Third Sunday of Lent – C
There are many questions
in life and one of the hardest to answer is the Question “Why?”
Why are these people suffering? Why was the poor nation of
What is divine providence? It means things in God’s eyes may not be what they seem. There is the story of a man who was questioning why things happened as they did? He asked God to help him to understand why things were happening which did which not make sense. God hears the prayer and sends an angel to him to teach divine providence. The angel appears to him and tells him of his task from God so the man readily agrees to follow the angel on his journey among men as the angel would show him why things are happening. They go on the first day’s journey and in the evening they come upon a poor family who invites them in for a meal and give up their beds so they have a soft place to sleep. The family although they did not have enough to feed themselves had a good breakfast ready for the 2 strangers and sent them on their way. After they left, the angel snuck back and set the house on fire and it burned to the ground. The man asked “Why did you to that?” The response was “Divine Providence!” They continued their journey and came upon a man who invited them into his home, he was a wealthy bachelor who lived alone. The angel picked up a silver cup and admired it. The man said he was proud of that cup, he had just gotten it as a gift from his only nephew and was going to use it for his meal the next day. The man served them a beautiful meal and gave them one of the best beds in the house. They thanked the man in the morning and when he turned his back the angel stole the cup. The man asked the angel “why?” the answer was “Divine Providence.” He did not understand. They go further on their journey and come to another home. They asked the man if they could stay the night. He told them to sleep in the barn he would not let them into the house. He gave them nothing to eat but left them hungry. In the morning the angel thanked the man profusely for his kindness of giving them shelter in the barn and gave him the silver cup in thanks. The man asked he angel “Why he did this the answer was “Divine Providence.” Next they came upon a poor family who welcomed them to their home, they had one cow which gave them fresh milk for their meal. They were thankful for the cow. They stayed with the family and in the middle of the night the angel went out and killed the cow. The man asked “Why?” The answer was “Divine Providence.” They then came upon an old fisherman and his son. He was a widower and the son was his only family. This old fisherman was very course and gross, he cussed and swore every 4th word but he loved his innocent little son. The angel asked directions and the man tried to give them but the angel acted like he could not understand. Finally the angel if they son knew the right way and he said he did. Could his son show them the way. The man refused. This son was all he had, his pride and joy. The angel said he does not have to go with us the whole way, but only as far as the bridge on the river to point out the right road to take after that. The man agreed. The son accompanied them and when the got to the river the angel threw the boy in and he drown. The man getting very frustrated asked “Why the child had to die?” and he said “Divine Providence.” The man said that he had enough he could not take it any more he wanted better answers than just saying “Divine Providence,” so the angel better explain and explain now!
The angel asked him if he remember the first poor family who gave them their food and beds out of kindness and he burned down their house? He said he did. The angel said that the previous owner was a wealthy miser who hid his fortune of gold in the walls but he died before using it. When they cleared away the rubble they found the gold among the ashes. The wealthy bachelor who treated with kindness was proud of the silver cup from his only nephew, he didn’t know that the cup was poisoned by the nephew to get his uncle’s estate. By stealing the cup he saved this kind man’s life. The mean man who had them sleep in the barn and left them hungry was given the cup in thanks to give him the justice he deserved for his meanness to every one. He died from the poison. Then we stayed with the poor family who was so thankful for the cow that gave them warm milk for their meals, in the middle of the night the angel of death came to take the wife and mother but I gave him the cow instead. The last one is the hardest to understand. The man and the son. The man was so course and gross, he never prayed, every 4th word was a swear word he was involved in impurities and pornogrpahy. The son was innocent. If the son would have continued to live with the man he would have become just as bad and died and gone to hell. He was still innocent when he drown and went right to heaven. The man will be so shaken by this that he will change his life and will go to heaven too otherwise he was headed for Hell. That is the meaning of “Divine Providence.”
Moses in the first reading complains to God about the people being slaves for 300 years. Why does not God hear them? God sends Moses to deliver them when they are at their weakest. They cannot protect themselves, they have no army to revolt. They are defenseless in the face of the Egyptian People with their powerful gods and the impressive temples which they built for them. God then frees them without they lifting a finger to show how God loves everyone even these helpless abused slaves. God sends 10 plagues which show how false and useless are the 10 Egyptian gods. God frees the slaves without an army otherwise they would give the credit to themselves instead of the love of God who chose them. They were in the bitterness of slavery to know what it means to be a slave so when they are free they will be ready to teach the world that freedom does not mean “you can do anything you want” but that you need moral laws of the 10 Commandments to keep from becoming slave drivers and making others slaves, that all people have rights and freedom in the moral kingdom of God.
