romancatholicreflections

[romancatholicreflections]

14th April >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 22:14-23:56 for Palm Sunday, Cycle C: ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit’.

Palm Sunday, Cycle C

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 22:14-23:56

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke

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

N. When the hour came, Jesus took his place at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them,

✠ I have longed to eat this passover with you before I suffer; because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

N. Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said,

✠ Take this and share it among you, because from now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.

N. Then he took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying,

✠ This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.

N. He did the same with the cup after supper, and said,

✠ This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you.

And yet, here with me on the table is the hand of the man who betrays me. The Son of Man does indeed go to his fate even as it has been decreed, but alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!

N. And they began to ask one another which of them it could be who was to do this thing.

A dispute arose also between them about which should be reckoned the greatest, but he said to them,

✠ Among pagans it is the kings who lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title Benefactor. This must not happen with you. No; the greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves. For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table, surely? Yet here am I among you as one who serves!

You are the men who have stood by me faithfully in my trials; and now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me: you will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.

Simon, Simon! Satan, you must know, has got his wish to sift you all like wheat; but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers.

N. He answered,

O. Lord, I would be ready to go to prison with you, and to death.

N. Jesus replied,

✠ I tell you, Peter, by the time the cock crows today you will have denied three times that you know me.

N. He said to them,

✠ When I sent you out without purse or haversack or sandals, were you short of anything?

N. They answered,

C. No.

N. He said to them,

✠ But now if you have a purse, take it; if you have a haversack, do the same; if you have no sword, sell your cloak and buy one, because I tell you these words of scripture have to be fulfilled in me: He let himself be taken for a criminal. Yes, what scripture says about me is even now reaching its fulfilment.

N. They said,

C. Lord, there are two swords here now.

N. He said to them,

✠ That is enough!

N. He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When they reached the place he said to them,

✠ Pray not to be put to the test.

N. Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt down and prayed, saying,

✠ Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.

N. Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief. He said to them,

✠ Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.

N. He was still speaking when a number of men appeared, and at the head of them the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, who went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said,

✠ Judas, are you betraying the son of Man with a kiss?

N. His followers, seeing what was happening, said,

C. Lord, shall we use our swords?

N. And one of them struck out at the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. But at this Jesus spoke:

✠ Leave off! That will do!

N. And touching the man’s ear he healed him.

Then Jesus spoke to the chief priests and captains of the Temple guard and elders who had come for him. He said,

✠ Am I a brigand, that you had to set out with swords and clubs? When I was among you in the Temple day after day you never moved to lay hands on me. But this is your hour; this is the reign of darkness.

N. They seized him then and led him away, and they took him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. They had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and Peter sat down among them, and as he was sitting there by the blaze a servant-girl saw him, peered at him, and said,

O. This person was with him too.

N. But he denied it.

O. Woman, I do not know him.

N. Shortly afterwards someone else saw him and said,

O. You are another of them.

N. But Peter replied,

O. I am not, my friend.

N. About an hour later another man insisted, saying,

O. This fellow was certainly with him. Why, he is a Galilean.

N. Peter said,

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

N. At that instant, while he was still speaking, the cock crew, and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will have disowned me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Meanwhile the men who guarded Jesus were mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying,

C. Play the prophet. Who hit you then?

N. And they continued heaping insults on him.

When day broke there was a meeting of the elders of the people, attended by the chief priests and scribes. He was brought before their council, and they said to him,

C. If you are the Christ, tell us.

N. He replied,

✠ If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the Power of God.

N. Then they all said,

C. So you are the Son of God then?

N. He answered:

✠ It is you who say I am.

N. They said,

C. What need of witnesses have we now? We have heard it for ourselves from his own lips.

N. The whole assembly then rose, and they brought him before Pilate.

They began their accusation by saying,

C. We found this man inciting our people to revolt, opposing payment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a king.

N. Pilate put to him this question:

O. Are you the king of the Jews?

N. He replied,

✠ It is you who say it.

