A Homily – The Second Sunday of Lent (Year B)

First Reading – Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 115(116):10, 15-19 ©

Second Reading – Romans 8:31-34 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 17:5

The Gospel According to Mark 9:2 – 10 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 God never ordered the sacrifice of Isaac, but the culture Abraham came from did. His culture demanded that he make a sacrifice of his firstborn son, this may have been a literal sacrifice as narrated in the Abrahamic myth, or it may have been simply that he was required to give his firstborn into the service of the temple. Whatever the case, Abraham rejected that demand, and by doing so he showed his people that God would accept something different in return: a lamb in the place of a human child.

 Abraham renegotiated the contract.

 Understand.

 God did not want the sacrifice of Isaac, and God had no desire for the lamb either. God does not demand blood sacrifice; God never has and God never will. What God desired was reform.

 In keeping with God’s abiding interest in justice and mercy, God desired for Abraham’s people to forego both the horrors of human sacrifice, as well as the tradition of subjecting their offspring to servitude at the temple or to whomever the temple might sell him.

 Remember.

 Abraham had already rejected this system when he sent his actual first-born away, driving Ishmael and his mother Hagar into the desert, before such a demand could be made of him. When it came to Isaac, Sarah’s son, he doubled down.

 Ultimately Abraham gave God what God wanted; God did not ask for it directly, but Abraham heard God speaking from the hidden chamber of his heart. He listened just as Jesus listened when he chose to give his life so that others would be spared. Abraham heard God and made the courageous  choice to keep Isaac close and offered he a lamb instead, as many lamb’s as it would take to spare his son and satisfy the temple’s demand. As many lambs as it would take to free his people from an awful demand.

 Be mindful!

 God did not want Jesus’ blood either, the Sanhedrin and the Romans did. It was Jesus’ political enemies who wanted him dead. They would have killed him and all of his followers if Jesus had not gone to the cross without putting up a fight, and God loved him for that, for the mercy he showed his fellows by not letting the cup of bitter dregs pass from him and by going to his death that way.

 Know this.

 Jesus’ death was not a cosmic event, it was a political murder; it was an all-together ordinary event. There is nothing more to it than this.

 Jesus’ death was never a substitutionary sacrifice as the apostle suggests, Paul did a disservice to the Church when he made this assertion; he deviated from the way when he translated the meaning of the crucifixion into that. By tying it to the cult of animal sacrifice, he tied it to a system of justice that is inherently transactional, commercial and corrupt.

 Consider the words of the psalmist.

 Trust in God not in men.

 The promises that God makes for our well-being and salvation are not promises that are meant to be realized in this world. Justice in this world comes through the labor of human beings.

 Trust God, be merciful, live justly, walk humbly…these are the characteristics of the faith.

 Know this.

 As Christians we are bound to read the Gospel in the context of its truthfulness.

 Let the Spirit of Truth guide us, even if it means rejecting a passage such as those that relate the episode in Jesus’ ministry referred to as the Transfiguration.

 There may have been an event, when Jesus together with James and John went up the mountain by themselves. It may have been that at such event Jesus connected for his followers the essential message that his ministry was in line with that of Moses, the liberator and law giver, as with Elijah, the truthteller. But the supernatural events described here did not happen as they are narrated..

 God, the creator of the universe, God does not engage in supernatural activities. God is the author of nature and its laws; God does not violate these laws, not for any reason.

 It may be that Jesus also meant for the disciples to believe that the ministry of in keeping with Enoch, the Son of Man whose return was expected. It may be that Jesus warned the disciples that his ministry would lead to his death, but like Enoch, the Son of Man, death would not stop him; he would go on, and he would also return. Or, it may be that James and John made up this story after Jesus’ death, as a piece of propaganda meant to bolster the claims they were making about the man from Nazareth.

 Always read the gospel in such a way that you strip the fantastical elements from it. The fantastical is not elucidating and such narratives are contrary to the way.

 You must learn to see through those fantasies and fictions so that you may understand what they tell you about what the people believed who witnessed Jesus’ life and wrote his story in that way. There is no other wisdom to be had from them.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today.

 The reading for today is a pure distillation of mythological tropes common among the Hebrew people. It carries forward a set of theological themes that were very important in the first century. They situate the early Jesus Movement clearly within Rabbinical Judaism, which is otherwise known as Pharisaical Judaism.

 Here Jesus is presented as a Pharisee, a Jew of the Synagogue, his followers address him as Rabbi, and the central concern among the actors in the text: Jesus, Peter, James, and John, concerns the foretelling that Jesus will rise from the dead.

