A Homily – Pentecost (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

A Homily – Pentecost (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

 

First Reading – Genesis 11:1-9 ©

Psalm 32(33):10-15

Second Reading – Exodus 19:3-8,16-20 ©

Canticle - Daniel 3:52-56

Third Reading – Ezekiel 37:1-14 ©

Psalm 106(107):2-9

Fourth Reading – Joel 3:1-5 ©

Psalm 103(104):1-2,24,27-30,35

Fifth Reading – Romans 8:22-27 ©

Gospel Acclamation

The Gospel According to John 15:26-27,16:12-15 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen

 The reading for today from The Book of Genesis is the story of the beginning of agrarianism. It does not represent an accurate historical recounting of the beginning of civilization, rather it is a mythologized understanding about how cities came to built, and the development of large agricultural centers.

 The reading for today does however represent a historical record of what the Israelites came to believe about how agrarian culture was established, allowing larger and larger populations of people to be supported, gathered into cities which were then fortified for their defense.

 The narrative surrounding the construction of this first “tower,” the tower of Babel, is also a story about the beginning of religion.

 In Mesopotamia these towers were called ziggurats, and they served a variety of purposes. They were granaries, they also functioned as temples. They were under the management of the priestly cast, and from the top of these towers ancient astronomers watched and recorded the movements of the stars and planets through the heavens.

 The reading for today functions almost like a fable, it is a cautionary tale explaining how the development of agrarianism created divisions among the people. In order to facilitate the construction of the tower and the city around it, a division of labor ensued, and a caste system came to be a permanent feature of agrarian life. People were separated into laborers, merchants, priests and royals. As time passed these castes became increasingly more rigid, and movement between them became nearly impossible for ordinary people.

 The moral of the story is not that God punished the people by dividing their languages on account of their pride and vanity, or out of some kind of fear that the people, if they were allowed to work together, would come to represent a threat to God in heaven. Rather, it is a story of how human beings are inclined to set themselves up as kings and queens, usurping authority to themselves through the aegis of religion in order to enslaves the people…which is what they did.

 Consider the psalmist, who is correct in saying that it is fitting to praise God. It is wise to trust in the counsel of God and to have faith in God’s mercy. Do not however, expect God to rescue you from danger, and you should not allow yourself to believe that God loves any one of God’s children more than any other.

 Be mindful.

 God knows all things and understands all things. God’s knowledge is not an abstract knowledge of the particular details belonging to individual events. Rather, God understands our person, our choices, our lives even as we experience and understand them ourselves, only with a clarity that we could never possess.

 When you hear the call to faith you are being called to trust in God’s plan for you, and to trust in God’s plan for creation. Therefore, do not wait for salvation, salvation is already yours, God has prepared us all for it, from the beginning of time…now go out and share the good news.

 Understand this.

 We must be diligent in our commitment to expose false theology. We cannot let our imagination linger over fables and myths, allowing them to be understood as concrete realities, without time naming them so.

 If we take these stories literally, we would have to uphold the tradition that human beings need an intermediary, someone like Moses to pass messages back and forth between human beings and the divine. We would have to accept the necessity of the priesthood. We would have to accept the idea that God, the creator of the universe, has chosen one tribe out of the whole world to represent God’s will to the people. We would have to believe in the absolute necessity of ritual washing before a person could be made acceptable to God. We would have to accept the notion that only specific chosen people, priests of various orders, are permitted by God to approach a sacred place and that God endorses the death penalty for those who violate these rules and rubrics. We would have to accept a myriad of beliefs concerning the function and nature of the blood-taboo. We would have to accept the idea that it is unclean to be, or touch a woman, along with some many other prohibitions and taboos that are rooted in un-truths that as servants of the truth, we cannot accept.

 Know this!

 We are all the children of God, and God dwells in all of us, God speaks to us in our heart of hearts.

 We do need to see God descending on the mountain, such an image is meant to be taken metaphorically, allegorically, not literally.

 Remember.

 There are no intermediaries, God speaks to us directly, male and female, Jew and gentile. God is not a king or a lord, God does not come in pomp and circumstance, blowing trumpets with tongues of fire, with drums and horns marching in a parade.

 God speaks to us quietly with a voice that is loving and respectful of the inherent dignity God has endowed each one of us with.

 God does not require or even desire our praise and exaltations, except insofar as those praises take the form of a mercyiful and generous bearing toward one other.

