The boys, who once were friendly to the priest, began to
keep their distance. They even started making comments in that priest's
hearing. The parents' disunity with the pastor wound up alienating
their children from the faith.
**Some might say, "If I don't complain, nothing will ever change."
Maybe so, but there are a couple of things to consider: If I stop
complaining, that's already a change. A big one because it makes life
better for people around me. But more to the point is what a person
does with their complaint. Bring it first to the Lord in prayer and ask
him what to do with the complaint. If it seems worthwhile, the
complaint should be taken to someone who can do something about it. To
complain in front of those with those can do nothing about it, destroys
faith.
Spanish Version
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
6 Easter
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May 9th, 2010 A.D
Sixth Sunday of Easter JN Jn 14/23-29
Background:
John's Gospel obviously displays a much more developed theology
then the three synoptic gospels. However, it was still written early in
the so-called sub-apostolic time. The remarkable fact is not that there
is a strong theological slant to it. Rather it is surprising how
relatively early in the history of the early Church a strong
Trinitarian perspective has emerged. The trajectory towards Nicea and
the other early councils has already been set, thought he elaborate
explanations have yet to appear. Associated with God even by the time
of St. John are Jesus, and the Father, and the Paraclete, the advocate,
the teacher, the protector, the guarantor of the peace that Jesus has
given.
Already we have hints that God is a community of relationships,
that there is so much knowledge and love in God that the knowledge and
love explode into distinct personages. This truth is revealed to test
our faith, not to provide theologians with raw material for their
speculations (though there is nothing wrong with that), but to dazzle
us with the brightness of God's glory, the power of God's knowledge and
the passion of God's love. The use of the word "spirit," a translation
of the Hebrew word Shekenah hints at a maternal protection in God
because the word is feminine in Hebrew - and was used in Hebrew folk
religion as the name of Yahweh's consort. St. John had no thought of
such matters, yet the gender of the noun might well be part of the
meaning "in front of the text."
Story:
Once upon a time back in the last century there was a young woman
from Ireland who had lost her parents and all her family. Some kind
people wrote to their relatives in America and said we have this
fourteen year old orphan here who is very bright and very pretty and
very hard working, We don’t want her to go to the orphanage because she
won’t have any opportunities there to develop her talents. Would you
eve consider hiring her as a servant girl. You’d have to pay her way
over on the boat, but she’ll work for nothing until she earns her fare.
You won’t go wrong with her. So the Americans who could afford a
serving girl, but never had one and weren’t altogether sure what they
would do with such a person talked about it and said, well, what have
to lose. So they sent the fare for the boat and the train. And waited
for the young woman to come.
She sailed from Kinsale. The last she saw of Ireland were the
twin spires of the church as they faded into the background. Weeks
later, sick and thin and exhausted, she arrived in the city where her
master and mistress lived. They took one look at the poor child and
said, Dear, we don’t need a servant, but we have room for another
daughter. When they brought her home the other children hugged her and
said, hooray! We have another sister. With their help she grew up to go
to college and university and become very successful and was a great
credit to those who took her into their family. (The Trinity is a
family into which God has invited us)
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
6 Easter
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May,
09, 2010
John 14: 23-29
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B.
May 9, 2010
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Gospel Summary
When Jesus says, in today's gospel, "Whoever loves me will keep my
word," he wishes to remind us that, though it is easy to say that we
love him, it is far more difficult to obey him by offering our love to
our fellow humans. Such concern for others will be the indispensable
proof of our authentic love of Jesus, for to love Jesus means
ultimately to commit oneself to imitate his unconditional love of
others.
This challenge is very difficult, and may even seem impossible at
times, but our feeble efforts will be strengthened by the love of the
Father--the same divine Father whose love is revealed in Jesus. And
when we allow that divine love to flow through us, we will discover
that both Jesus and the Father will make their dwelling with us in an
ineffable mystical communion. Nothing could be more desirable.
Jesus promises to send us the Advocate, which is the special name John
gives to the Holy Spirit. An advocate is one who stands with another to
take away that person's fear and sense of aloneness or inadequacy. This
divine Advocate will thus dwell deep within us and will continue the
work of Jesus by drawing out all the implications of his teaching.
Life Implications
John's gospel is full of reminders that Jesus has come among us to
reveal the true nature of God as one who cherishes his love far more
than his power. It is for that reason that Jesus is called the Word of
God, for he reveals what is hidden in God just as our words make known
our hidden thoughts.
When we accept in faith the testimony of Jesus about the love of God
for us, we are liberated from the need to worry excessively about
ourselves and are thus enabled to become more and more aware of others
and more ready to share our love with them. When this happens, we are
drawn into that powerful flow of life and love which courses between
the Father and Jesus. In this sense, we can understand how the Father
and Jesus will "make their dwelling" with us. When this happens, we
discover for the first time the real meaning of our lives, for we will
then become what our creator has always intended us to be.
The Advocate/Spirit is given to us, therefore, as one who stands at our
side, in bright days and dark, to help us understand the reality of
this love of God that Jesus offers to us. As we do so, we will become
ever more united with Jesus who has revealed the Father's love and who
wishes to lead us back to the source of that love. It will be only then
that we will begin to understand the meaning of coming home.
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B.