 In ancient Judaism, only the Pharisees taught the resurrection of the dead.

 Beyond these immediate concerns the writers of Mark’s Gospel were interested in conveying the message that their teachings were in total alignment with historical Judaism, therefore they depict Jesus as another Abraham, a man who was also visited by divine messengers, and who was also transformed by God as symbolized by the changing of his name, from Abram to Abraham.

 Only in the Jesus’ narrative his disciples witness the change, they saw him in the exalted state the Moses experienced when he spoke to God on the mountain, and they show him being given the endorsement of Moses, as well as the prophet Elijah.

 This trope is a concrete expression of the faith that the Jesus Movement held: the faith that their teaching was in alignment with the Patriarchs, the Law Giver and the Prophets. By drawing on these tropes they were communicating to those who came after them that in Jesus, the whole history of the people was complete.

 This is the message that the pericope intends to convey. Above all else, it should be remembered that the story itself is a fiction; these events never happened, they are a literary invention. They do not transmit a historical truth about the Life of Jesus, but rather a historical truth about what people believed, and wanted other’s to believe concerning Jesus…roughly fifty years after his death.

  

First Reading – Genesis 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18 ©

The Sacrifice of Abraham, our Father in Faith

God put Abraham to the test. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he called. ‘Here I am’ he replied. ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering, on a mountain I will point out to you.’

When they arrived at the place God had pointed out to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized the knife to kill his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he said. ‘I am here’ he replied. ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son.’ Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt-offering in place of his son.

The angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven. ‘I swear by my own self – it is the Lord who speaks – because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 115(116):10, 15-19 ©

I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.

I trusted, even when I said:

  ‘I am sorely afflicted,’

O precious in the eyes of the Lord

  is the death of his faithful.

I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.

Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;

  you have loosened my bonds.

A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;

  I will call on the Lord’s name.

I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfil

  before all his people,

in the courts of the house of the Lord,

  in your midst, O Jerusalem.

I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living.

 

Second Reading – Romans 8:31-34 ©

God did not Spare His Own Son

With God on our side who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us – he rose from the dead, and there at God’s right hand he stands and pleads for us.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 17:5

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

From the bright cloud the Father’s voice was heard: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 9:2 – 10 ©

This is my Son, the Beloved

Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.

As they came down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what ‘rising from the dead’ could mean.

 

The Second Sunday of Lent (Year B)

A Homily - The First Sunday of Lent (Year B)

First Reading – Genesis 9:8-15 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 24(25):4-6, 7b-9 ©

Second Reading – 1 Peter 3:18-22 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:4

The Gospel According to Mark 1:12 – 15 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Today’s reading from Genesis is an etiological myth pointing to the origin, purpose and meaning of the rainbow. The narrative is wholly metaphorical and cannot be taken literally.

 When you are contemplating this myth it should be understood that God did not destroy the world with a flood. The authors of this myth were trading on a mythological trope that was told throughout the Mediterranean region and the Ancient near east, which recalled a major regional disaster, perhaps conflating more than one “flood story,” while at the same time expressing the hope that such an event will not occur again.

 Know this.

 The flood that Genesis recalls, whatever it was, whenever it occurred, wherever it happened, was not a super natural event; it was an act of nature.

 Remember.

 God has made the entire universe free from divine coercion. God does not intervene in the affairs of the world, or in the lives of human beings.

 Therefore, do not expect God to take sides with you in any conflict, and always bear in mind that God loves all of God’s children equally.

 God does not discriminate.

 God does not pick favorites.

 If you ask God to punish the faithless, you must know that you are asking God to punish you—yourself, because we have all been faithless.

Pray for wisdom and guidance, knowing that God desires that you be well. Lift up your spirit, give your life to God, the creator of the universe, to God who has given everything to you.

 When you contemplate God’s judgement and divine justice, remember that God is merciful. God allowed for your existence even knowing all your crimes; from the beginning of time God has known you, and God foresaw the fruits of all your actions in this life. Even though your crimes may be great, God still loves you.

 Be mindful.

 All the ways of God are kindness and mercy.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle:

 Peter is wrong when he links salvation to baptism or any pledge we might make to the church, or God who is parent to us all. We are not saved by pledges, or any outward acts that we might make. We are saved by grace, which we receive because God loves us.

 Know this.

 Jesus did not die for us; neither did God desire the death of Jesus. Animal sacrifices and blood rituals have no efficacy, they never did. Any theology built on that foundation, even those that treat it as merely symbolic, are false. Human sacrifice is a great crime and a tragedy. We cannot curry favor with God by shedding the blood of innocents. The blood of innocent people and unblemished animals is not a form of currency that we can use to pay back the debts of others.