 God does not dwell in a temple; God is present in all places, in everyone, to everyone.

 God is not a king.

 Serve God through the love and kindness you show one another.

 Consider the wisdom of Ezekial.

 The bounds of death are no impediment for divine grace. God will cross any threshold to save God’s children, like the good shepherd going out into the night to save the lost sheep.

 Have no fear for the present, all time belongs to God. Time is a tool of the divine, it is a means for God to achieve God’s end. There is nothing done that cannot be undone; have no fear.

 This is the meaning behind this reading from Ezekial.

 Consider the again the wisdom of the psalmist and let us affirm our trust in God’s goodness.

 God made us in this world. God made us free, and the world itself is free from divine coercion.

 Remember.

 All who call on God will be saved; in the end every knee shall bend and every tongue confess their faith in God.

 The eternal God is the first source and center of all things and beings, and the totality of created order. The infinite God engenders all potentialities, and yet interferes with none of them, and the entirety of what is moves according to God’s eternal purpose.

 Consider the wisdom of Paul:

 It is wise and good to anticipate the coming of God. It is wise and good to desire to be in the presence of God.

 Anticipate that moment, relish it, cherish it but, at the same time remain present to the people and mindful of the events that are actually occurring in your life, shaping your relationships in your family and your community.

 When you are in prayer and your thoughts are unformed, when your feelings are unclear and when no words come to your mind, or when the words that do come are inappropriate for prayer; then be silent, quiet your mind, still the murmurs in your heart, let go of the voices; be silent and listen.

 Let your prayer be one of listening.

 Read the Gospel for today and know this.

 There is no deception in God, no falsehood, no fabrication, no prevarication. Therefor those who claim to speak for the divine must not lie or mislead, cover-up or hide the truth from the people.

 Know this.

 All human beings are prone to error, but there is no error in God.

 When those who have ascended to positions of leadership in Christian communities use deception to persuade you…reject that leadership.

 Some will commit errors because they are honestly confused, but many others commit error that are willful; they lie to you while knowing that they are lying, and they do it anyway; they do it for wealth, they do it for power, they do it to hide from their shame.

 Such people have abandoned Jesus, perhaps not completely, but in their deliberate deceptions they do.

 Know this!

 We have all forsaken God at one time or another, but God has never forsaken us, God never will.

 This is the truth. Let it serve as the foundation of your faith.

First Reading – Genesis 11:1-9 ©

The Tower of Babel

Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’ (For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’

  Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said the Lord. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’ The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

 

Psalm 32(33):10-15

The Lord provides

Praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just:

  it is good for the upright to praise him.

Proclaim the Lord on the lyre,

  play his song on the ten-stringed harp.

Sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing out your cries of triumph,

for the word of the Lord is truly just,

  and all his actions are faithful.

The Lord loves justice and right judgement;

  the earth is full of his loving kindness.

By the Lord’s word the heavens were made,

  and all their array by the breath of his mouth.

He gathered the seas as if in a bag,

  he stored up the depths in his treasury.

Let every land fear the Lord,

  let all the world be awed at his presence.

For he spoke, and they came into being;

  he commanded, and they were made.

The Lord confounds the counsel of the nations,

  throws the thoughts of the peoples into confusion.

But the Lord’s own counsel stands firm for ever,

  his thoughts last for all generations.

Happy the nation whose lord is God,

  the people he has chosen as his inheritance.

The Lord looks down from the heavens

  and sees all the children of men.

From his dwelling-place he looks

  upon all who inhabit the earth.

He moulded each one of their hearts,

  he understands all that they do.

The king will not be saved by his forces;

  the abundance of his strength will not set the strong man free.

Do not trust a horse to save you,

  whatever its swiftness and strength.

For see, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

  upon those who trust in his mercy,

hoping he will save their souls from death

  and their bodies from hunger.

Our souls praise the Lord,

  for he is our help and our protector,

for our hearts rejoice in him,

  and we trust in his holy name.

Lord, show us your loving kindness,

  just as we put our hope in you.

 

Second Reading – Exodus 19:3-8,16-20 ©

Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel:

  ‘“You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.”

  ‘Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’

  So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do.’

  Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.

 

Canticle - Daniel 3:52-56

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; and blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.

Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory, praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.

Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, praiseworthy and glorious forever.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, praise and exalt him above all forever.

 

Third Reading – Ezekiel 37:1-14 ©

A Vision of Israel's Death and Resurrection

The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.

