O.T. X [B] (June 9, 2024) Eight-minute Homily in one-page. (L-24)

Introduction: The readings for today, the Tenth Sunday [B] in Ordinary Time, give the name “sin” to our offenses against God. When we sin — violate God’s Commandments — we distance ourselves from Him; when we refuse, or fear, to admit our sins, we deny ourselves God’s freely offered pardon and forgiveness.

Scripture lessons, summarized: In describing Adam and Eve’s first sin, disobedience, our first reading, taken from Genesis, explains the beginning of evil in the world with its destructive results. The loving relationship joining man to God was destroyed, and the relationship of mutual love between Adam and Eve was weakened. Their default to a “blame game” allowed each to avoid taking personal responsibility for their joint choice. In the second reading, Paul declares to the Corinthians that the many adversities of his missionary work were God’s plan for his spiritual growth; his sufferings, offered with Jesus for the Salvation of the world, would result a glorious reward for him and for all believers who did the same. Today’s Gospel passage reveals how Jesus himself was misunderstood by his own relatives and was criticized, slandered, and rejected by the Sanhedrin-led scribes and Pharisees. His sufferings for us give us both courage and his offer of healing, strength, and forgiveness, so that we can do as he did when we face unfair treatment and criticism in our lives.

Life messages:1)Today’s Scriptures challenge us to face rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. Very often our friends, families, or childhood companions fail to listen to us and refuse to accept the words of grace, love, and encouragement that we offer to them because they know so much about us and are so used to us, they disregard what we have to say, if they even hear it! But we have to face such rejection with prophetic courage because by our Baptism we are called to be prophets like Jesus, sharing his prophetic mission. As prophets, our task is to speak the truth in love and oppose the evils in our society, refusing to condone or encourage sinful behavior even in our dear ones, though we do not “excommunicate” them, from our lives, but continue to love them while we pray for them.

2) We need to have the courage of our convictions:Modern “liberal-minded” people may find the genuine Christians’ belief in and practice of Christ’s ideas and ideals ”just plain crazy!” Hence, what is needed in a Christian is the courage of his or her convictions based on the authority of Jesus as God and the truth of his doctrines and expressed in the Magisterium of the Church.

3) We need to live as members of God’s family: Let us remember that by Baptism we become the children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God. Hence, let us observe our obligations of treating others with love and respect and of sharing our love with them in corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We are also His disciples, and so are obliged to be hearers as well as doers of the word of God. Let us keep our souls daily cleansed and filled with the Spirit of God, leaving no space for the evil spirit to enter our souls.

OT X (B) (June 9)- Gen 3: 9-15; II Cor 4:13–5:1; Mk 3:20-35 (L/24)

Introduction: The readings for today, the Tenth Sunday [B] in Ordinary Time, give the name “sin” to our offenses against God. When we sin — violate God’s Commandments — we distance ourselves from Him; when we refuse, or fear, to admit our sins, we deny ourselves God’s freely offered pardon and forgiveness. In describing Adam and Eve’s first sin, disobedience, our first reading, taken from Genesis, shows us  the beginning of evil in the world with its destructive results. The loving relationship joining man to God was destroyed, and the relationship of mutual love between Adam and Eve was weakened. Their default to a “blame game” allowed each to avoid taking personal responsibility for their joint choice. In the second reading, Paul declares to the Corinthians that the many adversities of his missionary work were God’s plan for his spiritual growth; his sufferings, offered with Jesus for the Salvation of the world, would result a glorious reward for him and for all believers who did the same. Today’s Gospel passage reveals how Jesus himself was misunderstood by his own relatives and was criticized, slandered and rejected by the Sanhedrin-led scribes and Pharisees. His sufferings for us give us both new courage to keep on fighting,  and Jesus’ offer of healing, strength and forgiveness, so that we can do as he did when we face unfair treatment and criticism in our lives.

Homily starter anecdotes: 1) “What’s in a name? and “Whatever Became of Sin?” Among William Shakespeare’s contributions to English literature, there are literally thousands of memorable lines that continue to be quoted because of their eloquence and timeless significance. One of these is the famous line, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc.2, l.43). I would paraphrase it, what’s in a name? That which we call sin, by any other name would still be sin! There appears to be a tendency in contemporary society to disregard or minimize sin, or to call it by another name. Similarly, there is a tendency to ignore or rename evil. The sense of shame regarding sin has been renamed and the so-called “guilt complex” has become public enemy number one. In today’s readings, the Lord God in Genesis, St. Paul, and Jesus all call sin a sin. (Patricia Sanchez)

2) “Whatever Became of Sin? “In his study of sin, “Whatever Became of Sin?” psychiatrist Karl Menninger stated that although sin was once a strong word, which described an ominous aspect of every human being’s life, life-plan, and life-style, the word, along with the notion of sin has all but disappeared. The reality of sin, however, has not disappeared. Sin has simply been renamed and masquerades under several aliases; nevertheless, the reality of sin is unchanged, as are its effects. . For example, the sins of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, the sins of Vietnam, Bosnia and Rwanda have been hidden behind a claimed “patriotism” or other ideology. Soldiers who have systematically gang-raped and slaughtered helpless women have claimed justification for their actions due to the exigencies of war and their “moral obligation” to obey their superiors. Other heinous sins have been dismissed by excusing their perpetrators on ground of temporary insanity, or a troubled youth, or emotional instability. Some sins have been paraded under the guise of freedom of choice, ignorance, and aggressive or self-destructive behavior. Menninger suggests that one of the reasons that sin is not recognized and named for what it is may that the major responsibility for identifying and dealing with misbehavior has been taken over by the State. Much of what is really sin is now called crime, and actions which are blatantly immoral, are now labeled illegal. Murder, robbery, treason, adultery and lying have become defined as criminal acts with prescribed punishments, or in some cases (think abortion, euthanasia), “legalized” and so made acceptable to many.  Because of either of these shifts in responsibility, the consequences of sin have — become depersonalized and the reality of sin as a breach in the relationship with God and with others has been eliminated.  The readings for today’s liturgy invite the gathered assembly to take a hard look at sin, to call it by its right name and to take back our responsibility for it., and repent, reforming our lives.  Similarly, we are challenged to look evil in the eye and, without blinking, own it for the reality that it is and do the same thing.

3) Don’t allow rejection to derail your dreams: Brilliant British theologian G.K. Chesterton could not read until he was eight years old. A teacher said if his head were opened, they would probably find a lump of fat where there was supposed to be a brain. That teacher was wrong. Einstein’s parents were informed by a teacher that he would never amount to anything.  Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was rejected by seven publishers. Richard Bach got twenty rejection slips before Jonathan Livingston Seagull was published. Dr. Seuss, one of the most popular children’s authors of all time, got more than two dozen rejection slips before The Cat in the Hat made it to print. Ruth Graham felt an uncontrollable urge to run out of the meeting the first time she heard Billy Graham preach. She was not convinced of his preaching ability and was put off by his preaching style. Billy had to improve his preaching before Ruth would become his wife. — Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus encountered rejection with prophetic courage.

4) Preachers rejected: Ezekiel and Jesus. Ezekiel was called to be both priest and prophet to God’s people during the most devastating time in their history. Six short years after he began preaching to Israel in the year 593 B.C., the holy city of Jerusalem was captured and destroyed, and just about every last person in Israel was carried off in chains to exile in Babylon. What is worse, Ezekiel saw it coming and told people. that all this was God’s way of punishing them for being so thick-skulled and hard-hearted (3.7). Predictably, they refused to listen. This was  the prophetic message from the Lord God to His people according to Ezekiel! This was the hand God dealt this prophet to play! The chosen people did not believe him, of course, even when the Babylonians started setting fire to their homes and hacking down the carved pillars in their beautiful Temple. They stubbornly denied the truth about themselves the whole time they were being dragged off, kicking and screaming, to Babylon. And it was years later, with no Temple in which to offer sacrifice and no other sacred rituals permitted to them, that they began meeting in Ezekiel’s house (8.1), where this faithful prophet also learned how to become their priest. Softened up by the experience of desolation they could no longer deny, they began, for the first time, to listen to this old friend who had never given up on them and who reminded them of the God Who had no intention of giving up on them either. — Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus, the real Messiah, was rejected by his relatives and slandered by the Sanhedrin observers.

The first reading: Gen 3:9-15, explained: The Genesis account explains the causes of human shame and sin, asserts the sovereignty of the one God over all creation, and expresses the superiority of the worship of that God over rival religions.  “Each of the three punishments given to the snake, the woman, the man, has a double aspect, one affecting the individual and the other affecting a basic relationship. The snake previously stood upright, enjoyed a reputation for being shrewder than other creatures, and could converse with human beings as in vv. 1–5. It must now move on its belly, is more cursed than any creature, and inspires revulsion in human beings (v. 15). I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at His heel. In Christian tradition, the snake was identified with the devil (Wis 2:24; Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9; 20:2), whose eventual defeat seemed implied in the verse. Because “the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8), the passage was understood as the first promise of a redeemer for fallen humankind, the Protoevagelium. Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. A.D. 130–200), in his Against the Heresies 5.21.1, followed by several other Fathers of the Church, interpreted the verse as referring to Christ, and cited Gal 3:19 and 4:4 to support the reference. [Another interpretive translation is ipsa, “she,” and is reflected in Jerome’s Vulgate. “She” was thought to refer to Mary, the mother of the Messiah.  In Christian art, Mary is sometimes depicted with her foot on the head of the serpent” [USCCB commentary.] Historically, this has elements of an early explanation of the very common human fear of snakes. Theologically, it reminds us of the early rivalry between worshipers of Yahweh and worshipers of Baal. The cult of Baal included sacred prostitution as a fertility rite, of which the serpent was an apt symbol. So, the shame that the couple feels over having been deceived by the representative of Baal is a caution to Yahweh’s faithful: “Don’t mess with the religion of Baal or you will be shamed.”

 The second reading (II Cor 4:13-5) explained: In spite of the unfair criticism leveled against him and his Gospel ministry by some Corinthian Christians, Paul is optimistic about his future and that of his critics, waiting for “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” When Paul left for other mission venues, the Corinthian community was so flourishing that it got rather wild, and Paul wrote his first letter to them to correct some abuses. He promised another visit but changed his plans. This earned him serious criticism and ridicule from some Corinthians, so his second letter to them is somewhat defensive. He asserts his authority as an apostle (always an issue, given his late conversion), and seizes their criticism of his inconsistency to write a magnificent salute to the fidelity of God.  Like the Psalmist, Paul clearly proclaims his Faith, affirming Life within himself despite death (2 Cor 4:10–11) and the Life-giving effect of his experience upon the Church (2 Cor 4:12, 14–15).  Paul imagines God presenting him and them to Jesus at the Parousia and the judgment. In a series of contrasts Paul explains the extent of his Faith in Life. Life is not only already present and revealing itself (2 Cor 4:8–11, 16) but will outlast his experience of affliction and dying: this Life is eternal (2 Cor 4:17–18). Paul is still speaking of himself personally, but he assumes his Faith and attitude will be shared by all Christians.  The renewal already taking place, even in Paul’s dying, is a share in the Life of Jesus, but this is recognized only by Faith (2 Cor 4:13, 18; 2 Cor 5:7). (USCCB commentary).

Gospel exegesis: The context: The well-loved carpenter turned crazy preacher? Putting evil in its place and naming sin for what it is, Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel, that sin and evil must be confronted whether it is in ourselves, our relatives, our friends or our enemies.   The first part of today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus’ relatives and fellow-villagers wrongly judged him as out of his mind and consequently tried to take him by force back to Nazareth to do his safe and secure job as a good carpenter. That is why Jesus remarked, “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” (Mt 10:36). There were four reasons why Jesus’ people thought he was mad and attempted to remove him from his preaching and healing mission. First, Jesus had abandoned his safe, secure job as a much-needed village carpenter with steady income to become a wandering preacher with no residence or steady income. Second, Jesus had chosen a band of fishermen with no political or social influence, a hated tax-collector and a fanatic zealot as his disciples. Third, Jesus had begun to criticize the power lobby – the scribes and Pharisees – in the Jewish religious headquarters, Jerusalem, labeling them hypocrites. Jesus’ relatives might really have been afraid that Jesus would be arrested, and they would be persecuted with him for criticizing those in power.  Fourth, Jesus had silently claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah and had worked miracles to support his claim.

The Sanhedrin slander refuted: “Various opinions were gathering around Jesus’ ability to heal. Only three options could explain what was taking place: (1) He had lost his mind and was thinking too highly of himself, as at least some in his family feared; (2) He was operating the direction of a sinister power, as the scribes claimed; or (3) He was working by the power of the Spirit of God, the position Jesus defended by excluding the Satanic option. The same idea is expressed in C. S. Lewis’ famous “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” options for who Jesus is, which are taken from the options Mark raises in this passage. Either Jesus lied about his authority (it was really from Satan, or was only a delusion; see 3:21), or he is Lord and his authority is from God …” (Turner & Bock, p. 431).  Hence the second part of today’s Gospel passage gives Jesus’ crushing reply to the slander propagated by the observers sent from the Sanhedrin, that Jesus expelled devils using the assistance of the leader of devils. Jesus refutes the false allegation raised against him by the Sanhedrin scribes with three counter-arguments and a warning: 1) A house divided against itself will perish, and a country engaged in civil war will be ruined. Hence, Satan will not fight against Satan by helping Jesus to expel his coworkers. “Jesus’ argument against the scribes was that if healings and exorcisms were taking place under Satan’s power, then Satan was undoing his own work. It was not plausible for Satan to be consciously engaged in self-destruction.”   (Turner & Bock, p. 431). 2).  If Jesus is collaborating with Satan to exorcise minor demons, then the Jewish exorcists are doing the same. 3) Jesus claims that he is using the power of his Heavenly Father to evict devils just as a strong man guards a house and its possessions from the thief. “The exorcisms of Jesus are the plundering of Satan’s house and the binding of the power of evil, by the one who emerged in the initial sections of the Gospel as the ‘stronger one’ (1:7).” (HarperCollins Bible Commentary, p. 906). Further, “Satan is the strong man who has now been bound and his property is being plundered, i.e., by Jesus. The image derives from Jewish eschatology: the binding of Satan is a feature of the eschatological end-time. The claim being made here is then that the end time has arrived: Jesus’ exorcisms are not just everyday events, but the final overthrow of the power of Satan.” (Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 894).  4) Finally, Jesus gives a crushing blow to his accusers, warning them that by telling blatant lies they are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and, hence, their sins are unforgivable. “Different teachers debated whether some sins were eternally unforgivable; Jesus probably means that their hearts were becoming so hard they would never think to repent.” (Craig S. Keener, The Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, p. 144). Here, the nature of the sin is to ascribe what is the obvious work of the Holy Spirit (e.g., releasing people from Satan’s power) to Satan himself. (NET Bible notes). The sin of the Scribes and the Pharisees will be unforgiveable, given that they will no longer want to be forgiven because they choose to see truth as a lie and a lie as the truth. The sin cannot be forgiven, not because God doesn’t want to forgive it but because they no longer want to be forgiven. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, with reference to this verse: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.” (CCC #1864)

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” The context: As Jesus became a strong critic of the Jewish religious authorities, his mother and cousins came to take him to Nazareth by force, perhaps because they feared that Jesus would be arrested and put to death.   Today’s Gospel episode seems to suggest that Jesus ignored the request of his mother and close relatives who had traveled a long distance to talk to him. But everyone in the audience knew that Jesus loved his mother and had taken care of her for thirty years. Besides, Jesus’ plain answer, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother” was actually a compliment to his mother who had always listened to the word of God and obeyed it. Jesus was declaring, “Blessed are those who hear and keep the word of God as she is faithfully doing” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 58).   Jesus was also using the occasion to teach the congregation a new lesson about their relationship with God. Being a disciple of Jesus, or a Christian, is first and foremost a relationship – a relationship of love and unity with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and with all who belong to God as His children.  Jesus has changed the order of relationships and shows us here that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood.  God’s gracious gift to us is His adoption of us as His sons and daughters.  This gift enables us to recognize all those who belong to Christ as our brothers and sisters.  Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God and His kingdom.  “Everyone who does the will of the Father,” that is, who obeys Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who fulfilled the will of His Father.  But he who not only obeys but converts others, begets Christ in them, and thus becomes like the Mother of Christ” (“Commentary on St. Matthew”, 12:49-50.)

Did Jesus have brothers and sisters? This has been the subject of enormous debate in Christian history, from those who concluded (from the natural sense of the words) that Jesus had literal, flesh-and-blood siblings to those who argued that these were probably half-siblings or step-siblings from a prior marriage by Joseph. This latter position was put forward by the early Christian writer Epiphanius, and supported by St. Jerome, who stressed the perpetual virginity of Mary. Many of the churches descended from the Reformation have held to the “flesh-and-blood” interpretation. It remains a point of contention for many Catholics and Protestants, and it is unlikely to be resolved in a way that will receive unanimous support.

The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus did not have blood brothers and sisters. The problem arises because we read in Mark about the crowd asking, “Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, a brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters our neighbors here?” (Mk 6:3). A similar reference occurs earlier in Mk 3:31 — “His mother and brothers arrived….” At first hearing, the words seem to state that Jesus did indeed have blood brothers and sisters. But the Greek word adelphos, was used to describe brothers not born of the same parents, like a half-brother or step-brother. The word also described other relationships like cousins, nephews, etc. For example, in Genesis 13:8 and 14:14-16, the word adelphos was used to describe the relationship between Abraham and his nephew Lot and the relation between Laban and his nephew Jacob. In the Gospel, Mary of Clopas is called “the sister” of Mary, the Mother of Jesus where sister means only a cousin.  In Hebrew and Aramaic languages, no special word existed for cousin, nephew, half-brother, or step-brother.  So, they used the word brother in all these cases. The Greek translation of the Hebrew texts used the word adelphos. In addition, other Gospel passages clarify these relationships between James, Joses, Judas, and Simon.  James the Less and Joses were the sons of Mary the wife of Clopas (Mk 15:40, Jn 19:25), and James the Less was also identified as “the son of Alphaeus” (Lk 6:15), a synonym of “Clopas.” James the Greater and John were the sons of Zebedee with a mother other than our Blessed Mother Mary (Mt 20:20ff).

 After the birth of our Lord, although the Gospels do not give us many details of Jesus’ childhood, no mention is made of Mary and Joseph ever having other children. Never does it refer to the “sons of Mary” or “a son of Mary,” but only the son of Mary. By this time, St. Joseph has died. Since Jesus, the first-born, had no “blood brother,” when He was hanging on the cross, He entrusted Mary to the care of St. John, the Beloved Disciple.

Interestingly, the Orthodox Churches solve this problem over brothers and sisters by speculating that St. Joseph was an elderly widower who had other children before he married Mary. The earliest explanation of who the brothers and sisters were, found in the second-century document known as The Protoevagelium of James, is that they were stepbrothers through Joseph. According to this document, Joseph was an elderly widower who agreed to become the guardian of Mary, a consecrated virgin. Being elderly and already having children, he was not seeking to raise a new family and so was an appropriate guardian for a virgin. This theory is consistent with Joseph’s apparent death before the ministry of Jesus. It is the standard explanation in Eastern Christendom of who the brethren of Christ are.

Shortly before the year 400, St. Jerome began to popularize the view that the brethren of Christ were cousins, and this view became common in the West. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has faithfully taught that Mary gave birth only   to Jesus, whom she had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Life messages: 1) Today’s Scriptures challenge us to face rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. Very often our friends, families, or childhood companions fail to listen to us and refuse to accept the words of grace, love, and encouragement that we offer to them because they know so much about us and are so used to us, they disregard what we have to say, if they even hear it!  But we have to face such rejection with prophetic courage because by our Baptism we are called to be prophets like Jesus, sharing his prophetic mission. As prophets, our task is to speak the truth in love and oppose the evils in our society, refusing to condone or encourage sinful behavior  even in our dear ones, though we do not “excommunicate” from our lives them, but continue to love them  while we pray for them. 

2) We need to have the courage of our convictions: Modern “liberal-minded” people may find the genuine Christians’ belief in and practice of Christ’s ideas and ideals ”just plain crazy!” Hence, what is needed in a Christian is the courage of his or her convictions based on the authority of Jesus as God and the truth of his doctrines and expressed in the Magisterium of the Church.

2) We need to fill our minds with the Holy Spirit:  Jesus teaches that we can be influenced by the evil spirit if we listen to him and follow him. Hence, we have to keep our souls daily cleansed and filled with the Spirit of God, leaving no space for the evil spirit to enter our souls.

3) We need to live as members of God’s family:  Let us remember that by Baptism we become the children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus and members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God. Hence, let us observe our obligations of treating others with love and respect and of sharing our love with them in corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We are also His disciples, and so are obliged to be hearers as well as doers of the word of God. 

 Jokes of the Week: 1) Rejection at the Pearly Gate, too: A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabby, St. Peter invites him to grab a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven. A preacher is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the preacher’s entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, “Okay, we’ll let you in, but take that cotton robe and wooden staff.” The preacher is astonished and replies, “But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely, I rate higher than a cabby.” St. Peter responded matter-of-factly: “Here we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabby drove his taxi, people prayed.”

2) Differences of Opinions: Dr. Eugene Brice tells a delightful but disturbing story about a minister who returned to visit a church he had once served. He ran into Bill, who had been an elder and leader in the church, but who wasn’t around anymore. The pastor asked, “Bill, what happened? You used to be there every time the doors opened.” “Well, Pastor,” said Bill, “a difference of opinion arose in the church. Some of us couldn’t accept the final decision and we established a church of our own.” “Is that where you worship now?” asked the pastor. “No,” answered Bill, “we found that there, too, the people were not faithful and a small group of us began meeting in a rented hall at night.” “Has that proven satisfactory?” asked the minister. “No, I can’t say that it has,” Bill responded. “Satan was active even in that fellowship, so my wife and I withdrew and began to worship on Sunday at home by ourselves.” “Then at last you have found inner peace?” asked the pastor. “No, I’m afraid we haven’t,” said Bill. “Even my wife began to develop ideas I was not comfortable with, so now she worships in the northeast corner of the living room, and I am in the southwest.” (King Duncan, quoting Eugene Brice).

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK: (The easiest method  to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard).

1)Fr. Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  

2) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/ (Copy it on the Address bar and press the Enter button)

3) Fr. Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:   https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant20663)

• Brant Pitre’scommentary on Cycle B Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/ ……
• Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/
• http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark3.htm

 Four Additional anecdotes:

1) Rejection hurts: Arnold Palmer played his last Master’s Tournament in 2002. Palmer, who won the Master’s in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1964, had seen his game slip away with age and his stardom fade with the rise of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. A reporter asked Palmer, “Why did you do it? Why did you quit?” To which Palmer replied, “I didn’t want to get the letter that [former champions] Ford, Brewer, and Casper have already received asking them to step down.” — Whether it’s that girl in elementary school who looked at you in disdain when you offered her a Valentine card, or the boss that suggests you are not included in the company’s new plans, rejection hurts. It causes pain. Yet, Jesus faced rejection heroically and said it’s going to happen and we will be wise to live with it, for “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” There is some rejection that’s worth the cost.

 2) “The World’s Strongest Man” Macho men always want to brag about how strong they are. Some boys on a school playground were bragging. Johnny said, “My dad has a list of all the men he can beat up—and all your dads are on his list!” Later that afternoon a knock came on Johnny’s house and his dad answered the door. A big angry man said, “Are you Johnny’s dad?” He said, “I am.” “Well Johnny told my son said you have a list of men you think you can beat up, and my name is on it.” Johnny’s dad said, “That’s right.” The big guy started rolling up his sleeves and said, “Well, I don’t think you can beat me up. What are you going to do about it?” Johnny’s dad said, “I’ll mark you off my list!” Guys are always bragging about who’s the strongest. Since 1977 there has been a televised event called “The World’s Strongest Man.” Most of the winners have come from Finland, Iceland, and Eastern Europe. These guys are required to perform amazing feats of strength like pulling a Boeing 747 with their teeth. These aren’t body-builders; they are bulked up dudes. One of the competitors from Iceland, who is nicknamed Thor, stands 6’9” and weighs 435 pounds. No six-pack abs on these guys, they go for the full keg! — So, who do you think was the strongest man in the Bible? Are you thinking of the book of Judges and the guy with long hair who could kill a lion with his bare hands? Samson was pretty strong, but after he got a haircut in the devil’s barbershop, he lost his strength. In our passage today, Jesus is going to talk about a strong man; then He’s going to mention a stronger man. Jesus claims that God his Father is “The World’s Strongest Man” who would protect us from the evil one. (Rev. David Duke).

3)”A house divided against itself cannot stand.” On June 16, 1858 more than 1,000 delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois, for the Republican State Convention, and they chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. That evening Lincoln delivered this address to his Republican colleagues and the main focus of his remarks were on the issue of slavery: “Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention. If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, NOT ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’”–  “A house divided against itself cannot stand.’” That’s a powerful sentence! Did Abraham Lincoln come up with that phrase all by himself? No. Well, where did he get it? That’s right … he was quoting Jesus and the quote is from today’s Gospel where Jesus gives a crushing blow to the Scribes who accused Jesus of collaborating with Beelzebub for his exorcisms.

4)”United We Stand Divided We Fall”: I read about a Church that had grown to the point of needing a new building. After the building was completed, a disagreement arose about which side of the auditorium they should put the piano. Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and the Church ultimately split. The side that “won” kept the building, but they no longer needed the extra seating and could not afford to pay the mortgage … so they had to sell it. (Tim Seevers, in The Pleasant Viewer June 2000). And I also have read about another Church down in Texas where folks go so mad at each other that the Church split, and then they fought over the property. Each group filed lawsuits against the other group. During a hearing, it was discovered that the conflict had begun years before at a church dinner (pause) when an elder was served a smaller piece of ham than the child seated next to him. (Jim Belcher, 10/12/09 Sermoncentral.com article). L/24

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 34) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

Visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or  Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website– http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph  M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 36507

 

 

June 3-8:June 3 Monday (Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs): – For a brief biography click onhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-charles-lwanga-and-companions/Mk 2:1-12: 1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. 3 …..12

The context: Today’s Gospel presents the last in a series of five healing stories. This one demonstrates the power of Faith, and in this particular case we learn what others can do for us if they are persons of Faith. As soon as Jesus got back to Capernaum after a preaching tour of Galilee, the crowds gathered in and around the house where he was staying, so that there was no room to get in or out. Four men, carrying their paralyzed friend, tried in vain to get to the house through the crowd. Here is the wonderful picture of a man who was saved by the Faith of his friends. His friends weremen who had trusting Faith in the healing power of Jesus, and they were men with initiative, tenacity, and creativity. So they carried their friend to the flat roof of the house and removed a number of roof tiles, opening a long wide area which allowed them to lower the man on his mat, and place him at Jesus’ feet. Luke tells us that there were in the crowd Pharisees and Doctors of the Law from Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem sent to check out Jesus, the new preacher, and to report back to the Sanhedrin.

The sick man’s paralysis was seen by the people around as a punishment for some serious sin in his own life or the lives of his parents. It was a common belief that no major sickness could be cured until sin was forgiven. For that reason, Jesus began the young man’s healing by audibly forgiving his sins, so that he might feel no longer estranged from God. Then the young man was able to receive the physical healing he and his friends desired for him. But the Pharisees judged that, in forgiving sin, Jesus had insulted God by blasphemy, because forgiving sin is the exclusive prerogative of God. Jesus insisted that if he healed the man, then his enemies must recognize his authority to forgive sin, and consequently his Divinity. He then healed the young man with a single command, but we do not know whether any of the objectors responded by believing in Jesus.

Life message: We are called to intercede for others and to bring them to Christ. 1) In the Old Testament, it is Moses who constantly begs God’s mercy and forgiveness for the Israelites’ sins. Later, we find the prophets interceding for the unfaithful Israelites. 2) In the New Testament, the dramatic role played by the friends of the paralyzed man in the healing story reminds us of the continuing need for, and power of, intercession for/by others. The text gives us encouragement to intercede for those who are ill or in special need. When we pray and invite God into the situation, healing takes place. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24 For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections

June 4 Tuesday: Mk 12:13-17: 13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to entrap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 …17

The context: Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus ingeniously escaped from a trap set for him by the Pharisees. The tax issue: The Jews were forced to pay three separate taxes to the Roman emperor: the ground tax, the income tax, and the census tax. Here, the question concerned the census tax. If Jesus said that it was unlawful to pay the tax, the pro-Rome Herodians and their allies would report him to the Roman officials who would then arrest him as a revolutionary. If Jesus said that it was lawful to pay the tax, the insurgents and their supporters would turn against him, and he would be discredited in the eyes of the people who were against paying taxes to a pagan emperor on religious grounds.

The defense goes on the offensive. Jesus defeated their scheme by asking his challengers to show him “the coin of tribute” – the coin they would give to the tax-gatherer. Rather than answering their question directly, Jesus asked them a question, thus turning their trap inside out and upside down: “Whose image[eikon in Greek]and inscription are these?” “Caesar’s,” they said. Jesus then said, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar — and to God what belongs to God.” In other words, we give to the emperor the coin because his image is on it, and we give to God our own selves because we are created in the image of God (Gn 1:26). By this answer Jesus reminds his questioners that if they are so concerned and careful about paying taxes to the state, they should be much more concerned and careful about their direct service of, and obligations to, God, their Creator and Lord.

Life messages: The episode teaches us the nature of our obligations to God and to our country, and it shows us how, with God’s help, we can be ideal citizens of both earth and Heaven. 1) Since everything is God’s, we must give ourselves to Him 100%, not just 10% on Sundays. 2) We should be generous in fulfilling our Sunday obligations and find time every day for prayer and worship in the family, for the reading of the Bible and the proper training of our children in Faith and morals. 3) As citizens of a country, it is the duty of Christians to pay for the services and the privileges that government provides, like paved roads, police and fire departments, banks, and other necessities. 4) Another way of giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s is to participate actively in the running of the government, electing the most suitable candidates and influencing them through frequent contacts. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24 For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

June 5 Wednesday (Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr): For a brief biography click onhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-boniface/ Mk 12:18-27: The context: Jesus reached Jerusalem for his final Passover feast. As part of a well-planned plot to trap Jesus, the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees met him with controversial questions. When Jesus ingeniously escaped from the first two traps, the Sadducees asked a question concerning the marital state after the resurrection. The challenge to Jesus was clear: do you believe in the written Torah which is silent on the resurrection or do you side with the Pharisees, accepting their belief in the resurrection, based on oral traditions and interpretations, and thus subjecting Moses to ridicule?