Jesus is asked about the
innocent worshipers who were caught up when a riot broke out in the temple
and the Roman soldiers killed them where they blood of their animal
sacrifices was shed, and what about the people who were crushed from the
falling stones when the tower of Siloam fell upon them.
“Were these people greater sinners than others who lived at the
time? Were they being punished for their sins?”
“No they weren’t.” Jesus replies. We live in a world with
natural disasters from the forces of nature and buildings fall, maybe from
bad construction or from earthquake, or strong winds. We live in a world
when people are in the wrong place at the wrong time such in drive by
shootings between gangs or between forces in wars and innocent people die.
But that does not mean they were sinners - it may have been their time in
their innocence to get to heaven as they were worshiping God. But Jesus
warns of a future event 40 years in the future when people will be slain
in the temple because they rejected Christ and God and in punishment the
Roman army will come in and destroy
But Jesus gives an image
of the fig tree that is not bearing fruit, like the people of
Second Sunday of Lent – C
Today we celebrate the second Sunday of Lent. This Sunday traditionally we have the reading of the Gospel of the Transfiguration of Christ, as the glory of His divinity shines through His humanity.
The first Sunday of Lent as we mentioned last week is always the temptations of Christ and His answer to those temptations which we all also face. Jesus’ answer to them is to look beyond them, look beyond this world to what God has to offer us and how much better that is. The temptations are to seek food, material things, pleasures, power, fame, and wealth. This Sunday with the Transfiguration, Jesus shows us what God has planned for us in His glorified body - as we look beyond this world.
As Jesus in preparing for His upcoming passion and death, He takes Peter, James and John up the high mountain of Mt. Tabor to give them a vision of things to come to give them the strength to get through the upcoming events of His passion which seem to end in hopelessness and despair.
They go up Mt. Tabor, a high mountain from which you can see the world below, you can see below the countries of Israel, the sea of Galilee, the lands of Moab and Edom and the Decapolis from this height in all its beauty. This is a wonderful vantage point for viewing the neighboring territory - as was the high mountain that Satan took Jesus to view the kingdoms of the world with all their wealth and power when Satan wanted Jesus to worship him to get the world for Himself.
Jesus is transfigured on this site, that is He allows the His divinity, which He always has with Him as He is God and Man, to shine through His humanity. How the view changes. His face changes in appearance like light, even His clothing becomes dazzling white. He is full of Light, full of joy and love, not the dark blackness of sin, selfishness and the sadness and despair which comes from sin - which is all the wealth of the kingdoms of this world can offer. He is surrounded by the Saints of Heaven who live in God’s Presence: Moses who during his life - because God spoke to him face to face, his own face glowed with reflected light from God - so much so that he had to cover his face when talking to the Israelite People. And we also have Elijah, the faithful prophet who was taken up into Heaven itself in a chariot of fire, a chariot of light. Peter John and James are dazzled by the beauty of the light of God coming from Christ and the reflected light of God in the Saints in Heaven in Moses and Elijah. This is why saints are pictured with halos, with light radiating out of them, not because they are gods but because they reflect the glory of God and his brilliance in their lives. We have met, I am sure, some people who radiate love and joy to all around, the love and joy they have found in God in their lives. The apostles are over awed by the sight which makes the kingdoms of the world and all they offers look so plain and trivial in comparison.
When it appears that Moses and Elijah are going to leave, Peter speaks up, “Master, it is good that we are here!” Peter wants to intervene because he does not want this vision of Heaven to end. He offers that the apostles build 3 shelters one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Maybe if they can keep the 3 of them together, maybe the vision will not fade, it is so much more wonderful than all this world has to offer.
They are then overshadowed
by a cloud of light. Usually we think of clouds making things dark, of
shadowing everything below in darkness and shade as do the clouds of
earth, but this is the shining cloud of God’s presence in Heaven which
brings light to all below. When
Moses met God on
This is also a
foreshadowing of the truth of who we are. They see Jesus in his Glorified
Body, they see the divinity of God’s life shining through His human
body. They see the glory of the saints, of Moses and Elijah as the glory
of God shines through these children of God, made in God’s image and
likeness. So we also are made
in God’s image and likeness, we are made to reflect the beauty and love
of God. We too are children of God by Baptism, we are filled by the
sacraments with Sanctifying Grace, which is the very life of God -
as we are part of the very glorified Body of Christ the
First Sunday of Lent – C
In our Gospel we have the 3 temptations of Christ. This is the usual Gospel we have on the First Sunday of Lent. Why do we begin Lent every year with the temptations of Christ? Because the purpose of Lent is to do what was said to us when we received ashes on Ash Wednesday, we are to turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. We are to turn from sin. All sin begins with temptations. If we know how to handle temptations when they come we will not fall into sin. So we have Jesus facing 3 temptations and see how he handled them. This lets us know what we need to do when we face temptations to sin.
Jesus faces 3 kinds of
temptations and shows us how to deal with them. The first is the
temptation to eat food. Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and needless to
say he was hungry. Food is one of the most basic necessities of life. When
a person is near starvation anything reminds of food. The rocks in this
area around
People in Nazi prison camps would do anything possible, to even stealing from those others who were also starving to get a bite of food. They were purposely starved to make to make them less than human, to make them go back to animal instincts, to give up human dignity. But in those same circumstances were others who found their strength to live not first of all in food - but in God. They would even share some of their bread with others who were hungry because they did not see their fellow prisoners as animals scavenging food - but as images of God and children of God with great dignity who deserved love and care. Even when hungry themselves - they were willing to share the little they had - and instead of degrading themselves as animals - they became their full potential of Children of God. How often times we too are bothered by the basic needs of life. How we can focus on them and how to get them. We are reminded to look beyond they material things to their Creator for our meaning in life and it can change our lives to be like God in His care.
I know of a priest who lived in Communist Czechoslovakia. He was ordained before WWII. He was put in a Nazi concentration camp for his faith. The Russians freed the prisoners. He again became a parish priest but was shortly later arrested by the Communists and put into prison for being a priest. After serving his term in prison he was released and put in one of the poorest jobs in a factory, given one of the worst places to live in with the least amount of food as were the others priests, religious and ministers who were released from prison. Who were also forbidden to return to their public ministry. The other workers in the factory did not know they were clergy and religious only fellow workers. The other regular workers under communism also were not well paid, although better than the former clergy, and they tried to do what they could or needed to do to get a little extra food for their families even to stealing and cheating and lying. They were always complaining about their conditions. The clergy and religious who were unknown to them instead of constantly complaining as they did patiently listened to them. Even though the former clergy themselves had less to live on - they were willing to share the little they had. Instead of acting like animals they showed charity to others. When in 1968 the strict Communist government changed for more a more liberal one - the workers were told they could elect their supervisors. Whom did they elect? They elected the priests, the sisters and the ministers - whom they did not know their pasts as they were forbidden to minister publicly. These were the ones who showed them dignity and value by their kindness, patience and sharing even when they had less and gave them hope. “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” In temptations for the basics of life and the desire for material things are in your life. Look beyond them to God and show His love and care by sharing your blessings - no matter how small by almsgiving - and you will find true value in life.
Jesus is taken to a high mountain and shown all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendors, wealth and power. Satan knows that Jesus came to redeem the world for God. Why go through all the work of ministry and the suffering and death on the cross to get them. The temptation is to do it the easy way. Satan tells Jesus by the original sin of Adam and Eve who were in charge of the world and everything in it - and who put themselves under Satan’s rule by their sin, that he, Satan, is now the prince of this world. Just worship Satan and Satan will give you the world without all the work of ministry and Jesus’ passion and death. Jesus again says to look beyond this world. Don’t worship Satan to get this world - when worshipping God the creator of the world - will get you the blessings of this world and will give you heaven besides which is a million times better. How many dictators took Satan up on his deal, they worshipped Satan by their totalitarian regiemes, by their persecutions, by their oppression, by their wars, but taking away freedoms. They all fell. Their countries were destroyed, they were not loved and respected but hated by their people - and they all in the end returned back to dust but worst of all they lost heaven. When tempted to be the king of the hill, to be the top dog, to be the boss over others and play God over them controlling their lives, and have them serve you and have the wealth and comforts of the world - instead worship God by prayer and you will have Jesus who redeemed the world and who will give us Heaven besides.
Jesus is taken to the parapet of the temple, the highest part of the supporting wall of the temple platform over the Kidron valley below. Satan tells Jesus to jump. If you want to be famous show off, be daring, do a miracle. Let everyone know how important you are by the angels catching you before you kill yourself on the rocks below. You will WOW the crowd and then you do not have to convert them one by one. Show your power as God and how can they NOT follow you. Jesus says “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” How often people try to be daring, hoping that if they show off people will know and respect them and they will be famous - hoping God will protect them from their foolishness so they will not be killed - just to be famous and well know. Think for example of bungee jumpers, those who jump over a row of cars on motorcycles, those who do dangerous stunts with airplanes, and so forth. There are others who may not be show offs doing dangerous physical things to be famous but who like dare devils do not avoid spiritual temptations and places of sin hoping that before they get too involved in drugs or sex or pornography or gambling or stealing, God will step in and rescue them before they become addicted. Like Adam and Eve they try to see how close to the forbidden fruit they can get before they fall into sin. If Adam and Eve would not have tempted God by going near the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil and stayed a block away, we would still be living in paradise. Jesus answer is to fast, to fast from sin and the temptations that lead up to them and if we do then we will be safe - instead of daring God to rescue us at the last minute - from something we have chosen to do.