 Jesus’ death was a political murder. We killed him out of spite.

 Upon Jesus’ death he did not summon an army of angels, and go to war with demons, with Dominions and Powers, in some kind of celestial combat that allowed him to wrest control of the heavenly gates from an opposing army.

 These mythologies are pure fantasy reflecting the world view of those who wrote them, they are not a declaration of reality.

 God is the only power, there are no other powers in the universe.

 We are saved because God loves us; God loves all of us, and every single one of us is saved.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today:

 If we live merely to eat we are no different than the beasts of field and forest, merely following our noses and the hunger in our bellies, ruled by thirst and subject to the vicissitudes of desire.

 It is the teaching of the Church that we can be more than this, that we were made to be more. We were made to look beyond ourselves, to be drawn outside of ourselves, to be able to see in our neighbors another-self, equally beloved by God, and to see in them the divine spark, the seed of the word, that unites us all spiritually.

 It is the hope of God that we may understand this, and that in understanding this we may be transcendent, following Jesus in the way.

 

First Reading – Genesis 9:8-15 ©

'There Shall be No Flood to Destroy the Earth Again'

God spoke to Noah and his sons, ‘See, I establish my Covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; also with every living creature to be found with you, birds, cattle and every wild beast with you: everything that came out of the ark, everything that lives on the earth. I establish my Covenant with you: no thing of flesh shall be swept away again by the waters of the flood. There shall be no flood to destroy the earth again.’

God said, ‘Here is the sign of the Covenant I make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all generations: I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the Covenant between myself and you and every living creature of every kind. And so the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all things of flesh.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 24(25):4-6, 7b-9 ©

Your ways, Lord, are faithfulness and love for those who keep your covenant.

Lord, make me know your ways.

  Lord, teach me your paths.

Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:

  for you are God my saviour.

Your ways, Lord, are faithfulness and love for those who keep your covenant.

Remember your mercy, Lord,

  and the love you have shown from of old.

In your love remember me,

  because of your goodness, O Lord.

Your ways, Lord, are faithfulness and love for those who keep your covenant.

The Lord is good and upright.

  He shows the path to those who stray,

He guides the humble in the right path,

  He teaches his way to the poor.

Your ways, Lord, are faithfulness and love for those who keep your covenant.

 

Second Reading – 1 Peter 3:18-22 ©

The Water on which the Ark Floated is a Type of the Baptism which Saves You Now

Christ himself, innocent though he was, died once for sins, died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life, and, in the spirit, he went to preach to the spirits in prison. Now it was long ago, when Noah was still building that ark which saved only a small group of eight people ‘by water’, and when God was still waiting patiently, that these spirits refused to believe. That water is a type of the baptism which saves you now, and which is not the washing off of physical dirt but a pledge made to God from a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has entered heaven and is at God’s right hand, now that he has made the angels and Dominations and Powers his subjects.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:4

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 1:12 – 15 ©

Jesus was Tempted by Satan, and the Angels Looked After Him

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days, and was tempted by Satan. He was with the wild beasts, and the angels looked after him.

  After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’

Repent, which means turn, repent and believe.

Believe not so that you can be saved, but believe that you are saved already.

Believe that you are saved and turn, turn away from the selfishness, wickedness and injustice, turn toward the way of love, communitarianism and justice.

The way of God, the path to the garden, it is as near to you as that, turn toward it, and you are on it, and do not look back.

 

The First Sunday of Lent (Year B)

A Homily - Ash Wednesday (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Joel 2:12-18 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 ©

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 50:12, 14

Alternative Acclamation Psalm 94:8

The Gospel According to Matthew 6:1 – 6, 16 - 18

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

The anointed one is not a king, Jesus was not a lord; the Romans may have crowned him with thorns, but to them it was a joke, they were mocking him when they called him king of the Jews.

Jesus was a man of the land, one of the am haaretz, his anointing came through death and through his death he showed us the way of compassion.

Remember.

It is right and good to pray for the people. It is even better when you do so, to leave the temple, to leave the church, to be with those who are suffering, knowing that God, the creator of the universe, that God will not intervene in the suffering we experience apart from our agency. God has equipped us all to be able to deal with extraordinary grief and hardship, we have been equipped with everything we need to lift-up those among us who have been struck down.

When you speak to people as a Christian, and much more so if you are speaking as a minister of the Church, speak to them with a spirit of modesty and humility; go to them as a servant.