The trap: Sadducees did not believe in resurrection of the dead because they claimed that Moses wrote nothing about it.  Hence, in their hypothetical question (which strongly recalls the Book of Tobit and the plight of the seven times widowed and still childless Sarah — the woman Tobias later married –), they asked Jesus to tell them who, in Heaven, would be the husband of the woman who, widowed and childless, had then been married, in succession, to her six brothers–in-law (levires), and had finally died childless.

Jesus goes on the offensive as defense: First, Jesus provided positive Biblical proof for the reality of resurrected existence. Jesus is presuming that Yahweh’s burning bush statement about being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was in the present tense. This would prove these three patriarchs were still alive at the time of Moses, 600 years after their deaths. Thus, Jesus uses the Sadducees’ sacred text of the Torah to refute their anti-resurrection belief.  Since God declared Himself to be God of the patriarchs, He must somehow still be sustaining the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thereby granting them resurrection and eternal life. Thus, Jesus proved the resurrection of the body from the Torah itself. Second, Jesus explained that the afterlife would not be just an eternal replay of this life. Things would be different after death. Normal human relations, including marriage, would be transformed. Then Jesus told the Sadducees that those to whom God granted resurrection and Heavenly life with Him would be immortal, like the angels and, hence, “children of God.”

Life message: 1) We need to live the lives of resurrection people:  That is, we are not to lie buried in the tomb of our sins and evil habits. Instead, we are to live joyful and peaceful lives, constantly experiencing the real presence of the Risen Lord Who gives us the assurance that our bodies also will be raised. The salutary thought of our own resurrection and eternal glory should also inspire us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure, and free from evil habits and to respect those with whom we come in contact, rendering them loving and humble service. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

 June 6 Thursday: [Saint Norbert, Bishop]: For a brief biography click on https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-norbert/  Mk 12:28-34: And one of the scries came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”  29 Jesus answered, “The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; …    

The context: A scribe who believed in both the written Law and the oral tradition was pleased to see how Jesus had defeated the Sadducee who had tried to humiliate him with the hypothetical case of a woman who had married and been widowed by seven husbands in succession.  Out of admiration, the scribe challenged Jesus to summarize the most important of the Mosaic Laws in one sentence.  In the Judaism of Jesus’ day, there was a double tendency: to expand the Mosaic Law into hundreds of rules and regulations and to condense the 613 precepts of the Torah into a single sentence or few sentences.

Jesus’ novel contribution: Jesus gave a straightforward answer, quoting directly from the Law itself and startling all with his profound simplicity and mastery of the Law of God and its purpose.  He combined the first sentence of the Jewish Shema prayer from Deuteronomy 6:5: … Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” with its complementary law from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Thus, Jesus proclaims that true religion is to love God both directly and as living in our neighbor.  Jesus underlines the principle that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves because both of us bear God’s image. For, to honor God’s image is to honor both Him Who made it and Him Whom it resembles. Besides, our neighbors, too, are the children of God our Father, redeemed by the Blood of Jesus.  Love for our neighbor is a matter, not of feelings, but of deeds by which we share with others the unmerited love that God lavishes on us.  This is the agape love for neighbor that God commands in His Law. Jesus then uses the parable of the Good Samaritan, as reported in Luke’s Gospel, to show them what God means by “neighbor.”

Life Messages: 1) We need to love God whole-heartedly: Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, means that we should place God’s will ahead of our own, seek the Lord’s will in all things, and make it paramount in our lives. It also means that we must find time to adore Him, to present our needs before Him, and to ask His pardon and forgiveness for our sins. 2) God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in our neighbor.  This means we have to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for everyone without regard to color, race, gender, age wealth, social status, intelligence, education, or charm. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

June 7 Friday: (THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS): Jn 19:31-37For a brief account click on (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/the-sacred-heart-of-jesus ) (Jn 19:31-37): 31 Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that  they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; 33 but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness — his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth — that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of him shall be broken.” 37 And again another scripture says, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.”

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the second most popular Catholic devotion among Catholics, the first being the Rosary. The infinite love and mercy of God is shown in many different metaphors and symbols like the Baby in the manger, the Good Shepherd, the Crucifix, the Sacred Heart, and the Divine Mercy Picture. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is based on the apparitions of Our Lord from 1673 to 1675 to  St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a nun of the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in France. The Gospel passage, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced” (Jn 19:35-37) is at the foundation of the whole tradition of devotion to the Divine Heart. The practices of the “Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” in the home and the “Consecration and Dedication of the Family to the Sacred Heart” were begun by Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and later approved by the popes. Official and social recognition of the rule of Jesus over the Christian family is the purpose of the consecration of the family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The “Holy Hour,” the “Litany of the Sacred Heart,” “The Act of Consecration of the Family and the Human Race to the Sacred Heart,” the “Nine First Fridays” Devotion and the “Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus” are different forms of this devotion.

Life Messages: 1) An invitation for a “heart transplant”: Our hearts become stony and insensitive through our daily exposure to acts of cruelty, terrorism, injustice, greed, and impurity. Hence, God prescribes a change of heart through His prophet Ezekiel (Ez 11:19-20) to make our hearts soft, elastic, large, and sensitive: ” I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies and replace it with a natural heart.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus should be the ideal heart for this “medical” procedure because Jesus said, “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Let us have the heart of Jesus. 2)  An invitation to love. The Sacred Heart of Jesus challenges us to love others as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally and sacrificially (agape love), and to express this love in humble and loving service done to others.

Fr. Tony For additional reflections, cluck on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections).

June 8 Saturday: (The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Lk 2:41-51: For a short account, click on https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/seasons-and-feast-days/immaculate-heart-of-mary-14358  Lk 2:41-51: 41 Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. ……51

This feast commemorates the joys and sorrows of the Mother of God, her virtues and perfections, her love for God and her Divine Son and her compassionate love for mankind. … In 1969, Pope St. Paul VI moved the celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Saturday, immediately after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a special form of devotion to the venerable person of Mary, similar to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Mary’s Immaculate Heart represents her interior life and the beauty of her soul.  Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the Divine Heart as overflowing with love for men. This devotion is an attempt to respond to Jesus’ love and to make reparation for the lack of love on the part of mankind.  In the devotion to the Heart of Mary, on the other hand, what seems to attract us above all else is the love of Mary’s Immaculate Heart for Jesus and for God.  The objective is to love God and Jesus better, by uniting ourselves to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues. In this devotion, we think of the love, virtues, and sentiments of Mary’s interior life and try to put them into practice.

Scriptural basis of this devotion: It was mostly the love, humility, faith, and other virtues of the Heart of Mary that attracted early Christians to Mary, the mother of Jesus. They saw Mary’s heart in its true colors at the foot of the Cross.  Simeon’s prophecy furnished this devotion with its most popular representation: the heart pierced with a sword.  St. Augustine remarks: “At the foot of the cross, Mary cooperated with Jesus in the work of our redemption through charity.”  One Scriptural passage in support of this devotion is the twice repeated (Lk 2:19; 2:51) saying of St. Luke given in today’s Gospel, “Mary kept all the things [the saying and doings of Jesus] in her heart,” that she might ponder on them and live by them.  A few of the sayings of Mary recorded in the Gospel, particularly her Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) disclose new features in Marian psychology. Elizabeth proclaims Mary blessed because she has believed the words of the angel. The Magnificat is also an expression of Mary’s humility.  The last words of Mary recorded in Scripture were spoken at the wedding feast in Cana when the wine ran out, and Mary approached Jesus, as usual, to tell them of this calamity. He had answered her that this was not His responsibility any longer, nor was it hers, for His Hour had not yet come. Mary understood that being the Messiah of God had changed Jesus’ position radically, and she humbly accepted this necessary change in their relationship as Mother and Son as God’s will for both of them, turning to the serving boys telling them, “Do whatever He tells you!” (Jn 2:5), the same instruction she gives all of us on every occasion!  Finally, answering the woman in the crowd who praised Jesus’ mother as blessed, Jesus commented, “Blessed rather are they that hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28).   It was Mary’s readiness to hear and do the will of God that endeared her to God and caused her to be selected as the Mother of Jesus.

 Life message: Let us take Mary as our role model and practice her virtues of trusting Faith, serving humility and readiness to do God’s will in our daily lives, thus becoming immaculate children of an Immaculate Heavenly Mother. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

Additional reflections: Click on https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections.

 

 

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ [B] (June 2) in 1 page

Importance: 1) The last two precious gifts given to us by Jesus are the Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food on Holy Thursday and Jesus’ mother Mary as our spiritual mother on Good Friday 2) Corpus Christi is the celebration of the abiding presence of a loving God as Emmanuel – God with us – in order to give collective thanks to our Lord for his living with us in the Eucharist. 3) The feast also gives us an occasion to learn more about the importance and value of the “Real Presence” so that we may appreciate the Sacrament better and receive maximum benefit from the Eucharist

We believe in the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because1) Jesus promised it after miraculously feeding the 5000. 2) Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during his Last Supper. 3) Jesus commanded his disciples to repeat it in his memory. 4) “Nothing is impossible with God.”

We explain the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist by “transubstantiation” which means that the substance of the consecrated bread and wine is changed to the substance of the risen Jesus’ glorified Body and Blood by the action of the Holy Spirit, and its accidents (like color, shape, taste etc.), remain the same.

Scripture lessons: This year’s readings for the Feast emphasize the theme of Covenant blood because the ancient peoples sealed Covenants with the blood of ritually sacrificed animals, and Jesus sealed his New Covenant with his own Blood shed on Calvary. Today’s first reading describes how Moses, by sprinkling the blood of a sacrificed animal on the altar and on the people, accepted the Covenant Yahweh proposed and made with His People. In the second reading, St. Paul affirms that Jesus sealed the New Covenant with his own Blood, thereby putting an end to animal sacrifices. Today’s Gospel details how Jesus converted this ancient ritual into a Sacrament and sacrifice. Instead of the lamb’s blood, Jesus offered his own Divine/human Body and Blood, and instead of sprinkling us with blood, Jesus put It into our hands as food and drink: “Take … eat … this IS my Body which will be given up for you” (He did not say “This represents my body”), and “Take … drink …This IS … my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal Covenant, which will be poured out for you many (nor did He say,“This represents my blood…”) for the forgiveness of sins”.

A Sacrament and a sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist both as a sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering.As a Sacrament, a) the Eucharist is a visible sign that gives us God’s grace and God’s life and, b) as a Meal, The Eucharist nourishes our souls. As a sacrifice a) the Eucharistic celebration is a re-presentation or re-enactment of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary, completed in His Resurrection and Ascension. b) We offer Jesus’ sacrifice to God the Father for the remission of our sins, using signs and symbols.

Life messages: 1) Let us appreciate the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, by receiving Him with true repentance for our sins, due preparation and reverence. 2) Let us be Christ-bearers and conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion, we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty of conveying Christ to others at home, in the workplace, and everywhere else, through love, mercy, forgiveness, and humble, self-giving, sacrificial service. 3) Let us offer our lives on the altar along with Jesus’ sacrifice, asking pardon for our sins, expressing gratitude for the blessings we have received and presenting our needs and petitions on the altar.

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST [B] (June 2) (Ex 24:3-8, Heb 9:11-15, Mk 14:12-16, 22-26)

Homily starter anecdotes # 1: “I would like to say Mass.” Dominic Tang, the courageous Chinese archbishop, was imprisoned for twenty-one years for nothing more than his loyalty to Christ and Christ’s one, true Church. After five years of solitary confinement in a windowless, damp cell, the Archbishop was told by his jailers that he could leave it for a few hours to do whatever he wanted. Five years of solitary confinement and he had a couple of hours to do what he wanted! What would it be? A hot shower? A change of clothes? Certainly, a long walk outside? A chance to call or write to family? What would it be, the jailer asked him.  “I would like to say Mass,” replied Archbishop Tang. [Msgr. Timothy M. Dolan, Priests of the Third Millennium (2000), p. 216]. The Vietnamese Jesuit, Joseph Nguyen-Cong Doan, who spent nine years in labor camps in Vietnam, relates how he was finally able to say Mass when a fellow priest-prisoner shared some of his own smuggled supplies. “That night, when the other prisoners were asleep, lying on the floor of my cell, I celebrated Mass with tears of joy. My altar was my blanket, my prison clothes my vestments. But I felt myself at the heart of humanity and of the whole of creation.” (Ibid., p. 224). — Today’s feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus constantly calls us beyond ourselves to sacrificial love for others. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

# 2: The greatest work of art in St. Peter’s Basilica: One of the seminarians who gives tours of St. Peter’s told me of an interesting incident. He was leading a group of Japanese tourists who knew absolutely nothing of our Faith. With particular care he explained the great masterpieces of art, sculpture and architecture. He finally concluded at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel trying his best to explain quickly what it was. As the group dispersed, an elderly man, who had been particularly attentive stayed behind, and said, “Pardon me. Would you explain again this ‘Blessed Sacrament?’” Our student did, after which the man exclaimed, “Ah, if this is so, what is in this chapel is a greater work of art than anything else in this basilica.”’  [Msgr. Timothy M Dolan in Priests of the Third Millennium, (2000), p. 226.] — Today’s feast of Corpus Christi is intended to make us value and appreciate the worth of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.  Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

# 3: Communion on the moon: The Lord’s Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped onto the moon’s surface: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA Astronaut had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering moon to Jesus. Next, he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong. (Dan Gulley: “Communion on the Moon”: Our Daily Bread: June/July/August 2007). — His actions remind us that in the Lord’s Supper, God’s children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth, and even from the moon! God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality. In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. (Dennis Fisher) (http://www.smithvillechurch.org/html/body_remembering_jesus_on_the_moon.html) &(https://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2007/07/20/devotion.aspx) Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

[Email from dated June 9, 2012: Dear Fr. Tony,

I read your anecdote ‘communion on the Moon’ with some amusement. Buzz Aldrin was Roman Catholic. He was an altar server to an uncle of mine Fr. Dennis Barry in St. Martin’s Church, La Mesa, California. My uncle said Mass in his hotel room with Buzz as the altar server the day before his trip to the Moon, and I have photographs of that Mass with Buzz holding the wine and water at the Offertory. My uncle gave Buzz the Body of Christ to take to the Moon with him and that was his first ‘meal on the moon’. I later met Buzz Aldrin at my uncle’s funeral in La Mesa in 1986. So, Buzz was not a Presbyterian. Thank you for your splendid service and keep up the good work.  God Bless. Fr. Eddie Collins. The Presbytery, O’Rahilly Street, Clonakilty, Co Cork, eddiecollins@eircom.net)) Comment:  Probably Aldrin joined the Presbyterian Church after his divorce and remarriage without annulment. Please check http://www.snopes.com/glurge/communion.asp. Fr. Tony

Introduction: The feast and its objectives:    Today, we celebrate the solemn feast of Corpus Christi. It is three feasts in one: the feast of the Eucharistic sacrifice, the feast of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the feast of the Real Presence of Jesus.  It is a doctrinal feast established for three purposes:  1) to give God collective thanks for Christ’s abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to honor him there; 2) to instruct the people in the Mystery, Faith, and devotion surrounding the Eucharist, and 3) to teach us to appreciate and make use of the great gift of the Holy Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and as a sacrifice. In the three-year cycle of the Sunday liturgy, there is a different theme each year for this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  In Cycle A the theme is the Eucharist as our food and drink; in Cycle B the emphasis is on the Eucharist as the sign of the covenant; and in Cycle C the focus is on the priesthood of Jesus. Although we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the Church wants to emphasize its importance by a special feast, formerly called “Corpus Christi.” It was Pope Urban IV who first extended the feast to the universal Church. This is one of the few feasts left in which we observe a pre-Gospel procession and a sung “Sequence.”

The historical development: Today’s celebration of the Body and Blood of the Lord originated in the Diocese of Liege in 1246 as the feast of Corpus Christi.  In the reforms of Vatican II, Corpus Christi was joined with the feast of the Precious Blood (July 1) to become the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. We celebrate today Christ’s gift of the Eucharist, the “source and summit” of our life together as the Church.  The Council of Trent (1545 to 1563) declared that we must honor Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist publicly so that those who observed the Faith of Catholics in the Most Holy Eucharist might be attracted to the Eucharistic Lord and believe in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in this great Sacrament. “The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the God-man are really, truly, substantially, and abidingly present together with his soul and divinity by reason of the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.  This takes place in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass” (Council of Trent, 1551; CCC # 1374, note 200)

The Biblical foundation: Our belief in this Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist derives from the literal interpretation of the promise of Christ to give us his Body and Blood for our spiritual food and drink, as found in St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 6, and also in the four independent accounts of the fulfillment of this promise at the Last Supper (Mt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22; 1 Cor 11).  Eucharistic theologians explain the Real Presence by a process called transubstantiation: the entire substance of bread and wine is changed into the entire substance of the risen and glorified Body and Blood of Christ, retaining only the “accidents” (taste, color, shape) of bread and wine. Can there be a religion in which God is closer   to man than our Catholic Christianity?  Jesus does not believe that he is humiliating himself in coming to us and giving himself to us in his Flesh and Blood; rather, he is expressing his everlasting love for us.

Scripture lessons summarized: This year’s readings for this feast emphasize the theme of Covenant blood because the ancient peoples sealed covenants with the blood of ritually sacrificed animals, and Jesus sealed this New Covenant with his own Blood, shed on Calvary. Today’s first reading describes how Moses, by sprinkling the blood of a sacrificed animal on the altar and on the people, accepted the covenant Yahweh proposed and made with His People. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 116), presents our acceptance of the New Covenant of which Paul speaks in the second reading, affirming that Jesus sealed the New Covenant with his own Blood on Calvary, thereby putting an end to animal sacrifices.  Today’s Gospel details how Jesus converted this ancient ritual into a Sacrament and sacrifice.  Instead of the lamb’s blood, Jesus offered his own Divine/human Body and Blood and, instead of sprinkling us with blood, Jesus put It into our hands as food. Mark recounts the institution of the Eucharist — how Jesus said to his disciples, gathered for the Seder:  “Take, … eat … this is my Body” — not “represents,” or “memorializes”, but “IS”!  A little later, He said:  “Take this … drink from it, for This is … my Blood — again, “IS” —  which will be poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. ” 

First reading, Exodus 24:3-8 explained:  The reading describes how the ancient Israelites were established as God’s special people through a Covenant commitment.  The text recounts the solemn enactment of this Covenant at the foot of Mount Sinai. This Covenant (agreement) was decidedly weighted: God promised to give everything; Israel had only to accept and obey.  When Moses recited “all the words (the Ten Commandments) and ordinances of the Lord,” he was declaring the Covenant that God wanted to make with Israel. It came down to this: “I will be your God, you will be My people, and this is how you’ll behave as you live out this Covenant.” Moses commanded that the animal blood (representing the blood of the people doing the offering) shed during the Sinai covenant be divided into two parts: half splashed on the altar, half splashed on the people. Since the altar symbolizes Yahweh’s presence, all the Covenant-makers now have blood splattered on them.  It’s both an outward sign they’ve made the Covenant and a sign they’ll benefit from the life the Covenant offers.

Second Reading, Hebrews 9:11-15 explained: Among the earliest Christians were some former Jews who had been kicked out of the synagogue rather promptly after they had accepted Jesus. The Letter to the Hebrews was written for their benefit, to help them cope with the loss of things Jewish, like priesthood, Temple, sanctuary, and ritual sacrifices.  The letter’s strategy is to convince the reader that Jesus and our relationship with him take the place of, and are superior to, the older Jewish institutions. Today’s lesson from this Epistle compares the sacrifice offered by the High Priest in the Temple on the very solemn Day of Atonement, with the sacrifice of true and infinite atonement offered by Christ for us. Paul reminds the Hebrews that this was a new Covenant, one which Jesus entered into with God and us, not with the “the blood of goats and calves but with his own Blood.”

Exegesis:

Theological significance: Vatican II states that as a sacrifice “the Holy Eucharist is the center and culmination of Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11).  Why?  1) Because it enables us to participate in Christ’s sacrifice as a present reality and to benefit from its fruits in our own lives.  2) Because it helps us to worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the most perfect way.  3) Because it strengthens our charity and unity with Jesus and each other in a joint offering of his Body and Blood to the Father.  4) Because it gives us a lasting memorial of Christ’s suffering, death and Resurrection, reminding us of our obligation to make loving sacrifices for others.  The Eucharist is the Mystery of our Faith, the mystery of our Hope, the mystery of our Charity.  Why do we celebrate the Eucharist some 2,000 years later?  We do this because Jesus told us to do so: “Do this in memory of me.”   St. Augustine in the 5^th century said it best when he said: “It is Your Mystery, the Mystery of Your Life that has been placed on the altar.”  This Holy Memorial is known by various names: 1) “The Eucharist” because Jesus offered himself to God the Father as an act of thanksgiving; 2) “The Lord’s Supper”–or “Breaking of the Bread”– because we celebrate it as a meal;  3) “Holy Communion” because, we become one with Christ by receiving him; and  4) “Holy Mass” (holy sending), because it gives us a mission: “Go in peace glorifying God by your life.”

Jesus replaces the Old Covenant with the New Covenant: Jesus instituted the Eucharist in deliberate allusion to, and fulfillment of, what happened on Mount Sinai.  He replaced Moses as the God-chosen mediator, establishing the New Covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34), by using his own Blood rather than that of sacrificial animals.  By sacramentally consuming the Body and Blood of the God-Man, we, the final-age people of God, are interiorly transformed through the most perfect possible union with God.  Jesus creates a faithful people intimately united with God by means of his sacramental Blood.

The Jewish Passover is transformed into the Eucharistic celebration: Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist while eating the Passover meal, the feast on which the Jews gathered annually to commemorate their ancestors’ deliverance from Egyptian slavery.  This foundational event began the night God “passed over” the Israelites to punish their oppressors who resisted His will.  Israel was “saved through blood”—that of sacrificial lambs — sprinkled on doorways.  (There are some modern Bible scholars who doubt whether Jesus’ Last Supper was strictly a Passover meal because many items of the Passover meal are not mentioned).  In the second half of today’s Gospel, Jesus’ words and gestures are understood as mediating the fullness of salvation through Blood that would be his own.  That night he offered “the Blood of the (New) Covenant,” as Blood to be drunk rather than sprinkled.  Moreover, since it was his own, this Blood needed no further identification with God by splashing against an altar.  Finally, the Blood was “to be poured out for you and for many (a Semitism for ‘all’).”  Thus, the new and perfect Paschal Lamb accomplished for people of every nation what Mosaic sacrifices only imperfectly achieved for the Jews.  Giving of both “Body” and “Blood” establishes the context of Jesus’ sacrificial death, a New Covenant sealed with his Blood.

The Sacrament and the sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper as a Sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering.  As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist is an outward sign in and through which we meet Jesus who shares his life of grace with us. “In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore, the whole Christ, is truly, really, and substantially contained” (CCC#1374). In this Sacrament of the Eucharist, we do meet Jesus, the Risen Lord who comes to us under signs of Bread and Wine to nourish and strengthen us for our journey through life.  The Eucharistic Meal is a great mystery because during the Eucharistic celebration the substance of bread and wine are converted into the substance of the risen Jesus’ Body and Blood, while their appearances (or “accidents”) remain.  We believe in this transformation of bread and wine (called Transubstantiation), because Jesus unequivocally taught it and authorized his apostles to repeat it.  As a Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist imparts to us Jesus’ abiding presence in our souls.  In addition, we share in his Divine life, which is an assurance of eternal life and the basis for the conviction that we are children of God the Father.  God shares His life with Jesus and with all other people.  The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our union with Jesus.  In this Sacrament, Jesus gives us his own Body, broken for us on the cross and his precious Blood poured out for us, in order that our sins may be forgiven.  The Eucharistic celebration is also a sacrifice because it is the re-presentation or re-living in an unbloody manner of Christ’s Death on Good Friday and of his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.  By means of signs, symbols and prayers, we share in Christ’s passion, death, and Resurrection made really present for us in an unbloody manner.  This re-presenting, this re-living of the One Sacrifice of Christ, which is the heart and point of every Mass, assures us of Jesus’ love for us and of his forgiveness of our sins.  Through this sacrifice, the risen Jesus becomes present on the altar, offering himself to the Father through the ministry of the priest.

Life Messages: 1) We need to receive this message of unity and sacrificial love: The Eucharist, (the Body and Blood of Christ), teaches us the importance of community, the bond that results from this sacrifice. John Chrysostom says: “What is the Bread actually? The Body of Christ. What do communicants become? The Body of Christ. Just as the bread comes from many grains, which remain themselves and are not distinguished from one another because they are united, so we are united with Christ.”  Just as numerous grains of wheat are pounded together to make the host, and many grapes are crushed together to make the wine, so we become unified in this sacrifice.  Our Lord chose these elements in order to show us that we ought to seek union with one another, to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to work with Him in the process.  Christ is the Head and we are the Body.  Together we are one.  That which unites us is our willingness to sacrifice our time and talents to God in our fellow members in Christ’s Mystical Body.  This is symbolized by our sharing in the same Bread and the same Cup.  Hence, Holy Communion should strengthen our sense of unity and love.

2) We need to prepare properly to receive Holy Communion: We have tarnished God’s image within us through acts of impurity, injustice, disobedience, and the like.  Hence, there is always need for repentance, and a need for the Sacramental confession of grave sins, before we receive Holy Communion.  We should remember the warning given by St. Paul: “Whoever, therefore, eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the Body and Blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the Body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (1 Cor. 11:27-9).  Hence, let us receive Holy Communion with fervent love and respect — not merely as a matter of routine.   St.  Paul is speaking also of the Mystical Body of Christ, i.e., the people of God gathered at the altar. Such a union, plainly, means that our outward piety towards the consecrated Bread and Wine cannot coexist with rudeness, unkindness, slander, cruelty, gossiping, or any other breach of charity toward our brothers and sisters.

3) We need to become Christ-bearers and -conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty and privilege of conveying Christ to others at home and in the workplace, as love, mercy, forgiveness, and humble and sacrificial service.As we celebrate this great feast of Faith, let us worship what St. Thomas Aquinas did not hesitate to call, “the greatest miracle that Christ ever worked on earth .”….. My Body …….. My Blood“. Before the greatness of this mystery, let us exclaim with St. Augustine, “O Sacrament of devotion! O Sign of unity! O Bond of charity!”   Let us also repeat St. Thomas Aquinas’ prayer of devotion in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament:  “O Sacrament most holy! O Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!”

 JOKE OF THE WEEK: “Do you think two cases of whiskey are enough?” There was to be a Baptismal party for the new baby of a soldier and his wife at their home on an Army base. Before the ceremony the chaplain took the new father aside. “Are you prepared for this solemn event?” he asked. “I guess so,” replied the soldier. “I’ve got two hams, pickles, bread, cake, cookies……” “No, no!” interrupted the chaplain. “I mean spiritually prepared!” “Well, I don’t know,” said the soldier thoughtfully. “Do you think two cases of whiskey are enough?” — Beyond all that we hunger for is the hunger for spiritual nourishment. Sometimes people aren’t even aware that this exists. But Jesus realized this hunger and instituted the Holy Eucharist to feed our starving souls.
(Harold Buetow in “God Still Speaks: Listen!”)

 USEFUL WEBSITES ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST 

1) http://www.usccb.org/dpp/realpresence.htm

2) http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/a.html,

3) http://www.catholic.com/library/Real_Presence.asp

4) USCCB – (Liturgy) – Resources for the Year of the Eucharist
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/eucharistyear.shtml

5) Eucharistic miracle: https://www.youtube.com/embed/3gPAbD43fTI?

Blessed
6) The Real Presence: Eucharistic Miracles

http://www.therealpresence.org : Official Website of the CARLO ACUTIS Association and the Cause of Beatification of Blessed Carlo Acutis (15-year old computer wizard)

30- Additional anecdotes:

1) “All we really need in our convent is the Tabernacle.” The former archbishop of San Francisco, John Quinn, loves to tell the story of the arrival of Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity to open their house in the city. Poor Archbishop Quinn had gone to great efforts to make sure that their convent was, while hardly opulent, quite comfortable. He recalls how Mother Teresa arrived and immediately ordered the carpets removed, the telephones, except for one, pulled out of the wall, the beds, except for the mattresses taken away, and on and on. Explained Mother Teresa to the baffled archbishop, “All we really need in our convent is the tabernacle” [Msgr. Timothy M. Dolan in Priests of the Third Millennium (2000), p. 218.]. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 2) The Eucharistic piety that converted St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Two hundred years ago, a beautiful, young, Episcopalian woman accompanied her husband, a merchant, to Italy, leaving four of their five children at home with family members. They had sailed for Italy, hoping that the change in climate might help her husband, whose failing business had eventually affected his health adversely. Tragically, he died in Liverno. The grieving young widow was warmly received by an Italian family, business acquaintances of her deceased husband. She stayed with them for three months before she could arrange to return to America.  The young widow was very impressed by the Catholic faith of her host family, especially their devotion to the Holy Eucharist: their frequent attendance at Mass, the reverence with which they received Holy Communion, the awe they showed toward the Blessed Sacrament on feast days when the Eucharist was carried in procession. She found her broken heart healed by a hunger for this mysterious presence of the Lord, and, upon returning home, requested instruction in Catholic Faith. Soon after being received into the Church, she described her first reception of the Lord in the Eucharist as the happiest moment of her life. — It was in St. Peter’s Square on September 14, 1975, that Pope Paul VI canonized this woman, Elizabeth Ann Seton, as the first native-born saint of the Unites States. The Eucharist for her was a sign and cause of union with God and the Church. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

3) “I will not permit Christ to return to Albania as long as I am in charge.” Mother Teresa was given a reception by the cruel Communist dictator Enver Hoxha who ruled Albania for 40 years from 1945 to 1985.  He imposed atheism as the official religion in 1967.  The possession of a Bible or cross often meant a ten-year prison term.  Welcoming Mother Teresa in 1985, he stated that he appreciated her world-wide works of charity, and then added, “But I will not permit Christ to return to Albania as long as I am in charge.”  In her reply after thanking the president for the reception Mother said, “Mr. President, you are wrong.  I have brought not only the love of Christ into my native land but also the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist right into your presidential palace.  I am allowed to carry Jesus in a pyx during my visit of  this Communist country where public worship is a crime.  I keep Jesus in the consecrated host in my pocket.  Jesus will surely return to this country very soon.” — Communist rule collapsed in Albania in 1992, and Christians and Muslims reopened their churches and mosques for worship.  The non-Communist president of Albania, Mr. Ramiz Alia, awarded Albanian citizenship to Mother Teresa during her visit to her liberated home country in 1992.  Mr. Alia also created a “Mother Teresa Prize” to be awarded to those who distinguished themselves in the field of humanitarian and charitable work. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

4)  Blessed Imelda, the Patron saint of First communicants: Blessed Imelda Lambertini had a remarkable experience of this love. She lived in Bologna, Italy, in the 1300s. She had wanted to be a nun from the time she was a little girl, and she joined that Dominican convent at the age of nine, to better prepare herself for the day when she would take the habit. Her greatest desire was to receive Holy Communion, but in those days, you had to be at least twelve-years-old to do so. Imelda begged for an exception to the rule, but the chaplain refused. She kept praying for special permission. Her prayers were miraculously answered on the Feast of the Ascension in 1333. After Mass, she stayed in her place in the chapel, where one of the nuns was putting away the sacred vessels. Suddenly, the nun heard a noise and turned towards Imelda. Hovering in mid-air in front of Imelda as she knelt in prayer was a sacred host, the Blessed Eucharist, shining with a bright and forceful light. The frightened nun ran to find the chaplain. By the time the chaplain arrived, the rest of the nuns and other onlookers had crowded, awe-struck, into the chapel. When the priest saw the shining, hovering host, he put on his vestments, went over to the girl, took the miraculous host in his hands, and gave her Holy Communion. Some minutes later, after the crowd had dispersed, the Mother Superior came over to Imelda to call her for breakfast. She found the girl still kneeling, with a smile on her face. But Imelda was dead. She had died of love, in ecstasy after receiving Christ in the Eucharist. He had longed to be with her even more than she had longed to be with him. — Blessed Imelda’s body is incorrupt, and you can still see it today in the Church where she is interred, in Bologna. She is the patron saint of First Holy Communicants. (E-Priest). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

5) “Jesus Christ gave a lasting memorial”: One of his Catholic disciples asked the controversial god-man Osho Rajneesh about the difference between Buddha the founder of Buddhism and Jesus Christ.  Rajneesh told a story to distinguish between Buddha and Christ. When Buddha was on his deathbed, his disciple Anand asked him for a memorial and Buddha gave him a Jasmine flower. But as the flower dried up, the memory of Buddha also dwindled. — Jesus Christ, however, instituted a lasting memorial without anybody’s asking for it, by offering to God his Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine and commanding his disciples to share his Divinity by repeating the offering. So Jesus continues to live in his followers while Buddha lives only in history books. On this feast, as on Holy Thursday, we reflect on the importance of the institution of the Holy Eucharist and priesthood. [Osho Rajneesh claimed that he was another incarnation of God who attained “enlightenment” at 29 when he was a professor of Hindu philosophy in Jabalpur University in India. He had thousands of followers for his controversial “liberation through sex theology,” based on Hindu, Buddhist and Christian theology]. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

6) Precious gift: We are all familiar with the situation of the little boy who wants to give his father a birthday present but does not have any money to buy one. His father, realizing his son is too young to make any money, slips him five bucks so that he can do some shopping the next time they are in town. The big day comes, and the little boy proudly presents his father with a beautifully wrapped, birthday gift. He is so very happy and proud of himself. So is his father – proud and happy to have such a loving son.  — God gave us His Son so that we could give him back as a gift and become once again His sons and daughters. Jesus Christ was placed in our hands so that we could have a gift, the best of gifts. During each Eucharistic celebration, we give this precious gift back to God the Father. (Fr. Jack Dorsel). Today we celebrate the feast of the Eucharist.

7) The Eucharistic miracle at the tomb of St. Christina, in Bolsena, Italy: Today we are reminded of a miracle that took place in 1263. A German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe in Transubstantiation. While celebrating Mass at the tomb of St. Christina, located in Bolsena, Italy, he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal. The priest was immediately confused. At first, he attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, the city where Pope Urban IV was then residing. The Pope listened to the priest’s story and gave him absolution for his lack of Faith. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring to Orvieto the Host and the linen cloth bearing the stains of blood. With archbishops, cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto, Italy. — Pope Urban IV was prompted by this miracle to commission St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the liturgical prayers in honor of the Eucharist. One year after the miracle, in August of 1264, Pope Urban IV introduced the saint’s compositions, and by means of a papal bull instituted the feast of Corpus Christi. (Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J. Rome). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

8) Another Eucharistic miracle: A famous Eucharistic miracle is that of Lanciano, also in Italy, which took place in the year 700. A monk who feared he was losing his vocation was celebrating Mass, and during the consecration the Host  turned into flesh and the wine turned into blood Despite the fact that the miracle took place almost 1300 years ago, you may still see the flesh in a monstrance which is exposed every day and the blood in a glass chalice. (The glass chalice is beneath the monstrance on the right.) I also had the privilege of seeing that Eucharistic miracle during my time in Italy. The blood has congealed and is now in five clots in the glass chalice. In 1971 and 1981 a hospital laboratory tested the flesh and blood and discovered that the flesh is myocardium, which is heart muscular tissue, so we could say it is the heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart, and the blood is of the blood group AB. In 1978 NASA scientists tested the blood on the Turin Shroud and interestingly also discovered that it is of the blood group AB. (The Sudarium, Face Cloth of Christ, in John 20:6 is also of the blood group AB.) Despite the fact that human flesh and blood should not have remained preserved for 1300 years, the hospital lab tests found no trace of any preservatives. One final interesting point about the five blood clots in the chalice is that when you weigh one of them, it is the same weight as all five together, two of them together weigh the same as all five. In fact no matter what way you combine the blood clots individually or in a group to weigh them, they always weigh the same.  (This shows that the full Jesus is present in a particle of the Eucharist no matter how small.) These are two Eucharistic miracles I have seen and which have been authenticated by the Church after investigation. (Fr. Tommy Lane). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

9) Blood Brothers: Jesuit Ignacio Ellacuria of El Salvador, Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe of Poland, Sr. Rani Maria, an Australian missionary, and Graham Staines murdered in north India, appear very diverse in their lifestyles, yet little divided them in death. All these are martyrs who shed their blood that others might live. They represent modern ”bodies of Christ.” Today, celebrating the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we could reflect on the sacramental symbols of Blood and Body and our Christian calling. Some years ago, Jesuit philosophers of Satya Nilayam in South India, formed a group called “Blood Brothers” comprised of students who were willing to donate blood regularly. — Indeed, we are all truly “Blood brothers and sisters,” saved by the supreme sacrifice of our elder Blood Brother, Jesus. Moreover, Martyrs like Ellacuria, Kolbe, Staines, and Rani Maria are but representatives of a long list of “Blood brothers and sisters” whose lives were were truly Eucharistic. May the Corpus Christi called “Church” be ever willing to break itself and bleed in selfless service of society at large. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

10) The Blessing Cup: Leonardo da Vinci was 43 years old when the Duke of Milan asked him to paint the Last Supper. He worked on it slowly and with meticulous attention to detail. He spent much time making the cup that Jesus held as beautiful as possible. After three years he was ready to show it, and he called a friend to come and see it. He said, “Look at it and give me your opinion.” The friend said, “It is wonderful. The cup is so real I cannot take my eyes of it!” Immediately, Leonardo took a brush and drew it across the sparkling cup. He exclaimed as he did so: “Nothing shall detract from the figure of Christ!” — Christ must be the primary focus of a Christian’s life. (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

11) “Are you guys Dominicans?”  Fr. Denis likes to tell a story about an American paratrooper in World War II who got entangled in a tree and couldn’t get down.  He was terribly afraid that he had come down behind enemy lines and would be killed.  Then two men dressed in civilian clothes came by so the GI quickly called out, “Can you tell me where I am?”  “Indeed, we can,” said one – “You are up in a tree.”  There was a long pause, and then the paratrooper asked suspiciously, “Are you guys Dominicans?”  “Yes, but how could you tell?”  The GI replied, “I knew because what you say is perfectly true – but it doesn’t help me to get out of this tree!”  — Likewise, to describe Catholic belief about the Holy Eucharist by saying that it is the Body and Blood of Christ is true, but not very helpful unless we are convinced of this truth, appreciate this great gift, and experience Its effects in our lives. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

12)  St. Padre Pio’s prayer of thanksgiving after Mass.

“Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You.  You know how easily I abandon You.

Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life, and without You, I am without fervor.

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light, and without You, I am in darkness.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.

Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.

Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is, I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love.

Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes; death, judgment, eternity approach. It is necessary to renew my strength. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

13) The Mass is Heaven on earth! Scott Hahn was a Protestant minister, who had for twenty years studied the Book of Revelation. He admits that, in trying to study Revelation, he felt like a person standing before a locked door, searching for the right key on a keychain. There was no key that fitted, until he linked the Book of Revelation to the Mass. And that, in his opinion, is the right key. His experience thereafter was so inspiring that a year later, he asked to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church. This in a nutshell, is his thesis: The key to understanding the Book of Revelation is the Mass. Stated differently; the Mass is the only way a Christian can truly make sense of the Book of Revelation. — Today, Dr. Scott Hahn, a happily married man and father of six children, is a Professor of Theology and Scripture in a University and the Director of the Institute of Applied Biblical Studies. -Scott Hahn is candid and realistic when he observes that, for most Catholics, the Sunday Mass is anything but Heavenly. In fact, he frankly adds, it’s often an uncomfortable hour, punctuated by babies screaming, bland hymns sung off-key, meandering and pointless homilies, and people dressed as if they were going to a party, picnic or football game. Yet, this is his conviction: “When we go to Mass every Sunday, we go to Heaven. And this is true of every Mass we attend, regardless of the quality of the music or the fervour of the preacher. The Mass — and I mean every single Mass — is Heaven on earth.”
[James Valladares in Your Words are Spirit, and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

14) Body of Christ? Sometime ago I was in Washington, D.C. in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A dozen or so pilgrims came out of the splendid Basilica. They had participated in a Mass, they had received Holy Communion, forming with Him His Body ad Blood. I saw them, and I even saw a blind man who had received Communion with them. They came out of the Church together with him. He walked among them tapping the pavement in front of himself with his stick. He did not see them since he was blind but he must have been aware of them all talking excitedly, feeling a bit lost in a strange place. They did not see him, either, though they were not blind. He ended up in the midst of them. Someone stepped on his cane, bending it, while he was pushed on. They left him alone trying to straighten his cane. — They had all been to Holy Communion together in Jesus, who said of all of them: “This is my Body, this is my Blood!”  Yet, when it came to everyday life, that reality got lost, the Body did not seem to have been formed. They were not really in communion. They did not really form His Body, our Body. Did they? Do we? [Joseph G. Donders in Praying and Preaching the Sunday Gospel; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

15) What are they hungry for? An American priest was invited to take part in a youth rally in Canada. About 700 young people were camping out in a large park for the weekend. Their program included workshops on such topics as dating, sexual morality, drugs, peer pressure and meditation. The organizers felt that the least popular workshop would be the one on meditation. They were in for a big surprise. It was the best-attended workshop of the weekend. At one point in that workshop, the priest giving it sensed a profound presence of the Holy Spirit and invited the 200 participants to pray together. The response was amazing. Afterwards the priest said, “It was one of the most moving experiences in all my years of priestly ministry.” Then alluding to the image in today’s Gospel he said: “There’s a whole mountain-side full of young people out there who want to eat, but there’s no one to feed them. There’s a whole mountain-side full of young people out there who want to pray but there’s no one to teach them.”— The priest’s remark merely paraphrases what Jesus said in Matthew’s Gospel. (Quoted by Fr. Botelho) Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 16) Source of Christian heroism: I’d like to begin this Corpus Christi homily with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. He asked a question regarding the Fr. Damien: “The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Molokai. The Catholic Church, on the contrary, counts by the thousands those who after the example of Fr. Damien have devoted themselves to the victims of leprosy. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism.” — That’s a great question: What is the source of the heroism of people like St. Damien of Molokai and his successor, St. Marianne Cope?  We get the answer this Sunday. In today’s readings, St. Paul tells how Jesus took bread and said, “This is my Body,” and with the chalice of wine, “This is My Blood.” Then St. Paul concludes, “As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.”
When we receive Communion (the Body and Blood of Jesus), we mystically enter his death and Resurrection. That should give us strength to spend our lives in service. Now, you and I are not St. Damien or St. Marianne, but the Eucharist calls us, like them ,to give our lives for others. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

17) “What kind of joke is this?” A priest I heard of, if he sees people leave early, stops them and reminds them that only one person left the Last Supper early! Well, I am not going to do that, but I am tempted to do what St. Philip Neri did: He saw someone leaving church right after Communion and he sent servers with candles and bells to accompany the man. The guy stormed back into the Church and confronted the priest. “What kind of joke is this?” he demanded. St. Philip Neri said, “It’s no joke. The rules of the liturgy say the Blessed Sacrament should be treated with reverence. You left the Church immediately with no prayer of thanksgiving. You were carrying the Blessed Sacrament within you. So I asked the boys to accompany you to honor Him.” — After Communion, you and I are tabernacles for the physical presence of Jesus continues in us for a brief time. That’s why we have the Communion hymn, a time of silence, the Communion Prayer (and even the announcements to build up the Body of Christ in practical ways).  I encourage you to use well the time after Communion to say thanks, to express your gratitude. (Fr. Phil Bloom) Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

18) “Body of Christ” A modern tourist in cities like Paris or Rome, and particularly the latter, cannot but be struck by the extraordinary number of Churches and their close proximity to each other. They all derive from the devotion to Corpus Christi which originated in the twelfth century and whose feast we celebrate today. It began in the city of Liege in northern France, under Bishop Robert Thourotte of Liege, persuaded by St. Juliana of Cornillion. Urban IV in 1264 extended the feast to the Universal Church. After Urban’s death, October 2, 1264, the feast was restricted to certain areas of France, Germany Hungary and northern Italy, but in 1317 Pope John XXII (served August 7, 1316 through December 4, 1334), reintroduced the Feast to the Universal Church (Instruction by Pope Benedict XVI at the General audience celebrated in St. Peter’s Square, November 17, 2010).

By the fifteenth century Corpus Christi had become the principal feast of the Church almost everywhere. Every city, town and village held its Corpus Christi procession. In some places it became the social event on the calendar. Months were spent preparing for it. Guilds competed with each other to provide the most colourful contribution. Cities like Paris had their timber-built houses arranged in narrow streets, where humans and animals lived closely together in squalor. In such a world, it was little wonder that the Corpus Christi devotion had such enormous appeal. What greater protection could they ask for than the Body of Christ, carried in procession through their streets to inoculate them against all infections?

After well over a thousand years of Christianity, the Real Presence, Christ’s continuing presence in the consecrated Bread, came to dominate the devotional life of the people. New devotions were developed such as visits to and Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The idea that no place was good enough to house the body of Christ, led to the building of larger and more ornate churches. It became the age of the great Cathedrals, like Notre Dame and Chartres. Changes were introduced into the Mass itself to reflect this new devotion; in particular, the elevation was introduced after the consecration. For medieval Christians, there were real and down-to-earth reasons why the Body and Blood of Christ should be raised. Blindness was a common affliction then, and people believed that looking at the Body of Christ was the best protection against it. Bowing to popular pressure, the Church permitted it. The elevation of the chalice was an after-thought because the church feared that the people might believe in only one species. This background helps to explain the close proximity of Churches in cities like Paris and Rome. Elevations were much in demand and people rushed from one church to another just to watch the elevation. Such Eucharistic devotions dominated religious practice right down to the Second Vatican Council. — There the Church wisely decided that the Mass needed to be restored as the centre of Eucharistic devotion and, perhaps unwittingly, the other forms were down-graded. Within a generation, visits, Benedictions, expositions and Corpus Christi processions had virtually disappeared. The Bread remained, the circuses had gone. And we are the poorer for it. (Rev. Liam Swords) Biblical IE. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

19) History of the feast: In 1246, Bishop Robert Thourotte of the Belgian diocese of Liège, at the suggestion of St. Juliana of Mont Cornillion (also in Belgium), convened a synod and instituted the celebration of the feast. From Liège, the celebration began to spread, and, on September 8, 1264, Pope Urban IV issued the papal bull “Transiturus,” which established the Feast of Corpus Christi as a universal feast of the Church, to be celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday. At the request of Pope Urban IV, St. Thomas Aquinas composed the office (the official prayers of the Church) for the feast. This office is widely considered one of the most beautiful in the traditional Roman Breviary (the official prayer book of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours), and it is the source of the famous Eucharistic hymns “Pange Lingua Gloriosi” and “Tantum Ergo Sacramentum.” For centuries after the celebration was extended to the universal Church, the feast was also celebrated with a Eucharistic procession, in which the Sacred Host was carried throughout the town, accompanied by hymns and litanies. The faithful would venerate the Body of Christ as the procession passed by. — In recent years, this practice has almost disappeared, though some parishes still hold a brief procession around the outside of the parish church. While the Feast of Corpus Christi is one of the ten Holy Days of Obligation in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, in some countries, including the United States, the feast has been transferred to the following Sunday. (Fr. Hoisington). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

20) Pope Benedict’s preference for receiving Holy Communion on tongue: “I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself. The idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point. One important reason is that there is a great danger of superficiality precisely in the kinds of Mass events we hold at Saint Peter’s, both in the Basilica and in the Square. I have heard of people who, after receiving Communion, stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a kind of souvenir. In this context, where people think that everyone is just automatically supposed to receive Communion — everyone else is going up, so I will, too—I wanted to send a clear signal. I wanted it to be clear: Something quite special is going on here! He is here, the One before whom we fall on our knees! Pay attention! This is not just some social ritual in which we can take part if we want to.” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

21) Visiting the Tabernacle (with a quotation from St Peter Julian Eymard): This is why Catholics still practice the ancient tradition of making frequent visits to the Eucharist throughout the day.  Even in big cities today, when you go into a Catholic Church, you can almost always find someone kneeling before the altar where the Tabernacle is kept.  The red candle burning near the tabernacle, the sanctuary, or the Presence, lamp, is a constant reminder that Christ is truly present there, and his love is burning for us. This is also why Catholics still have the tradition of making the sign of the cross when they drive by a Catholic Church.  Even if we don’t have time to stop and make a visit to our Lord, to thank him for his blessings and tell him all our needs and sorrows, by making the sign of the cross we show our Faith in and appreciation for his constant, miraculous presence. St Peter Julian Eymard [AYE-mard], who lived in France in the 1800s, beautifully explained how Christ’s constant presence in the Eucharist shows, without a doubt, that Jesus’ love for us, even for the most hardened sinner, has no limits.  Speaking of Jesus in the Eucharist, St. Peter Julien Eymard says:  “He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait.  Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant.” (E-Priest). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

22) Saints’ favorite food: Throughout the history of the Church, God has made the power of the Eucharist clear in many ways. • For example, some of the saints have gone for long periods of their lives in which their only food was the Eucharist. • I know it sounds hard to believe. • If there were only one or two cases, it would be reasonable to be skeptical. • But it actually happens every couple generations, as if God wants to make sure we don’t forget what’s really going on in the Eucharist. In the 1300’s, St Catherine of Siena often went for months at a time living solely on the Holy Eucharist. In the 1400s, St Nicholas of Flue, Switzerland’s great native saint, spent the last 19 years of his life as a hermit. • He would give spiritual advice all day and pray all night. • For those 19 years, he was unable to eat any food. • The Holy Eucharist was his only nourishment. In April, 2004, Pope John Paul II beatified Blessed Alejandrina Maria da Costa, a Portuguese peasant girl. •Paralyzed at age 14, she spent her life offering her sufferings and prayers to God for the conversion of sinners. • She died in 1955, at age 51. • For the last 13 years of her life, Alejandrina ate and drank nothing except her daily Holy Communion. • Since she lived in the age of modern science, she given countless medical studies, none of which found a natural explanation. (E-Priest). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

23) St Juliana Falconieri’s Miraculous Final Communion: All the saints realize how much we need this Divine nourishment. St Juliana Falconieri [fahl-cone-YAIR-ee] had a particularly passionate devotion to this truth of our Faith. • Juliana lived in Florence, Italy, in the early Renaissance. • When she was 14, her mother began arranging a marriage for her. • As soon as she found out, she objected, explaining that she wanted to consecrate her life to Christ. • At first her mother resisted, but Juliana’s vocation was undeniable, and eventually she took the habit as a Third Order Servite. • Later, she helped start a new Order of Servite nuns, dedicated to prayer and serving the sick. • Throughout the long, hard years of foundation, she received Holy Communion three times a week – much more often than was normal for those times. • But in her later years, chronic sickness made her unable to consume anything solid. • Even while on her deathbed, frequent fits of vomiting made it impossible for her to receive Communion. • But when she knew her last hour had come, she was inflamed with a desire to receive Holy Communion one last time. • So she asked the priest to lay a corporal (the white cloth put on top of the altar for the liturgy of the Eucharist) on her chest and place the consecrated host on top of it. • No sooner had the Eucharist been laid over her heart than it disappeared, being miraculously consumed directly into her body. • She died soon after, and as they were preparing the body for burial, they found the sign of the cross that had been on the host emblazoned on her skin. • Ever since, the Servites have kept an image of a shining host on the left front side of their habits. — The Eucharist is food from heaven, given to us by Christ to bring us to heaven. (E-Priest). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

24) Two fundamental needs: Ethiopia suffered a terrible famine during the years 1984 to 1986. Cardinal Hume of Westminster tells us about an incident that happened when he visited Ethiopia in the middle of the famine. One of the places he visited was a settlement in the hills where the people were waiting for food which was likely to arrive. He was taken there by helicopter. As he got out of the helicopter a small boy, aged about ten, came up to him and took his hand. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth around his waist. The whole time that the cardinal was there the little child would not let go of his hand. As they went around he made two gestures: with one hand he pointed to his mouth, and with the other he took the cardinal’s hand and rubbed it on his cheek. Later, the cardinal said, “Here was an orphan boy who was lost and starving. Yet by two simple gestures he indicated two fundamental needs or hungers. With one gesture he showed me his hunger for food, and with the other his hunger for love. I have never forgotten that incident, and to this day I wonder whether that child is alive.” [Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

25) How can God be present in a tiny host? Some time ago, a street-corner preacher who knew how to make religious truths come to life was faced by a hostile crowd. “How,” one of them demanded, “is it possible for bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ?” The preacher looked calmly at the stout questioner for a moment and answered, “You have grown somewhat since you were a child and have more flesh and blood than you had then. Surely, if a human body can change food and drink into flesh and blood, God can do it too.” “But how,” countered the heckler, “is it possible for Christ to be present in his entirety in a small host?” The preacher glanced up at the sky and down at the street before them and answered, “This city scene and the sky above it is something immense, while your eye is very small. Yet your eye in itself contains the whole picture. When you consider this, it won’t seem impossible for Christ to be present in his entirety in a little piece of bread.” Once more the heckler attacked. “How, then, is it possible for the same Body of Christ to be present in all your churches at the same time?” The preacher’s answer: “In a large mirror you see your image reflected but once. When you break the mirror into a thousand pieces, you see the same image of yourself in each of the hundred fragments. If such things occur in everyday life, why should it be impossible for the body of Christ to be present in many places at once? Just tell me, what isn’t possible for God?” (Harold Buetow in God Still Speaks: Listen! quoted by Fr. Botelho.) Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

26) A Missionary Gets Muddy: The Eucharist is one of the great proofs of God’s trustworthiness – Christ faithfully present through the ups and downs of twenty centuries. A true story about a missionary illustrates this well.     Fr. Meehus was working in a small village in rural China during the Sino-Japanese war.     As Japanese soldiers neared the village, the priest led his congregation of orphans into hiding in the nearby hills.     Safe in a cave, he counted eighty children – everyone was there.     Then one of the boys spoke up, “Father, someone is missing.”     They counted again – still 80. But the boy insisted. The priest asked, “Who is it, who’s missing?”     The boy answered, “We left Jesus in the Tabernacle.”     Father moaned – in his rushed escape, he had forgotten to bring the Blessed Sacrament.     He made a quick decision. He had the children smear him with mud, telling them that he was going to be a commando (which they thought was fun).     Then he went out, slipped through enemy lines, crept to the Church, and tip-toed up to the Tabernacle, praying in the silence of his heart:     “Jesus, I’m sorry I have to come for You this way; You might not recognize me with all this mud… I am in disguise now, but this is really and truly the one who has held You in his hands many mornings at Mass.”     And in his heart, the priest heard God answering him:     “Of course I recognize you… I am in disguise too. A lot of people don’t recognize Me either; but in spite of appearances, I am Jesus, your friend, and I hold you in My hands from morning until night.”     When the soldiers left, the priest and his congregation carried Jesus in a triumphant procession back to the Tabernacle. — When trusting God is hard, a glance at the Eucharist, the sign of God’s faithfulness, can make all the difference.  [Adapted from Msgr. Arthur Tonne’s Stories for Sermons]. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

27) Retelling the Story: On a hill near Cape Town, South Africa, just below the famed Table Mountain, a gun is fired every day at noon. The hill is known as Signal Hill. The firing of the gun once served a beautiful purpose. It signaled that a ship, on its way to or from India, had arrived in the harbour with a cargo of goods, and was in need of supplies of food and fresh water. A beautiful exchange resulted. There was receiving and giving. But that was a long time ago. The purpose no longer exists. Yet the gun is still fired dutifully every day. However, the firing is now little more than an empty ritual. Once it had a beautiful meaning. Now the meaning has gone out of it. Most of the local people ignore it. Visitors are told, “If you hear a loud bang at mid-day, don’t worry. It’s only the gun going off.” However the ritual still has one thing going for it. Most people know the story behind it. If that story were to be lost, then the ritual would become poorer still. — The Eucharist celebrates a wonderful event: Jesus made of his life a gift to God (in which we share), on our behalf. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we tell that story again. But like anything that is repeated over and over again, there is a danger that it may become just a ritual. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

28) God Always Comes…Once upon a time there was a Rabbi. Whenever he wanted God’s presence, he went to a special place in the woods, lit a fire, said some prayers, and did a dance. Then God would appear to him. When he died, his disciple did the same. If he wanted God’s presence, he went to the same spot in the woods, lit the fire, and said the same prayers, but nobody had taught him the dance. It still worked. God appeared. When he died, his disciple carried on the tradition. If he wanted God’s presence, he went to the same spot in the woods and lit the fire, but he didn’t know the prayers, nor the dance, but it still worked. God came. Then he died. He also had a disciple. Whenever he wanted God’s presence, he too went to the same place in the woods, but nobody had taught him how to light the fire or say the prayers or do the dance, but it still worked, God appeared. In the end, he died, but he too had a pupil. One day this pupil wanted God’s presence. So he searched for the place in the woods, but couldn’t find it. And he didn’t know how to light the fire or say the prayers or do the dance. All he knew was how to tell the story. But it worked. He discovered that whenever he told the story of how the others had found God, God would appear. — In essence, this story explains how the sacred ritual, liturgy, works. (Ronald Rolheiser in In Exile; quoted by (Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

29) Jesus, Bread of Life: Brennan Manning, an American Franciscan priest, tells this story of his mother, a lady in her mid-seventies in Brooklyn. Mrs. Manning’s day centred on her daily Eucharist. Because she began her voluntary stint at a drug detoxification centre each morning at 7:30 AM., the only Mass she could reach was at 5:30 AM. Across the road from her lived a very successful lawyer, mid-thirties, married with two children. The man had no religion and was particularly critical of daily Church-goers. Driving home from a late party at 5 am one January morning, the roads glassy with ice, he said to his wife: “I bet that old hag won’t be out this morning,” referring to Mrs. Manning. But to his shock, there she was on hands and knees negotiating the hill up to the Church. He went home, tried to sleep, but could not. Around 9 am he rose, went to the local presbytery and asked to see a priest. “Padre,” he said, “I am not one of yours. I have no religion. But could you tell me what you have there that can make an old woman crawl on hands and knees on an icy morning?” — Thus, began his conversion along with that of his wife and family. Mrs. Manning was one of those people who never studied deep religious books, never knew the big theological words, but she knew what it is to meet Jesus in Holy Communion. Jesus Christ is the bread of life. What more could we want? (Sylvester O’Flynn in The Good News of Mark’s Year; quoted by Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

30) The source of her strength: It was the time of the inauguration of their house for the poor in New Delhi, India. Mother Teresa and her sisters of the Missionaries of Charity were waiting at the door for Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to arrive. As soon as he came, Mother Teresa took him to the chapel and spent some time there before the Eucharist. Then she explained to Nehru about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and told him that Eucharist was the source of her strength. Nehru did not say anything. He could only marvel at what he heard and saw. Though he was not a believer, Nehru truly admired the services of Mother Teresa and her sisters for the poorest of the poor in India; he knew that they drew their strength for their work from the Eucharist. For Mother Teresa, Eucharist was always the source of her energy and strength. She always began her day attending Mass and receiving the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. — Like Mother Teresa, we also believe that the Lord Jesus is present in the Eucharist. Like her, we also believe that Jesus gives us new life by sharing his body and blood through the Eucharist. Yes, the Lord is with us, truly present in the Eucharist. As we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, let us reaffirm our Faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and receive his body and blood with love every time we celebrate the Mass. (Fr. Jose P CMI) L/24

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 36) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

Visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or  Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604

  Real Presence and Eucharistic Miracles (Fr. Jose P CMI)

The following is the text of my homily for the feast of Corpus Christi, June 6, 2021) In January 2017, at the Polish Church of St. Stanislaus in Rome, the Polish Embassy organized an exhibition of the Eucharistic miracles worldwide. This exhibition presented an overview of all the Eucharistic miracles recorded throughout the history of the Church. Scientific findings also complemented the displays of these miracles.

