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

First Reading – 2 Chronicles 36:14 - 16, 19 - 23 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 136(137):1 - 6 ©

Second Reading – Ephesians 2:4 - 10 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 3:16

The Gospel According to John 3:14 – 21 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 God, the creator of the universe, God created the universe, and us in it, free; God does not intervene in human affairs and God never consecrated a temple in Jerusalem. This did not happen. The early Hebrews had it right when they carried the law with them wherever they made their camp, and the law, which was their connection to the divine, the law was at the center of their community.

 Know this.

 God did not send prophets and messengers to work among the people, God did not tap Samuel on the shoulder and say: “You there, go do this!” The same is true of Elijah and Elisha, and Isaiah was not a singular person, but a community of people writing over the course of generations,

 God does not select us for this mission, but calls all of us to it. There are women and men who devoted their lives to speaking against corruption, people who held up the law as the standard to which we should return when we have strayed from the principles of justice, mercy and humility that ought to characterize society. People like Jesus who hearkened to the law God had written in his hear, as in the hearts of everyone. God does not send prophets, they emerge in our midst to hold the powerful accountable. It is often the case that we do not recognize them when they are among us…but this is always the role they.

 Jeremiah did his best to speak the truth as he understood it (if Jeremiah did in fact exist), but God did not speak one word through Jeremiah, because God has left the discernment of the divine will to us.

 In freeing the Hebrew people and allowing them to return to Jerusalem, God did not act through Cyrus. Though it may be said that Cyrus acted on behalf of God, insofar as he acted in the interest of true justice…freeing people from bondage has always been viewed as serving the interests of justice.

 Be mindful of the psalmist and forget about Jerusalem.

 Do not fall into the error of coveting this city like the idolatrous covet their idols.

 Do not let your passion for a parcel of land turn you into killers and monsters, or turn you away from the loving God.

 Forget about Jerusalem, and forget about Rome.

 God, the creator of all that is, was and ever will be, God loves the whole of creation and has infused it with the grace of God’s own living spirit.

 This is the truth!

 We are created in grace, loved by God, and God’s grace has made us free.

 Know this!

 Our salvation was never in doubt. We are born in time and space, but God has made us for eternity.

 Have faith; trust God, not so that you can be saved, but trust that you are saved already.

 Consider the Gospel Reading for today.

 Remember this: the salvation of the world was not worked out by lawyers, and it does not take place in the context of a battle between the forces of good and evil.

 God has not called us to choose sides in a cosmic conflict between the creator and the enemy (whoever that might be) .

 The salvation of the world is not a magic act, it is found in healing: The healing of bodies, minds and spirits; the healing of social and political systems, including religious systems; the healing of economic systems, manufacturing and distribution systems.

 Jesus did not have to be lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent, so that the preconditions for belief in him could be established, so that upon expressing belief in Jesus, or acquiescing to the Church’s teaching regarding Jesus, the people of the world could receive the “golden ticket,” granting them access to eternal life.

 This ideological construction is wrong from root to stem.

 The gift of life is not transactional; it is free. We do not have to ask for it, just as we did not ask to be born. Like true love, eternal life comes to us from the creator without preconditions. It is comes to us simply because we are…and because we are, we are a part of the divine that can never be destroyed.

 Listen!

 If you trust in the teachings of Jesus you will find peace in this world, you will understand that the things we endure here: pain, suffering, alienation, uncertainty, hunger, disease and death, that these are all temporary.

 This is the heart of the Gospel.

 Belief, is not required to gain entrance to heaven; belief merely allows us to see the world of light and life beyond the veil of materiality that we are all entrenched in.

 Know this.

 There is no condemnation in God, nor in the ministry of Jesus. There is only hope and love and mercy. No one is condemned because they refuse to believe in the scriptures, in Christian doctrine or the dogma of the church; no one is condemned

 God pours out continuously the divine love that sustains all creations, no-one is beyond its reach.

 There is no magic power in a name, or an article of belief. However, if you do not trust in the way of Jesus (and trust is the meaning of faith), if you are not able to trust in the way, if you are selfish instead of giving, if you are malicious instead of loving, if you are harmful instead of helpful then you will suffer in this world, not as a punishment for what you did or did not do, but as the natural consequence for that type of behavior…you will suffer in your friendships and you will suffer in yourself. More importantly, you will be a source of suffering to other.

 Whereas, to trust in the way of Jesus is to liberate yourself in the here and now, it is to acquire freedom in the present reality, it is a blessing to everyone who comes to it and to all whom they encounter.

 

First Reading – 2 Chronicles 36:14 - 16, 19 - 23 ©

God's Wrath and Mercy are Revealed in the Exile and Release of His People

All the heads of the priesthood, and the people too, added infidelity to infidelity, copying all the shameful practices of the nations and defiling the Temple that the Lord had consecrated for himself in Jerusalem. The Lord, the God of their ancestors, tirelessly sent them messenger after messenger, since he wished to spare his people and his house. But they ridiculed the messengers of God, they despised his words, they laughed at his prophets, until at last the wrath of the Lord rose so high against his people that there was no further remedy.

Their enemies burned down the Temple of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces, and destroyed everything of value in it. The survivors were deported by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon; they were to serve him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. This is how the word of the Lord was fulfilled that he spoke through Jeremiah, ‘Until this land has enjoyed its sabbath rest, until seventy years have gone by, it will keep sabbath throughout the days of its desolation.’

And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfil the word of the Lord that was spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue a proclamation and to have it publicly displayed throughout his kingdom: ‘Thus speaks Cyrus king of Persia, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; he has ordered me to build him a Temple in Jerusalem, in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up.”’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 136(137):1 - 6 ©

O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!

By the rivers of Babylon

  there we sat and wept,

  remembering Zion;

on the poplars that grew there

  we hung up our harps.

O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!

For it was there that they asked us,

  our captors, for songs,

  our oppressors, for joy.

‘Sing to us,’ they said,

  ‘one of Zion’s songs.’

O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!

O how could we sing

  the song of the Lord

  on alien soil?

If I forget you, Jerusalem,

  let my right hand wither!

O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!

O let my tongue

  cleave to my mouth

  if I remember you not,

if I prize not Jerusalem

  above all my joys!

O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 2:4 - 10 ©

You Have Been Saved through Grace

God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.

This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 3:16

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son: everyone who believes in him has eternal life.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

 

The Gospel According to John 3:14 – 21 ©

God Sent his Son so that Through Him the World Might be Saved

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.

No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.

On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.

And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’

 The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)

Observation - March 9th, 2024, Saturday

there is a plane

flying overhead

 

departing

 

by the sound its engines

            jetting away

Brenda Ueland – Author and Hero

Brenda Ueland lived most of her life in Minneapolis, the city where I grew up. She wrote and she taught writing and lived within a mile or two of where I have lived most of my life…and though we were contemporaries, for a time, I never met her.

I was still in my teens when she died.

I was well into my forties before I knew who she was. From the moment I began to read her book: If You Want to Write I knew that I had found a mentor whose simple prose and honesty could guide me in the maturation of my own work.

Brenda taught writing at the YWCA, she published a memoir about her life growing up in Minneapolis, a book that bears the title: Me. She wrote as a columnist for local newspapers and magazines, as well as national publications like Harper’s.

She was born in Minneapolis at the end of the nineteenth century; she spent her twenties in New York City where she was connected to various movements in the arts, literature and politics. She was a proto-feminist and a revolutionary thinker. She came to all of that with a simple self-assuredness that was the defining characteristic of her public persona, and which I also believe was a true expression of her authentic self…as she called her muse.

Brenda is a hero to me.

As a teacher of writing, she provided (and continues to provide) simple and profound guidance to the author, and poet.

She teaches her students to find their own voice and write from there.

Brenda encourages her students to be themselves, to tell their stories with the written word as if they were speaking to their closest friend, to shout when they are shouting, and to whisper in the time of whispering.

She guided them to their true selves, so that they might write with authenticity…reminding her students that the reader will know if they are faking.

Brenda encouraged people to listen to themselves, as deeply and as interestedly as they might listen to any other, to become as familiar with the sound of their own voices as they are with the image of themselves they see in a mirror.

Her book on writing had been out of print for nearly forty years until, a few years after her death in the 1980’s, it went back into production and became a best seller.

Like Brenda herself, the book she wrote was ahead of its time, and is the best treatise on writing I have ever been assigned.

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

First Reading – Exodus 20:1-17 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 18(19):8-11 ©

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 11:25, 26

Alternative Acclamation – John 3:16

The Gospel According to John 2:13 – 25 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Consider the reading from The Book of Exodus and this reflection on the law:

 There is fairness here, for the most part; the reading articulates a basic understanding of justice. Like any law, insofar as it approximates true justice, it approximates the divine will.

 Insofar as it does…it does, insofar as if fails it fails.

 Be mindful.

 It is easy for human beings to misunderstand, misconstrue or misapply even the simplest tenants of the law.

 All of the laws in our sacred books were written by human beings. They represent a myriad of interests. In some cases the law attempts to express divine justice, in other cases the law is directed to human interests. Even the best expressions of the law may be turned to bad ends by a bad will.