  Then he said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’

 

Psalm 106(107):2-9

Let Them Thank the Lord for His Love, for the Wonders He Does for Men

Alleluia.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

  for his kindness is for ever.

Let them say this, the people the Lord has redeemed,

  those whom he rescued from their enemies

  whom he gathered together from all lands,

  from east and west, from the north and the south.

They wandered through desert and wilderness,

  they could find no way to a city they could dwell in.

Their souls were weary within them,

  weary from hunger and thirst.

They cried to the Lord in their trouble

  and he rescued them from their distress.

He set them on the right path

  towards a city they could dwell in.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness,

  for the wonders he works for men:

the Lord, who feeds hungry creatures

  and gives water to the thirsty to drink.

They sat in the darkness and shadow of death,

  imprisoned in chains and in misery,

because they had rebelled against the words of God

  and spurned the counsels of the Most High.

He wore out their hearts with labour:

  they were weak, there was no-one to help.

They cried to the Lord in their trouble

  and he rescued them from their distress.

He led them out of the darkness and shadow of death,

  he shattered their chains.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness,

  for the wonders he works for men:

the Lord, who shatters doors of bronze,

  who breaks bars of iron.

The people were sick because they transgressed,

  afflicted because of their sins.

All food was distasteful to them,

  they were on the verge of death.

They cried to the Lord in their trouble

  and he rescued them from their distress.

He sent forth his word and healed them,

  delivered them from their ruin.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness,

  for the wonders he works for men:

Let them offer a sacrifice of praise

  and proclaim his works with rejoicing.

Those who go down to the sea in ships,

  those who trade across the great waters –

they have seen the works of the Lord,

  the wonders he performs in the deep.

He spoke, and a storm arose,

  and the waves of the sea rose up.

They rose up as far as the heavens

  and descended down to the depths:

the sailors’ hearts melted from fear,

  they staggered and reeled like drunkards,

  terror drove them out of their minds.

But they cried to the Lord in their trouble

  and he rescued them from their distress.

He turned the storm into a breeze

  and silenced the waves.

They rejoiced at the ending of the storm

  and he led them to the port that they wanted.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness,

  for the wonders he works for men:

let them exalt him in the assembly of the people,

  give him praise in the council of the elders.

The Lord has turned rivers into wilderness,

  he has made well-watered lands into desert,

  fruitful ground into salty waste

  because of the evil of those who dwelt there.

But he has made wilderness into ponds,

  deserts into the sources of rivers,

he has called together the hungry

  and they have founded a city to dwell in.

They have sowed the fields, planted the vines;

  they grow and harvest their produce.

He has blessed them and they have multiplied;

  he does not let their cattle decrease.

But those others became few and oppressed

  through trouble, evil, and sorrow.

He poured his contempt on their princes

  and set them to wander the trackless waste.

But the poor he has saved from their poverty

  and their families grow numerous as sheep.

The upright shall see, and be glad,

  and all wickedness shall block up its mouth.

Whoever is wise will remember these things

  and understand the mercies of the Lord.

 

Fourth Reading – Joel 3:1-5 ©

I Will Pour Out My Spirit on All Mankind

Thus says the Lord:

‘I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.

Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions.

Even on the slaves, men and women, will I pour out my spirit in those days.

I will display portents in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.’

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord dawns,

that great and terrible day.

All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord will call.

 

Psalm 103(104):1-2,24,27-30,35

Hymn to God the Creator

Lord, My God, How Great You are!

Alleluia.

Bless the Lord, my soul!

  Lord, my God, how great you are!

You are robed in majesty and splendour;

  you are wrapped in light as in a cloak.

You stretch out the sky like an awning,

  you build your palace upon the waters.

You make the clouds your chariot,

  you walk upon the wings of the wind.

You make the breezes your messengers,

  you make burning fire your minister.

You set the earth upon its foundation:

  from age to age it will stand firm.

Deep oceans covered it like a garment,

  and the waters stood high above the mountains;

but you rebuked them and they fled;

  at the sound of your thunder they fled in terror.

They rise to the mountains or sink to the valleys,

  to the places you have decreed for them.

You have given them a boundary they must not cross;

  they will never come back to cover the earth.

You make springs arise to feed the streams,

  that flow in the midst of the mountains.

All the beasts of the field will drink from them

  and the wild asses will quench their thirst.