According to this exhibition, the first Eucharistic miracle recognized by the Catholic Church occurred in Lanciano, Italy, in about the year 700. This miracle happened when a monk, who had doubts about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, saw the wine in the chalice turn into blood and the bread turn into flesh. After examining the relics still in existence, researchers concluded that they were indeed made of human tissue. Since this first recognized miracle, 134 other Eucharistic miracles of the same type have been recognized by the Church.

According to the research done by Dr. Pawel Skibinski, director of the John Paul II Museum in Warsaw, the majority of cases of the Eucharistic miracles occurred in a similar context: either the celebrant had doubts about the Real Presence like in the case of Lanciano, or the hosts were mistreated, that is, stolen, thrown away, abandoned or forgotten. This was the case in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1996, when Pope Francis was an auxiliary bishop there. A consecrated host was found on the ground. Since it could not be consumed, it was put in a container with water. Days later, it turned into bloody flesh. Later, in 1999, a sample fragment of this host was sent to New York for scientific analysis.

One of the scientists who did the analysis was Dr. Frederic Zugiba. He was a well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. Dr. Frederic testified to this miracle in the following words: “The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”

Two Australians, TV journalist Mike Willesee and lawyer Ron Tesoriero, were witnesses to the tests conducted by Dr. Frederic. Knowing where the sample had come from, they were dumbfounded by Dr. Frederic’s testimony. Mike Willesee asked the scientist how long the white blood cells would have remained alive if they had come from a piece of human tissue, which had been kept in water. “They would have ceased to exist in a matter of minutes,” Dr. Frederic replied. The journalist then told the doctor that the source of the sample had first been kept in ordinary water for a month and then for another three years in a container of distilled water. Dr. Frederic was at a loss to account for this fact. There was no way of explaining it scientifically, he stated.

Only then did Mike Willesee inform Dr. Frederic that the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host that had mysteriously turned into bloody human flesh. Amazed by this information, Dr. Frederic replied, “How and why a consecrated Host would change its character and become living human flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to science—a mystery totally beyond its competence.”

Only Faith in the extraordinary action of God provides the reasonable answer, faith in a God who wants to make us aware that He is truly present in the mystery of the Eucharist. The Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires is an excellent sign attested by science. Through this miracle, Jesus desires to arouse in us a lively Faith in His real presence in the Eucharist. He reminds us that His presence is real and not symbolic, as some people tend to think.

Mike Willesee who was a lapsed Catholic, became a strong believer after he did research on Eucharistic Miracles. In fact, collaborating with Ron Tesoriero, he wrote a book entitled Reason to Believe. In this book, they present documented facts of Eucharistic miracles and other signs calling people to Faith in Christ who abides and teaches in the Catholic Church. They have also made a documentary film on the Eucharist—mainly based on the scientific discoveries associated with the miraculous Host in Buenos Aires.

–We believe in the Eucharist. We believe that the Lord Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. We know this primarily by Faith. But the Eucharistic miracles also help. They help us to strengthen our faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Today as we proclaim our Faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist by celebrating the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, let us ask the Lord to help us to have strong and deep Faith in His real presence in the Eucharist and to receive Him always with a true love and devotion. (Contents borrowed from reliable sources) (June 6, 2021

 For details, visit the websites (Fr. Tony)

• https://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/engl_mir.htm
• 32 Eucharistic miracles: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/five-eucharistic-miracles
• https://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/engl_mir.htm
• https://catholicworldmission.org/amazing-eucharistic-miracles/

May 27- June 1, 2024: Kindly click on or visit my website https://frtonyshomilies.com/for missed homilies. May 27 Monday: [Saint Augustine of
Canterbury, Bishop]:For a brief biography click onhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-augustine-of-canterbury/ Mk 10:17-27: Mk 10: 17-27:17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: `Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” 21 And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. 23 ..27

The context: A rich young man comes to Jesus in search of eternal life and expresses his genuine desire to be accepted by Jesus as a disciple.

Jesus’ shocking challenge refused: Jesus reminds the rich man of the commandments that deal with his relationships with other people and challenges him to sell what he has and give to the poor. The young man fails to realize that his riches have really built a wall between himself and God. His possessions “possess him.” Jesus’ challenge exposes what is missing in his life, (a sense of compassion for the poor), and what blocks him from the goodness he seeks (his unwillingness to share his blessings with the needy). Jesus thus makes it clear that a true follower of His who wants to possess eternal life must not only be a respectable person who hurts nobody, but also someone who shares his riches, talents and other blessings with the less fortunate. Unfortunately, the rich man is unwilling to accept Jesus’ idea that wealth is something to be shared with others and not just something to be owned. So, Jesus uses a vivid hyperbole or “word cartoon” to show how riches bar people from Heaven by presenting a big camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. The disciples are shocked when Jesus challenges the Jewish belief that material wealth and prosperity are signs of God’s blessings by declaring that true religion consists in sharing our blessings with others without getting inordinately attached to them.

Life messages: 1)Jesus uses the premature farewell of the rich young man to teach the lesson that we do not possess in our life anything which we refuse to surrender to the Lord, for that thing to which we cling often possesses us. That means that we have become the prisoners of our possessions, and that we are violating the First Commandment, which demands that we give unconditional priority to God.

2) Our following of Jesus has to be totally and absolutely unconditional. Our attachment may not be to money, but to material goods, to another person, a job, health, or reputation. We must be ready to cut off any such attachment in order to become true Christian disciples, sharing our blessings with others. St. Teresa of Calcutta, (Mother Teresa), gives the message of today’s Gospel thus: “Do something Beautiful for God.” Do it with your life. Do it every day. Do it in your own way. But do it!” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 28 Tuesday: Mk 10:28-31: 28 Peter began to say to him, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many that are first will be last, and the last first.”

The context: A rich young man approached Jesus asking how to gain eternal life. Jesus asked him to sell his possessions share the money with the poor and then become his disciple. But the rich man went away sad, unable to accept Jesus’ terms and conditions. Watching this scene, Peter then declares that he and his fellow Apostles, all Jesus’ followers, have left everything and followed Jesus, and he asks what their reward will be.

Jesus’ warning and promise: Jesus wants every Christian to embrace the virtue of poverty of spirit by practicing real and effective austerity in the possession and use of material things. But those who are specially called to Christian ministry, particularly the Apostles and their successors in priestly and religious ministry, should practice absolute detachment from property, time, family, etc. so that they can be fully available to everyone, imitating Jesus himself. Such detachment gives them lordship over all things. They are no longer the slaves of things and the burden things involve. They will be able to share St. Paul’s attitude and live, “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Cor 6:10). Jesus also considers persecutions and troubles as rewards because they help us to give powerful witness to the Good News and offer us opportunities to grow in maturity and responsibility. Jesus assures Peter and the Apostles (and us), that anyone who has generously left behind his possessions will be rewarded a hundred times over in this life and will have eternal bliss in the next life. By shedding their selfishness in this way, they will acquire charity, and, having charity, they will gain everything. In place of material wealth, Jesus promises all his disciples the blessing and joy of rich fellowship with the community of believers. These words of our Lord particularly apply to those who by Divine vocation embrace celibacy, giving up their right to form a family. They will become members of every family, and they will have many brothers, sisters and spiritual children.

Life message: 1) Let us try to become true disciples of Jesus by sacrificially sharing our blessings with those around us, thereby inheriting additional blessings from a generous God. Let us not refuse anything to Him or hold back anything from Him. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

(For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections)

May 29 Wednesday:[Saint Paul VI, Pope] For a brief biography click on https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-paulvi/ Mk 10:32-45: 32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, 33… 45

The context: For the third time, (Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:32), Jesus predicts his own death. In spite of Jesus’ two previous predictions, James and John, still sharing the Jewish belief that the Messiah would be a political king sitting on David’s throne and ruling over a re-united Israel, consider Jesus to be a revolutionary freedom-fighter. They are sure that Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem is being made to overthrow the Roman rulers. Hence, James and John want an assurance from Jesus that he will make them his first and second in command in the Messianic Kingdom of God.

The request and the reaction: James and John are mistaken in their understanding of leadership roles in Christ’s Church as positions of power and prestige. Hence, Jesus challenges them asking, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” Jesus uses the images of the cup and baptism to describe the price to be paid. Jesus insists that his disciples must drink from his cup of suffering if they want to reign with him in his kingdom. Without fully understanding what Jesus means, James and John quickly affirm that they can share in their master’s cup and baptism. They have no understanding of the personal cost that lies behind these two images. [History tells us that
James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:2), and that John
suffered deeply when he heard regularly for years, of the
persecution of his fellow Christians, saw the rise of heretics in the
Churches,  suffered exile himself, and
saw the deaths of the rest of the Twelve, leaving him alive, the oldest
survivor among them, faithful to the end, dying in his bed at nearly 100 years
old.]

A challenge to achieve greatness through humble, sacrificial service: Jesus tells his disciples plainly what his mission is, how he is going to accomplish it and what the criterion for greatness among his disciples should be. He summarizes his mission in one sentence: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Jn 10:45). Jesus also explains that he is going to accomplish his mission by undergoing crucifixion, offering himself as a sacrifice to save people from their sins. Hence, Jesus challenges his apostles to share not only his power, but his service, by sacrificing themselves for others as he would do. According to Jesus, greatness consists, not in what we have, or in what we can get from others, but in what we give to others.

Life Messages: 1) We are challenged to give our lives in loving service to others. The best place to begin the process of “self-giving,” is in our own homes, classrooms, parishes, and in workplaces. 2) We are taught that suffering and service go hand in hand. In today’s Gospel, Jesus connects service with suffering. First, service always involves suffering because we can’t help another without some sacrifice on our part. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their suffering at the service of others by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus. Third, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

(For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections)

May 30 Thursday: Mk 10:46-52: 46 And they came to Jericho; and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; rise, he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Master, let me receive my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

The context: Jesus was on his way to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem along with a band of pilgrims. It was customary for rabbis to teach the pilgrims on the way. The pilgrims were generous in giving alms to the beggars on the roadside. Bartimaeus was one of the blind beggars lined up on the road begging for alms. When he heard people speaking about the approach of Jesus, the miracle worker from Nazareth, he started shouting for mercy. He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of David who could give him eyesight, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah, “The eyes of the blind will see” (Is 29:18).

Bartimaeus encounters Jesus: People walking in front of Jesus listening to his teaching tried, in vain, to silence Bartimaeus, but finally he got the attention of Jesus. Jesus was impressed by Bartimaeus’ declaration of Faith in the healing power of the Messiah, and asked him what he wanted. Bartimaeus replied, “Master, let me receive my sight.” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your Faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and he promptly followed Jesus to Jerusalem as His disciple.

Life messages: 1) We are very often blinded by our pride and prejudice and our innate tendency to be judgmental. Hence, we are badly in need of healing from our spiritual blindness. But we require trusting Faith in the power and mercy of God and the humility to pray persistently, as Bartimaeus did, to receive healing from God. We must have the Faith to sense the presence of Jesus the healer within us and pray to Holy Spirit for the anointing to ask for healing. Let us pray for this grace during the Mass today. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

(For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections)

May 31 Friday: Lk 1:39-56: 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, …45

The context: The mystery of the Incarnation comes to ordinary people living ordinary lives, who have the willingness to respond to God’s call and the openness and generosity to do God’s will. Luke, in today’s Gospel, tells us how two seemingly insignificant women met to celebrate the kindness and fidelity of God. In the Gospel, one definition of discipleship is to listen to God’s word and then carry it out. Mary did both, to become the most perfect disciple. The incident also shows us how sensitive Mary was to the needs of Elizabeth, her older cousin, who had miraculously become pregnant in her old age.

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. There is a saying, “One who is on fire cannot sit on a chair.” Mary, carrying Jesus and filled with the empowering fire of the Holy Spirit, hurried to the mountain country, a distance of perhaps 100 miles, where Elizabeth lived, thereby conveying the Holy Spirit to her cousin and her child. Like all good Jews, Mary was prompted in everything she did by her commitment to God’s word in her life.

The paradox of blessedness. Blessedness confers on a person both the greatest joy and the greatest task in the world. Nowhere can we see the paradox better illustrated than in Mary’s life. Mary was granted the blessedness and privilege of being the mother of the Son of God. Yet, that very blessedness was to be a sword to pierce her heart: one day she would see her Son hanging on a cross. So, to be chosen by God is often both a crown of joy and a cross of sorrow. God does not choose us to give us a life of ease and comfort, but in order that we may respond to His love by accomplishing His purposes.

Life messages:1) We should recognize the real presence of Emmanuel (God Is with Us) and say “yes” to Him: The Visitation of Mary reminds us that, through his holy ministry, Christ continues to be present among his people. Let us recognize and appreciate the truth that the same Christ “dwells among us” in the Bible, in the Sacraments, in the praying community, and in our souls. 2) We should convey Jesus to others as Mary did to Elizabeth. We can make a real difference in the lives of others today by carrying Jesus to them. For that, we must be filled with the spirit of Christ, allowing his rebirth within us. Then Jesus will enable us to share his love with all whom we encounter, offering them humble and committed service, unconditional forgiveness, and compassionate, caring service. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: Click on https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/, & https://www.epriest.com/reflections

June 1 Saturday: [Saint Justin, Martyr] For a brief biography click on: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-justin-martyr/Mk 11:27-33: 27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me.” 31 And they argued with one another, “If we say, `From heaven,’ he will say, `Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, `From men’?” — they were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Mk 11: 27-33).

The context: After casting out animal merchants and money- changers from the Temple immediately after the Palm Sunday procession, Jesus started teaching in the Temple courts. Hence, the chief priests and elders of the people approached Jesus questioning his authority for entering the city in a triumphal procession, for allowing the children to acclaim him, for curing the sick, for casting out merchants and moneychangers, and for teaching in the Temple area. This was a trap. If Jesus claimed that his authority was Divine as the Messiah, they would arrest him as a blasphemer. If he claimed that his authority was human, he would be arrested as a mad zealot damaging the people’s simple Faith in the Temple and what it stood for. Since Jesus did not want to risk his life and mission a few days ahead of time, he silenced them by asking a challenging counter-question about John the Baptist and his message – was this from God or man? Was this Divine or human?

If they answered that it was Divine, the questioners would be asked to explain why they did not accept John’s message and his witness-bearing that Jesus was the Messiah. If they answered that it was human, they would have to face the anger of the crowd who had accepted John as a prophet. Hence, they kept silent, opting for a shameful self-humiliation.

Life message: In religious matters we should not ask whether our stand for Christ is safe or useful. Instead, we need to stand for Truth with the courage of our Christian convictions even if it costs our life. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: Click on https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/, & https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 20-25: https://frtonyshomilies.com/ May 20 Monday (The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church) Jn 19:25-34:NationalCatholicRegister: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/mfenelon/why-the-new-memorial-of-mary-mother-of-the-church-is-so-remarkable ( Gen 3:9-15, 20; Acts 1:12-14; Jn 19:25-34): https://youtu.be/9ymyPDzzBOQ?list=PLpTzvCOJa7DAlWO6X2kAG00Pyg_VQd3RD One of the most recent architectural additions to Saint Peter’s Square is the mosaic of Mary “Mother of the Church,” with the inscription Totus Tuus, yet another sign of Pope St. John Paul II’s great love for Our Lady. On Saturday, March 3, 2018, Pope Francis declared that, thenceforward, the Monday after Pentecost Sunday would be celebrated as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. The Memorial was to be observed annually. It has been added to the General Roman Calendar, the Roman Missal, and the Liturgy of the Hours with the Holy Father’s wish that this new feast day foster Marian piety and the maternal sense of the Church. Pentecost was the birth of the Church – the Mystical Body of Christ. As Mother of Christ, the Head of the Church, Mary is also the Mother of the Church, for she was with the apostles for that great event. In Catholic Mariology, Mother of the Church (Mater Ecclesiae), is a title officially given to Mary at the closing of the Second Vatican Council, by Pope St. Paul VI. The title was first used in the 4th century by Saint Ambrose of Milan. The same title was used by Pope Benedict IV in 1748 and then by Pope Leo XIII in 1885. Pope St. Paul VI made the pronouncement of the title Mother of the Church during his speech upon the closing of the third session of the Second Vatican Council on November 21, 1964: “For the glory of the Virgin and our consolation, we proclaim Mary the Most Holy Mother of the Church, that is, the Mother of the whole People of God, both the faithful and the pastors.” Later, the title was used by Pope St. John Paul II, and is also found in the Catechism of the Catholic Churchwhich states, quoting St. Augustine, that “…Mary joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its Head.” (CCC #963). “At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church.” (CCC # 507).

Pope St. John Paul II used the encyclical “Redemptoris Mater” (March 25, 1987), to explain how Jesus gave his mother into the care of John the apostle and how she became the Mother of the whole Church. The Pope said, “in her new motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces each and every one in the Church, and embraces each and every one through the Church.” Pope Benedict XVI addressed the issue of the relationship between Roman Catholic Mariology and ecclesiology quoting the theologian Hugo Rahner, SJ [elder brother of Karl Rahner SJ] that Mariology was originally ecclesiology. “The Church is like Mary. The Church is virgin and mother, she is immaculate and carries the burdens of history. She suffers, and she is assumed into heaven. She is carrying the mystery of the Church.” That is why in 2018 Pope Francis decreed that the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church be inserted into the Roman Calendar on the Monday after Pentecost and that it be celebrated every year. The decree was signed on 11 February 2018, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, at the 160th anniversary of the Lourdes apparitions. The decree was issued on 3 March 2018.

As St. Augustine once said: “Mary is more blessed because she embraces Faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.” As St. Ambrose taught, “The Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of Faith, Charity, and the perfect union with Christ.” She serves as the ultimate role model for all Christians in her willingness to cooperate with God’s will. So, while we rightfully acknowledge her as the Mother of God, the Theotokos, we also acknowledge her sanctity and her willingness to do God’s will. This is why another ancient name attributed to her now appears on the Church’s calendar. “The Cross, the Eucharist, and the Mother of God are three mysteries that God gave to the world in order to structure, fructify, and sanctify our interior life and lead us to Jesus.” (Robert, Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; retired February 20, 2021). Let us honor Mary, the Mother of the Church, by imitating her virtues of faith, humility, and total surrender. For additional reflections: Click on https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections(Copy and paste these web addresses on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)L/ 24

May 21 Tuesday: [Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest,
and Companions, Martyrs]For a short account, click here:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-cristobal-magallanes-and-companions/ Mk 9:30-37:: 30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he would not have any one know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him. 33 And they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Context: Today’s Gospel outlines God’s criteria for greatness. Jesus’ Apostles shared the Jewish hope that the Messiah would be a political ruler, and that they would hold important portfolios in the Messianic kingdom. Hence, in today’s passage, Jesus warns his Apostles and the future hierarchy in his Church against the natural human tendency to pride and ambition. He exhorts the spiritual leaders, as well as all believers in responsible positions, to be humble, trusting, and innocent, that is, like children.

Child-like qualities: Children are basically innocent and honest. They are naturally humble because they depend on their parents for everything. They trust and obey their parents because they know their parents love them. Hence, Jesus advises his disciples to forget their selfish ambitions and to spend their lives serving others in all humility, with trusting Faith in a loving, providing God. Then they will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Life Messages: 1) We need to practice humility in thoughts, words, and actions. “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.” St. Augustine asks, “What is the essential thing in the religion and discipline of Jesus Christ?” and then responds, “I shall reply: first humility, second humility, and third humility.” 2) We should not seek recognition and recompense for the service we do for Christ and the Church as parents, teachers, pastors etc. 3) Trusting Faith resulting from true humility is essential for all corporal and spiritual works of mercy. 4) Since children reflect the innocence, purity, simplicity and tenderness of our Lord, and since they are given the protection of a guardian angel, we are to love them, train them, and take care not to give scandal to them. 5) We need to try to treat everyone with love and respect because, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life,” (St. Basil) (CCC #336). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 22 Wednesday: [Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious] For a short account, click here:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-rita-of-cascia/ Mk 9:38-40:: John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. 40 For he that is not against us is for us.

The context: Ecclesiastical structures and lines of authority were not as clearly defined in the early Church as they are now. There were several Christian communities in big cities, each established by a different evangelist with different preachers, and each with its own practices. Rivalries could develop among them. In such circumstances, perhaps the incident and instruction of Jesus presented in today’s Gospel passage was recalled. In the passage, the Apostles complained about someone using the name of Jesus for healing the sick. They were upset at seeing someone who did not belong to their group using Jesus’ name to cast out demons. They were under the false impression that healing and exorcism in Jesus’ Name was their sole right. This was the “closed mentality” which they copied from the teaching habits of the Scribes and the Pharisees who reserved the Torah and its teaching only to the Jews. They had forgotten the truth that God can use anybody as an instrument of healing.

“Whoever is not against us is for us:” Navarre Bible commentary explains this passage thus: “Our Lord warns the Apostles, and through them all Christians, against exclusivism in the apostolate–the notion that “good is not good unless I am the one who does it.” Jesus gives an ecumenical affirmation, and warning against jealousy and exclusivism or spiritual greed, telling his disciples that there should not be any rivalry, jealousy or suspicion as long as all hold the same belief. (Since the present-day divisions in Christianity are substantive, rising from differences over the basic tenets of Faith, today’s Gospel passage does not apply to them). However, Jesus’ instruction invites all Christians who accept him as Lord and Savior to work together for the common welfare of all, especially the poor, the sick, and the marginalized. There is no reason for any Christian denomination to be jealous of another denomination because of the greater good they do for people for God’s glory. True love seeks the highest good of our neighbor while envy results from the selfishness and pride contrary to true Christian love.

Life message: 1) Let us not try to prevent anyone from doing good to others because of envy or jealousy. Envy and jealousy are sinful because they lead us to sadness over what should make us rejoice. True love always seeks the highest good of the neighbor. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 23 Thursday: Mk 9:41-50:: 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. 42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 49 For every one will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

The context: After cautioning his disciples against jealousy and envy, Jesus explains to them the rewards for good works and warns them of the punishment reserved for scandal-givers. Jesus promises a reward for even the smallest act of charity for two reasons: 1) in performing the action, we are recognizing the truth that the beneficiary belongs to Jesus and that Jesus lives in him or her. 2) We perform the action as an expression of our gratitude for the numerous favors we have received from God.

The seriousness of scandal: Jesus tells scandal-givers that suffering a dire punishment like drowning in the deep sea with a millstone hung around one’s neck would do one less harm than one will suffer for committing the horror of giving scandal to one of His “little ones.” This is because 1) every scandal causes a chain reaction, resulting in the victims’ abusing and giving scandal to others in turn, adversely affecting the whole community in the process. 2) Scandals, like the sexual abuse of children, lead many to serious sins and lead both victims and scandal-givers away from Faith and religious practices. What does Jesus mean by amputation? Jesus teaches that, just as a doctor might remove an infected hand or leg or some other part of the body in order to preserve the life of the whole body, so we must be ready to part with anything that causes us to sin and which leads us to spiritual death. This means that we should abandon certain evil habits, bad friendships and undue attachments to avoid giving serious bad example and committing grave sins. Jesus does not teach that we should literally cut off hand or foot or pluck out our eye. Rather, using a Semitic idiom, he teaches that the most important aspect of our life is our Faith, and that it is better to suffer any calamity rather than to lose this precious gift.

Life messages: 1) We need to have salt in our lives: Jesus declares that, as the salt of the earth, our duty is to purify, preserve and give flavor to people’s lives by using the blessings given to us instead of leading others to sin by bad example. 2) As salt penetrates what it is placed upon, let us penetrate the society around us, radiating Jesus’ love, mercy, forgiveness, and spirit of service. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 24 Friday: Mk 10:1-12: 1 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again; and again, as his custom was, he taught them. 2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3……………………….12

The context: King Herod had married his brother’s wife, Herodias, violating the Mosaic Law. John the Baptist showed courage in condemning the king in public and was beheaded for it. In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees were setting a trap for Jesus asking whether he agreed with his cousin John’s position on divorce. Jesus used the occasion to declare unequivocally that the bond of marriage comes from God, and that it is permanent and indissoluble: “What God has joined, man must not separate.” Today’s Gospel gives Christ’s explicit teaching on marriage and divorce, the Divine origin of marriage, the sacredness of family life, and the indissolubility of marriage.

Jesus’ explanation of the Mosaic sanction: Jesus explains that Moses’ permission for divorce was only a temporary concession; Moses sought to control the growing rate of divorce in his time by introducing a law-governed divorce. Jesus adds that it was because of the hard-heartedness of the Jewish men that Moses allowed such a concession. By denying the man’s right to divorce, Jesus places the husband and wife on an equal footing in marriage, and he teaches that no Mosaic regulation dealing with a temporary situation can alter the permanency and unity of marriage.

Jesus’ clear teaching on divorce: Jesus reminds us that his doctrine goes back to the original intention of God. Citing the book of Genesis, Jesus reminds us that God made us male and female and commanded that “the two shall become one flesh.” He then draws the conclusion that “they are no longer two, but one body” – partners with equal rights – and declares that no man is allowed to separate what God has joined together (Mt 19:6).

Catholic teaching: Based on the NT teachings given in Mk 10:1-12, Mt 5:31-32; Mt 19:3-9; Lk 16:18; and 1 Cor 7:10-11, the Catholic Church teaches that marriage is a Sacrament involving both a sacred and a legal contract between a man and a woman and, at the same time, a special Covenant with the Lord. “Divorce is also a grave offense against the natural law. In addition, it breaks the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death…… Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into society” (CCC #2384, 2385).

Life messages: 1) Let us keep all families of our parish in our daily prayers. The mutual understanding and appreciation of the spouses, their openness and frankness, their spirit of sacrifice, adjustment, tolerance, their willingness to ask pardon and give pardon, their generosity in forgiving and forgetting – all these help to make a marriage permanent. 2) Let us also pray for all divorced men and women in the parish and also for those who have married again without an annulment, and welcome them as active members of the parish, although the latter cannot receive Holy Communion. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 25 Saturday: [Saint
Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church); For
a short account, click here: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-bede-the-venerable/   Saint Gregory VII, Pope;
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-gregory-vii/  Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin; BVM]https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-mary-magdalene-de-pazzi/ Mk 10:13-16: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 13 And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.

The context: Today’s Gospel passage describes one of the loveliest incidents in the Gospel story. Jewish mothers used to bring their children to the great rabbis that they might pray over the children, especially on their first birthday. Naturally, mothers wanted the healing touch and blessing of the most popular rabbi, Jesus. In an attempt to protect their Master from the crowd of mothers and noisy children, the Apostles started rebuking them. The passage describes Jesus’ reaction and teaching.

Childlike qualities for entrance into Heaven: By showing his displeasure at the rough reaction of his apostles, Jesus made it clear that everyone is equally important to him as a child of God. The mothers came to Jesus because he was affable, jovial, and approachable. Jesus decided to use the occasion as a teachable moment. He taught his disciples that entry into Heaven demands the childlike qualities of humility, innocence, obedience, total trust in a loving and providing God, confidence in the essential goodness of people, and readiness to forgive and forget. “To be little you have to believe as children believe, to love as children love, to abandon yourself as children do…, to pray as children pray” (St. J. Escriva).

Life messages: 1) Let us live in the awareness that we are the children of a loving and providing Heavenly Father and that by Baptism we are members of God’s family. Hence, we are expected to behave well every day as worthy children of a Holy Father. 2) Let us pray for all children in our families and for all our young parishioners, and let us find time to cooperate in the parish ministries meant for children and young people. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY (May 26) 1-page summary (L-24)

Introduction: The mystery of the most Holy Trinity is a basic doctrine of Faith in Christianity, understandable not with our heads but with our hearts. It teaches us that there are three distinct Persons in one God, sharing the same Divine Nature, co-equal and co-eternal. Our mind cannot grasp this doctrine which teaches that 1+1+1 = 1 and not 3. But we believe in this Mystery because Jesus, Who is God, taught it clearly, the Evangelists recorded it, the Fathers of the Church tried to explain it, and the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople defined it as a dogma of Christian Faith. (Add a pertinent anecdote).

Importance in Christian life: 1) All prayers in the Church begin in the Name of the Holy Trinity and end glorifying the Trinity. 2) All Sacraments are administered (we are baptized, confirmed, anointed, our sins are forgiven, our marriages are blessed, and our Bishops, priests and deacons are ordained) in the name of the Holy Trinity. 3) When Church bells ring thrice daily, they remind us to give glory to the Holy Trinity for the Incarnation of Jesus and His Redemption of all of us. 4) We bless ourselves, and the priest blesses us, in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

Biblical basis: There are only vague and hidden references to the Trinity in the Old Testament. But the New Testament gives clear teachings on the Holy Trinity.

1) At the Annunciation, God the Father sent His angel to Mary, God the Holy Spirit came upon her, the Power of the Most High overshadowed her, and God the Son became Incarnate in her womb.

2) At the baptism of Jesus, when the Son received the baptism of repentance from John the Baptist, the Father’s Voice was heard, and the Holy Spirit appeared as a Dove and descended upon Jesus.

3) At the Ascension, Jesus commissioned his disciples to baptize those who believed, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

4) John’s account: In John’s Gospel, chapters 15–18, we have a detailed account of Jesus’ teaching of the role of each Person of the Holy Trinity: a) God the Father creates and provides for His creatures. b) God the Son redeems us and reconciles us with God. c) God the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, strengthens us, teaches us, and guides us to God.

Life messages: 1) Let us respect ourselves and others because everyone is the temple of the Holy Spirit where all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity abide.

2) Let us have the firm conviction that the Trinitarian God abides in us, that He is the Source of our hope, courage, and strength, and that He is our final destination.

3) Let us practice the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in the family relationships of father, mother, and children because by Baptism we become children of God and members of God’s Trinitarian family.