 It is fallacious to suggest that the law itself is divine; such commentary amounts to little more than propaganda. We must engage the law with our hearts and minds, to understand it and relate it to the unique challenges of each generation.

 The beginning of wisdom is this:

 God, the creator of the universe, God never spoke these words. Neither did God deliver the people from Egypt. God does not care about idols, and graven images, God’s only concern is that human beings are not enslaved to them.

 Slavery itself is an affront to God, who created all of us free, and desires that we remain that way. Spiritual slavery, mental slavery, material slavery, economic slavery…are an affront to God.

 Know this.

 God does not punish people for the crimes of their parents, or reward people for their good deeds. God does not intervene in human events.

 Law is the servant of justice and not the other way around.

 As children of God and servants of justice we must remember not to lie, cheat or steal; we should honor our parents who brought us into this world, and honor all people we encounter just the same. We should honor the stranger among us, the alien and the foreigner…as Jesus said, we should honor our enemy…we should honor them with the same love that God has shown us.

 Be mindful of the apostle and his teaching for today. It is like a shadow play, all smoke and mirrors, an exercise in the art of misdirection. His words do not serve as a foundation for anything, let alone faith in a loving and caring God, they are better suited for turning believers into sycophants.

 Beware of the preacher who cannot make a rational argument, who asks you to abandon reason.

 Beware of the preacher who cannot prove anything, then asks you to ignore all other proofs.

 Beware of the preacher who threatens while promising power as a reward for blind obedience.

 These preachers are a con-artists.

 We do not purchase eternal life with the currency of belief, grace is not transactional.

 We were made by God, and we were made for eternity; God has a plan for us and desires our faith in it.

 The gift of life is free. We do not have to ask for it, just as we did not ask to be born, like true love, eternal life comes to us without conditions.

 If you place your trust in the way, you will find peace in the world, and you will understand that the things we endure here: pain, suffering, alienation, uncertainty, hunger, disease and death, that all of these things are temporary.

 Have faith; there is no condemnation in God nor in the ministry of Jesus, in God and Jesus there is hope and love, there is justice and there is mercy, in the divine there is grace…all grace, and humility.

 Listen!

 No one is condemned because they refuse to believe in the scriptures, in Christian doctrine or the dogma of the church. To spread such news is contrary to the gospel, reflecting the principles of an extortionist.  

 Remember!

 There is no magic power in a name. Faith in Jesus brings liberation from the exigencies of the here and now, of our present reality, which is a blessing to everyone who finds it and to all whom they encounter.

 Consider the Gospel reading for the day.

 This reading moves in many directions.

 The writers of John’s Gospel mixed into this reading a commentary on the social corruption of their day, more than a century after the death of Jesus. In doing so they distanced themselves from the memory of Jesus and the disciples; they did so propagandistically.

 It was unnecessary for the writers to comment on the Jewish Passover as if it were an alien tradition; this was unnecessary unless they were writing to people who were not themselves Jewish and their desire was to distance Christianity from its Jewish origins.

 Let us be clear, Jesus was a Jew. He was a Rabbi, a leader in the synagogue and man of the diaspora. He was a Pharisee. To Jesus and the disciples the Passover was simply the Passover…it was not the not the “Jewish” Passover. These subtle shifts in the narrative reveal the Gospel writer’s intentions.

 There was corruption in the temple. There has always been corruption in the priesthood (in every priesthood there has ever been), both before the time of Jesus and after.

 Religious institutions are organized along commercial lines as much (or more) as they are organized along spiritual lines. Knowing this, it is wise to apply this critique to the entire community of believers, not just the hierarchy. We should apply it to the working of the church  in all times and all places…including your own Church in the here and now.

 

First Reading – Exodus 20:1-17 ©

The Law Given at Sinai

God spoke all these words. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

‘You shall have no gods except me.

‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

‘You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.

‘Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for the Lord your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred.

‘Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God has given to you.

‘You shall not kill.

‘You shall not commit adultery.

‘You shall not steal.

‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 18(19):8-11 ©

You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

  it revives the soul.

The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,

  it gives wisdom to the simple.

You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

  they gladden the heart.

The command of the Lord is clear,

  it gives light to the eyes.

You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.

The fear of the Lord is holy,

  abiding for ever.

The decrees of the Lord are truth

  and all of them just.

You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.

They are more to be desired than gold,

  than the purest of gold

and sweeter are they than honey,

  than honey from the comb.

You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.

 

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 ©

The Crucified Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God

While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 11:25, 26

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

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me will never die.

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

 

Alternative Acclamation – John 3:16

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

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son: everyone who believes in him has eternal life.

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

 

The Gospel According to John 2:13 – 25 ©

Destroy this Sanctuary and in Three Days I Will Raise It Up

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 Third Sunday of Lent (Year B)

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)

President's Day

Presidents are human beings.

They have all been men (so far), and they have all been flawed. There have only been forty-six of them; some may have had heroic attributes, but all of them have had their craven moments as well.

Recently, we lived through the chaotic and criminal presidency of the 45^th man to sit in the oval office. His Presidency ended with a failed and hapless attempt at insurrection that he waged in a desperate and feeble bid to retain power, though the real motivation may simply have been to assuage his mad vanity…

The 45^th President had one significant legislative achievement, he passed a massive tax cut that added trillions of dollars to the federal deficit, the benefits of which went to the wealthiest 3% of Americans. The gimmicks he and his party used to get the bill through, resulted in lower and middle class workers having a tax bill due at the end of the year, when formerly they could have expected a return.

Under the 45^th President’s administration the economy slowed to a crawl, more jobs were lost than at any time since the Great Depression, we faced a global pandemic called COVID-19, and nearly 1.5 million Americans lost their lives from the virus, while he lied, obfuscated and shirked responsibility for the crisis.

The current president is a long serving government official, former Senator and former Vice President. Joseph R. Biden is the oldest man ever elected to the office. He promised stability and his administration has provided it.

The economy is roaring, all the lost jobs have been recovered, the stock market is at record highs, he has passed more meaningful legislation than any president since the 1960’s. His singular achievement was a bill that invested trillions of dollars into American infrastructure and jobs in construction, in manufacturing, supporting industries that shorten our supply chain, keeping vital good closer to home.

Joe Biden has passed many other bills supporting the common good, setting price caps on prescription drugs and annual out of pocket expenses for Medicare, using his executive authority to forgive federal student loans, supporting veteran’s and more.  While accomplishing these things and spending all that money, his team has managed the inflationary fallout as well, avoiding a recession while bringing real wages and earnings up for the American worker.

This is a welcome change, since the government is meant to be there to work for us…to work for all of us…not just a few of us, but for everyone.

Joe Biden is getting the job done for the American people.

There is a lot of work ahead of us, and I do not know if we are up to it, but at the moment we have a president who understands that it is his task to hold us all-together, both at home and in our alliances abroad.

Today marks two years since the despot, Vladimir Putin, launched the invasion of Ukraine.

Joe Biden and the man he defeated in the 2020 election, are both seeking the presidency again. There are many people who are unhappy about this on account of their age, primarily, of course there are disputes over policy as well.

The former president has been found guilty of fraud in the state of New York (his home state), he has been fined 350 million dollars and barred from serving as an officer or director in any New York business for three years. Another New York court has determined that he is a rapist, and fined him 80 million dollars for defaming one of the women who he sexually assaulted. He is facing thirteen criminal charges in the State of Atlanta, and ninety-one criminal charges in two separate federal courts, related to his failed attempt at a coup and his mishandling of our nation’s most sensitive secrets.

On the campaign trail the former president continues to undermine American foreign policy in favor of Russia and China and other bad-actors on the world stage. He and his supporters in the Republican party threaten tare blocking military aid for our allies in Ukraine and Taiwan. They are blocking necessary aid that is needed to resolve the conflict between our ally Israel and Hamas, guaranteeing that the people of Palestine will continue to suffer. They decry the current state of affairs on our southern border but have blocked bi-partisan efforts, led by good-faith republicans in the senate, to address the matter…stating publicly that they would rather have the political issue for the campaign year…well they can have it.

The former president has openly stated that he hopes the American economy crashes during this election cycle so he can have that for a talking point, and together with his republican allies they have relegated women to the status of second class citizens by denying them the right of self-determination and governance of their own bodies.

There is more to come if the 45^th President should become the 47^th.

The would be tyrant has told our allies that he would withhold all support for Ukraine in their fight for freedom against the Russian invaders, and that he would encourage Russia to attack them if they do not “pay-up,” treating the NATO alliance as if it were nothing more than a protection racket.

He has made filings in federal court, related to his criminal defense, that as president he should be absolutely above the law, and immune from all prosecution, even going so far as to state that he should be allowed to order United States military forces to assassinate his political opponents, to jail their families, to shut down media outlets he does not like and to profit from his office by taking money from foreign governments.

We have a clear choice in front of us, America.

The current president is a flawed man, like all presidents have been, flawed and perhaps even craven at times, but he is committed to republic, to democratic norms, to the rule of law, to our alliances, to our traditions. He himself comes from a working class background, he is committed to lifting up the American people.

The choice is clear.

On this President’s Day I am asking all of you to set aside your reservations and support his candidacy. To support his political allies in whatever party they may belong to, and put this autocratic movement down.

Keep hope alive!