Above them will nest the birds of the sky,

  from among the branches their voices will sound.

From your palace you water the mountains,

  and thus you give plenty to the earth.

You bring forth grass for the cattle,

  and plants for the service of man.

You bring forth bread from the land,

  and wine to make man’s heart rejoice.

Oil, to make the face shine;

  and bread to make man’s heart strong.

The trees of the Lord have all that they need,

  and the cedars of Lebanon, that he planted.

Small birds will nest there,

  and storks at the tops of the trees.

For wild goats there are the high mountains;

  the crags are a refuge for the coneys.

He made the moon so that time could be measured;

  the sun knows the hour of its setting.

You send shadows, and night falls:

  then all the beasts of the woods come out,

lion cubs roaring for their prey,

  asking God for their food.

When the sun rises they come back together

  to lie in their lairs;

man goes out to his labour,

  and works until evening.

How many are your works, O Lord!

  You have made all things in your wisdom,

  and the earth is full of your creatures.

The sea is broad and immense:

  sea-creatures swim there, both small and large,

  too many to count.

Ships sail across it;

  Leviathan lives there, the monster;

  you made him to play with.

All of them look to you

  to give them their food when they need it.

You give it to them, and they gather;

  you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

But turn away, and they are dismayed;

  take away their breath, and they die,

  once more they will turn into dust.

You will send forth your breath, they will come to life;

  you will renew the face of the earth.

Glory be to the Lord, for ever;

  let the Lord rejoice in his works.

He turns his gaze to the earth, and it trembles;

  he touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

  as long as I exist, I will sing songs to God.

May my praises be pleasing to him;

  truly I will delight in the Lord.

Let sinners perish from the earth,

  let the wicked vanish from existence.

Bless the Lord, my soul!

 

Fifth Reading – Romans 8:22-27 ©

The Spirit Himself Expresses Our Plea in a Way that Could Never be Put into Words

From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.

  The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

 

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 15:26-27,16:12-15 ©

The Spirit of Truth Will Lead You to the Complete Truth

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness.

And you too will be witnesses, because you have been with me from the outset.

‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now.

But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come.

He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine.

Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said:

All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.’in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father.’

 

A Homily – Pentecost (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

A Homily – The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year B)

First Reading – Acts 1:15-17,20-26 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 102(103):1-2,11-12,19-20

Second Reading – 1 John 4:11-16 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:18

The Gospel According to John – 17:11 – 17 ©

 

(NAB)

 

Listen!

The Book of Acts was written decades, nearly a century after Jesus was killed, it was written by men who never met Jesus, who were themselves the followers of a man who never met Jesus.

It is likely that the authors of Acts had some contact with Peter and some of the other Disciples, but that contact was limited, and much of what is written in Acts concerning those encounters is hearsay. 

Understand.

David does not foretell the future, we know this because God, the creator of the universe, God created us in freedom; the future is not written.

There was no divine compulsion at work when the disciples named a person to take the place of Judas among them. It was their idea, one they instantiated for their own reasons. This is a reflection of the reality that the structure of the church is a human construction. The church was formed the way it is, with its orders, and hierarchies to suit the purposes of human beings, not God.

Drawing of lots is a superstitious practice, one that never has and never could reveal the will of God, who would never have intervened in such a matter in the first place.

This is propaganda. The fate of the church was not left to a game of chance. This narrative should be rejected on its face; it is full of falsehoods, fabrications and errors of reasoning, giving it no place in the sacred text, other than to serve as a reminder that the early church was busy after the fact, writing justifications for its management of the nascent movement.

 Consider the wisdom of the psalms.

 Give thanks to God. Give thanks for life, the freedom of self-determination, and every other aspect of our being that accommodates our personhood. Give thanks to those who are loving, to the peacemakers…bless them as you are able.

 Bless all of God’s children, as God does, love them all, both the good and the bad, the helpful and the harmful, the just and the unjust.

 Be mindful.

 God is known through us, through the love we bear toward all human beings, toward all of God’s children who carry within themselves a spark of the divine, a seed of the Word, the divine spirit.

 God resides in everyone, but not everyone acts as if this is true. It requires faith to love and to love fully, even your friends and family. It requires a much greater level of faith to extend that love to a stranger, and even more to love your enemy.

 The faithful do not require proof that God’s spirit resides in them or in anyone; the faithful know that dwells in all people. This cannot be proven with the recitation of a creed; neither can it be undone by any deed.