4) Let us practice the I–God–my neighbor vertical and horizontal Trinitarian relationships in this life by loving God and our neighbors

HOLY TRINITY (May 26/2024)_Dt 4:32-34, 39-40; Rom 8:14-17;   Mt 28:16-20

Homily starter anecdotes: # 1: Simplified explanations by Ss. Patrick, Cyril and John Maria Vianney: Since the Holy Trinity is a mystery, all these examples are only the shadows of the shadows of the Truth. The shamrock, a kind of clover, is a leguminous herb that grows in marshy places. St. Patrick, the missionary patron saint of Ireland, used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity.  The story goes that one day his friends asked Patrick to explain the Mystery of the Trinity.  He looked at the ground and saw shamrocks growing amid the grass at his feet.  He picked one up one of its trifoliate leaves and asked if it were one leaf or three.    Patrick’s friends couldn’t answer – the shamrock leaf looked like one but it clearly had three parts.  Patrick explained to them: “The mystery of the Holy Trinity – one God in Three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – is like this, but more complex and  less intelligible.”     St. Cyril, the teacher of the Slavs, tried to explain the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity using sun as an example.    He said, “God the Father is that blazing sun. God the Son is its light and God the Holy Spirit is its heat — but there is only one sun. So, there are three Persons in the Holy Trinity but God is One and indivisible.” St. John Maria Vianney used to explain Holy Trinity using lighted candles, roses on the altar, and water in the cruets. “The flame has color, warmth and shape. But these are expressions of one flame. Similarly, the rose has color, fragrance and shape. But these are expressions of one reality, namely, rose. Water, steam and ice are three distinct expressions of one reality. In the same way one God revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” Watch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw&feature=player_detailpage (Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/))

# 2: The Mystery of man created by a mysterious Triune God: How complex and mind-boggling is our physical construction! Chemically, the body is unequalled for complexity.  Each one of its 30 trillion cells is a mini chemical factory that performs about 10,000 chemical functions. With its 206 bones, 639 muscles, 4 million pain sensors in the skin, 750 million air sacs in the lungs, 16 million nerve cells and 30 trillion cells in total, the human body is remarkably designed for life. And the brain!  The human brain with the nervous system is the most complex arrangement of matter anywhere in the universe.  One scientist estimated that our brain, on the average, processes over 10,000 thoughts and concepts each day. The three billion DNA pairs in a fertilized egg (a child into whom God has already breathed an immortal, spiritual soul), control all human activities, and the 30,000 genes make 90,000 proteins in the body. Bill Bryson in his book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, says it is a miracle that we even exist.  Trillions of atoms come together for approximately 650,000 hours (74 years calculated as the average span of human life), and then begin to silently disassemble and go off to other things. There never was something like us before and there never will be something like us again. But for 650,000 hours the miracle or mystery that is uniquely us, exists. One could spend years just dealing with the marvelous intricacies and majesty of God’s creation. We are, as the Psalmist states “fearfully and wonderfully made.” No wonder we cannot understand the mystery of the Triune God Who created us! Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 # 3: The mystery of the magnitude of the universe: The universe has around 100–1000 billion galaxies. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. The Milky Way contains 100–400 billion stars with their planets (including the sun and its planets), and our earth is one of its tiny planets. This means that our Sun is just one star among the hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.  The diameter of the observable universe is about 93 billion light years: a   light-year is a unit of length equal to 6 trillion miles. The number and size of galaxies and stars and planets in the universe remain mind-baffling mysteries. In spite of all our latest astronomical discoveries and studies — we have been able to send astronomers only to our earth’s single moon. So it’s no wonder that the nature of the Triune God Who created  everything that has existence by His will and word alone, remains a mystery. That is why we have to accept in Faith the mystery of the Triune God  Who has revealed Himself in the Holy Scripture!
(https://youtu.be/hTuJby2_97E)  (https://youtu.be/9Dsq-FrEJxo). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 # 4: “But that is impossible, my dear child!” There is a very old and much-repeated story about St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the intellectual giants of the Church.  He was walking by the seashore one day, attempting to arrive at an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity.  As he walked along, he saw a small boy on the beach, pouring seawater from a shell into a small hole in the sand.  “What are you doing, my child?” asked Augustine.  “I am emptying the sea into this hole,” the boy answered with an innocent smile.  “But that is impossible, my dear child!” said Augustine.  The boy stood up, looked straight into the eyes of Augustine and replied, “What you are trying to do – comprehend the immensity of God with your small head – is even more impossible.”  Then he vanished.  The child was an angel sent by God to teach Augustine a lesson.  Later, Augustine wrote: “You see the Trinity, if you see love.”  According to him, the Father is the lover, the Son is the loved one and the Holy Spirit is the personification of the very act of loving. This means that we can understand something of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity more readily with the believing heart than with our feeble mind. Evagrius of Pontus, a Greek monk of the 4th century who came from what is now Turkey in Asia and later lived out his vocation in Egypt, said: “God cannot be grasped by the mind. If God could be grasped, God would not be God.” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 Introduction: Today’s feast invites us to live in the awareness of the presence of the Triune God within us: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Holy Trinity, a doctrine enunciated by the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, is one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and the greatest mystery of our Faith, namely, that there are Three Divine Persons, sharing the same Divine Nature in one God.     “There is one God, who has three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Each Person is God, yet there is still only one God” (CCC #234, #253-256). We have the Father Who is the Creator, the Son Who is the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit Who is the Sanctifier and the Counselor. The doctrine of Three Persons in one God, co-equal and co-eternal in Divinity yet distinct in Person, is not explicitly spelt out in the Bible. Even the very word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible. But the doctrine of the Trinity underlies all major Christian feasts, including Christmas, the Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost. All the official prayers of the Church, including the Holy Mass and the Sacraments, begin with an address to the Holy Trinity: “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We are baptized, our sins are absolved, and we are anointed in the Name of the Blessed Trinity. Throughout the world, when Church bells ring three times a day, Christians are being invited to pray to God the Father (the Provider); God the Son (the Savior); and God the Holy Spirit (the Sanctifier), giving glory to the Triune God for the Incarnation of the Son and our Redemption through His suffering and death, as we pray the  Angelus, or in the Easter Season, the Regina Coeli. We bless ourselves with the Sign of the Cross, invoking the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and we conclude our prayers glorifying the Eternal Holy Trinity, saying “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and every shall be. Amen.” Today’s readings convey the fundamental mystery that the Triune God reaches out to people with love, seeking the deepest communion with them.

Frank Sheed’s and the Holy Trinity: The great apologist Frank Sheed used to propose a very interesting approach to understanding something of the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. He started by thinking about our own human nature. Each one of us exists, but since we are spiritual, we also have an idea of ourselves. We can think about ourselves, reflect on ourselves, and know ourselves. This is why human beings are the only animals on earth who write diaries.

That’s similar to what happens in the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. God the Father is spiritual, able to know Himself. He has an Idea of Himself. But, since His knowledge is limitless, unlike ours, that Idea of Himself is perfect and perfectly complete. But to be perfect, the Idea, or the Word, has to share in God’s own existence; the Word actually has to be a Divine Person. And so, God the Father, from all eternity, knowing Himself, engenders the Son, the perfect Image of the Father. And then, of course, since both the Father and the Son are Infinitely Good and Beautiful, as soon as They know Each Other, They also love Each Other. Even we, when we think about ourselves,k now something of ourselves, and  love ourselves. We want the best for ourselves. We are glad that we exist. But God’s Love, like his Knowledge, is limitless, Infinite, and so this Love, too, has to be Infinite and so intense and so full that It shares fully in the Divine existence; this Love is a Divine Person – the Holy Spirit.

This is the mystery we profess each week when we affirm our belief in the Son of God, who is “consubstantial [one in Being] with the Father, God from God, light from light true God from true God” and in the Holy Spirit, who “with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.” (E- Priest) — (Holy Trinity: Our God is far beyond the grasp of our intellect. All we can say is: God, the Father, our Father, is Omnipresent and so I live in Him because the universe exists in Him. The Son, Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us — and so He is always with me; I live with Him. The Holy Spirit is the One Who inspires us all from within us, and so The Holy Spirit lives in my heart. There is only one God.  We live in Him; He lives with us and He lives in us. Yahvheh – “I am Who am” — He is all (Joe Vempeny).  (The great 20th-century Catholic Theologian Father Karl Rahner, SJ, was supposedly asked once by a priest friend how he should explain the Holy Trinity when preaching. Father Rahner’s reply was simple: “Don’t!” The mystery we celebrate in today’s feast defies not only explanation but also comprehension (OSV)

First reading: Dt (4:32-34, 39-40) explained: Deuteronomy was written down much later than the time of Moses (ca. 1250 BC), during the Babylonian Captivity (587-539 BC). Internal corruption and external pressures had brought the Jewish people to the brink of extinction. Kings, priests, prophets, and Temple had all failed to hold them together. Those who produced the written document responded to this crisis by offering amplified explanations of the Mosaic legal traditions, in the hope of setting the Jews on a viable course for their future. Since the audience for the written presentation of Deuteronomy was having a very hard time holding on to its Faith and identity, the book’s reminder, that their ancestors had had to make the same struggle to achieve and maintain their strict belief in the one, true and invisible God, must have been encouraging. In today’s reading, Moses gives the people reasons to be proud of how they differ from their pagan neighbors. He asserts, in effect, “We have a better God Who gave us a better Law and we’re a better people than any of them There’s no other god like our God, the Only Real God, and no other Law like ours, and no other people like us, so shape up!”

 Second Reading (Rom 8:14-17) explained: As a response to some who insisted that pagan converts to Christ had to practice the Jewish law, Saint Paul tries to get his audience to let themselves be saved by the grace of God, instead of trying to save themselves by their own unaided efforts through their observance of the Mosaic laws. He advises them to lead their lives “in the Spirit,” that is, to let God take over. This reading addresses some of the relations among Spirit, Father and Son, as we experience them in our relationship with God.

Today’s Gospel (Mt 28-16-20) tells us that, returning to the Father, Jesus completed his mission on earth.  But just before the Ascension, Jesus entrusted to his disciples the mission of preaching and teaching the Good News and evangelizing the whole world by bearing witness to Him through their lives. Jesus also ordered them to baptize believers in the Name of the Holy Trinity: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Jn 16:19).  In the descriptions of Christ after the Resurrection, we are given a hint of what life will be like in Heaven.  But it is in Jesus’ Ascension that we see him entering fully into the life and glory of God.  The prospect of sharing in that glory should be the driving force in our lives.

Exegetical notes 1) The development of the Trinitarian doctrine in the Church.  The oldest doctrinal formulation of the Church’s belief in the Trinity is found in the Apostles’ Creed which has served both as the basis of instruction for catechumens and as the Baptismal confession of Faith since the second century.  Later, the Nicene Creed, originating at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325), stated the doctrine more explicitly.  This creed was introduced into our Western liturgy by the regional council of Toledo in AD 589. God has revealed to us three separate functions that are attributed to the Three Persons.  He has told us that it is proper to attribute to God the Father the work of Creation, to God the Son the work of Redemption, and to God the Holy Spirit the work of Sanctification.  Our knowledge of God as Trinity is made possible by God, Who  has chosen to reveal Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  As Father, God has brought forth the created universe, including our own being.  As the Father’s Only-begotten Son Incarnate, Jesus, God has made known One Who hears our cries, Who cares, Who counts the hairs on our head, and Who loves us so passionately that He became one of us in order to suffer for our sins, and even to die for us. that we may live forever in Him.  As Spirit, God remains with us and within us, guiding, protecting, comforting, instructing, and defending us throughout our lives here that we may be one with God forever.

2) The Triune God as seen in the Old Testament: Since Yahweh, the God of Israel, was careful to protect His Chosen People from the pagan practice of worshipping several gods, the Old Testament books give only indirect and passing references to the Trinity, and the Jewish rabbis never understood them as references to the Holy Trinity.    Genesis 1:26 presents God speaking to Himself:  “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”    Genesis 18:2 describes how Yahweh visited Abraham under the appearance of three men, an event that the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates as the “Trinitarian Experience of Abraham.” In Genesis 11:7, before punishing the proud builders of the Tower of Babel, God says, “Come, let Us go down among them and confuse their language.”  These passages imply, rather than state, the doctrine of the Trinity.


3) Clear statement of God as Triune in the New Testament.

1. The Annunciation (Lk 1: 26-38), describes how God the Father sent the Archangel Gabriel to Mary to announce to her that God the Holy Spirit, would “come upon” her, that “the power the Most High” would “overshadow” her, that the Son would be made flesh in her womb: “Therefore, the Child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
2. b) During the baptism of Jesus (Mt 3:16-17), the Holy Spirit is shown descending on Jesus in the form of a Dove, while the Voice of God the Father is heard from the clouds, saying, “You are My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Lk 4:22).
3. c) John (Chapters 15 through 18) presents the detailed teaching of Jesus on the Persons of the Holy Trinity.
4. d) In the preaching mission given by the risen Lord to the disciples, Jesus commands them to baptize people “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”(Confer also Mt 28:19; Jn 10:30).

 Life messages: 1) We need to respect ourselves and respect others.  Our living belief in the presence of the Triune God within us should help us to esteem ourselves as God’s holy dwelling place, to behave well in His holy presence, and to lead purer and holier lives, practicing acts of justice and charity.  This Triune Presence should also encourage us to respect and honor others as “Temples of the Holy Spirit.”

 2)We need to be aware of God as the Source of our strength and courage. Our awareness and conviction of the presence of God within us give us the strength to face the manifold problems of life with Christian courage.  It was such a conviction that prompted the early Christian martyrs being taken to their execution to shout the heroic prayer of Faith from the Psalms: “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge ” (Ps 46:7,11).  

3) We need to see the Trinity as the model for our Christian families: We are created in love to be a community of loving persons, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One in Love. From the day of our Baptism, we have belonged to the One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  How privileged we are to grow up in such a beautiful Family! Hence, let us turn to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in prayer every day.  We belong to the Family of the Triune God.  The love, unity, and joy in the relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit should be the supreme model of our relationships within our Christian families.  Our families become truly Christian when we live in a relationship of love with God and with others.

4) We are called to become more like the Triune God through all our relationships.  We are made in God’s image and likeness.  Just as God is God only in a Trinitarian relationship, so we can be fully human only as one member of a relationship of three partners.  The self needs to be in a horizontal relationship with all other people and in a vertical relationship with God.  In that way our life Trinitarian like that of God.  Modern society follows the so-called “I-and-I” principle of unbridled individualism and the resulting consumerism.  But the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt an “I-and-God-and-neighbor” principle:  “I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people.”  Like God the Father, we are called upon to be productive and creative persons by contributing to the building up of the fabric of life and love in our family, our Church, our community, and our nation.  Like God the Son, we are called to a life of sacrificial love and service, so that we may help Him to reconcile people with each other and with God, to be peacemakers, to put back together that which has been broken, and to restore what has been shattered.  Like God the Holy Spirit, we are called, with His help, to uncover and teach Truth and to dispel ignorance. (Trinitarian spirituality:  “The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that it belongs to God’s very Nature to be committed to humanity and its history, that God’s Covenant with us is irrevocable, that God’s Face is immutably turned toward us in love, that God’s Presence to us is utterly reliable and constant…. Trinitarian spirituality is one of solidarity between and among persons. It is a way of living the Gospel attentive to the requirements of justice, understood as rightly ordered relationships between and among persons.” Dictionary of Spirituality)

St. Francis Xavier’s favorite prayer was: “Most Holy Trinity, Who live in me, I praise You, I worship You, I adore You, and I love You.”  May the Son lead us to the Father through the Spirit, to live with the Triune God forever and ever. Amen.

JOKES OF THE WEEK:     

1) Trinitarian Love, the essence of family life: One day, while he was walking with God in the Garden of Eden Adam said, “Excuse me God, can I ask you a few questions?” God replied, “Go on Adam, but be quick.  I have a world to create.”
So, Adam says, “When you created Eve, why did you make her body so curved and tender unlike mine?” “I did that, Adam, so that you could love her.” “Oh, well then, why did you give her long, shiny, beautiful hair?” “I did that Adam so that you could love her.” “Oh, well then, why did you make her so stupid?  Is that too because I should love her?” “Well, Adam, no.  I did that so that she could love you.”

# 2: Wisdom from child’s mouth:  A priest went into a second-grade classroom of the parish school and asked, “Who can tell me what the Blessed Trinity means?” A little girl lisped, “The Blethed Twinity meanth there are thwee perthonth in one God.” The priest, taken aback by the lisp, said, “Would you say that again? I don’t understand what you said.” The little girl answered, “Y’not thuppothed to underthtand; ‘t’th a mythtewy.” (Another version: At confirmation, the Archbishop asked the children for a definition of the Holy Trinity. A girl answered very softly – “The Holy Trinity is three persons in one God.” The Archbishop, who was rather old and almost deaf, replied, “I didn’t understand what you said.” And the young theologian standing in front of him replied: “Well, Your Excellency, you are not supposed to. The Trinity is a mystery. Nobody understands it.)”

# 4: Trinitarian pastor: One parishioner said, “The Trinitarian God is a lot like our pastor. I don’t see him through the week, and I don’t understand him on Sunday.”

5) God Is Everywhere: A pastor was trying to explain to a little Sunday school child that God is calling people everywhere in the world to believe in him. “God is much bigger than we imagine him to be and God can use all of us in lots of different ways to do his work everywhere,” the pastor said. “God is everywhere!” “Everywhere?” asked the little boy. “Everywhere!” said the pastor. The boy went home and told his mother, “God is everywhere! The pastor said so.” “Yes, I know,” said the mother. “You mean He is even in the cupboard?” “Yes,” said the mother. “In the refrigerator — even when we close the door and the light goes out?” “Yes,” said the mother. “Even in the sugar bowl?” the lad asked as he took the lid off. “Yes,” said the mother, “even in the sugar bowl.” The boy slammed down the lid and said, “Now I’ve got Him!”

8) Lutheran satire about St. Patrick’s bad analogies (Funny You Tube joke): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw&feature=player_detailpage

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK (For homilies & Bible study groups) (The easiest method  to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard).

1) Fr. Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies

2) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/ (Copy it on the Address bar and press the Enter button)

3) Fr. Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:   https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant20663)

4) Dr. Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle  B  Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/

5) Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/

6) Father’s advice to his son in law before giving his daughter in marriage; (Hilarious video illustrating the role of the Trinitarian God in marriage)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eqEkPjUbmIA

7)Catholic doctrines in short videos; http://thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com/

8) Catholic pages Directory: http://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/default.asp

9) The Catholic Liturgical Calendar page: http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/index.php

10) Fr. Don’s video homily collections: https://sundayprep.org/prep-videos/  

 11) Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant: https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066 7)Virtual tour of Sistine chapel, Vatcan: http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source=Twitter

12) Free program for men’s renewal in parishes:  https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

(Video URL)= https://www.paradisusdei.org/index.php/programs/tmiy

29 Additional anecdotes:

1)  Trinity prayer of Tolstoy’s hermits: Three Russian monks lived on a faraway Island. Nobody ever went there. However, one day their Bishop decided to make a pastoral visit to learn more about their religious life. But when he arrived, he discovered that they did not know even the Lord’s Prayer. So, he spent all his time and energy teaching them the Our Father and then left them, satisfied with his pastoral visit. But when his small ship had left the island and was back in the open sea, he suddenly noticed the three monks walking on the water – in fact they were running after the ship. When they approached it, they cried out, “Dear Bishop we have forgotten the Lord’s Prayer you taught us!” The Bishop, overwhelmed by what he was seeing and hearing asked them, “But dear brothers, how then do you pray?”  They answered, “We just say, there are three of us and there are three of you, have mercy on us.” The bishop, awestruck by their sanctity and simplicity said, “Go back to your island and be at peace.” [Adapted from Leo Tolstoy- The Three Hermits“ (Russian: Три Старца), a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy), written in 1885 and first published in 1886 in the weekly periodical Niva (нива).] Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

2) The world’s biggest mysteries scientists still can’t solve: Ghost ships, alien contact, and technology, all built thousands of years before their time,  still remain mysteries, unexplained by modern science.  Ten such mysteries are the 1) Baghdad, or Parthian, Battery, date ca. 2000 years ago, capable of generating electric charge. 2) Terrifying SOS message about the death of all crew members from a from a Dutch freighter, the SS Ourang Medan. 3) The Dancing Plague of 1518 which made 400 women hysterically dance themselves to death. 3) Man, with no identity: A man who would soon adopt the name Benjaman Kyle woke up in 2004 outside of a Burger King in Georgia without any clothes, any ID, or any memories. 4)  The WOW! Signal received by Jerry Ehman, a volunteer for SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence from within the Sagittarius constellation near a star called Tau Sagittarii, 120 light years away. 5)  The Voynich Manuscript: The writing is composed of over 170,000 characters written in patterns that resemble natural language. The sections appear to describe different topics of herbal, astronomical, biological, cosmological, and pharmaceutical nature. 6) Oak Island Money Pit: Oak Island is the home of what is informally known as the “Money Pit,” of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada. It is an incredibly deep hole of incredibly elaborate construction discovered in 1795. 7) The Antikythera mechanism is an incredibly intricate analogue computer found in a shipwreck near Greece in the year 1900. The device was used to determine the positions of celestial bodies using a mind-bogglingly complex series of bronze gears. 8) “Sea Peoples” — a technologically inferior, unaffiliated group of seafaring warriors who raided the lands and are often credited with the collapse of once-great civilizations in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean regions. 9) Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe is composed of more than 200 pillars, up to 20 feet in height and weighing up to 20 tonnes, arranged in roughly 20 circles, built more than 13,000 years ago, predating Stonehenge by more than 8,000 years. 10) The Confederate Treasury. The year was 1865, and the American Civil War was drawing to a close. As the Union army marched the final path to victory, the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury George Trenholm made one last effort to preserve the South’s assets by liquefying all gold and silver and burying them in untraceable places along with jewels. (http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/archaeology/the-worlds-biggest-mysteries-scientists-still-cant-solve/news-story/aac87ed0bc09d5cd4dfba0d49f613334) — But these are no mysteries in comparison with the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

3) Human mystery confronting divine mystery: The story is told that Franklin D. Roosevelt and one of his close friends, Bernard Baruch, talked late into the night one evening at the White House. At last, President Roosevelt suggested that they go out into the Rose Garden and look at the stars before going to bed. They went out and looked into the sky for several minutes, peering at a nebula with thousands of stars. Then the President said, “All right, I think we feel small enough now to go in and go to sleep.”  — The wonder of the power and wisdom of God puts things in perspective for us humans. Creation was not an accident, but the result of a Divine Plan; planets, stars, plants, birds, fish, and animals were all created by God. And the climax of God’s creation was humanity. (Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

4) Aggressively selfish baby: A report some years ago, allegedly by the Minnesota Crime Commission, painted a dark picture of human nature indeed, particularly with regard to small children. I quote: “Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it – his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch.  Deny him these once, and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He is, in fact dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children not just certain children are born delinquent.  If permitted to continue in the self- centered world of his infancy, given free rein to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal a thief, a killer, or a rapist.” [Cited in R. Scott Richards, Myths the World Taught Me (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991), p.  39.] — It is to transform this self-centered human nature into a selfless, loving, God-centered one that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took human form as described in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

5) “You ask me a riddle?”  Richard, Cardinal Cushing (d. 11/2/1970; Archbishop of Boston, MA), told of an occasion when he was administering last rites to a man who had collapsed in a general store. Following his usual custom, he knelt by the man and asked, “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?” The Cardinal said the man roused a little bit, opened an eye, looked at him and said, “Here I am, dying, and you ask me a riddle?” — Call them riddles. Call them Mysteries. There are things about life and Faith we do not understand, but I am not going to suggest that you resign your effort to understand. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

6) “The undertaker!” There is an old story about a henpecked husband who went to a psychologist. He was tired of being dominated by his wife. The psychologist told him, “You do not have to accept your wife’s bullying. You need to go home right now and let her know that you’re your own boss.” The husband decided to take the doctor’s advice. He went home and slammed the door on the way in. He confronted his wife and said, “From now on you’ll do what I say. Get my supper, then go upstairs and lay out my clothes. After I eat, I’m going out with the boys while you stay home. By the way, do you know who is going to tie my tie for me?” “I sure do,” said his wife calmly, “the undertaker!” — Some marriages are filled with conflict. So are some offices. Unfortunately, some Churches are filled with conflict as well. The feast of the Holy Trinity challenges us to cultivate the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in our families and offices, parishes, and classrooms. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

7) “Bad things always come in threes.” An old adage warns, “Bad things always come in threes.” Have you found this true in your own experience — that bad things (and good things), like to happen in community, in bunches? You say: we invent this connection by suddenly realizing that we got a flat tire on the same day that a computer glitch devoured our hard drive, shortly after our last contact lens just slid down the drain.  I say: there seems to be something significant about the power of three. –- On this Sunday, “Trinity Sunday,” the Church celebrates the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, affirming the Truth that good things also come in threes. We recognize God as Creator (the Father), God as Redeemer (the Son), and God as Sanctifier (the Holy Spirit). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

8) “But the machine can’t ask me about my arthritis.” This true story is told of a woman named Mamie who made frequent trips to the branch post office. One day she confronted a long line of people who were waiting for service from the postal clerk. Mamie only needed stamps, so a helpful observer asked her, “Why don’t you just use the stamp machine? You can get all the stamps you need and you won’t have to wait in line.” Mamie said, “I know, but the machine can’t ask me about my arthritis.” — That’s part of the wisdom of Christ’s coming to our earth to live among us as described in John’s Gospel (Jn 3: 16-18).  He can relate to us in all of our daily needs. As we try to walk in Jesus’ steps, we might do well to pray the ancient Irish poem set to an Irish ballad tune, which says,

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all. (Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

9) A dumb debate on God: The following imagined debate for mute and deaf scholars is a warning to our pastors who think that they have explained Holy Trinity well to their flock on Trinity Sunday.  The Jews and the Catholics are having a debate about God and decide that they will each send one representative to prove that their side is right. The only rule is that words are not allowed. They decide on their representatives. The Vatican decides to send their best brain – Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation on Faith and Morals – while the Jews pick one of their best rabbis to represent them. As a sign of respect, the Jews allow the debate to be held at the local cathedral. The time for the debate comes and the rabbi walks into the cathedral and up to the cardinal. The cardinal waves his hand towards the sky. The rabbi responds by slamming his fist into his palm. The cardinal holds up three fingers. The rabbi responds by holding up his middle finger. The cardinal then pulls out bread and wine. The rabbi then reaches into a bag and pulls out two fish. At this point the cardinal holds up his hands and walks away.

After the debate the cardinal heads back to the Vatican to talk it over with the pope and the other cardinals. “Man, those Jews have it all figured out. First, I said to him, ‘God is everywhere,’ and he responded, ‘God is right here.’ I was taken aback. So, I held up three fingers representing the Holy Trinity, and he held up one meaning, ‘We all worship the same one God.’ I didn’t know what to do so I showed him bread and wine representing the sacrifice of Jesus, and he responded with two fish, representing that Jesus provides.”