Jesus on Ash Wednesday told us to do 3 things: Prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are really the answers to the three temptations. When tempted by material things and the basics of life so much so that it brings out our animal instincts to get them - we need to share by almsgiving to bring out our divine instincts as Children of God. When tempted by the beauty, wealth and power of the world instead of worshipping Satan by playing god over others to get them as a tyrant or dictator - instead we need to worship God, the creator of the whole world who can give us heaven besides, worship Him by prayer and you get it all. When tempted by pride and recklessness and fame hoping that God will save you at the last minute or when tempted to go near occasions and places of sin hoping God will deliver you, instead you need to fast from those occasions and if you keep away from them you will not fall into them.
Jesus was tempted; He overcame the temptations by prayer, fasting, and
almsgiving and redeemed the world. We too can be delivered from our sins
if we do the same.
Ash Wednesday
Our first reading is from
the book of the prophet Joel. The prophet Joel lived about 400 years before
Christ. He lived after the captives returned from their 70 year slavery in
Joel calls the people to repentance: EVEN NOW, SAYS THE LORD, RETURN TO ME WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART, WITH FASTING, AND WEEPING AND MOURNING. REND YOUR HEARTS NOT YOUR GARMENTS AND RETURN TO THE LORD, YOUR GOD. GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL IS HE, SLOW TO ANGER, RICH IN KINDNESS AND RELENTING IN PUNISHMENT. PERHAPS HE WILL AGAIN RELENT AND LEAVE BEHIND A BLESSING, OFFERINGS AND LIBATIONS FOR THE LORD, YOUR GOD.
The prophet Joel speaks of the coming of the day of the Lord. In which the Holy Spirit will pour out His blessings. St. Peter quoted Joel in is first homily on Pentecost Sunday after the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles. This is when Peter, like Joel, preached repentance for forgiveness of sins so we could all be blessed by the Holy Spirit in the Day of the Lord which we are now living in.
Even when things look hopeless - do not give up hope. Return to God with your whole heart. To show repentance and sorrow the Jews would tear their garments. Joel tells them to not just have an outward sign of sorrow but to really be sorry and tear their hearts open to let God in and let God’s love out. How do you tear open your heart? By fasting and prayer and acts of charity to show your change of heart..
How do you pray and fast? Jesus gives us instructions in the Gospel Give alms quietly, not for public show to gain the people’s praise for ourselves for our generosity but quietly to bring blessings to the individual being helped. See each person in God’s image and welcome him there. Show love for God by the kindness you show to those made in his image, to other members of the Body of Christ. When you do kindness to them you give it to Christ, and when you give it to Christ who is God, you are showing love for God. Love in a real way of not just words but in actions giving what we have in charity out of care for others.
When we pray we should not be like the Pharacees who prayed out on the street to gain praise and respect for themselves. So people would admire them for their prayerfulness – to say how holy they were, but we are to give God the glory by our prayer by praying out of sight so our attention is on God and not on what people think of us and how holy we appear to be. Jesus tells us in another place “to pray always.” We should be thankful in our meals, pray for he people we are meeting with, bring God to every circumstance of the day as we speak quietly to God about them. We should make God a daily companion whom we share our life with, whom we speak to through out the day as we would speak to a friend who is walking beside us through out the day. We need to tear our hearts open so we can invite God in and give out the love we have in them.
We are to fast. We are to take our eyes off the material things of this world and the pressing matters of each day which take all our attention and put them in third place of importance. If we put love of neighbor by almsgiving - seeing Christ in others who are made in God’s image and likeness; if we pray daily throughout the day bringing God to others and others to God in our prayers for their daily needs and being thankful for our blessings; then material objects and daily concerns easily fall into third place not first place. The value of material things and the temptations and attractions of this world are seen for the little value they really have - and that material things only have value if they are shared. Daily problems should not and cannot weigh us down if God is invited into our lives to give us the wisdom and guidance we need.
Once we put things in proper order. Instead of focusing on our daily problems and the material things of this world which we are trying to obtain or protect or keep; and focus instead on God’s love for us and His care for us, and if we open our hearts to He who can do all things and who can provide all things, and show our faith in Him by sharing what we have with others then we can truly be blessed. Then we are truly free and are the image of God we are called to be in this new day of the Lord.
Lent is a time to get our priorities straight, God can forgive us, deliver us and bless us again if we are willing to open our hearts to Him, by opening them to others and sharing our blessings and fasting from those material things that can do nothing for us.
Now is the acceptable time,
now is the day of salvation at
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time – C
The gospel we have just heard may sound familiar in part, it sounds like a form of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus giving the beatitudes - the blessings. This is called the Sermon in the Plain which gives us a short form of the beatitudes, the blessings for following Christ - but also a list of woes or curses for those who do not. As we prepare for the beginning of Lent this Wednesday which is Ash Wednesday, it is a good time to see where we stand in our lives, are we following Christ or not, - will we be blessed in the end or cursed.
Our first reading helps us by
giving us an image of the 2 trees the one blessed and the one cursed. One is
cursed because it represents those “who
trust in human beings, whose strength is in the flesh, whose hearts turn away
from the Lord.” This is a barren
bush. Why is it barren? Because it has no change of season, It
stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.
These are the people who think they do not need God, they do can do it
on their own, their answer to the needs of life is
their material things, their handiworks, their inventions based on the
sciences which becomes their gods. But their objects are just that
objects – objects of wood and stone, plastic, glass and metal. These objects
do not have a mind or feelings, they do not care
about their owners or makers. When tough times come they can do nothing for
you. Think of the people who have gone through earthquates
like in
Woe to you who are rich, for your have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
The prosperous who have everything material thing seem to be the ones who are blessed to begin with - but when tragedy comes - they have nothing - because they have no God and no one to rely upon.
They are like the ones in
But if you saw the news on
Friday you saw something unusual. In
They were like the other tree symbol in the first reading - The tree that stands in the desert but “it is planted next to the waters that stretches it roots to the stream. It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.”
Here we have the group who even though they have lost many family members, friends, and neighbors - still can rejoice; because their daily strength has been in God and not in their accomplishments or the objects they gathered around them - which have no feelings or care for them. Even with such immense losses and death they know that this world is NOT all they have. They know there is resurrection from the dead because Jesus died and rose from the dead. Because of Jesus’ death - death is conquered, there is eternal life, there is hope not only for the survivors but also for those whom they lost, who died. Even in the midst of such great loss there is cause to find strength for the future. Even when they don’t know where their family is buried in mass graves - there is hope for them because they had God’s eternal life from the waters of Baptism and the waters of grace they drew on through-out their lives.
So we then can understand the blessings which sound so strange to our world and those who trust only in themselves, their own strength and their possessions instead of drawing their strength from God:
Blessed are you who are poor, for the
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and they exclude you and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man
Rejoice leap for joy on that day! Behold your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the (true) prophets the same way.
We have 2 groups - those who are blessed because they are following what the true prophets proclaimed: The need to worship God, the need to draw your strength from God’s grace and His love for the trials of daily life, who proclaimed the need to share what we have received - to love one another as God loves us and not rely on the strength of nations, arms and material possessions These are like the tree who even in disasters finds strength in the waters of God and is a cause of joy.
Then we have the other group who are cursed because they follow the false prophets who taught to rely on yourselves, on your own strength, on the strength of the nation and its weapons, on the accumulated wealth of gathering material things around you – and find in crisis you have nothing, only loss and death without hope.
As we prepare for lent - living in a world full of false prophets telling us that we don’t need God, that life has no value, that there is no afterlife, - so we should gather material things around us to find joy in, to trust in our new inventions, our black berrys, cel- phones, computers, large screen TVs to bring us happiness – to eat, drink and be merry! Whose false blessings can turn into woes in a few seconds in a naturals disaster. We need to take time to listen to the true prophets who tell us to take time for prayer and worship of God, to find His mercy and forgiveness for our sins, to enjoy the gift of eternal life, which death cannot take away, and to enjoy the love of God we receive - and to share our lives and love with others by lifting one another’s burdens and finding the reason to celebrate the gift of life.
As we prepare for Lent, are we following the messages of the false prophets of our present time who lead us to the curses of materialism, lack of value in life, selfishness, immorality, and eternal death? If so we need to use this upcoming holy season as a time to follow the teachings of Chist and of the church, which are denounced and ridiculed by false prophets of the present age - which shows that the way to true happiness and strength is to grow closer to the stream of God’s grace in prayer and love for one another so we can find blessings of the strength needed for the tragedies of life, for hope, and the happiness for this life and eternal life proclaimed by the true prophets.