 We manifest our love for God by the love we share with our family and friends, even more when we exercise the divine compassion for those we do not know, to those we fear, or to those who have done us harm.

 God will not abandon anyone. God will leave no orphans, not one of God’s children will be abandon in the wasteland of sin; none shall be lost.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today, it is replete with confusion.

 Set aside for a moment the fixation on names in today’s text, they are meaningless. It is not the name of the nameless God, that has or confers power. Neither is the name of the man from Nazareth, whose name was not Jesus, that has power. There is no power in a name, names are accidental features of our identity.

 Nevertheless, the notion that names have power in and of themselves was a popular superstition at the time the gospels were written. Concern for the power of names was especially important to other groups of Christians who were later prosecuted for heresy, such as the so-called Gnostics and Jewish practitioners of the Kabbalah.

 When the Gospel writers suggested that Jesus had kept all of the disciples except one, Judas Iscariot, true to the mission, they are engaged in a cover up. This suggestion  completely over looks how all of the disciples abandoned Jesus when he was arrested.

 They ran away and hid.

 It may be true that Judas acted alone when he sold Jesus out, but the rest of them failed to stand by Jesus, including Peter who explicitly denied Jesus three times on the night he was arrested; only his mother and his female followers understood what was going on and stayed with him.

 Today’s reading also puts forward the contradictory claim that when Judas betrayed Jesus, and therefore God, did so in fulfillment of scripture.

Was Judas acting freely, or was he compelled? The narrative is very murky.

 Remember.

 God is present in the world, God is everywhere. We exist within the divine being. God is the sole creator, all things come to be in and through God, God who sustains us all. The church has rejected all forms of dualism in theory, it has rejected dualism in its philosophy, but not liturgically or in its spiritual practice.

 As followers of the way we are called on to finish that that work, to strip dualism from the sacred rites, and every other place where it persists.

 

First Reading – Acts 1:15-17,20-26 ©

'Let Someone Else Take His Office'

One day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers – there were about a hundred and twenty persons in the congregation: ‘Brothers, the passage of scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus – after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of ours. Now in the Book of Psalms it says:

Let someone else take his office.

‘We must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus was travelling round with us, someone who was with us right from the time when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us – and he can act with us as a witness to his resurrection.’

  Having nominated two candidates, Joseph known as Barsabbas, whose surname was Justus, and Matthias, they prayed, ‘Lord, you can read everyone’s heart; show us therefore which of these two you have chosen to take over this ministry and apostolate, which Judas abandoned to go to his proper place.’ They then drew lots for them, and as the lot fell to Matthias, he was listed as one of the twelve apostles.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 102(103):1-2,11-12,19-20

Praise of the Compassionate Lord

 My soul, give thanks to the Lord, and never forget all his blessings. Alleluia.

 My soul, bless the Lord!

  All that is in me, bless his holy name.

My soul, bless the Lord!

  Never forget all he has done for you.

The Lord, who forgives your wrongdoing,

  who heals all your weaknesses.

The Lord, who redeems your life from destruction,

  who crowns you with kindness and compassion.

The Lord, who fills your age with good things,

  who renews your youth like an eagle’s.

The Lord, who gives fair judgements,

  who gives judgement in favour of the oppressed.

As a father has compassion on his sons, the Lord has pity on those who fear him.

The Lord is compassion and kindness,

  full of patience, full of mercy.

He will not fight against you for ever:

  he will not always be angry.

He does not treat us as our sins deserve;

  he does not pay us back for our wrongdoing.

As high as the sky above the earth,

  so great is his kindness to those who fear him.

As far as east is from west,

  so far he has put our wrongdoing from us.

As a father cares for his children,

  so the Lord cares for those who fear him.

For he knows how we are made,

  he remembers we are nothing but dust.

Man – his life is like grass,

  he blossoms and withers like flowers of the field.

The wind blows and carries him away:

  no trace of him remains.

The Lord has been kind from the beginning;

  to those who fear him his kindness lasts for ever.

His justice is for their children’s children,

  for those who keep his covenant,

  for those who remember his commandments

  and try to perform them.

The Lord’s throne is high in the heavens

  and his rule shall extend over all.

Bless the Lord, all his angels,

  strong in your strength, doers of his command,

  bless him as you hear his words.

Bless the Lord, all his powers,

  his servants who do his will.