The Rabbi headed back to the synagogue to tell the others his version what had happened. “Man, you wouldn’t believe those Catholics. The moment I walked in this guy with a weird hat gestures at me ‘No Jews Allowed.’ I said. ‘I’m staying right here.’ Then he said, ‘You have three minutes.’ I said, ‘Get lost.’ Then he pulled out his lunch, so I showed him mine.” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

10) Why Isn’t the Whole West Coast Included?  A woman wrote to Reader’s Digest, about an experience that she had when she took a young girl from India to Church with her. It was the eleven-year-old girl’s first exposure to a Christian worship service. The young lady’s parents were traveling on business and had left her in the care of their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to Church one Sunday. After the service was over, they went out to lunch. The little girl had some questions. She asked, “I don’t understand! Why isn’t the West Coast included, too?” Her Christian friends were puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?” She responded, “You know. I kept hearing the people say, ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the whole East Coast.’” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

11) God Is Everywhere: A pastor was trying to explain to a little Sunday school child that God is calling people everywhere in the world to believe in Him. “God is much bigger than we imagine Him to be, and God can use all of us in lots of different ways to do His work everywhere,” the pastor said. “God is everywhere!” “Everywhere?” asked the little boy. “Everywhere!” said the pastor. The boy went home and told his mother, “God is everywhere! The pastor said so.” “Yes, I know,” said the mother. “You mean He is even in the cupboard?” “Yes,” said the mother. “In the refrigerator — even when we close the door and the light goes out?” “Yes,” said the mother. “Even in the sugar bowl?” the lad asked as he took the lid off. “Yes,” said the mother, “even in the sugar bowl.” The boy slammed down the lid and said, “Now I’ve got Him!” Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

12) “What?” Jesus said, “Who do men say that I am?” And his disciples answered and said, “Some say you are John the Baptist returned from the dead; others say Elijah, or other of the old prophets.” And Jesus answered and said, “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Logos of the Father, the Son Whom the Father loved from eternity and Whom the Holy Spirit, the eternal Personification of the love between the Father and the Son, begot on the Virgin Mary.” And Jesus answering, said, “What? Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

13) “I’m surprised at you!” An English teacher of a 21-sophomore high school class put a small chalk dot on the blackboard. He then asked the class what it was. A few seconds passed and then someone said, “That is a chalk dot on the blackboard.” The rest of the class seemed relieved that the obvious had been stated, and no one else had anything to say. “I’m surprised at you,” the teacher told the class. “I did the same exercise yesterday with a group of kindergartners and they thought of 50 different things the chalk mark could be: an owl’s eye, a cigar butt, the top of a telephone pole, a star, a pebble, a squashed bug, a rotten egg, a bird’s eye, and so on.” — The older students had learned how to find a right answer but had lost the ability to look for more than one right answer. The Holy Spirit helps us, in His wonderful Wisdom, to see more than we might have seen by ourselves. The Spirit’s vision allows us wonderful options for expansion and new possibilities. It is the Spirit’s Wisdom that reveals the Word to us. It is the Wisdom of the Spirit that shows us our sins, which guides us, which instructs us, and which leads us in the way to Life Everlasting. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 14) Trinitarian design for medieval cathedrals: When the architect and engineer Aldo Spirito was commissioned to design a cathedral for the Archdiocese of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa, he used a number of architectural elements, as was the tradition of the builders of the medieval cathedrals, to reinforce the truths of our Faith. Among those elements is the fact that the basic structure is triangular, so as to state dramatically the fundamental truth of Christian Faith: God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

15) The Sundial: A missionary from Africa, on his home-leave, came across a beautiful sundial. He thought to himself, “That sundial would be ideal for my villagers in Africa. I could use it to teach them to tell the time of the day.” The missionary bought the sundial, crated it and took it back to Africa. When the village chief saw it, he insisted that it be set up in the centre of the village. The villagers were thrilled with the sundial. They had never seen something so beautiful in their lives. They were even more thrilled when they learned how it worked. The missionary was delighted by everyone’s response to his sundial. He was totally unprepared for what happened a few days later. The people of the village got together and built a roof over the sundial to protect it from the rain and the sun! — Well, I think the sundial is a lot like the Holy Trinity, and we Christians are a lot like the African villagers. The most beautiful revelation of our Faith is the teaching about the Holy Trinity, namely, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. But instead of putting the teaching to work in our daily lives, we have built a roof over it, just as the villagers did over their sundial. For many of us the Trinity seems of little practical value, when it comes to our daily lives. We treat it more like an ornament of our Faith. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

16) Jesus’ brother, Isukiri, died in Jesus’ place on the cross and Jesus went to Japan : While visiting one of the members of one of the congregations I served some years ago I was offered a cup of coffee, and while I sat in the lounge room waiting, I noticed something unusual.  On a table there was what appeared to be a shrine.  Inside was a Buddha statue with candles and flowers and food and other symbols.  As we sipped coffee, I asked about the display on the table expecting to hear a story about an overseas trip and souvenirs. Instead, I heard a story about this person’s involvement in the cultic Japanese religion Mahikari and how she felt that what she was learning through this religion complimented and supported her Christian Faith.  She told me how it taught her about karma, reincarnation, ancestor worship and making food offerings to the spirits of the departed, and so on.  She told me that Jesus’ brother, Isukiri, died in Jesus’ place on the cross, that Jesus went to Japan when he was 37 and he died there when he 106. The amazing thing about all this, is that this person saw no conflict between what she confessed on Sunday mornings when she said the Nicene Creed with us and what she did the rest of the week as she prayed before the shrine in her lounge room.  This reminds me of the young man who asked if he could go into the Church to pray.  Before the pastor could respond, he quickly added, “By the way, what kind of Church is this?  Not that it makes any difference.  I don’t follow any particular religion.  Whenever I pass a Church or a mosque, I go in say a prayer and plug into the Divine.  Any God will do!” ––   “Plug into the Divine,” like it is magic, a kind of pill that will keep us safe and sound!  Today’s feast reminds us that our God is a Triune God, one God in Three Persons. (Rev. Gerhardy). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

17) Exploring the mystery of Holy Trinity: Explorers and the pioneer families did solve the mystery of what was out there beyond the coastal strip. In fact, people have been exploring the mysteries of our world on many fronts – medicine, technology, and what is out there in space. Where there is any kind of a mystery, people will try to solve it. But there are some Mysteries that will always be Mysteries. Today, Trinity Sunday, we come up against one of those Mysteries – God.  Who is God? Where is God? What is God? I can’t touch Him. I can’t say how big He is. I can’t see Him. The early Christians started talking about a Triune God. This wasn’t to make God more logical and understandable and acceptable to human ways of thinking. In fact, the idea of the Trinity intensified the Mystery and awesomeness of God. They observed that Jesus had a unique relationship with the Father and that the Holy Spirit had a unique relationship with the Father and the Son. Against all sorts of odds, against all human logic, and in the face of mounting opposition, the Church maintained that Jesus Christ is true God, equal with the Father, and that the Holy Spirit is God, equal with the Father and the Son. Who is God? He is our Heavenly Father Who made us, takes cares of us and calls us His dear children. Who is God? He is Jesus Christ Who gave His life on the cross to re-establish our relationship with God. He reveals the way to God and to eternal life. Who is God? God is the Holy Spirit in each of us giving us Faith in God and guiding us in our daily walk as Christians. — Faith in the Triune God acknowledges the might and majesty of God but, at the same time, trusts in His care and intimate knowledge of our needs and of what is happening in our lives. “O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of Your Name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.”  Let us make this our prayer: “Lord God, in spite of our unbelief and lack of understanding of Who You are, show us Your new way of living. Amen.”  (Rev. Gerhardy). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

18) Holy Trinity prayer (Fr. De Mello version of Tolstoy’s The Three Hermits):    When the Bishop’s ship stopped at a remote island for a day, he decided to use the time as profitably as possible. He strolled along the seashore and came across three fishermen mending their nets. In Pidgin English they explained to him that, centuries ago, they had been Christianized by missionaries. “We, Christians!” they said, proudly pointing to themselves. The bishop was impressed. Did they know the Lord’s Prayer? They had never heard of it. The bishop was shocked. How could these men claim to be Christians when they did not know something as elementary as the Lord’s Prayer? “What do you say, then, when you pray?” the bishop asked. “We lift eyes in heaven. We pray, ‘We are three, You are three, have mercy on us.’” The bishop was appalled at the primitive, downright heretical nature of their prayer. So he spent the whole day teaching them to say the Lord’s Prayer, and he succeeded although the fishermen were poor learners.

Months later the bishop’s ship happened to pass by those islands, and the bishop, as he paced the deck saying his evening prayers, recalled with pleasure the fact that on that distant island were three fishermen who were now able to pray correctly, thanks to his patient efforts. While he was lost in thought he happened to look up and noticed a spot of light in the east. The light kept approaching the ship and, as the bishop gazed in wonder, he saw three figures walking on the surface of the water towards the boat. The captain stopped the boat and all the sailors leaned over the rails to see this amazing sight. When they were within speaking distance, the bishop recognized his three friends, the fishermen. “Bishop!” they exclaimed, “we are so glad meet you! We heard your boat go past island and came in a hurry, hurry to meet you.” “What do you want?” asked the bishop filled with wonder seeing them walking on water as Jesus did. “Bishop,” they said, “we so sorry. We forgot that lovely prayer you taught us. We remember only this much: ‘Our Father in Heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come’ . . .the rest  we forgot. Please teach us whole prayer again.” The bishop felt humbled. “Go back to your homes, my good men,” he said, “and each time you pray, say your Holy Trinity prayer, ‘We are three, You are three, have mercy on us!’” (Fr. Anthony de Mello S.J., The Song of the Bird, adapted from Tolstoy’s original story, The Three Hermits). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 19)“Welcome!” There is a beautiful Russian icon of the Blessed Trinity painted by a monk named Rublev. The monk, Andrei Rublev (c. 1360 – 1430), was a medieval Russian who painted Orthodox icons and frescoes. His Trinity icon is considered the greatest of its kind, and one of the finest works of religious art ever created, depicting a wordless conversation among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is based on an earlier icon known as the “Hospitality of Abraham” illustrating Genesis 18 which depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (see Genesis 18:1-15) sitting around a table.  But the painting is full of symbolism and is often interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity. A dish of food lies on the table. But the thing that immediately strikes you is the fact that at the front of the table there is a vacant place. — The vacant place is meant to convey openness, hospitality and welcome towards the stranger and outsider. That vacant place is meant for each one of us, and for all the human family. It signifies God’s invitation to us to share in the life of the Trinity. God doesn’t exclude us. He invites us to come in and sit at His table. He wants to share His life with us. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 20) We don’t need to understand God to allow Him to take over our lives

Thomas Edison, the inventor, once remarked: “We don’t know what water is. We don’t know what light is. We don’t know what electricity is. We don’t know what heat is. We have a lot of hypotheses about these things, but that is all. But we don’t let our ignorance about these things deprive us of their use.” — The truth of that statement is real. Most of us do not know how an electric light works, how a telephone or a TV works, but this does not prevent us from using them. Let us try to apply the same common sense to our Faith in the doctrine of the Trinity. (John Pichappily in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho).  Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 21) “Holy, Holy, Holy”: Today’s “signature” Hymn is familiar to all of us. It begins,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!

 Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

 Holy, Holy, holy, merciful and mighty,

 God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity.  Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

22) Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity Becomes a House of God: No one understood this better that Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.     She grew up in France in the late eighteen hundreds, the daughter of a successful military officer who died of a heart attack while she was still only a girl.     She was an extremely strong-willed and temperamental child.     Her frequent fits of rage were almost uncontrollable, and she was known as the “little devil.”     This began to change after her first Communion, when she was eleven.    That afternoon she met for the first time the prioress of the nearby Carmelite convent.     The nun explained that the girl’s name, Elizabeth, meant “house of God,” and wrote her a note that said:     “Your blessed name hides a mystery, accomplished on this great day. Child. Your heart is the House of God on earth, of the God of love.”     From then on, recognizing that God had taken up residence in her soul, she waged a holy war against her violent temper.     She didn’t win overnight, but she did win, eventually, and she also discovered her vocation to become a Carmelite herself.    Her mother didn’t like the idea, however, and made her wait until she was twenty-one.     She won friends of all ages during those years of waiting, singing in the parish choirs, arranging parish day-care service for families that worked in the local tobacco factory, and also winning several prizes for her skill at the piano.     She died only five years after entering the convent, at the age of 26, after having suffered horribly for months from an extremely painful disease of the kidneys.    But her realization that the Blessed Trinity dwelt within her enabled her to suffer with patience and even with joy.  As she wrote to her mother:     “The bride belongs to the Bridegroom, and mine has taken me. [Jesus] wants me to be another humanity for him in which he can still suffer for the glory of his Father, to help the needs of his Church: this thought has done me so much good.” — Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity had discovered the intimate, loving presence of God that He so eagerly wants to reveal to all of us. (E-Priest). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

 23) “As there is fire and water in this brick” According to Tradition, when St. Spyridon of Trimithund was asked at the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) how three can simultaneously be one, he responded (with a little Divine help!) by taking up a brick and squeezing it. From the now-soft clay in his hands, a flame flared up, while simultaneously water flowed downward. “As there is fire and water, and clay in this brick,” said St. Spyridon, “in the same way there are three persons in the one Godhead.” (The great 20th-century Catholic theologian Father Karl Rahner, SJ, was supposedly asked once by a priest friend how he should explain the Holy Trinity when preaching. Father Rahner’s reply was simple: “Don’t!”) — The Mystery we celebrate in today’s feast defies not only explanation but also comprehension. The preacher is left to reaffirm our core belief that God, remaining One, is somehow also Three in that Oneness – Triune.  The preacher is further challenged to help his congregants (and himself) understand why that Truth might matter in their daily lives.) https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/DailyTake/Article/TabId/736/ArtMID/13645/ArticleID/22072/June-11-2017-The-Incomprehensible-Mystery-of-the-Trinity.aspx). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

24) The universal testimony: A good illustration of the Trinity comes from world-renowned scientist Dr. Henry Morris. He notes that the entire universe is Trinitarian by design. The universe consists of three things: matter, space, and time. Take away any one of those three and the universe would cease to exist. But each one of those is itself a trinity. Matter = mass + energy + motion. Space = length + height + breadth. Time = past + present + future. Thus, the whole universe witnesses to the character of the God who made it (cf. Psalm 19:1). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

25) Another simple explanation:” St. John of Damascus, a great Eastern theologian of the eighth century, said we should think “of the Father as a root, the Son as a branch, and of the Spirit as a fruit, for the substance of these three is one.”  He also said, “Think of the Father as a Spring of Life, begetting the Son like a River and the Holy Ghost like a sea, for the spring, the river and the sea are all one nature.”(https://anastpaul.com)    Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

26) A Divine Mystery in our world of mysteries: The world we live in  is not as simple as it might seem to be. It is full of unexplained mysteries that raise several questions that remain to be answered even today. There are many such mysterious phenomena, which find no satisfactory explanation in science. Many of the mysteries keep us wondering, asking questions, and striving to learn more about our world; others are simply amusing. They have perplexed individuals all throughout history. The Bermuda Triangle is believed to possess certain supernatural powers due to which aircraft and ships coming in its vicinity disappear. Moreover, researchers have never been able to find the exact cause of the disappearing of vessels and aircraft, neither have they been able to trace the lost objects. The Bermuda Triangle remains an unexplained mystery. Unidentified flying objects, abbreviated as UFOs, are disk-like objects seen in the night sky. Some of them glow and have lights. People claim to have seen them float in sky or fly across speedily. It is said that they could be spaceships or vehicles of the aliens traveling to Earth. Archaeologists have found about thirteen crystal skulls in parts of Mexico as well as Central and South America. They are 5000 to 36000-year-old human like skulls made out of milky crystal rock. Long years of research might be able to find answers to some of them while many will remain being unresolved for generations to come. —  If there are so many things that cannot be explained in this world, how can we expect to explain the mysteries relating to the Creator of this world! Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a mystery that cannot be comprehended by the human beings. (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

27) The “Dogmatic” Sarcophagus, also known as the “Trinity Sarcophagus” is an early Christian sarcophagus dating to AD 320–350,^[2]  now in the Vatican Museums (Vatican 104). ^[1] The three persons of the Trinity are portrayed as three bearded males, in the act of creating Eve while Adam lies nearby in a deep sleep. It was discovered in the 19th century during rebuilding works at the Basilica  di San Paolo fuori le Mura, (Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wall), in Rome, Italy. Together with the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, it one of the most important examples of Christian-Roman sculpture of the Constantinian era. It draws its name from its clear references to the dogmas of the Council of Nicaea (325), in particular to Christ being consubstantial with God the Father, as shown (for example) by the scene of a figure with the appearance of Jesus between Adam and Eve, though whether the figure is to be understood as Christ or God the Father is less clear – the dogmatic point works either way. (Sanchez Archives & Wikipedia). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)

28)  Icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev:  In 1425 AD,  Andrew Rublev, a Russian monk, painted an icon of the Trinity in which three angelic figures are seated around a small table, engaged in intimate conversation. On the table is a chalice, in the background is a tree. The trio of figures and the tree are reminiscent of the visit which angelic messengers paid to Sarah and Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. As they enjoyed the generous welcome of Sarah and Abraham, the messengers announced the unexpected birth of Isaac (Genesis 18) whom Abraham would later be willing to sacrifice if God willed it (Genesis 22). — From his knowledge of iconography, Henri Nouwen has suggested that Rublev intended this angelic appearance to prefigure the Divine visitation by which God sends the unexpected gift of His Son, who sacrifices himself for sin and gives new life through the Spirit. Rublev hoped that his icon would offer his fellow monks a way to keep their hearts centered on God, Father, Son and Spirit, despite the chaotic world of political unrest in which they lived. (Sanchez Archives). Fr. Tony (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) 

29) The Most Holy Trinity: During his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) landed on an island in the South Caribbean Sea on July 31, 1498. He called this island Trinidad to honor the Most Holy Trinity. Later, when Spanish explorer Alonso De Leon (1639-1691) established a Spanish mission in Texas, he gave the name ‘Trinity’ to the 550-mile-long river that flows through Texas from north to south. Like Columbus and De Leon, we continue to honor the Most Holy Trinity by giving the name ‘Trinity’ to some churches and educational institutions. Also, once a year, we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity to remember and honor the three persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is the story of a wealthy Jewish man who was also a militant atheist. He had a son he sent to ‘Trinity School’ to get a good education. After attending the school for a few days, the son said to his father casually, “Dad, now I know what Trinity means.” “What does it mean?” the father asked him with a suspicious look on his face. “It means there are three persons in God,” the boy replied, “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Alarmed at the prospect of his son becoming a believer, he said, “Son, I am going to tell you something now, and I want you to remember it always. Forget the Trinity. There is only one God, and we don’t even believe in Him!” — This militant atheist was not an atheist. However, he had a tough time understanding the mystery of the Holy Trinity. That is why he was so vehement in his denial of the reality of the Holy Trinity. We cannot blame him for his lack of understanding of the Holy Trinity because we ourselves don’t really understand this mystery either. However, we genuinely believe in it because it has been revealed to us through the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, in our personal lives, we continue to experience the love of our heavenly Father, the saving grace of the Son, and the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit. Our Faith, as well as our personal experience, assure us that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Fr. Jose P CMI). L/24

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No. 35) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

Visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle C  & A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  of Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies or Resources in the CBCI website:  https://www.cbci.in.  (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph  M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 36507

Pentecost [B] (May 19) Sunday (8-minute homily in one page) L-24

Pentecostliterally means 50th. It is a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the feast of the Resurrection of Jesusby Christians. The Jewish Pentecostwas originallya post-harvestthanksgiving feast. Later, the Jews included in it the remembrance of God’s Covenants with Noah after the Deluge and with Moses at Mt. Sinai

The event: On the day of Pentecost: 1) The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary as tongues of fire. 2) The frightened apostles were transformed into fiery preachers and evangelizers and were given the gift of tongues by a special anointing of the Holy Spirit. 3) The listeners experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through the apostles’ gift of tongues: they heard Peter speaking in their native languages. 4) The early Christians became powerful witnesses and brave martyrs for their Faith in Jesus.

The role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life: 1) As indwelling God, the Holy Spirit makes us His Living Temples (I Cor 3:16). 2) As strengthening God, the Holy Spirit sustains, enlightens and supports us in our fight against temptations and in our mission of bearing witness to Christ by our transparent Christian lives. 3) As sanctifying God, the Holy Spirit makes us holy through the Sacraments: a) Through Baptism He makes us children of God and heirs of Heaven. b) Through Confirmation, He makes us temples of God, warriors, and defenders of the Faith. c) Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, He enables us to be reconciled with God by pardoning our sins. d) Through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, He gives us spiritual nourishment by changing bread and wine into Jesus’ Body, Blood Soul, and Divinity, through Epiclesis. e) Through the Sacraments of the priesthood (Ordination) and matrimony (Marriage), He makes the Church community holy. 4) As teaching and guiding God, the Holy Spirit clarifies and constantly reminds us of Christ’s teachings and guides the Magisterium of the Church in presenting Christ’s teachings correctly. 5) As listening and speaking God, the Holy Spirit listens to our prayers, enables us to pray, and speaks to us, mainly through the Bible. 6) As Giver of gifts, the Holy Spirit pours out on us His gifts, fruits, and charisms, thus enriching the Church.

Life messages: We need to permit the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives: 1) by constantly remembering His Holy Presence and behaving well; 2) by praying for His daily anointing so that we may fight against our temptations and control our evil tendencies, evil habits, and addictions; 3) by asking His daily assistance to pray, listening to God through meditative Bible reading, and talking to Him by personal, family and liturgical prayers; and 4) byasking the help of the Holy Spirit to do good for others and to be reconciled with God and others every day.

Pentecost [B] Acts 2:1-11; I Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; or Gal 5:16-25, Jn 20:19-23

Homily starter anecdotes:

1) “Well, Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore.” It happened in Galveston, TX. A woman was cleaning the bottom of the cage of her parrot Chippie with the canister vacuum cleaner. She was not using an attachment on the tube. When the telephone rang, she turned her head to pick it up, continuing to vacuum the cage as she said, “Hello,” into the phone. Then she heard the horrible noise of Chippie being sucked into the vacuum. Immediately she put down the phone, ripped open the vacuum bag, and found Chippie in there, stunned but still alive. Since the bird was covered with dust and dirt, she grabbed it, ran it into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held the bird under the water to clean it off. When she finished that, she saw the hair dryer on the bathroom sink. She turned it on and held the bird in front of the blast of hot air to dry him off. A few weeks later, a reporter from the newspaper that originally published the story went out to the house to ask the woman, “How’s Chippie doing now?” She said, “He just sort of sits and stares.” — Today’s Gospel tells us that was what happened to the apostles. They all were traumatized by the arrest and crucifixion of their master and bewildered by his post-Resurrection appearances and his command to prepare for the coming of his Holy Spirit.   Many of us can identify with Chippie and the apostles. Life has sucked us up, thrown cold water on us, and blown us away. Somewhere in the trauma, we have lost our song. Hence, we, too, need the daily anointing of the Holy Spirit to keep us singing songs of Christian witnessing through agápe love. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

2)  Treasure within: An old beggar lay on his deathbed.  His last words were to his young son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips.  “Dear son,” he said, “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 ring.  “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 us, making each of us His Temple and sharing His gifts, 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.  This is also a day for us to renew our promises made to God during our Baptism and Confirmation, to profess our Faith, and to practice it.  (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

3) “Lower your bucket– taste and see”: More than a century ago, a great sailing ship was stranded off the coast of South America.  Day after day the ship lay there in the still waters with not a hint of a breeze.  The captain was desperate; the crew was dying of thirst.  And then, on the far horizon, a steamship appeared, headed directly toward them.  As it drew near, the captain called out, “We need water!  Give us water!”  The steamship replied, “Lower your buckets where you are.”  The captain was furious at this cavalier response but called out again, “Please, give us water.”  But the steamer gave the same reply, “Lower your buckets where you are!”  And with that they steamed away!  The captain was beside himself with anger and despair, and he went below.  But a little later, when no one was looking, a yeoman lowered a bucket into the sea and then tasted what he brought up: It was perfectly sweet, fresh water!  For you see, the ship was just out of sight of the mouth of the Amazon.  And for all those days they had been sitting right on top of all the fresh water they needed! —  What we are really seeking is already inside us, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be embraced: the Holy Spirit of God Who has been living within us from the moment of our Baptism.  The Holy Spirit is saying to us at this very moment from deep in our heart, “Lower your buckets where you are.  Taste and see!” Come, Holy Spirit!  Fill our hearts and set us on fire!  Amen. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 # 4: Babel Tower of confusion  and the Pentecost Spirit of unity: The people used language to promote a human agenda (Gen 11:3-4). So, God confused tongues into many different languages (Gen 11:7). The result was disunity (Gen 11:6-7). At the Tower of Babel, God scattered the human family across the face of the earth in judgment (Gen 11:9). But on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit used language to announce the mighty works of God (Acts 2:14-41). Thus the Holy Spirit caused people speaking many different languages to understand one Gospel message (Acts 2:5-11). The result was unity (Acts 2:41). Pentecost was the beginning of the reunification of the whole human family.  The Holy Spirit drew redeemed men and women from across the face of the earth into God’s New Covenant expressed in the Church Jesus founded on Peter, the appointed servant/leader of the Apostles, and brought that Church to active life,  empowering the Apostles as they spread the Church to the ends of the earth.  (Acts 1:8; 2:37-41). (Rev. Michal E. Hunt) & https://www.calledtocommunion.com/2010/05/pentecost-babel-and-the-ecumenical-imperative/ (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

Introduction: The Jewish Pentecost: Both the Jews and the Christians now celebrate Pentecost.  The Feasts of the Passover,  of Tabernacles, and of Pentecost are the three major feasts of the Jews.  For each, every male Jew living within twenty miles of Jerusalem was legally bound to go to Jerusalem to participate in the feast.  The word Pentecost is Greek for pentecostes which means “fiftieth.” The feast received this name because it was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of the Passover.  Another name for the Jewish Pentecost is Shebuot or “The Feast of Weeks“ (the “week” of seven Sabbaths between Passover and Pentecost).  It was originally a day of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest.  During Passover, the first omer (a Hebrew measure of about a bushel), of barley was offered to God.  At Pentecost, two loaves of bread were offered in gratitude for the harvest.  Later, the Jews added to the Feast of Pentecost the element of Yahweh’s Covenant with Noah, which took place fifty days after the great deluge.  Still later, they made this feast an occasion to thank God for His Sinaitic Covenant with Moses, which occurred fifty days after the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt.

The Christian Pentecost: Pentecost marks the end and the goal of the Easter season.  For Christians, it is a memorial of the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Virgin Mary in the form of fiery tongues, an event that took place fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus.  The Paschal Mystery — the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of Jesus – is culminated with the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father at the request of His Son on Jesus’ disciples and Mother, Mary. The feast also commemorates the official inauguration of the Christian Church through the Spirit-guided apostolic preaching of St. Peter, which resulted in the conversion of 3000 Jews to the Christian Faith. Pentecost is, thus, the official birthday of the Church. But years ago, This Rock Magazine (now Catholic Answers) reported that there were 34,000 Protestant denominations which means that, on the average, more than sixty-nine new denominations had sprung up every year since the Reformation began in 1517.  So, whose birthday is it anyway?  We say Pentecost is the birthday of the Church Jesus established nearly 2,000 years ago. — Today’s Scripture readings remind us that Pentecost is an event of both the past and the present.  The main theme of today’s readings is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is something to be shared with others.  In other words, the readings remind us that the gift of the Holy Spirit moves its recipients to action and inspires them to share this gift with others.

The first reading (Acts 2:1-11): The selection from Acts for today describes in detail the miraculous transformation that took place during the first Pentecost, thus fulfilling Jesus’ promise to his apostles that they would receive “Power from on high.”   There was first “a noise like a strong driving wind.”  Then there were “tongues as of fire” resting on the disciples and Mary, filling each of them with the Holy Spirit.  The first manifestation of the apostles’ reception of the Holy Spirit came immediately, as the formerly timid, frightened men burst out the door and began to proclaim the Good News of Jesus! Then, everyone there (regardless of their many different native languages), was able to understand the Apostles’ proclamation of the Good News about the salvation of mankind, “in his own tongue.”  The Jews in the crowds came from sixteen different geographical regions.  The miracle of tongues on Pentecost thus reverses the confusion of tongues wrought by God at the Tower of Babel, as described in Genesis 11.  Later, the Acts of the Apostles describes how the Holy Spirit empowered the early Christians to bear witness to Christ by their sharing love and strong Faith.  This “anointing by the Holy Spirit” also strengthened the early Christian martyrs during the period of brutal persecution that immediately followed, as it has done through the centuries and as it does today for the thousands of Christians presently under attack for their Faith who hold fast to it, drawing on the Power of the Holy Spirit as they live and as they die.

In the Refrain for the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 104), we pray, “Lord, send out Your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth,” asking God for a “fresh anointing” of the Spirit for all of us.

In the second reading (I Cor 12:3-7, 12-13), St. Paul explains how the sharing of the various spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit enriches the Church.  He refers to the varieties of gifts given to the Church as coming from the same Spirit Who activates all of them in Christians for the common good.  They are described as the gifts, fruits, and charisms of the Spirit.  They may take different forms like prophecy, teaching, administration, acts of charity, healing, and speaking in tongues; they may be granted to and reside in different persons like apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, and so on.  Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit in his Letter to the Galatians: “What the Spirit brings is … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (5:22-23a).  He continues, “Since the Spirit is our Life, let us be directed by the Spirit” (5:25).  Paul insists that these spiritual gifts are to be used in the present time for the benefit of others, for the common good, and for the building up of the Body of Christ.

In today’s Sequence, the Church repeats her payer of invitation to the Holy Spirit (Veni Sante Spiritus), asking Him to come to us all now and detailing the effects His presence and His gifts will have on all of us, if we choose to receive them.

Today’s Gospel relates how the Risen Jesus gave his apostles a foretaste of Pentecost on the evening of Easter Sunday by appearing to them, sending them to carry on the mission given to Jesus by his Heavenly Father, then empowering them to do so by breathing upon them and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit….” On the day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise to send to them the Advocate or Paraclete. This gift of the Spirit would enable the Apostles to fulfill Jesus’ commission to preach the Gospel to all nations.  Today’s Gospel passage also tells us how Jesus gave to the Apostles the power and authority to forgive sins.  “Receive the Holy Spirit.  For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained” (Jn 20:23).  These wonderful words, which bind together inseparably the presence of the Holy Spirit with the gift of forgiveness, are referred to directly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  But they have a much wider meaning.  Those words remind us of the Christian vocation we all have — to love and forgive as we have been loved and forgiven in the world of today, which is often fiercely judgmental and vengeful.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and of the Church: How beautiful is the thought that the Holy Spirit lives within us!  Saint Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this fact when he asks, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (I Cor 3:16).  It is the Holy Spirit who develops our intimacy with God.  “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba!‘ (‘Father!’)” (Gal 4:6).  “God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (I Cor 12:3).  Moreover, we know that it is the Holy Spirit Who teaches us to pray (Rom 8:26).  By the power of the Spirit, we also know the Lord Jesus through His Church.  Pentecost Sunday is the birthday of the Church, for it was the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and Mary that brought the Church into full active life on earth, and it is the Holy Spirit Who still enlivens, enlightens, guides, and sanctifies the Church; the Holy Spirit will continue to do these things and more until the end of the world, the Judgment  of all humanity, and the presentation by the Father of the Purified Church, the “Bride of the Lamb” to Jesus, His Son and our Lord.  The Psalm refrain for this Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 104) says it well: “Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.”  We know Jesus through the Sacramental Mysteries of the Church, and Holy Spirit is at the heart of the Sacramental life of the Church.  Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders are the Sacramental Mysteries through which people receive the seal of the Holy Spirit.  It would be impossible for us to receive Jesus in the Eucharist without the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Epiclesis of the Divine Liturgy.  Even the forgiveness of sins comes through the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:21-23).  The Holy Spirit both confirmed the apostles in Holy Orders as priests and empowered them to forgive sins by His Power, a work which He continues today in each of our priests.

The action of the Holy Spirit in the daily lives of Christians: The Spirit is that Paraclete (a Greek word that is translated Counselor, Comforter, Helper, Encourager, or Enabler), Who quietly works in us and through us every day behind the scenes in the basic activities of our lives and the lives of the people around us. He is there in all His fullness wherever people worship and pray in the Name of Jesus. When we believe and trust in Jesus, we have that Faith through the Holy Spirit’s work in us, filling us with Himself and His Gifts. The Holy Spirit leads us to turn away from our self-worship and sinfulness, reassuring us that we are still loved in spite of our sin, and reminding us that Jesus died on a cross just to remedy the effects of those moments when we rebel against God’s Way. It is the Holy Spirit Who confronts us and urges us to take a good look at ourselves and where we are heading, to make a U-turn, to leave the old behind and to try something new. The Holy Spirit is not afraid to challenge us and stretch us to go and do things for Christ – things we have never done before or ever imagined ourselves doing! He’s the One Who says to us, “Stop being so self-focused. Stop looking into yourself all the time and being depressed by what you see or fooling yourself into thinking that what you see in yourself is enough to get you through! Look up, look away, look to Jesus and let Him turn your around; let Him take control!” “The feast of Pentecost celebrates the unseen, Immeasurable Presence of God in our lives and in our Church – the Ruah Who animates us to do the work of the Gospel of the Risen One, the Ruah Who makes God’s will our will, the Ruah Who IS God living in us and transforming us so that we may bring His life and love to our broken world.  God “breathes” His Spirit into our souls that we may live in His life and love; God ignites the “fire” of His Spirit within our hearts and minds that we may seek God in all things in order to realize the coming of His reign.” (Connections). Through Baptism and Confirmation, and in the presence of the believing community gathered in prayer, we are “indelibly sealed” and “empowered” by the Holy Spirit, who now dwells within us (CCC #698).

The Holy Spirit, the Helper is quietly at work everywhere in our lives.  We meet Him: in the sincere concern of a friend for our health; in the generosity of those who give us so much help; in the inner strength we discover in times of crisis; in those moments when we admit that we have been wrong; in the making of a tough choice; in the resilience of people who face one bad thing after another; in times when we have dared to love even though it was hard to do so. The Holy Spirit, the Helper, is quietly at work.  We find Him: in taking on responsibilities that we once thought beyond us; in refusing to let the greed of society take over our soul; in giving thanks always, even though times have been hard; in  rising above past failures and putting past hurts behind us; in finding the Central Core of Peace in the midst of turmoil; in an adult patiently teaching a child self-esteem and self-control; in the person sitting quietly beside a hospital bed; in a parent praying for a troubled son or daughter. The Spirit calls us to repent, that is, to “think again” and turn our lives around. We hear Him as He calls us to Faith and invites us, again, to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. Whenever we look to the Holy Spirit, He is within us as our Helper, always assisting us to be what God made us to be.  The Holy Spirit helps us to be truly great by becoming servants to one another. Likewise, the Spirit deepens our awareness of Jesus loving us as He lives in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit Who gathers us around the cross of Jesus; Who changes our lives, helping us to be more patient and forgiving; Who enables us to seek new beginnings in our relationships with one another; Who urges us to let the power of God’s love have the final say over the conflicts and difficulties we get into. The Indwelling Holy Spirit is available to us every moment of every day as we face and make our constant choices between remaining self-centred and becoming the God-cantered people, the Spirit is calling us to become in Christ.

Life messages:  1) We need to permit the Holy Spirit to direct our lives:  a) by constantly remembering and appreciating His Holy Presence within us, especially in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation;  b) by fortifying ourselves with the help of the Holy Spirit against all types of temptations;  c) by seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit in our thoughts, words, and deeds, in the breaking of our evil habits and substituting for them habits of Goodness and Love;  d) by listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Bible and through the good counsel of others; e) by fervently praying for the gifts, fruits, and charisms of the Holy Spirit; f) by renewing our lives through the anointing of the Holy Spirit; and g) by living our lives in the Holy Spirit as lives of commitment, of sacrifice, and of joy.  We are called to love as Jesus loved, not counting the cost. As Saint Paul exhorts us, “Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16, 25).

2) We need to cultivate the spirit of forgiveness.  The feast of Pentecost offers us the chance to look at the role which forgiveness should play in our dealings with others.  Thus, we are challenged to examine our sense of compassion, patience, tolerance, and magnanimity.  Learning to forgive is a lifelong task, but the Holy Spirit is with us to make us agents of forgiveness.  If we are prepared on this day of Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, we can have confidence that our lives will be marked by the Spirit of forgiveness.

3) We need to observe Pentecost every day.  “It will always be Pentecost in the Church,” affirmed Saint Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, on Pentecost Sunday 1978, “provided the Church lets the beauty of the Holy Spirit shine forth from her countenance.  When the Church ceases to let her strength rest on the Power from above which Christ promised her and which He gave her on that day, and when the Church leans rather on the weak forces of the power or wealth of this earth, then the Church ceases to be newsworthy.  The Church will be fair to see, perennially young, attractive in every age, as long as she is faithful to the Spirit Who floods her, and she reflects that Spirit through her communities, through her pastors, through her very life” [The Violence of Love, (Farmington, PA: The Plough Pub. Co.,  1998).] [Archbishop Oscar Romero was beatified May 23, 2015 by Pope Francis who canonized him October 14, 2018, the same day he canonized Pope Paul VI] Archbishop Romero’s declaration reminds us — as does today’s Gospel — that Pentecost is not just one day, but every day.  Without breath, there is no life.  Without the Spirit, the Church is a field of dry, dead bones. The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen once said about the Church, “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.” [Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in June, 2012.] 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.  Let us repeat Saint John Henry 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.” 

[Cardinal Newman was beatified September 19, 2010 by Pope St. John Paul II; he was canonized October 13, 2019 by Pope Francis]

4) We need to be Spirit-filled Christians: Spirit-filled people acknowledge their weaknesses, ask for the strengthening, anointing and guidance of the Holy Spirit every morning, ask for His forgiveness every evening, and pass on that forgiveness to those who sin against them. Spirit-filled people are praying people. Paul encourages us, “Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads. For this reason, keep alert and never give up; pray for all God’s people” (Eph 6:18). Spirit-filled people are praying and worshipping God in their families and parishes. They try to grow continually in their Faith, and they seek out every opportunity to discover Christ and what it means to be children of God. Spirit-filled people are people who allow the Spirit to change their lives through their daily reading of the Bible and their frequenting of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.  Spirit-filled people speak words that heal, restore, make people happy and build people up, instead of tearing them down. Spirit-filled people pass on the love of God to the people living around them by their acts of kindness, mercy and charity. Hence, let us ask the Holy Spirit for a spirit of love instead of hate, a spirit of helpfulness instead of non-cooperation, a spirit of generosity instead of greed, and a spirit of gentleness in place of our spirit of ruthlessness.

Joke of the week: The seven gifts in day-to-day life: A. The Gift of Wisdom

1) Four-year-old Amanda was taken to the doctor’s office with a fever.  The doctor looked in her ears and asked, “Who’s in there?  Donald Duck?” She said, “No.”  He looked in her open mouth, “Who’s in there?  Mickey Mouse?” Again, she said, “No.”  He put his stethoscope on her heart and asked, “Who’s in there?  Barney?” — Amanda replied, “No, Jesus is in my heart.  Barney is in the pocket of my underwear.”

2) “Where there’s smoke…” There is an old joke about a man who asked his pastor whether it was okay to smoke while he prayed. His pastor said, “Absolutely not! When you pray, you should be completely devoted to prayer!” So the man went to another priest, but he changed his question, “Would it be okay to pray while I smoke?” “Yes, of course” was the answer.

3) Qualifications?  Several years ago in Germany,  a Bishop was questioning the children who were about to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation: “Who can administer the sacrament of confirmation?” he asked. A young girl answered: “Any bishop, once he’s attained the age of reason!”

1. B) The Gift of Understanding:

1) A kindergarten teacher was observing her the children in her classroom while they drew pictures.  She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s artwork.  As she came to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.” — Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”

2) “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the Church, would that get me into Heaven?” I asked the children in my Sunday School class. “NO!” the children all answered. “If I cleaned the Church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?” Again, the answer was, “NO!” “Well, then, if I were kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my wife, would that get me into Heaven?” I asked them again. Again, they all answered, “NO!” “Well,” I continued, “then how can I get into Heaven?” A five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!”

1. C) The Gift of Counsel:

 A Deal? Just after receiving his driver’s license, a Lutheran minister’s son wanted to talk about using the family car.  “I’ll make a deal with you,” his father said.  “Bring your grades up, read your Bible more often, and get a haircut.  Then you may use the car once or twice a week.”  A month later the question came up again.  “Son,” the father said, “I’m proud of you.  I see you studying hard and reading your Bible every day.  But you didn’t get a haircut.”  After a moment’s pause, the son replied, “Yeah, I’ve thought about that.  But Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair.” — “True,” the father replied, “but maybe you noticed that they walked wherever they went?”

D)The Gift of Fortitude:

 Weather-wise? A mother refused to permit her little boy to go for a picnic with his classmates.  On the day of the picnic, howev–   But he sighed and confessed, “It’s too late Mummy! I’ve already prayed for rain on the school picnic day!”

1. E) The gift of knowledge:

 1) It’s what you know… The story is told of a man who went to the priest and said, “Father, I want you to say a Mass for my dog.” The priest was indignant.  “What do you mean, say a Mass for your dog?” “It’s my pet dog,” said the man.  “I loved that dog and I’d like you to offer a Mass for him.” “We don’t offer Masses for dogs here,” the priest said.  “You might try the denomination down the street.  Ask them if they have a service for you.” As the man was leaving, he said to the priest, “I really loved that dog.  I was planning to give a five-thousand-dollar stipend for the Mass.” And the priest said, — “Wait a minute!  Why didn’t tell me that your dog was Catholic?!”

2) Tax-bite A little boy wanted $100 badly and prayed for two weeks, but nothing happened. Then he decided to write a letter to the Lord requesting the $100. When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to the Lord, USA, they decided to send it to the White House so the President could have a look at it. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill, as this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5.00, and sat down to write a thank-you note to the Lord. He wrote: “Dear Lord, Thank You very much for sending me the money. However, I noticed that for some reason You had to send it through Washington, DC, and those jerks deducted 95%.”

3. The Two Ushers. Six-year-old Angie an her four-year-old brother Joel were sitting together in Church.Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. “You’re not supposed to talk out loud in church” “Why? Who’s going to stop me?” Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, ”See those two men? They’re HUSHERS! Now keep still!:”

F) The gift of piety:

“Out of sight, out of mind! A pious man, who had reached the age of 105 suddenly stopped going to synagogue. Alarmed by the old fellow’s absence after so many years of faithful attendance, the Rabbi went to see him. He found him in excellent health, so the Rabbi asked, “How come after all these years we don’t see you at services anymore?”  The old man lowered his voice. “I’ll tell you, Rabbi,” he whispered. “When I got to be 90, I expected God to take me any day. — But then I got to be 95, then 100, then 105. So, I figured that God is very busy and must have forgotten about me, and I don’t want to remind Him.

1. G) The gift of fear of the Lord:

Safety first! Do not ride in automobiles: they are responsible for 20% of fatal accidents.  Do not stay home: 1% of all accidents occur in home.  Do not walk on the streets or sidewalks: 14% of all accidents occur at such times.  Do not travel by air, rail, or water: 16% of all accidents happen on planes, trains or boats.  — Only .001% of all deaths occur in worship services in Church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders.  Hence, the safest place for you to be at any time is at Church!!!

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK (For homilies & Bible study groups) (The easiest method  to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard).

1) Fr. Nick’s collection of Sunday homilies from 65 priests & weekday homilies: https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies

2) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/featured-homilies/ (Copy it on the Address bar and press the Enter button)

 3) Fr. Geoffrey Plant’s beautiful & scholarly video classes on Sunday gospel, Bible & RCIA topics:   https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant20663)

4) Dr. Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle  B  Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-Biblical basis of Catholic doctrines: http://scripturecatholic.com/

5) Agape Catholic Bible Lessons: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/

YouTube Videos on the Pentecost

• Catholic video: https://youtu.be/FvLFQhQplKs
• https://youtu.be/7TyCwUrR_OM
• https://youtu.be/FIJrk9-dtRE
• https://youtu.be/FvDf6WqxWeY

         5) Fr. Don’s video homily collections: https://sundayprep.org/prep-videos/  

         6) Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant:

https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066

          7) Who is Holy Spirit? Jimmy Akins:  https://youtu.be/obfFIIjJ3t4

          8)Bishop Barron on the Holy Spirit: https://youtu.be/1INut0Gi09Q

36-Additional anecdotes:

1) The Spirit of God is the melody that energizes the Church: In the last years of his life, the great cellist and conductor Pablo Casals suffered greatly from rheumatoid arthritis and emphysema.  At 90, he was badly stooped, and his head pitched forward; his breathing was labored.  He needed the help of his wife, Marta, to get dressed in the morning.  Marta would then help him shuffle into his studio where he would, with great difficulty, arrange himself on the piano bench.  Casals would then manage to raise his swollen, clenched fingers above the keyboard. A visitor describes what he saw next one particular morning: “I was not prepared for the miracle that was about to happen.  The fingers slowly unlocked and reached toward the keys like the buds of a plant toward the sunlight.  His back straightened.  He seemed to breathe more freely.  Now his fingers settled on the keys.  Then came the opening bars of Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier [Well-tempered Clavier], played with great sensitivity and control . . . He hummed as he played, then said that Bach ‘spoke to him here’ – and he placed his hand over his heart. Then he plunged into a Brahms concerto and his fingers, now agile and powerful, raced across the keyboard with dazzling speed.  His entire body seemed fused with the music; it was no longer stiff and shrunken but supple and graceful and completely freed of its arthritic coils. Having finished the piece, he stood up by himself, far straighter and taller than when he had come into the room.  He walked to the breakfast table with no trace of a shuffle, ate heartily, talked animatedly, finished the meal, then went for a walk on the beach.” (From Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing and Regeneration by Norman Cousins). — Like music that inspires and exhilarates, the Spirit of God is the melody that energizes the Church, uniting our many different voices into the song of the Love of God.  God has formed us into a community, or Church, an instrument for bringing His life and love into our world.  But what makes our Church more than just a gathering of good people is His “Breath” infusing the Church with the music of His Divinity.  Today we celebrate that presence.  In Jesus’ breathing the new Life of  the Holy Spirit upon the assembled disciples on Easter night, the Community of the Resurrection — the Church — takes flight.  That same Holy Spirit continues to “blow” through today’s Church giving life and direction to our mission and our ministry to preach the Gospel to every nation and in this way, to immerse all of humanity in the music of God’s love. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

2) Paderewski immortalizing a boy’s music: Once, a mother took her five-year-old son with her to a concert by Ignace Paderewski, the great Polish pianist. The mother and her son got their seats close to the stage. Then the mother met her old friend and got involved talking with her. She failed to notice that her son had slipped away to do some exploring. At the right time the lights dimmed and the spot light came on. Only then did the mother see her five-year-old son on the stage, sitting on the piano bench, innocently picking out “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little star.” Before she could retrieve her son, Paderewski walked on to the stage. Walking over to the piano, he whispered to the boy, “Don’t stop! Keep playing.” Then, leaning over the boy, Paderewski reached out his left hand and began to fill in the bass. Later, he reached around the other side of the boy and added a running obbligato. Together, the great maestro and the tiny five-year-old mesmerized the audience with their playing. —  The image of the great maestro and the tiny five-year-old at the piano makes a fitting image of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples. On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit whispered encouragement to the disciples. The Holy Spirit transformed the feeble efforts of the disciples into something powerful. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

3)  Why are the Swiss watches gone? If in 1968 someone had asked which country would dominate watch-making in the 1990s, most people would have said Switzerland. This is because Switzerland had dominated the world of watch- making for the preceding sixty years. They had led the search for new ways to manufacture better and more durable watch parts. They had developed the best waterproofing techniques. In fact, in 1968 the Swiss made 65% of all watches sold in the world, and laid claim to 90% of the profits. However, by 1980 in Switzerland, watchmakers had been laid off by the thousands and the Swiss controlled a paltry 10% of the watch market. Why? The Swiss had ignored an important new development, the Quartz Movement. Ironically, it was  a Swiss who invented the Quartz movement, but the innovation was rejected because the resulting watch had no mainspring or knob. That was too much of a paradigm shift for them to embrace. It was too new and too strange. –Today’s text from Acts tells of a powerful paradigm shift in the People of God demanded by “God’s deeds of power,” the miraculous activities that accompanied the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and Mary, the Mother of God and of the Church. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

4) Speaking the same language: In 1887, Dr. Ludwig Zamenhof, a Polish linguist, constructed a new language that could be shared by people throughout the world.  The artificial language Dr. Zamenhof created is called Esperanto, “the language of hope.”  The name signifies hope for humankind that a common language might heal the divisions that exist among the different peoples of the earth. — The feast of Pentecost is the Church’s celebration of her unity and universality in the Holy Spirit, and so some of the readings used express this in terms of language.  Dr. Zamenhof’s invention of Esperanto as a universal language has been followed by the establishment of the United Nations Assembly and simultaneous translation, by Summit meetings of the heads of nations, by cultural exchanges, and by the revival of the Olympic Games. — But Pentecost is more than a work of human creation, more than a work of art and music. Pentecost is a new outpouring of God’s Spirit into our hearts to kindle in us the fire of his love (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

5)  All Mr. Yates needed was suddenly provided. During the Great Depression, a man by the name of Yates owned a sheep ranch in West Texas. Day by day he grazed his sheep and wondered how he was going to pay his bills. It was in the middle of the Depression, and even government subsidies would not give him enough income to break even. Then one day an oil company came to town. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well on Mr. Yates’ land. At 1,115 feet, they struck oil to the tune of 80,000 barrels a day. All Mr. Yates needed was suddenly provided. — When I read that old story, one that Bill Bright tells, I wondered if it might be a parable of our spiritual life. “All I have needed Thy hands have provided,” sings the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. That is a parable of our spiritual life. The power we need to become what God intended us to be is already in our souls in the form of the indwelling Holy Spirit. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

6) “Oh, it sleeps about eighty.” A family driving a large camper pulled up in front of the Church just as the pastor started toward home. Desiring to be friendly, the pastor introduced himself and expressed his admiration for the camper. The man of the family told him rather proudly: “This camper sleeps eight people.” Then he asked: “What is the capacity of your Church, Pastor?” The beleaguered pastor replied rather glumly, “Oh, it sleeps about eighty.” — It is embarrassing sometimes how little the modern-day Churches resemble the Church that first Pentecost: the sound of a wind-storm, tongues of fire, disciples speaking in different languages, thousands being added to the Church and lots of excitement – excitement everywhere! (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

7) “I’m gonna run her through that thing one time.” Two brothers grew up on a farm in a rural area near Cairo, Georgia. One brother took to education like a duck to water. He graduated from Georgia Tech and became a renowned engineer in Chicago. The other brother was content to stay home and farm. Some years later, the learned brother was invited to give a speech in Atlanta at the Peachtree Plaza Hotel. He had not seen his brother in a long while so he invited him to bring his family to the hotel and spend a little time with him. The rural brother had never been in a town bigger than Cairo. He and his wife and son piled into their pickup truck and headed for Atlanta. After a terrifying drive on the interstate highways, they pulled up in front of the Peachtree Plaza. The farmer left his wife in the truck. He and his son went inside to check in. Just inside the entrance were a number of elevators. The farmer had never seen one before. He watched a large, very plain, middle-aged lady step inside one of those little rooms. The doors closed. After about a minute, the doors opened and out stepped a young lady who was a vision of loveliness. The farmer’s eyes bugged out. Quickly he punched his son and said, “Boy, go get your Maw. I’m gonna run her through that thing one time!” — At Pentecost, a ragged aggregation of misfits was transformed into a disciplined cadre of spiritual storm troopers. The wimps became warriors! (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

8) Wilma Rudolph winning Olympics gold medals: Neil T. Anderson, in his book Victory over Darkness, tells a thrilling story about a little girl born with major health problems which left her crippled. She had a large, wonderful Christian family. Her mother used to tell her. “If you believe, God will make it happen. You will be able to run around like your brothers and sisters.” She took her mother’s counsel to heart and began to believe that God could heal her. She practiced walking without her braces with the aid of her brothers and sisters. On her twelfth birthday, she surprised her parents and her doctors by removing her braces and walking around the doctor’s office unassisted. She never wore the braces again. Her next goal was to play basketball. The coach only agreed to let her play as a means of getting her older sister on the team. One day she approached the coach and promised him if he would give her an extra 10 minutes of coaching each day, she would give him a world-class athlete. He laughed, but seeing she was serious, half-heartedly agreed. Before long her determination paid off. She was one of the team’s best players. Her team went to the state basketball championships. One of the referees noticed her exceptional ability. He asked if she had ever run track. She hadn’t. He encouraged her to try it. So after the basketball season she went out for track. She began winning races and earned a berth in the state championships. At the age of 16, she was one of the best young runners in the country. She went to the Olympics in Australia and won a bronze medal for anchoring the 400-meter relay team. Four years later in Rome she won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team “all in world-record times.” Wilma Rudolph capped the year by receiving the prestigious Sullivan Award as the most outstanding amateur athlete in America. Her faith and hard work had paid off. [Neil T. Anderson, Victory over Darkness (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1990), pp. 107-108.] — In a sense, that is what Pentecost is about. People opened themselves to the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit empowered them to do things they never dreamed possible. Pentecost is about empowerment: “a small group of folks turned the world upside down.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

9) In yachting, getting the wind means everything!  Rev. Alan Walker of Australia often tells about the race of the sailing yachts in which Australia finally defeated the USA for the prized America’s Cup. For 132 years, the cup was kept and defended by the United States. Again, and again there were challenges for the cup, but each time it was retained by the USA. Finally, in 1983 Australia mounted a serious challenge. The event took place as scheduled, and after six races, the two yachts were deadlocked at three wins each. Now the whole world seemed to take notice. Australia was alive with anticipation. The sporting world was focused on the race. The day came for the final race. After more than 100 years, the United States was in danger of losing its very precious cup. Thousands of people came to watch the race. Television cameras were ready to beam the race by satellite around the world. The crews were ready. The boats were polished. The yachts pulled into place at the starting line. All was ready but the wind was light and the start difficult. Throughout the race the skills of the skippers were tested; a small error at the next-to-last leg allowed Australia to make use of a breeze and windshifts to overtake America; the final leg was a “duel of tacking” using wind skillfully, and the race was won by Australia with a margin of 41 seconds. — In the life of the Church, the wind – the Power of the Holy Spirit alone provides power, energy life, but the Church at all levels must ask for and then use wisely all these gifts of the Spirit if it is to win the world for Christ.. (Wikipedia  supplied the facts of the race). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

10) Torch and Bucket: There is the story of a man who saw an angel walking down the street. The angel was carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. “What are you going to do with that torch and that bucket of water?” the man asked. The angel stopped abruptly, looked at the man and said, “With the torch, I’m going to burn down the mansions of Heaven, and with the bucket of water, I’m going to put out the fires of hell! Then we’re going to see who really loves God.” — The angel’s point is that many people obey God’s Commandments out of fear of punishment of Hell or hope of reward in Heaven. They don’t obey Him for the reason Jesus gives in today’s Gospel: they don’t obey them out of love. “If you love me,” Jesus says in today’s reading, “you will obey my commandments.” (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies).  (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

11) Do you belong to a Pentecostal church? During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the days of Mussolini, Christian believers suffered considerable persecution. In his book, Fire on the Mountains, Raymond Davis tells of the Holy Spirit’s Pentecostal Gift of Love demonstrated by believers for each other during this period of affliction, which in turn made a major impression on unbelievers. For example, no provision had been made by the invading army to feed the prisoners they had taken. This was the responsibility of relatives and friends. Christians in the prisons had no problem, though. They were well cared for by friends and family. In fact, so much food was brought them by fellow believers and Church groups that enough remained to feed the unbelieving prisoners also. This observable love, vibrant though nonverbal, brought many to seek the Lord. Such love had previously been unheard of. As a result the word spread far and wide. Non-believers sought out believers to learn more about the Christian Faith. When prisoners who had come to know Christ while in jail were released, they went back home and attended the nearest Church. [Leslie B. Flynn, You Don’t Have To Go It Alone, (Denver, Colorado: Accent Books, 1981).]   — It is only right, then, that we should pray that we might be a “Pentecostal” Church, if we understand what that means. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

12) “I need to know if you “Pentecostal.” The well-known author and preacher, Fred Craddock, tells a rather funny story about a lecture he was giving: A few years ago, when he was on the West Coast speaking at a seminary, just before the first lecture, one of the students stood up and said, “Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal.” The room grew silent. Craddock said he looked around for the Dean of the Seminary! He was nowhere to be found. The student continued with his quiz right in front of everybody. Craddock was taken aback, and so he said, “Do you mean do I belong to the Pentecostal Church?” He said, “No, I mean are you Pentecostal?” Craddock said, “Are you asking me if I am charismatic?” the student said, “I am asking you if you are Pentecostal.” Craddock said, “Do you want to know if I speak in tongues?” He said, “I want to know if you are Pentecostal.” Craddock said, “I don’t know what your question is.” The student said, “Obviously, you are not Pentecostal.” He left. — What are we talking about this morning? Is the Church supposed to use the word Pentecost only as a noun or can it be used as an adjective? And so I ask you: Are you Pentecostal? If the Church is alive in the world, it is Pentecostal. The Church is alive if we are in one accord, if we are sharing our blessings with the less fortunate ones, if we are joined together in prayer, and if we are repenting people asking forgiveness from God and others every day. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

13) “It was the Holy Spirit.” Fr. Bob Spitzer, a Jesuit priest who was the president of Gonzaga University for 12 years tells about a powerful prayer to the Holy Spirit. It involves asking for the healing of hurts and memories, not just for one’s own self, but for those one has harmed, always seeking forgiveness. He tells the story of making an offhand comment that afterwards he regretted. Unable to call the man, he went to the chapel and asked the Holy Spirit to heal any harm he had done. A few days later, something extraordinary happened.  Fr. Spitzer ran into the man walking on the campus, and the man said, “You know Father, I’ve been thinking about what you told me.  At first, I was kind of angry, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized what you were getting at.  You actually helped me a great deal.”–  As Fr. Spitzer remarked later: “It was the Holy Spirit!” (http://www.magisreasonfaith.org/files/pdfs/spitzerbio.pdf). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

14) The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of communication:  There have been numerous books written on the difficulty that men and women have in communicating. It has been estimated that women say something like 6,000 – 8,000 words a day and that men utter 2,000 – 4,000 words a day. At the end of the day the man has spoken his 4,000 words and doesn’t want to communicate any more. He simply wants to sit quietly, watch TV and go to bed. A woman most likely won’t have spoken her 8,000 words for the day yet. She may have 2-3,000 words to go and uses them to share every event of the day. This conversation may sound familiar. Wife: Hi darling …it’s good to see you home. How was your day? Husband: Good. Wife: I heard that you were going to finalize that big deal today. How did it go? Husband: Fine. Wife: That’s good. Do you think the boss will give you a raise? Husband: Maybe. Wife: Hey! Today I found out that I’m pregnant. Husband: That’s good. and so on… and then she goes on to tell everything that happened in her day. — The Holy Spirit communicates with men and women equally through the Holy Bible and inspires them and guides them in their communication with God. May God’s Spirit guide and help us as we go out from here today and give us the courage and power to speak his Word to others.  (Rev. Gerhard) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

15) Come, Holy Spirit: There was, in Europe, a period of human history called the Dark Ages. It started in about the fifth century and continued for the next 600 years. You might say it was a 600-year depression – food was scarce, people lived hand-to-mouth – and Western civilisation barely hung by a thread. The one bright spot was the local Cathedral. Building Cathedrals, even in small towns, gave work to thousands of people. These buildings became the cultural, social, and spiritual centres of life. Murals, stained glass windows, sculptures, and pageantry helped teach the great stories of the Bible at a time when very few people could read. With this in mind, some of the cathedral builders chose to impress on the people the meaning of Pentecost. In the great domed, richly painted ceilings were a number of small carefully disguised doors. During Mass on Pentecost when the whole town was gathered in the cathedral, some unlucky parishioners were drafted to climb up on to the roof. At the appropriate moment during the liturgy, they would release a live dove through the one of the small doors. This dove would swoop over the congregation as a living symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit. At the same time the choir boys would make whooshing noise, the doors in the ceiling would be opened again and this time rose petals would be showered on the congregation, symbolizing tongues of flame falling on the worshippers below. —  You can imagine the impact that this had on those medieval Christians whose lives were drab and hard! They might not have been able to read about Pentecost from the Bible but nevertheless this visual demonstration must have left a lasting impression. (Rev. Gerhard). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

16) Together they finished the race. Derek Redmond ran in a semi-final of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway round the track this British athlete collapsed with a torn hamstring. But he was determined to finish the race, and he struggled to his feet. Derek’s Dad got up out of the stand, and he broke his way through security. His Dad picked up his crying son, and together they finished the race. — That man did what the Holy Spirit does for us. It’s when we are spiritually exhausted, when we find ourselves giving into the spirit of slavery again and again, when we can’t pray, when we don’t want to pray, when our Faith is just not strong enough –-  when there is no way we can finish the race — that is when the Spirit picks us up and drags us to the finish line. (Rev. Gerhard). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

17) Some Pentecost traditions: Some parishes have begun encouraging people to wear red clothing on Pentecost, since red is the liturgical color of the day. — This reflects the old custom of decorating homes and churches with colorful flowers on this day. In Poland, for example, and among the Ukrainians, Pentecost is sometimes called the “Green Holiday,” and in Germany the “Flower Feast.” In some Latin countries, there is the term Pascha Rosatum, Latin words that mean “Pasch [“Easter,” we would say] of Roses.” And in Italy there is the name Pascua Rossa, meaning “Red Pasch [“Easter,” again],” inspired by the red vestments worn on Pentecost. Medieval Christians liked to dramatize the Pentecost symbols of the dove and flames of fire. Historical accounts tell us, for example, that in France, when the priest intoned the words “Come, Holy Ghost,” trumpets would blow, signifying the violent wind of which the Scriptures speak. In other countries, choirboys would hiss, hum, make odd noises with wind instruments, and rattle their benches. Then from a hole in the wall above, called “The Holy Ghost Hole,” a great swinging disk with a beautiful image of a dove would descend, and remain suspended above the middle of the church. From the same opening in the wall would follow a shower of flowers, representing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and water symbolizing Baptism. In the thirteenth century, French cathedrals would release white pigeons inside the buildings, and drop roses from the Holy Ghost Hole. Some towns in central Europe even dropped pieces of burning straw, representing the flaming tongues of Pentecost. This last custom eventually found disfavor, as more and more churches and worshipers caught fire, spiritually and literally. (Fr. Hoisington). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