Celebrate, rejoice and be grateful. Share the good news: that God is with you and that God is kind and that God is caring. Do so, even knowing that God will not intercede in the course of our lives. God will not free us from oppression, alter our material condition, remove us from the path of danger. God relies on us to do that work, for our sisters and brothers, on behalf of the divine,

If you wish to share the good news, make your life an example of it.

If you wish to show that God is with us, be with the suffering.

If you wish to show that God is good, exhibit goodness in your own life.

If you wish to show that God is kind and caring, then you must be kind and caring…even if imperfectly.

Be mindful.

With God there is never justice without mercy, there is no judgement without love.

Know that when we seek forgiveness from the divine, we are looking for something that has already found us, which is not to say that we should not seek it.

When we come to the knowledge of our trespasses and we are contrite, that contrition is the shower that washes us, this is the baptism of repentance, symbolized by the water, the reality of which is a fait accompli.

We are all sinners.

We are animals.

There is little difference between the human being and the wolf, or the lion, except that God speaks to us from our innermost being, God is present at the core of our personhood. By being present to us in this way God gives us the power to overcome our animal nature, a nature that is bloody and raw. God gives us the grace to live a holy life; and the wisdom to pursue it in good conscience.

There is no crime that God has not forgiven…rejoice.

Do not look for God’s hand in the tribulations we suffer, or the rewards we enjoy during the time we are on Earth; our troubles are like the wind, fleeting and ephemeral, temporary and accidental as brief as the pleasures we may enjoy.

Consider the teaching of the apostle: our salvation is the work of God; God has done the work, beginning as Saint John said, in the first moment of creation, with the light in the darkness, all things come to being in the Word

Know this!

The fall, such as it is, happens subsequent to and in the context of God’s saving work.

Jesus revealed the truth of it, and entrusted we who follow the way with the task of sharing it.

This is the gospel:

You are reconciled to God.

There is no debt to pay.

Allow the burden of sin, and the fear of it to fall away from.

Be glad.

It was always God’s plan that we fall and rise together, that we rise and fall as one…because we are one, we are joined together from the beginning, in the goodness of God, and we cannot separate what God has joined.

The apostle tells us in the simplest terms that the mission of the church is to announce the reconciliation.

Hear this!

Everyone is reconciled in God’s love; there are no exceptions.

The members of the church are meant to serve as ambassadors of this good news.

The church is not, nor should it ever be structured like a recruiting agency, obsessed with signing up members and promising a reward that has already been given freely by the creator.

The mission of the church is to proclaim the reconciliation, to proclaim that every day, from here to eternity, that every day is the day of salvation.

All creation belongs to God, all that is good and all that frightens us, everything comes from God and will redound to the good.

This is the essence of faith.

Therefore be mindful!

You will have no reward from God in this life.

Consider the Gospel reading for today:

Do not seek glory or glorify yourself in public.

Do not seek admiration from the world at large.

Do as Jesus said: pray in private, not in public, do not boast of your piety.

Do not brag on how much you give to the world, or how well you pay your employees, do good for the sake of doing good, be fair for fairness’ sake.

Go to your work and to your disciplines gladly, if you are fasting then fast, smile and be happy.

This is the way to proceed, not just for the season of Lent, but for all the days of your life.

 

First Reading – Joel 2:12-18 ©

Let Your Hearts Be Broken, Not Your Garments Torn

‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks – come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.’

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to the Lord your God again, for he is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready to relent.

Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent, will not leave a blessing as he passes, oblation and libation for the Lord your God?

Sound the trumpet in Zion!

Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even the infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom and the bride her alcove.

Between vestibule and altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, lament.

Let them say, ‘Spare your people, Lord!

Do not make your heritage a thing of shame, a byword for the nations.

Why should it be said among the nations, “Where is their God?”’

Then the Lord, jealous on behalf of his land, took pity on his people.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 50(51):3-6, 12-14, 17

Our God comes and will not be silent!

Devouring fire precedes him,

it rages strongly around him.

He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth to judge his people:

“Gather my loyal ones to me,

those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

The heavens proclaim his righteousness,

for God himself is the judge.

Were I hungry, I would not tell you,

for mine is the world and all that fills it.

Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of he-goats?

Offer praise as your sacrifice to God;

fulfill your vows to the Most High.

You hate discipline;

you cast my words behind you!

 

Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 ©

Be Reconciled to God

We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God. As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.

 

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 50:12, 14

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

A pure heart create for me, O God, and give me again the joy of your help.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

Alternative Acclamation Psalm 94:8

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 6:1 – 6, 16 - 18

Your Father Who Sees All that is Done in Secret Will Reward You

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

‘And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

‘When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’

 

Ash Wednesday (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation