A Homily - Holy Week – Palm Sunday (Year B)

The Procession Gospel – Mark 11:1-10 ©

Alternative Procession Gospel – John 12:12-16 ©

First Reading – Isaiah 50:4-7 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 21(22):8-9,17-20,23-24 ©

Second Reading - Philippians 2:6-11 ©

The Gospel According to Mark 14:1 – 15:47 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

God, the creator of the universe, God is not a king. God is not a prince and God is not a lord.

The Church, which is meant to follow Jesus in the way, the Church should never be depicted as an extension of a royal dynasty; it is not that.

This reading should be interpreted apart from its mythological context and instead be read as an example of how much good-regard the common people, the am-haaretz, had for Jesus and his followers, which is to say that they were trusted and accepted; they could be taken at their word.

Remember this!

When you read the scriptures bear this in mind: God made human beings free, God made the entirety of the created order free, the whole of creation is free from divine coercion.

Because we are free, and the future is not written, it diminishes the ministry of Jesus to ground any part of his authority on the depiction of him fulfilling scripture or divining portents.

Jesus was not a seer, and all such passages are either misinterpretations of mythological allegory and metaphor, or they are straight propaganda and intentional prevarications.

Consider the words of Isaiah, take comfort in his courage.

Isaiah points the way; like Jesus, Isaiah sees the necessity of telling the truth. He understands how much the people need truth, he knows that justice cannot be had without it. He also knows that the reward for telling the truth is often condemnation. There are many who do not like to hear it, do not want to believe that God loves their neighbor just as much as God loves them.

People are afraid, the world has made them this way. When people endure scarcity and live in fear they do not like to share. The poor and the rich alike, will react with anger and violence to any little thing that threatens to upset their resentment filled lives, that challenges their jealousies and judges their miserliness.

Like Isaiah, you must open your ear and listen; you must listen with your heart.

When you open your mouth to speak, share the peace and blessing of God; do not speak words of condemnation, against yourself or anyone else.

Do not fear. This is the way of God.

Consider the wisdom of the psalmist:

Do not believe for one second that God does not hear you. The creator of the Universe knows your innermost thoughts. God knows you as you know yourself, God understands all that you are and all that you struggle with. God feels your experience in the world as you feel it. Your struggles are God’s own.

Know that God has given you the power to save yourself, or to choose surrender. You may agonize over the path in front of you, or be at peace with it. Whatever your basic disposition is, know that God will not rescue you. God will never intervene in the world on your behalf.

Be mindful.

Jesus was a man.

Everything that it means to be human Jeus shared with us, because he was one of us.

Jesus did not descend from on high; he was born to Joseph and Mary.

Jesus was also divine; like each of us, he was created in the divine image, he carried the spark of divinity within him. In Jesus that spark grew into a living flame, that divine fire was the spirit of God, and know this: where God is God is present fully…in Jesus, in you, in I, in everyone.

Jesus is our brother, and God is parent to us all.

Jesus is not a lord and he did not want to be thought of as one; Jesus is not a prince and God is not King. God does not seek nor desire glory, and neither should we.

God calls us to lead lives of humility, to accept with grace our role as teachers of the faith. To seek justice and to love mercy all of our days.

Now consider the Gospel reading for today and be mindful…read them with care.

Mark’s Gospel was written decades after Jesus was murdered. It was written in the years after the Romans came and laid waste to Jerusalem, when the destroyed the temple, which was never to be rebuilt. These words were written after Paul wrote his letters giving us the theology of Jesus the Christ, it was written after Paul was martyred together with Peter in Rome, and after all of the other disciples who had known Jesus, including his brother James, the Bishop of Jerusalem had either been killed or died.

Mark’s Gospel was not written by anyone who was an eye witness to the events they purport to relate. This Gospel represents a first summary of a growing and changing…evolving oral history of the ministry of Jesus, who was known as Joshua son of Joseph.

Be mindful.

The Gospel is part narrative history and part apology, it is the beginning of a mythos and it needs to be read as such.

Mark’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was a man of the people. He did not fear contact with the unclean or the outcast, whether a leper or an unmarried woman, or anyone else who in the view of the prevailing social norms were to be relegated to the status of untouchable.

The woman who comes to anoint Jesus is rebuked by the men in his company. Jesus in turn corrects them. The men who are his closest followers are among those whom Jesus rebukes. They are still ignorant of what is about to transpire, but the women who follow him anonymously, they are fully aware and they are prepared to support his mission to the bitter end.

Jesus was in fact betrayed by one of his closest followers, a man in his company named Judas Iscariot. Jesus knew he would be arrested if he came to Jerusalem, but he went to the city anyway, sending two of his disciples to prepare the way. There was no subterfuge in Jesus, he made no efforts to hide his coming. He meant to complete his mission, to bring hope to the people even while knowing that he would be betrayed.

They celebrated the Passover together, and the commemoration of this meal became the basis for the Eucharist[i], the celebration of the presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine.

We commemorate Jesus when we share with one another, when we welcome the outcaste and the marginalized to our table, when like Jesus, we share even those we know will betray us.

Jesus is present in the way.

It is not the food that is holy, it is the sharing of it. It is not the ritual words and gesture that make the meal holy, it is the gift of sustenance and the time we sit at table together that transform what we eat and drink into something holy.

Again, in Mark’s Gospel Jesus informs the disciples concerning everything that is about to happen. They respond to him in confusion and denial, and as close as they are to him they still do not understand how his mission will end, or that they will have to go on without him…but the women in his company know.

Even after the meal is shared, the chief among the disciples boasts of his faithfulness, while Jesus calls out his ignorance and names him a liar, which he proved to be…and Jesus forgives him for it.

In the course of this meal all of the men who followed Jesus, every one of the twelve disciples boasted of their faith. Even the one was preparing to sell Jesus into bondage. He may have been betrayed by Judas, but all of the rest would abandon him during the night...except the women who followed him.

Jesus did not resist when the men of the Sanhedrin came to apprehend him, even though his men were prepared to fight. He did not want a slaughter to ensue, especially when all he had to do was give up his own life.

By surrendering Jesus fulfilled the words that he had preached, no greater love does a man have than that he give up his life for his fellow men. By giving up his own life he allowed the ministry that he had started to continue without him. He stayed true to this until the end.

The Gospel According to Mark, The Procession Gospel – Mark 11:1-10 ©

Blessings on Him who Comes in the Name of the Lord.

When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, and said to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it.

If any one says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.”’

And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door out in the open street; and they untied it.

And those who stood there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’

And they told them what Jesus had said; and they let them go.

And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it.

And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.

And those who went before and those who followed cried out, ‘Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming!

Hosanna in the highest!’

 

Alternative Gospel – John 12:12-16 ©

Blessings on Him who Comes in the Name of the Lord.

A great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, ‘Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel!’

And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as is written, ‘Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass’s colt!’

His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him.

 

First Reading – Isaiah 50:4-7 ©

I did not cover my face against insult: I know I shall not be shamed The Lord has given me

a disciple’s tongue.

So that I may know how to reply to the wearied he provides me with speech.

Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple.

The Lord has opened my ear.

For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away.

I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.

The Lord comes to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults.

So, too, I set my face like flint;

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 21(22):8-9, 17-20, 23-24 ©

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

All who see me deride me.

  They curl their lips, they toss their heads.

‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;

  let him release him if this is his friend.’

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Many dogs have surrounded me,

  a band of the wicked beset me.

They tear holes in my hands and my feet

  I can count every one of my bones.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

They divide my clothing among them.

  They cast lots for my robe.

O Lord, do not leave me alone,

  my strength, make haste to help me!

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

I will tell of your name to my brethren

  and praise you where they are assembled.

‘You who fear the Lord give him praise;

  all sons of Jacob, give him glory.

  Revere him, Israel’s sons.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

 

Second Reading - Philippians 2:6-11 ©

Christ Humbled Himself but God Raised Him High

His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.

But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus

and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Philippians 2:8-9

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

Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.

But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all names.

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

 

The Gospel According to Mark 14:1 – 15:47 ©

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark

 

Key: N. Narrator. ✠ Jesus. O. Other single speaker. C. Crowd, or more than one speaker.

 

N. It was two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and have him put to death. For they said,

C. It must not be during the festivities, or there will be a disturbance among the people.

N. Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper; he was at dinner when a woman came in with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the ointment on his head. Some who were there said to one another indignantly,

C. Why this waste of ointment? Ointment like this could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.

N. and they were angry with her. But Jesus said,

  ✠ Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting her? What she has done for me is one of the good works. You have the poor with you always, and you can be kind to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. She has done what was in her power to do: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. I tell you solemnly, wherever throughout all the world the Good News is proclaimed, what she has done will be told also, in remembrance of her.

N. Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, approached the chief priests with an offer to hand Jesus over to them. They were delighted to hear it, and promised to give him money; and he looked for a way of betraying him when the opportunity should occur.

  On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to him,

C. Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the passover?

  N. So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them,

✠ Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, ‘The Master says: “Where is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?”’ He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the preparations for us there.

N. The disciples set out and went to the city and found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.

  When evening came he arrived with the Twelve. And while they were at table eating, Jesus said,

✠ I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me, one of you eating with me.

N. They were distressed and asked him, one after another,

C. Not I, surely?

N. He said to them,

✠ It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the same dish with me. Yes, the Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!

N. And as they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them, saying:

✠ Take it: this is my body.

N. Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them,

✠ This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.

N. After psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them,

✠ You will all lose faith, for the scripture says: ‘I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.’ However, after my resurrection I shall go before you to Galilee.

N. Peter said,

O. Even if all lose faith, I will not.

N. And Jesus said to him,

✠ I tell you solemnly, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.

N. But he repeated still more earnestly,

O. If I have to die with you, I will never disown you.

N. And they all said the same.

  They came to a small estate called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples,

✠ Stay here while I pray.

N. Then he took Peter and James and John with him. And a sudden fear came over him, and great distress. And he said to them,

✠ My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here, and keep awake.

N. And going on a little further he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by. He said:

✠ Abba (Father)! Everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it.

N. He came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter,

✠ Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to keep awake one hour? You should be awake, and praying not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

N. Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came back and found them sleeping, their eyes were so heavy; and they could find no answer for him. He came back a third time and said to them,

✠ You can sleep on now and take your rest. It is all over. The hour has come. Now the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let us go! My betrayer is close at hand already.

N. Even while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up with a number of men armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the traitor had arranged a signal with them. He had said, ‘The one I kiss he is the man. Take him in charge, and see he is well guarded when you lead him away.’ So when the traitor came, he went straight up to Jesus and said,

O. Rabbi!

N. and kissed him. The others seized him and took him in charge. Then one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck out at the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear.

  Then Jesus spoke:

✠ Am I a brigand, that you had to set out to capture me with swords and clubs? I was among you teaching in the Temple day after day and you never laid hands on me. But this is to fulfil the scriptures.

N. And they all deserted him and ran away. A young man who followed him had nothing on but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the cloth in their hands and ran away naked.

  They led Jesus off to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes assembled there. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the high priest’s palace, and was sitting with the attendants warming himself at the fire.

  The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus on which they might pass the death sentence. But they could not find any. Several, indeed, brought false evidence against him, but their evidence was conflicting. Some stood up and submitted this false evidence against him,

C. We heard him say, ‘I am going to destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build another, not made by human hands.’

N. But even on this point their evidence was conflicting. The high priest then stood up before the whole assembly and put this question to Jesus,

O. Have you no answer to that? What is this evidence these men are bringing against you?

N. But he was silent and made no answer at all. The high priest put a second question to him,

O. Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?

N. Jesus said,

✠ I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

N. The high priest tore his robes, and said:

O. What need of witnesses have we now? You heard the blasphemy. What is your finding?

N. And they all gave their verdict: he deserved to die.

  Some of them started spitting at him and, blindfolding him, began hitting him with their fists and shouting,

C. Play the prophet!

N. And the attendants rained blows on him.

  While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant-girls came up. She saw Peter warming himself there, stared at him and said,

O. You too were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.

N. But he denied it, saying.

O. I do not know, I do not understand, what you are talking about.

N. And he went out into the forecourt. The servant-girl saw him and again started telling the bystanders,

O. This fellow is one of them.

N. But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter,

C. You are one of them for sure! Why, you are a Galilean.

N. But he started calling down curses on himself and swearing,

O. I do not know the man you speak of.

N. At that moment the cock crew for the second time, and Peter recalled how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.’ And he burst into tears.

 First thing in the morning, the chief priests together with the elders and scribes, in short the whole Sanhedrin, had their plan ready. They had Jesus bound and took him away and handed him over to Pilate.

  Pilate questioned him:

O. Are you the king of the Jews?

N. He answered,

✠ It is you who say it.

N. And the chief priests brought many accusations against him. Pilate questioned him again:

O. Have you no reply at all? See how many accusations they are bringing against you!

N. But, to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply.

  At festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, anyone they asked for. Now a man called Barabbas was then in prison with the rioters who had committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate the customary favour, Pilate answered them

O. Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?

N. For he realised it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate spoke again:

O. But in that case, what am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?

N. They shouted back,

C. Crucify him!

N. Pilate asked them,

O. Why? What harm has he done?

N. But they shouted all the louder,

C. Crucify him!

N. So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified.

  The soldiers led him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and called the whole cohort together. They dressed him up in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on him. And they began saluting him,

C. Hail, king of the Jews!

N. They struck his head with a reed and spat on him; and they went down on their knees to do him homage. And when they had finished making fun of him, they took off the purple and dressed him in his own clothes.

  They enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.

  They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it. Then they crucified him, and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge against him read: ‘The King of the Jews.’ And they crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.

  The passers-by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said,

C. Aha! So you would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself: come down from the cross!

N. The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way. They said,

C. He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, for us to see it and believe.

N. Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.

  When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,

✠ Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

N. which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When some of those who stood by heard this, they said

C. Listen, he is calling on Elijah.

N. Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink, saying:

O. Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him down.

N. But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.

  All kneel and pause for a moment.

  And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said,

O. In truth this man was a son of God.

N. There were some women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary who was the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome. These used to follow him and look after him when he was in Galilee. And there were many other women there who had come up to Jerusalem with him.

  It was now evening, and since it was Preparation Day (that is, the vigil of the sabbath), there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent member of the Council, who himself lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God, and he boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, astonished that he should have died so soon, summoned the centurion and enquired if he was already dead. Having been assured of this by the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph who bought a shroud, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the shroud and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joset were watching and took note of where he was laid.

 

Holy Week – Palm Sunday (Year B)

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[i] Note well, all eucharistic theology notwithstanding; though God is present in all times and all places, and there is nowhere that God is not, Jesus is not present in the food that we eat, it is not his blood and his flesh that we consume when we celebrate the Mass.

 

The Feast of Patrick – Patron “Saint” of Ireland

Today is the feast of Saint Patrick; today we celebrate his sainthood, the ascendance to heaven of a Romano-Brit (a British man of Roman heritage), who lived sometime between the fourth and fifth centuries CE (if he lived at all).

 Patrick is one of Ireland’s “Patron Saints” though he was not Irish at all; he was a Roman of the Patrician class, from a family of rank and privilege, or so his hagiography lets us know. 

 Patrick (Patricius) is credited with converting the people of Erin to faith in the Universal and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ; in so doing he separated the Celtic people from their Gaelic traditions, subordinating them to the Catholic Church in Rome. He won with the Word what could not be accomplished by sword and spear, by fire and blood, and war (though there was plenty of killing and burning for the saint to do) and for this he was named a Saint of the Church by popular acclaim.

 It should be noted however, that Patrick has never been canonized, or even beatified by any Pope, therefore Patrick is not officially a Saint of the Catholic Church; though he is recognized in the annals of the Saints of the Church of England, I hope that all my Irish kinfolk appreciate this irony…it is worthy of song.

 History tells us that Patrick was a humble man, a rare quality for those of rank. History also tells us that Patrick concocted the top-down model of spreading the faith by converting chieftains first, which subsequent to his success in Ireland became the model for proselytizing and missionary work throughout Northern Europe.

 Patrick was a politician of great skill. He spread the faith, established churches and earned the rank of Apostle by careful control manipulation of his narrative.

 History tells us that his mother was a relative of Saint Martin of Tours, the Patron Saint of Soldiers otherwise known as Saint Martin of the Sword, whose hagiography was written by Pope Saint Gregory the Great.

 History also tells us that Martin’s hagiography was a work of pure fiction; Saint Martin never lived, even so, his story gave license for Christians to serve under arms, and as such it brought the Roman legions into the arms of the Mother Church.

 Patrick was said to have had a “heroic piety,” praying day and night; in the mountains and in the woods, he prayed through the rain, he prayed through storms of snow and ice…if this were true he should be the patron saint of post men, but then again…all hagiographies are lies.

History tells us that Patrick spent six years as a captive and servant to a Celtic Chieftain, the Druid named Milchu in Dalriada, where he mastered the language of the common folk and learned all of their stories as well.

 If you appreciate history, and you assume that Patrick’s myth has a historical core, you will know that it is much more likely that he fled his home to wander abroad in order to escape the duties that were expected of him as the son of a nobleman. Such departures were common in his time, they were referred to as the “flight of the curiales,” and you may conclude that Patrick was no captive at all, he was just a boy running away from his responsibilities.

 Rather than being taken captive it is more likely that he paid for asylum in Milchu’s house. The Druids were great teachers and oral historians, this much we know is true. It is likely that while he was there, he paid for the services of tutors who helped him learn the language.

 The story of Patrick’s escape from servitude (if it was in fact an escape), and the journey that followed, are his own account. He cast the entire experience in dramatic, even biblical terms, which served both to cover up his crime of abnegation and to establish his fame when he returned home.

 Patrick tells us that he escaped from Milchu and then fled to the mainland of Europe where he entered the priesthood and became a missionary. On his return to Ireland however, the first place he went was to Dalriada where he had lived in Milchu’s house. After some period of conflict with his former captor (or patron) and the affectation of some miracles on Patrick’s part, Milchu is said to have immolated himself in order to make way for the upstart Patrick, throwing himself on a fire after burning the collected scrolls and mysteries of his people.

 Allow me to say this…something does not add up!

 These event may best be understood in metaphorical terms:

 The ritual destruction of the Celtic people in favor of the ascending Romano-British invaders, becomes reimagined when Milchu offers himself as a human sacrifice at the foundation of the Church in Ireland…this is how Patrick wrote it:

 On Easter Sunday, 433 a conflict of will ensued between Patrick and the Celtic Arch-Druid Lochru; historians mythologized it as a battle of divine forces like the contest between Moses and the Egyptians or Elijah and priests of Baal, ending with Patrick magically hurling Lochru into the air, before he broke the druid into pieces on a sharp rock, another ritual murder at the foundation of the Church in Ireland, another human sacrifice to be sure; there is no other way to read it, this was a good old-fashioned Roman slaughter.

 It should be noted the Saint Columbanus, the Patron Saint of Poetry, who was the most significant representative of the Irish Catholic Church after the Dark Ages, who lived and wrote and sent missionaries from Ireland to Continental Europe where they built Churches and founded religious communities, Saint Columbanus (otherwise known as Columba or Colmcille), who together with Saint Bridget is the true patron Saint of Ireland and the Irish people, makes no mention of Saint Patrick in his writing, not once, not anywhere; on the contrary Columbanus tells us that the Church in Ireland was founded by a man named Palladius.

 We may say with confidence that the entire legend of Saint Patrick is little more than a myth designed to subordinate the Irish heart to a British nobleman of Roman descent, and a fictitious one at that.

 Therefore be mindful when you celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, the entire holiday is as much of a ruse as the good luck kisses plastered on the piss soaked stone at Blarney!

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

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:31-34 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 50(51):3-4, 12-15 ©

Second Reading – Hebrews 5:7-9 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 12:26

The Gospel According to John 12:20 – 33 ©

 

(NJB) 

 

Listen!