18) “Did you and Grandma ever get into any fights?” A little girl asked her grandfather, “Did you and Grandma ever get into any fights?” The grandfather replied: “We don’t talk about it very often, but there was a time when we were not getting along very well. We seemed to be picking on each other a lot and finding all kinds of things to argue about and really getting on one another’s nerves. Well, one day I came in from the garden and I heard a voice upstairs. I went to the stairs and heard your grandmother telling God what she could not bring herself to tell me.” “Well, what did you do?” asked the granddaughter. “I quietly walked up the stairs,” he replied, “and knelt down beside her and told God my side of the story. And from that day to this, we have never had a problem which we couldn’t resolve by talking it over with each other and with God.”– Do you think the Holy Spirit was active in that couples’ marriage? There can be no doubt! Conflict will always remain part of every relationship. The fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control – will always remain critical for happy relationships with others. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

19) The Holy Spirit clean-up job: The Holy Spirit not only gives life but even brings dead bones to life. In Greek mythology, we read about the demi-god Hercules, son of Zeus and Alcmena. He was noted for his strength and was commanded by the King (whom he was serving in expiation of a crime), to clean the stables of Augeas, which housed 3000 oxen. The stable had not been cleaned for 30 years and Hercules was told to do the job within a day. This was a herculean job to complete. He could not do it by his own enormous power, so he directed the river Alpheus to run through the stable and so completed the task. — The apostles themselves did a great job of cleaning and giving life to people by serving as conduits for the Holy Spirit Who moved through the Apostles and into all who were willing to listen to their words and receive Him into their lives.  (Elias Dias in Divine Stories for Families). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 20) Unseen Guest: Rossini was a great composer of beautiful music, and the King of France, in gratitude and to honor him, presented Rossini with a watch which he kept in his showcase with great pride. One day he showed it to his friend. His friend was surprised to know the real worth of the royal watch. He touched a button on the watch and a beautiful photograph of Rossini popped up. All stood in awe! — Rossini had had the watch for several years and but had never realized its value and importance. Many people do not know much about the Holy Spirit and His importance in our lives. (Elias Dias in Divine Stories for Families; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 21) “Life after Delivery?” In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course! There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”  The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more  light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouth. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.” The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.” The second insisted,  ”Well, I think there is something, and maybe it’s different from life here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.” The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.” “Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.” The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists, then where is She now?” The second said. ”She is all around us. We are surrounded by Her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”  Said the first: “Well I don’t see her, so it is only logical that she doesn’t exit.” To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.” — Today is Pentecost: The Church’s birthday! “Before Pentecost, the disciples were unsure of what they were to do next, and spent most of their time in hiding. After Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit, they understood their mission to spread the Good News of Jesus, and they had the courage to come out of their hiding and speak openly about who Jesus was, and what he had accomplished by his dying and rising.” (http://www.staugustinechurch.net/homilies/pentecostSundayhomily.htm) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

22) The Shakespearean Advocate who saved a life: One of the popular comedies of William Shakespeare   is The Merchant of Venice.” Antonio, a successful merchant of Venice, got into trouble because of his generosity. His friend Bassanio asked Antonio for a loan. Antonio agreed, but, as all of his assets were tied up at sea, the two went to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock agreed to lend them 3000 ducats, but only if Antonio would sign a bond offering a pound of his flesh if the loan were not repaid in three months’ time. Antonio assented to the arrangement. Unfortunately, Antonio suffered losses and was not able to keep his word. The case reached the court. Shylock refused Bassanio’s offer of 6,000 ducats, twice the amount of the loan. He demanded his pound of flesh from Antonio. Everyone present at the scene pleaded for the life of Antonio. But Shylock was adamant that he wanted  that the bond be honored, demanding that court order Shylock to extract the pound of flesh. At that very moment, a young  Advocate arrived, offering to serve as Defense Lawyer for the case of Antonio.  In due course, the Defense Advocate argued that the bond allowed Shylock to remove only the flesh, not any drop of “blood”, of Antonio. Thus, if Shylock were to shed any drop of Antonio’s blood, his “lands and goods” would be forfeited under Venetian laws. — The young  Advocate stepped in at a moment when Antonio was in utter hopelessness. He was sure that he would lose his life. But the Defender’s arguments and reasoning brought hope to Antonio who began to be reassured. In this crisis, the presence of an Advocate brought great change to the troubled life of Antonio. — The disciples of Jesus, too, were in great hopelessness after the Ascension of Jesus. The message of Resurrection gave them hope and courage. However, that lasted only for forty days. After the Ascension they waited in Jerusalem following Jesus’ instructions, and they prayed. Then came the great miracle. They found the Great Advocate in their midst.  The Holy Spirit descended upon them  as tongues of fire, confirming their hopes and igniting their courage. It was the Holy Spirit Who transformed the ignorant men into possessors of Divine Wisdom. It transformed the cowards into heroes and desperate men into dreamers. (Fr. Bobby Jose) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

23) Carnal versus Spiritual: There was once an Eskimo who used to take his two dogs for a bet-fight in the town square. One was a black dog the other was white. The people gathered week after week to see the dogs fight and bet heavily on the outcome. On some days, the black dog won, and on others the white prevailed. No matter which dog won, the Eskimo made money. The secret behind his duping of the people was that he would feed well the dog which he wanted to win. — Do you feed your spiritual self and keep it strengthened by the daily anointing of the Holy Spirit to win over the carnal person? “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Daniel Sunderaj in Manna for the Soul; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 24) Film: Being John Malkovich: In the very strange 1999 surrealist movie, Being John Malkovich, someone discovers a portal into Malkovich’s mind, enabling visitors to see and experience things through his body and to influence his actions. He becomes aware of what’s happening and finds the portal himself. At the climax of the movie, there is a bizarre but powerful scene when he enters the portal, being swept down a dark tunnel with a roaring sound to emerge as a participant/observer in his own world. He discovers that everyone has his face and his voice, and every word spoken is in his name.– Connections with the Pentecost story? 1) The paradox of the Creator entering His own creation by an unexplainable power; the potential of the portal to connect people in an unprecedented kind of indwelling. 2) But the exploitation of the portal by those who find it — selling access, allowing it to be used to violate someone’s integrity — reminds me of all who abuse the gift of the Spirit for their own ends or to manipulate others. 3) Seeing the face of Malkovich everywhere reminds me of the Spirit making Jesus present through us in a new and all-encompassing way. We are recognizably Christ-like, though still ourselves, and all we say and do is “in his Name.” It’s a frightening moment in the movie, because Malkovich has no wish to become omnipresent as a Christ-figure, but the image is powerful. (Marnie Barre, “Film insights” in The Text this Week; quoted by Fr.  Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

 

25) Holy-Roller Service: A little girl was visiting her grandmother in a small country town in the Southern United States. They attended a very emotional religious service, where people expressed their feelings by jumping about and shouting; it was what we might call a “Holy Roller” service. The little girl asked her grandmother if all that jumping meant the Holy Spirit was really there. Her grandmother said. “Honey, it don’t matter how high they jump up! It’s what they do when they come down that will tell you if it’s the real thing!” — It would be good if we were a little more enthusiastic about our religion, but what matters is what we do in everyday life. Does the Holy Spirit have a practical effect on our daily life? In what way? (Gerard Fuller in Stories for all Seasons; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

26) High tide of the Holy Spirit: A ship strayed off course near San Diego some years back. It became stuck in a reef at low tide. Twelve tugboats were unsuccessful in their attempts to budge it. Finally, the captain instructed the tugs to go back home. He sighed, “I’ll just be patient and wait.” He waited until high tide. All of a sudden, the ocean began to rise. What human power could not do, the rising tide of the Pacific Ocean did. It lifted that ship and put it back into the channel. — Something like that happened to the early Church on the Day of Pentecost. They were all together in one place, waiting, wondering, praying, when suddenly the tide of Holy Spirit rolled in and they were transformed. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

27) Niccolo Paganini on one string:  The renowned Italian violinist, violist, cellist, guitarist, and composer, Niccolo Paganini, was due to perform one night in a very prestigious Concert Hall in Paris. Even as he walked on to the stage, the audience stood up and cheered with irrepressible excitement and heart-warming esteem. Resting his violin under his chin, the celebrated musician began to play with such dexterity and brilliance that the audience listened with spellbound silence. Suddenly one string of the violin snapped. But the consummate professional was not deterred. On the contrary, he continued to play with three strings, and the music was just as fascinating and impressive. Moments later a second string snapped; and minutes later the third. The audience gasped in stunned disbelief. What was Paganini going to do? Would he bow and leave regretfully? Without losing his cool, the famous maestro raised his hand, called for silence and announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to hear Paganini on one string.” What followed thereafter literally took everyone’s breath away – the performance was flawless, the music exquisite, the entertainment heavenly and just on one string! Such is the incomparable touch of the Master’s hand. — This extraordinary story aptly describes the singular and marvelous role of the Spirit in our personal lives. (J. Valladares in Your Words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

28) Why Isn’t the Holy Ghost Included?  A woman wrote to Reader’s Digest. She wanted to tell about an experience that she had when she took a young girl from India to Church with her. It was the eleven-year-old girl’s first exposure to a Christian worship service. The young lady’s parents were traveling on business and had left her in the care of their American friends.  The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to Church one Sunday.  After the service was over, they went out to lunch. The little girl had some questions. She wondered, “I don’t understand why the West Coast isn’t included, too!”  Her Christian friends were puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?”–  She responded, “You know. I kept hearing the people say, ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the whole East Coast.’” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

29) Different gifts, the same Giver: Max Herr, aged 75, retired in March, 1981 after 52 years as the official Vatican clock-winder. Pope St. John Paul II received this German-born clockmaker and his family in a special audience at the time of his retirement. There are some 50 pendulum clocks in the Vatican. Since 1929, Herr had made the rounds every Friday winding and resetting them. When they or the many non-pendulum clocks needed repair, he would clean and overhaul them. Six popes had been his friends, and he had many “professional” memories of them. Pope Pius XII used to have him set all the clocks fifteen minutes ahead. Pope St. Paul VI found ticking clocks a distraction, so he kept only one timepiece in his rooms: a small alarm clock he had used since seminary days. American friends gave John Paul II a grandfather chime clock when he was installed as Pope. — Max Herr was certainly not the most important figure in the central offices of the Catholic Church. But the role he played in the Vatican, however humble, was expert and indispensable. The popes are called by God to save eternal souls, but they must do their work in a world where time rules. In a sense for 52 years this German clockmaker had kept the whole Church going! — That is what St. Paul meant when he said, “There are different gifts but the same Spirit; there are different ministries but the same Lord.” Whether great or small, we should all be happy to use our God-given talents for the benefit of others. “To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” (1 Cor 12:7. Today’s second reading). –(Father Robert F. McNamara. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

30) “Now you know where God lives.” (In a Reader’s Digest’s article, quoted by Fr. Simplicio Apalisok in his homily book, an author tells how as a child, he was captivated by the sight of an old man prayerfully peering into an old cistern. Intrigued about what the old man was looking at, the boy edged up to the cistern and tried to see over the ledge. The old man held him with his shovel-like hands helped him over the ledge of the wheel. “Do you know who lives there?” the old man asked. The frightened boy shook his head. “God lives there. Look!” but the boy only saw his reflection in the still water. “But that’s me,” said the boy. — “That’s right,” said the old man. “Now you know where God lives.” (https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2012/05/19/pentecost-sunday-year-b/)(https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

31) Teilhard de Chardin , Karl Rahner and Hans Küng  on Pentecost: “The day will come,” said Teilhard de Chardin, “when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.” — In a sense, the annual feast of Pentecost is another opportunity, placed in the path of the believer, for discovering and participating in the ever-present fire which is God’s love. Pentecost rounds out and climaxes the Easter event. All that we have remembered and celebrated, viz., Jesus’ saving death, His Resurrection and His Ascension to glory, all of these sacred events took place so that the Holy Spirit might be unleashed upon the world. As Karl Rahner (The Great Church Year, the Crossroad Pub. Co., New York: 1994), once explained, “Pentecost calls us to the realization that the Center of all reality, the innermost Heart of all infinity, the Love of the all-holy God, has become our Center, our Heart. God is ours. God has been given to us as gift, without reserve. God has made our own the joy, freedom, knowledge, and peace of the Divine life” Hans Küng (Why I Am Still a Christian, Abingdon Press, Nashville TN: 1987) suggests that before the power of the Holy Spirit can truly take hold, all contrary spirits must be exorcized… to “… make room for the Spirit who is both tender and strong, who reconciles and unites.” (Sanchez Files). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

32) Aggiornamento:  Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (1881-1963) was the third of the 13 children born in a poor Italian family in 1881. As he was very intelligent, after being consecrated as a bishop in 1925, he was sent served as a papal delegate in Bulgaria, Turkey, and France. In 1953 he became the Patriarch of Venice as well as a cardinal. When Pope Pius XII died on October 9, 1958, Roncalli was elected pope at the age of 77 under the name John XXIII. He was considered a transitional pope, and nobody expected much from him. — However, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he surprised the world by convening Vatican Council II and asking the faithful to pray for a new Pentecost. He believed that only with a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit could the Church be renewed and updated (aggiornamento). That was why he asked the people to pray for a second Pentecost like the first one. (Fr. Jose P CMI) . (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

33) Poor diocese became rich by revenues from donated land: Sara Tracy was born on December 6, 1827 in New York City. She was the heiress to the vast fortune of her brother, Edward Tracy. While on a trip to Rome in 1899, she happened to meet Bishop Patrick James Donahue  of Wheeling West Virginiaon the ship by which they were traveling to Italy. Tracy spoke with Donahue during their trip on a personal matter. As they disembarked the ship, Tracy handed a check of $5,000 to Donahue for the needs of the diocese. She would continue to support the diocese during her lifetime and would, at her death, leavethe residue her entire estate to Bishop Donahue. The proceeds from this estate bequest allowed the establishment of Wheeling Jesuit College (later Wheeling University), the building of numerous facilities across the diocese, as well as the establishment of numerous outreach ministries. The investments were especially valuable for the lands that produced oil and natural gas revenues over the years. Bishop Mark E. Brennan was the first bishop to fully disclose and list the value of the investments from this fund. As of 2020, the investments from securities and mineral rights exceeded $286 million dollars, annual royalty revenues were $13.9 million dollars, with total revenues from investments exceeding $15 million dollars for the year, 2020. (Wikipedia). — The Holy Spirit indwelling  in each baptized Christian makes him or her richer and holier than what any worldly deposit can give. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).

34) Unknown underground oil reserves; There is story about a donation of acres of barren land given to her diocese by an old rich lady which recently started supporting the poor diocese with millions in oil revenue when the oils companies detected millions of tons of oil underground. This story is now validated as reported by Google as follows: (The Archdiocese of Oklahoma had acres of donated barren land which all of a sudden became a source of great income because of the oil reserves underground. In Oklahoma and Texas, Reuters found 235 oil and gas leasing deals signed by the Catholic Church since 2010. Church authorities are receiving royalty rates of 15 to 25 percent, Reuters reports. But the Church’s direct links to the fossil fuels industry through the Oklahoma and Texas lease deals highlight a potentially deeper moral dissonance in the wake of the pope’s unambiguous attack on human-caused climate change. Of the 165 Church lease deals signed since 2010 in Oklahoma, one quarter were granted by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Reuters reports, “with most of the rest granted by the Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma and the St. Gregory’s Catholic University of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley signed the most recent deal on Sept. 3, giving privately held oil company Comanche Resources rights to operate on 160 acres in Major County in exchange for 18.75 percent of the value of the oil and gas produced. A review of audited statements issued by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City between 2010 and 2013 showed that the oil and gas royalties made up 2 percent of total revenue, or $1.6 million, over that period. That share peaked in 2012 at 5 percent, or $704,399, according to the audited statements. The other Oklahoma institutions did not provide data). — We Christians are mostly ignorant of the great untapped energy of the Holy Spirit living in our souls ever since our baptism). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/).L/24

35) The sequence for Pentecost, the “Veni, Sancte Spiritus”

Come, Holy Spirit;

shine in us with the heavenly light of Your own radiance.

Come, Father of the poor, come, Gift-giver,

come, Light of hearts.

You, gentle Guest of the soul, are the surest Consoler,
cooling our fever-heat.

You are Rest when we labour, relief in searing heat,

Solace when we weep.

O most blessed Light!

Fill the secret inward spaces

of the hearts that turn towards You.

Without Your mysterious glory,

nothing in human spirits is free from poison.

Wash what has become soiled in us;

moisten what has dried out;

heal whatever is wounded.

Make supple what has stiffened,

melt what is frozen in us,

straighten what has become bent.

To us who believe in You, who trust in You,

give Your seven-fold gifts of healing.

Grant, as Your gift, the fruits of virtue;
grant, as Your gift, salvation at the end;
may Your gifts bring undying joy.

Amen, alleluia!

36) In simple and powerful imagery – Mexican poet Amado Nervo, puts it as follows:

Alone we are only a spark, but in the Spirit we are a fire.

 Alone we are only a string, but in the Spirit we are a lyre.

 Alone we are only an anthill, but in the Spirit we are a mountain.

 Alone we are only a feather, but in the Spirit we are a wing.

Alone we are only a beggar, but in the Spirit we are a King. L/24

 “Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 31) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

Visit my website by clicking on https://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle C  & A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  of Fr. Nick’s collection of homilies or Resources in the CBCI website:  https://www.cbci.in.  (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Fr. Anthony Kadavil, C/o Fr. Joseph  M. C. , St. Agatha Church, 1001 Hand Avenue, Bay Minette, Al 36507

At the cathedral in Chartres, the figure of Jesus is surrounded by seven doves, symbolizing these seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The Messiah will be filled up with all of the powers and energies of God’s Spirit. (Bishop Barron).

8 things to know and share about Pentecost– (Jimmy Akins, EWTN apologist)

http://jimmyakin.com/?attachment_id=18268Where did the feast of Pentecost come from, what happened on it, and what does it mean for us today? Here are 8 things to know and share .. . The original day of Pentecost saw dramatic events that are important to the life of the Church.But where did the feast of Pentecost come from? How can we understand what happened on it?And what does it mean for us today?

Here are 8 things to know and share about it . . .

1. What does the name “Pentecost” mean?

It comes from the Greek word for “fiftieth” (pentecoste). The reason is that Pentecost is the fiftieth day (Greek, pentecoste hemera) after Easter Sunday (on the Christian calendar).

This name came into use in the late Old Testament period and was inherited by the authors of the New Testament.

2. What else is this feast known as?

In the Old Testament, it is referred to by several names:

• The feast of weeks
• The feast of harvest
• The day of first-fruits

Today in Jewish circles it is known as Shavu`ot (Hebrew, “weeks”).

It goes by various names in different languages.

In England (and English), it has also been known as “Whitsunday” (white Sunday). This name is presumably derived from the white baptismal garments of those recently baptized.

3. What kind of feast was Pentecost in the Old Testament?

It was a harvest festival, signifying the end of the grain harvest. Deuteronomy 16 states:

You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.

Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God [Deuteronomy 16:9-11a].

4. What does Pentecost represent in the New Testament?

It represents the fulfillment of Christ’s promise from the end of Luke’s Gospel:

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high” [Luke 24:46-49].

This “clothing with power” comes with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.

5. How is the Holy Spirit symbolized in the events of the day of Pentecost?

Acts 2 records:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

This contains two notable symbols of the Holy Spirit and his activity: the elements of wind and fire.

Wind is a basic symbol of the Holy Spirit, as the Greek word for “Spirit” (Pneuma) also means “wind” and “breath.”

Although the term used for “wind” in this passage is pnoe (a term related to pneuma), the reader is meant to understand the connection between the mighty wind and the Holy Spirit.

Concerning the symbol of fire, the Catechism notes:

While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s actions.

The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who “arose like fire” and whose “word burned like a torch,” brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel.

This event was a “figure” of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes “before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah,” proclaims Christ as the one who “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Jesus will say of the Spirit: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!”

In the form of tongues “as of fire,” the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit’s actions. “Do not quench the Spirit” [CCC 696].

6. Is there a connection between the “tongues” of fire and the speaking in other “tongues” in this passage?

Yes. In both cases, the Greek word for “tongues” is the same (glossai), and the reader is meant to understand the connection.

The word “tongue” is used to signify both an individual flame and an individual language.

The “tongues as of fire” (i.e., individual flames) are distributed to and rest on the disciples, thus empowering them to miraculously speak in “other tongues” (i.e., languages).

This is a result of the action of the Holy Spirit, signified by fire.

7. Who is the Holy Spirit?

Here is a video I made on that subject…

8. What does the feast of Pentecost mean to us?

As one of the most important solemnities on the Church’s calendar, it has a rich depth of meaning, but here is how Pope Benedict summarized it in 2012:

This Solemnity makes us remember and relive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the other disciples gathered in prayer with the Virgin Mary in the Upper Room (cf. Acts 2:1-11). Jesus, risen and ascended into Heaven, sent his Spirit to the Church so that every Christian might participate in his own divine life and become his valid witness in the world. The Holy Spirit, breaking into history, defeats aridity, opens hearts to hope, stimulates and fosters in us an interior maturity in our relationship with God and with our neighbor.

May 6-11: May 6 Monday: Jn 15:26—16:4a:: 26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; 27 and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 16) 1 "I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them. "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

Context:In his final discourse with the apostles at the Last Supper,Jesus assured them that he would not desert them. Instead, a powerful Divine Helper, the Holy Spirit, would come to them from Jesus and the Father in order to guide them and to strengthen them.

The role of the Holy Spirit as outlined in today’s Gospel: 1) As the Counselor or Paraclete or Advocate, the Holy Spirit would coach, defend, and strengthen the apostles in their sufferings and persecution and would guide them during their trials before the civil authorities. 2) As the Spirit of Truth, He would bear witness to Jesus and enable the apostles to bear witness to Christ heroically before the pagans. The Holy Spirit would give them an experiential knowledge of Jesus and an in-depth knowledge of Jesus’ teachings. "The mission of the Church is carried out by means of that activity through which, in obedience to Christ’s command and moved by the grace and love of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes itself fully present to all men and peoples in order to lead them to the Faith, freedom, and peace of Christ by the example of its life and preaching, by the Sacraments and other means of grace" (Vatican II Decree, Ad Gentes 5). Then Jesus foretells the nature of the persecution: 1) Excommunicating Jesus’ followers from synagogues; 2) Establishing the murder of Jesus’ followers (“heretics”), as a religious duty in defense of Judaism and, so, pleasing to Yahweh.

Life messages: 1) As the Divine Advocate, the Holy Spirit living within us continues to help us bear witness to Christ by assisting us to live transparent Christian lives. 2) He also gives us courage and perseverance when we meet adversities and challenges. 3) As the Divine Teacher, the Holy Spirit, through our daily study of the Bible, helps us to know Jesus thoroughly, to love him personally, and to experience him intimately, so that we may live the ideals of Christ and convey them to others through our genuine Christian lives. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections or Copy and paste these web addresses on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard).

May 7 Tuesday; Jn 16:5-11: 5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

The context: In today’s Gospel, Jesus tries to console his sad, disheartened disciples at the Last Supper, for they are at a loss, hearing the news of their master’s imminent departure. So, he assures them that they will not be left alone. He will send the Holy Spirit upon them as a friend, guide, consoler, and teacher. Then Jesus explains the three different roles of the Holy Spirit in their lives. First, He will convince the world about the seriousness of sin. Thus, the Holy Spirit will lead us to repent of our sins and seek forgiveness from Jesus. The Divine Advocate will demonstrate that not believing in Jesus is the real sin. It is the Holy Spirit Who would prick the hearts of the Jews on the day of Pentecost, convicting them of their sin of crucifying their Messiah. In the same way, He convicts us of wrongdoing and convinces us of God's truth. Second, He will accuse them of unrighteousness because He will show that Jesus was the Just One who was never guilty of sin (cf. John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15) and therefore is in glory beside His Father. It also means that the Spirit convinces us of the righteousness of Christ, which means that that Jesus was right in his teachings and promises, as proved by God His Father Who granted him Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. Although Jesus was condemned to death, it was actually Satan, the ruler of this world, who was condemned through Jesus’ death. (Navarre Bible
Commentary. Third, the Holy Spirit gives us the inner and unshakable conviction that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. When we heed God’s judgments, we find true peace, joy, and reconciliation with God.

Life message: We need to allow the Holy Spirit to do what He wishes in and through our lives so that He may release us from the grip of sin and set us ablaze with the fire of God’s love. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 8 Wednesday: Jn 16:12-15: 12 "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The context: Today’s Gospel passage is taken from the Last Supper discourse in which Jesus instructed his disciples on the role of the Holy Spirit and His relationship with Jesus and God the Father.

1) First, as the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit is the Gift of God Who is the Possessor and the Giver of all truth. It is the Spirit’s role to make the disciples fully understand the truths revealed by Christ. Vatican II teaches that Our Lord "completed and perfected Revelation and confirmed it…finally by sending the Spirit of Truth" (Vatican II, Dei Verbum 4).

2) By bringing to their minds and clarifying everything Jesus has taught them, the Holy Spirit will also enable them to render glory to God by glorifying His Son Jesus. 

Relationship of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son: Jesus also reveals the mystery of the Blessed Trinity in today’s Gospel passage, saying that the Three Divine Persons have the same nature: “everything that the Father has belongs to the Son, and everything the Son has belongs to the Father” (cf. Jn 17:10), and that the Spirit also shares the same Divine Essence with the Father and the Son.

Life messages: 1) We need the daily guidance and strengthening of the Holy Spirit in our mission of bearing witness. We should remember that Faith is a gift. 2) Hence, we do not gain converts by argument or eloquence, but by praying for them and by radiating, through our living, the Good News that Jesus has died for our sins, has risen for our justification, and offers us a share in his glory. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 9 Thursday: When The Ascension of the Lord is postponed to Sunday: Jn 16: 16-20: 16 "A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me." 17 Some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, `A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, `because I go to the Father’?" 18 They said, "What does he mean by `a little while’? We do not know what he means." 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him; so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, `A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

The context: In the Last Supper discourse, Jesus tells the Apostles about leaving them in order to return to his Father and about coming again at the end of time to usher in the new age of God’s kingdom. When they start asking each other the meaning of these statements, Jesus explains to them the hardships they will have to face after his departure and the glorious reward waiting for them in his Second Coming. But as he had consoled them earlier, promising to send a Paraclete, now Jesus assures them that his absence is only temporary.

“A little while”: Jesus is speaking about a three-level disappearance and reappearance. The first level is Jesus’ death and Resurrection. The apostles will no longer see Jesus when he dies. But they will see Jesus again in three days as their risen Lord. The second level is the mystical level: They will lose sight of Jesus physically when he ascends to the glory of the Father. But they will see Jesus again in many ways by Faith when the Holy Spirit comes (e.g., in the Holy Eucharist, in the Holy Bible, in the praying community, and in people we meet). There is also a third level. Jesus is not now visible physically to the world but will manifest his glory to the whole world when he comes again in glory for the Last Judgment. In the light of eternity, a few thousand years are but an instant, a very short while.

Life messages: 1) Let us try to recognize the presence of the living Lord in our midst here and now. 2) Let us ask Him to help us adjust our daily lives accordingly, so that we, too, may inherit the eternal joy prepared for us. Fr. Tony (frtonyshomilies.com) L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 10 Friday: [Saint John of Avila, Priest and Doctor of the Church; For a brief account
click on: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-of-avila/; USA: Saint Damien de Veuster, Priest]: For a brief account click on:https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-damien-de-veuster-of-molokai/ Jn 16:20-23:20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.

The context: After foretelling his imminent departure following the Last Supper, Jesus tried to boost the morale of his sad, dispirited disciples. First, he consoled them, promising them to send his Holy Spirit as their Paraclete — Consoler, Guide and Advocate (Attorney). Then, Jesus assured them that his absence would only be temporary.

Contrast between present sorrows and future glory: Jesus compares the temporary pain, sufferings, and persecutions of his disciples to the passing, though intense, labor-pains of a woman giving birth to her child. The moment she hears the cry of her child and sees his or her face she forgets all her pain. In the same way, the "other-worldly" joy waiting for his disciples will transcend all types of earthly joys.

Life messages: 1) Let us see our pains and suffering as God’s means to strengthen our will and form our character. 2) The conviction of the temporary nature of our suffering and of the glory waiting for us if we accept pain and suffering graciously, converting them into willing acts of reparation for sins, will help us to face them heroically. (Fr. Tony) L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections

May 11 Saturday: Jn 16:23b-28:23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. 24 Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 "I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

The context: Jesus used parables and metaphors, both in teaching the general public and in explaining teachings to the apostles. Today’s Gospel passage is taken from Jesus’ last discourse with his disciples at their Last Passover Supper together. Here, too, Jesus uses metaphors of a vine and its branches and the simile of a woman giving birth. Now Jesus tells them that he is going to tell them about God, his Father, in plain language. Jesus explains the mystery of his Incarnation in plain language saying, “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father." Then Jesus corrects the Jewish misconception of God, his Father, as a judging and punishing God, telling the apostles that God the Father is a loving and forgiving Father, to Whom they can pray directly (“Abba!”) in Jesus’ name, and that their prayers will be granted because the Father knows that they love His Son, Jesus, and believe in his Divinity. To pray in Jesus’ Name is not a magic formula or password. It means that we come to God the Father in the merit and righteousness of His Son, Jesus. In other words, I come to the Father depending on the perfect merit of Jesus which gives me standing before the Father. It also means that I pray to Father as Jesus’ representative, asking that God the Father’s will be done and that His name be glorified. In other words, praying in Jesus’ name means praying with Jesus’ authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus. This is the pattern of prayer in the Liturgy. The Eucharistic prayer is invariably addressed to the Father, “through Him (Jesus), with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit” All our prayer has the pattern of the Trinity stamped on it. This does not mean that we should never pray to anyone but the Father. We are free to pray to Jesus, Mary, and the saints, but always in the full knowledge that the Father is the ultimate Recipient of all prayer – just as the sea receives every stream.

Life messages: 1) God our Father is a loving, merciful and providing God who wants His children to approach Him directly and through His Son and our only mediator, Jesus. 2) Hence, let us make our prayers of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, contrition, and petition more effective and fruitful by offering them to God our Father through His Son Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/24

For additional reflections, click on: https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/; https://www.epriest.com/reflections