Bless the Lord, all he has created,

  in every place that he rules.

My soul, bless the Lord!

 

Second Reading – 1 John 4:11-16 ©

Anyone Who Lives in Love Lives in God, and God Lives in Him

My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another.

No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us

and his love will be complete in us.

We can know that we are living in him and he is living in us because he lets us share his Spirit.

We ourselves saw and we testify that the Father sent his Son as saviour of the world.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God.

We ourselves have known and put our faith in God’s love towards ourselves.

God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord; I will come back to you, and your hearts will be full of joy.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John – 17:11 – 17 ©

Father, Keep Those You Have Given Me True to Your Name

 Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

 ‘Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us.

While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name.

I have watched over them and not one is lost except the one who chose to be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures.

But now I am coming to you and while still in the world I say these things to share my joy with them to the full.

I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world

no more than I belong to the world.

I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the evil one.

They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.’

 

A Homily – The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year B)

A Homily – Feast of the Ascension (Year B), a Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Acts 1:1-11 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 46(47):2-3,6-9

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:1-13 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 28:19,20

The Gospel According to Mark 16:15-20 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Consider the mindset of Jesus’ disciples as they gave witness to the ascension while still clinging to the hope that Jesus would establish a messianic kingdom in Judea, or that they could establish one in his name. The disciples successfully transmitted their hope to the next generation of apostles, as to the authors of the gospels and the Book of Acts, though the content of their hopes, their rationale and the belief system which supported it had begun to deviate from the source, sometimes in significant ways, as the years and decades mounted.

 Consider how Jesus in his final moments with his companions, directs their attention to the world beyond Judea, beyond Israel and Samaria, beyond the Ptolemy’s and Seleucid’s, beyond Egypt and Roman Palestine, beyond the power of empires and out toward the broader world…and then he left.

 Consider the words of the psalmist.

 It is right to praise God, the creator of the Universe, but it is not right to assume that God favors one people over another, or that God makes one nation the subject of another, do not believe that walks over people, puts them underfoot, or the foot of any other.

 God, the true God, the God of love and mercy; our God is a liberator who shuns war and violence.

 The true God is not a king, rather God comes to us as a parent, as God a friend. In the psalm God sorrows over Jacob, is saddened by Israel, and is mournful for the church. Do not look for God on a throne; if you seek the face of God look to your neighbor.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle when he calls us to selflessness, to openheartedness and love, and to the recognition that Gods spirit animates all things, that God is the God of all beings, and that no one is beyond the scope of God’s grace.

Know this.

 The “Great Commission,” is a piece of propaganda. The event itself never happened, but the authors of Matthew’s Gospel, writing over one hundred years after Jesus was killed, they thought it was necessary to set a few lines into the sacred text regarding their authority to speak and act in Jesus’ name (exclusively).

 These were the same people who sold him to the Sanhedrin, abandoned and denied him.  

 Nevertheless, the message itself is reasonable, it articulates the basic mission of the church, to teach the way to all people of all nations, to teach them to be seekers of justice and servants of truth, people who care for the stranger, the widow and the orphan.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today.

 Proclaim the good news:

 Death is not the end. God loves you, you are saved…you are saved already!

 You are not saved by ritual magic and blood rites. We are not Gnostics, your salvation is not a matter of your possessing the correct belief. We are saved out of the super-abundance of divine grace, we are saved because God loves us.

 God love’s everyone and loses no-one, that is the good news.

 Therefore, pay no attention to preachers who come at you like carnival barkers with their tricks and gimmicks, trying to shake you down.

 Grace is free and it has no limit.

 

First Reading – Acts 1:1-11 ©

Jesus Was Lifted Up While They Looked On

In my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. He had shown himself alive to them after his Passion by many demonstrations: for forty days he had continued to appear to them and tell them about the kingdom of God. When he had been at table with them, he had told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised. ‘It is’ he had said ‘what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’

  Now having met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.’

  As he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 46(47):2-3,6-9

The Lord is King

Cry to God with shouts of joy.

All nations, clap your hands;

  cry out to God in exultation,

for the Lord, the Most High, is greatly to be feared,

  and King over all the earth.

He has made whole peoples our subjects,

  put nations beneath our feet.

He has chosen our inheritance for us,

  the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

God ascends amid rejoicing,

  the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

Sing to God, sing praise.

  Sing to our king, sing praise.

God is king over the whole earth:

  sing to him with all your skill.

