We’ve just finished reading the passion of Jesus as told to us by Matthew. We’ve had two gospels in today’s Mass. In the first gospel, read before the blessing of the palms, we heard of Jesus coming into the holy city enthusiastically welcomed by the crowds as they called out, “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest heaven.” In the second gospel for this feast we hear of how things go so quickly downhill. It tells of another procession, a procession we call, ‘the way of the cross’ a procession that goes out of the city to a hill called Calvary. These two processions bespeak the duality of our human response to God throughout our lives. Sometimes we welcome him in and other times we push him away. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Homily’ Category
Homily – April 17
Sunday, April 17th, 2011Homily – April 10
Sunday, April 10th, 2011Today’s gospel tells of the wonderful event of Jesus calling his friend Lazarus back to life. In John’s recounting of this wondrous event there are certain phrases that tell of the close friendship Jesus had with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Jesus gets the news, “He whom you love is ill;” the message being, come quickly. When Jesus does make his way to Bethany Lazarus is already dead. Jesus is greeted with a rebuke from Lazarus’ sisters, “if you had been here my brother would not have died.” In other words, ‘where were you when we needed you?’ Jesus asked to be taken to the grave and on his way Jesus weeps; he joined his tears to those of Mary and Martha, he enters into their grief. When they get to the tomb Jesus makes a strange request, “take the stone away.” We can imagine the surprise of family and friends. Why would anyone want to open a tomb when it was already filled with the stench of corruption? But Lazarus’ friends do what they are told and roll the stone away. Jesus stands before the open hole and calls. “Lazarus come out.” To the amazement and wonder of all the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, his face wrapped with a cloth. Then we heard the final words of Jesus, ‘unbind him and let him go’. (more…)
Homily – April 3
Sunday, April 3rd, 2011Today’s gospel tells of another one of Jesus’ great acts of kindness. Imagine being blind from birth. We’d have no sense of color, no idea of the beauty of the world around us, no idea of what our loved ones looked like, no idea of how we looked. What a shock this blind man must have had when sight shattered his darkness and for the first time he saw. He saw the sun, the sky, he saw his parents, and he could put faces to the voices he’d been hearing for years. He saw the temple. (more…)
Homily – March 27
Sunday, March 27th, 2011Water is very much in the news these days. The news out of Japan is tragic. We usually associate water with life but in Japan and a couple of years ago in Indonesia and just recently in Australia we saw the destructive power of water. Over the last week we’ve seen scene after scene of a wall of water sweeping everything before it, homes, autos, ships and men, women and children. This was not life giving water, it was destructive and death-dealing. It will take years for the good people of Japan to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. (more…)
Homily – March 20
Sunday, March 20th, 2011One of the places we visited on our trip to the Holy Land last November was the Mount of the Transfiguration. In the gospel Matthew tells us that Jesus took his favorites, Peter, James and John, up a very high mountain. It really is a very high mountain. We rode up the mountain so far by our tour bus and took taxis up the rest of the way. If memory serves me right it took well over an hour to make the trip. When we got to the top I had a hard time believing the four of them really climbed to the top of that mountain. It would have taken them days. The view from this mountain is spectacular. There are ruins of a Byzantine church and a new one built many years ago. In the main body of the church is a beautiful mosaic of the Transfiguration with two small chapels, one dedicated to Moses, the other to Elijah. It was one of the most impressive places we visited. (more…)
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