 

In times of conflict and despair it is right to speak in terms of hope; this is the role of the prophet.

And yet it is wrong to view conflict as divine punishment, or a favorable resolution of the conflict as divine favor.

God, the creator of the Universe, God has made all that is and all people in it free. We are absolutely free from divine coercion. With whatever wisdom we possess we set our own course and reap the consequences of our actions, consequences that are not meted out by God or any such divine agency, but through the laws of nature and prevailing social norms.

Know this!

With God there is never justice without mercy; contrition is like a cleansing rain or a healing balm, when we seek forgiveness from God, we are looking for something that already found us.

We are all sinners…animals, no different than the wolf or the lion, except insofar as our consciousness reaches out to the infinite, seeking counsel with God, who is present at our core. God speaks to us there, from our innermost being, and in the divine presence we receive  the grace to quiet the wolf and the lion within us, to overcome our animal nature and live a life governed by the dictates of conscience.

Do not look for God’s hand in the tribulations we suffer here, do not assign credit to God for the rewards you enjoy on earth. Both the good and the bad come like the wind, fleeting and ephemeral, sometimes a blessing at other times harmful.

Remember,

There is no crime that God has not forgiven.

God made every single one of us and has destined each of us for eternal life; therefore walk in justice and pursue the good joyously, exercising mercy with humility; knowing that whatever we suffer here is temporary, that all things will pass away.

Consider the Gospel reading for the day, be wary of propaganda and mindful of myth.

The reading for today does a disservice to the memory of Jesus, who was not killed for the “glory” of God, or to fulfill some divine purpose.

His death was a political murder, it was ordinary skullduggery and any suggestion otherwise undermines the truth, which as Christians we are committed to.

Be mindful.

The blessings of God are not transactional. All of God’s children, all people in all times, all people in all places are the subjects of God’s love and mercy. There is not a single person left out of the divine plan; any suggestion otherwise circumscribes the power of God, restricts the super-abundance of God’s love truncates and diminishes the good news.

God does not intervene in the world or interfere in human affairs, like Zeus or Jupiter or Jove are said to have done, as even the Abraham, Moses and David is said to have done. God is not the Thunderer; any such attestations are a disservice to the faith.

God does not come to us as a king, but as a loving friend, a brother, a sister, a parent; God comes to us in the form of a stranger, the meek and the marginalized, in the poor and the hungry.

Know this.

There is no power in this world other than God. There is no divine agency apart from the gency God directs. When the Gospel writers wrote about the “prince” of this world, and the sentencing of this devil that is yet to come...they were making it up.

They were trading on their own fears and promoting their own boogey-men.

Be at peace.

God has no enemy, and the only enmity we face is the enmity we engender in our own hearts. We ourselves are our own undoing…if we should fall apart, the divine spirit will put us back together.

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:31-34 ©

I Will Write my Law in their Hearts

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah), but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, so I had to show them who was master. It is the Lord who speaks. No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know the Lord!’ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest – it is the Lord who speaks – since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 50(51):3-4, 12-15 ©

A pure heart create for me, O God.

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.

  In your compassion blot out my offence.

O wash me more and more from my guilt

  and cleanse me from my sin.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

A pure heart create for me, O God,

  put a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,

  nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

Give me again the joy of your help;

  with a spirit of fervour sustain me,

that I may teach transgressors your ways

  and sinners may return to you.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 5:7-9 ©

He Learned to Obey and He Became the Source of Eternal Salvation

During his life on earth, Christ offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 12:26

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord; and where I am, there also will my servant be.

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

 

The Gospel According to John 12:20 – 33 ©

If a Grain of Wheat Falls on the Ground and Dies, it Yields a Rich Harvest

Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. These approached Philip, who came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, ‘Sir, we should like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus. Jesus replied to them:

‘Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

I tell you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.

Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.

If a man serves me, he must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

Now my soul is troubled.

What shall I say:

Father, save me from this hour?

But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name!’

A voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ People standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, ‘It was an angel speaking to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

‘Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be overthrown.

And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself.’

By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die.

 

The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B)

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.