God reigns over the nations;

  God sits on his holy throne.

The nobles of the peoples join together

  with the people of the God of Abraham,

for to God belong the armies of the earth;

  he is high above all things.

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:1-13 ©

We are All to Come to Unity, Fully Mature in the Knowledge of the Son of God

I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

  Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would:

When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,

he gave gifts to men.

When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 28:19,20

Alleluia, alleluia!

Go, make disciples of all the nations.

I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 16:15-20 ©

Go Out to the Whole World; Proclaim the Good News

Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and said to them:

  ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’

  And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.

 

Feast of the Ascension, a Holy Day of Obligation, Year B

Mary Stewart – Author and Mythologist, Arthurian, Hero

I read my first book by Mary Stewart in the summer between the fifth and sixth grades: The Crystal Cave, the first book in her famous Merlin Trilogy.

 Her novel opened my eyes to many things, to the notion that an author could build a credible mythological narrative based on actual historical antecedents for Camelot and King Arthur, subjects that at the age of eleven I was already fascinated with. Though, until I read Mary Stewart I thought of the Knights of the Roundtable as belonging to the world of make-believe, like Hercules, or Sinbad, I thought of them as fantastical, not pure fantasy like Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins, but nearer to them than they were to Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar or Genghis Khan.

 Mary Stewart wrote her trilogy (and then a fourth book) from the perspective of Merlin; she set the timeline in the fifth century CE, when Roman influence was waning in the British Isles, her books linked the rise of the Arthurian kingdom to a Roman dynasty, a ruling elite that had adopted the local customs and had become syncretized to their cultural norms, a group of so-called Gallo Romans who lived among Celtic and Brithonic people among whom were the Welsh, the Scots and the Picts.

 She wrote about the Roman Army, thereby introducing me to the Cult of Mithras, Sol Invictus; in writing about these Celts, otherwise known as the Gaul, she wrote about an ancient culture whose sphere of influence included Ireland and the British Isles, all of France and Spain. She wrote about this Indo-European culture that once covered the continents of Eurasia from the Iceland to Sri Lanka…and she wrote about the Druids, she wrote about their myths and legends. She peeled away the most fantastical elements associated with their place in Celtic culture, leaving me to wonder if what was left, even the magic might be real.

 The figures in her stories, Uther Pendragon, Merlin, Igraine and Arthur were presented with a kind of grittiness that made me believe in them as if they were real people. They were already mythic figures in my imagination, but through her narrative they became tangible and my connection to them grew.

 Through Mary Stewart’s presentation of Mithraism, because of its connections to the early Christian movement, I came to be interested in the real history of Church, I became a researcher, and I began to question everything that I had been told.

 I cannot thank her enough for this.

 Mary Stewart had an oversized influence on my life, though I did go further in her body of work than the Merlin Trilogy. At that time in my life and for years to come I read everything I could get my hands on concerning King Arthur, including Mallory’s, the La Morte de Artur, and all of the variations of that text which flowed from it.

 All of those readings were conditioned by Mary Stewart’s historicity.

 From Mary Stewart I learned about many other things:

 I discovered the real presence of Arthurian myth in European culture, serving as a force major, as a beacon of hope, providing my forebears with a set or mores and a code of conduct that initiated and fostered the chivalric ideal, while becoming a vehicle for the subversion of any state that did not live up to the ideal.

 Arthurian myth provided a foundation for the Albigensian and Waldensian Herseies, and other counter cultural movements around the turn of the tenth century. Such movements were supported by the agency of people known as troubadours, travelling poets and minstrels who seemed to be cast in the mode of the bardic-druid.

 My early exposure to Mary Stewart gave me a proper frame of reference to comprehend Joseph Campbell’s discussion of Arthurian Myth, which then became an entry point for my understanding of the hero’s journey and to mythology in general, providing me with a frame of reference by which to study the literature, history and philosophies of the church.

 If I had not read Mary Stewart I may never have become a theologian, if my interest in those things had not been piqued by her authorship, I would not be the person I am today…she is a hero of mine.

Observation - May 9th, 2024, Thursday

there is a jet taking off

a car horn honks…once

a bus pulls away from the stop

it rolls past my window

 

there is a steady beep

the alarm from a heavy vehicle 

down the street

work crews on Bryant Avenue

 

a jet now is landing

my windows are open

 

there are birds talking

bird voices rising and falling

between the whining waves

of mechanical chatter