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
6 Easter
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Sixth
Sunday
Acts 15, 1-2. 22-29; Psalm 67;Revelation 21, 10-14. 22-23; St. John 15,
9-17
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Jesus the Lord sends the Holy Spirit, and Jesus and the Father are also
revealed and mad present to us by the Holy Spirit of love.
Before his Passover, Jesius announced the sending of "another
Paraclete" (Advocate), the Holy Spirit. At work since creation, having
previously "spoken through the prophets," the Spirit will now be with
and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them "into all the
truth." The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with
Jesus and the Father. (CCC 243)
Let's pray for each other until, together next week, we "meet Christ in
the liturgy", Father Cusick
(See also nos. 243, 244, 260, 263, 692, 729, 1099, 2466, 2615, 2623 in
the Catechism of the Catholic Church.)
(Publish with permission.)
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
6 Easter
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Sermon
by Father Alex McAllister SDS
Sixth Sunday of Easter
I once went on a course organised by Cruse, the organisation which
offers bereavement counselling; it was a good course aimed at prison
chaplains and I found it most helpful.
In case you are wondering why expertise in bereavement is particularly
relevant to prison chaplains let me tell you that one of the most
common experiences of prisoners is bereavement. In the prayers offered
at mass by the women at Eastwood Park Prison this theme of bereavement
comes up all the time.
Many of the women have experienced the loss of a parent, a sibling, or
more commonly a child. I am certainly not putting the blame for their
criminality on the loss that they have experienced but it is certainly
for many of them a complicating factor in an already very complicated
life.
The lady giving the bereavement course had a long list of words on her
power point display one of which I had never come across before, it was
the word ‘shrinism’. Don’t bother to look it up in a dictionary because
you won’t find it there. It was merely her shorthand word for turning
the room of a deceased loved one into a shrine.
This is something most of us have encountered, or at least heard about.
In its most extreme form the whole room is left in exactly the
condition it was left in and becomes a sort of time capsule containing
all the belongings of the dead person.
Now everyone can understand the natural reluctance to deal with the
personal items of a close family member who has died, and it can take
quite some time to clear out their clothes and eventually put their
room to another use.
But clearly when things have reached the stage of a shrine then some
outside help is probably needed to work through that difficult stage of
bereavement.
Now don’t get me wrong, by shrinism I’m not talking about a few
photographs of a loved one in pride of place in the house, nor am I
talking about a lovingly tended grave. What I’m referring to is
something much more out of control where a person has got seriously
stuck somewhere in the long process that is bereavement.
I was reading a book the other day in which the author gave a
definition of the word consolation. Apparently it comes from two Latin
words ‘con’ meaning with and ‘solus’ meaning alone. So to console means
to be with the lonely.
You can see how this fits in with a discussion about bereavement
because this feeling of loss and aloneness is precisely what the
bereaved person experiences and the best thing we can do is simply to
be with them, not to interfere but to accompany them on their painful
journey.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he is leaving them
and returning to the Father. They are going to experience loss, they
are going to miss Jesus who has been their teacher and guide and who
has changed them so much.
But he reassures them by saying that he is going to leave them the Holy
Spirit to be their advocate. Sometimes this word advocate is translated
as comforter or consoler. It is a complicated word that needs a lot of
unpacking, but today I just want to focus on this consoling aspect.
Jesus certainly sends the Spirit to them in a big way on the Feast of
Pentecost; he fills them with his gifts and impels them to leave the
Upper Room and to go out to the whole world to preach the Good News.
And they certainly needed a strong impulse at that crucial moment—the
very birth of the Church. That kind of push was very appropriate at the
beginning but later on they needed something quite different.
Especially when they faced criticism, opposition and persecution they
would have felt very alone indeed without the Holy Spirit to give them
consolation.
We are no different to the Apostles and frequently we too find certain
stages of our life journey extremely difficult to cope with. We too
frequently feel alone and isolated and in need of comfort. It is then
that the Holy Spirit comes into his own.
I began by talking about bereavement counselling but just as in any
other counselling the fundamental concept is listening. A counsellor
who can’t shut up is no earthly use at all; a counsellor must listen,
but listen in an active way.
But that’s only half of the story; the other half is that the client
must talk. The client must tell the counsellor what is wrong and where
he is hurting; he must unfold his story and describe his feelings
because without this the counsellor has nothing to go on.
Of course, it is in telling the story and explaining the feelings that
the real healing takes place. The counsellor may have helpful
suggestions but certainly no answers. What the counsellor does is
facilitate the healing which come from the interaction between them
both.
It is exactly the same with the Holy Spirit, he is the ideal
counsellor, the perfect consoler, the most extraordinary patient
listener; but we need to do our part and tell him our story and explain
where we are hurting.
We might feel lonely and isolated in matters of faith; we might be
going through a period of spiritual dryness and be experiencing a real
sense of loss.
It is then we need to turn to the Holy Spirit and ask him to be our
consoler, to be with us in our aloneness. It is then that we need to
tell him our story and explain our troubles and unpack our feelings.
But these things take time, time spent with the one who understands us
better than we do ourselves, real quality time.
We usually call this prayer, the name isn’t important but the time and
the frequency are.
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Father Bonar will not be posting homilies for Cycle B to allow himself
time for other projects. His collection of homilies (including homilies
for Cycle B) is available at www.clydebonar.com.
6 Easter |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
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