N. Pilate then said to the chief priests and the crowd,

O. I find no case against this man.

N. But they persisted,

C. He is inflaming the people with his teaching all over Judaea; it has come all the way from Galilee, where he started, down to here.

N. When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man were a Galilean; and finding that he came under Herod’s jurisdiction he passed him over to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

Herod was delighted to see Jesus; he had heard about him and had been wanting for a long time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by him. So he questioned him at some length; but without getting any reply. Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes were there, violently pressing their accusations. Then Herod, together with his guards, treated him with contempt and made fun of him; he put a rich cloak on him and sent him back to Pilate. And though Herod and Pilate had been enemies before, they were reconciled that same day.

Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people. He said,

O. You brought this man before me as a political agitator. Now I have gone into the matter myself in your presence and found no case against the man in respect of all the charges you bring against him. Nor has Herod either, since he has sent him back to us. As you can see, the man has done nothing that deserves death, So I shall have him flogged and then let him go.

N. But as one man they howled,

C. Away with him! Give us Barabbas!

N. (This man had been thrown into prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.)

Pilate was anxious to set Jesus free and addressed them again, but they shouted back,

C. Crucify him! Crucify him!

N. And for the third time he spoke to them,

O. Why? What harm has this man done? I have found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him punished and then let him go.

N. But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices, demanding that he should be crucified. And their shouts were growing louder.

Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted. He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned for rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.

As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus. Large numbers of people followed him, and of women too, who mourned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said,

✠ Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when people will say, ‘Happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never borne, the breasts that have never suckled!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’; to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if men use the green wood like this, what will happen when it is dry?

N. Now with him they were also leading out two other criminals to be executed.

When they reached the place called The Skull, they crucified him there and the two criminals also, one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus said,

✠ Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.

N. Then they cast lots to share out his clothing.

The people stayed there watching him. As for the leaders, they jeered at him, saying,

C. He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.

N. The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said,

C. If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

N. Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals hanging there abused him, saying,

O. Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well.

N. But the other spoke up and rebuked him:

O. Have you no fear of God at all? You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

N. He replied,

✠ Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.

N. It was now about the sixth hour and, with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle; and when Jesus had cried out in a loud voice, he said,

✠ Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

N. With these words he breathed his last.

All kneel and pause a moment

When the centurion saw what had taken place, he gave praise to God and said,

O. This was a great and good man.

N. And when all the people who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they went home beating their breasts.

All his friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him from Galilee, and they saw all this happen.

Then a member of the council arrived, an upright and virtuous man named Joseph. He had not consented to what the others had planned and carried out. He came from Arimathaea, a Jewish town, and he lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He then took it down, wrapped it in a shroud and put him in a tomb which was hewn in stone in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day and the sabbath was imminent.

Meanwhile the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus were following behind. They took note of the tomb and of the position of the body.

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. And on the sabbath day they rested, as the Law required.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 22:14—23:56

The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When the hour came, Jesus took his place at table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.

“And yet behold, the hand of the one who is to betray me is with me on the table; for the Son of Man indeed goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.” And they began to debate among themselves who among them would do such a deed.

Then an argument broke out among them about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves. It is you who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” He said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.” But he replied, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.”

He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?” “No, nothing,” they replied. He said to them, “But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, He was counted among the wicked; and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.” Then they said, “Lord, look, there are two swords here.” But he replied, “It is enough!”

Then going out, he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”

While he was still speaking, a crowd approached and in front was one of the Twelve, a man named Judas. He went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” His disciples realized what was about to happen, and they asked, “Lord, shall we strike with a sword?” And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said in reply, “Stop, no more of this!” Then he touched the servant’s ear and healed him. And Jesus said to the chief priests and temple guards and elders who had come for him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? Day after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”

After arresting him they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance. They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat down with them. When a maid saw him seated in the light, she looked intently at him and said, “This man too was with him.” But he denied it saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” A short while later someone else saw him and said, “You too are one of them”; but Peter answered, “My friend, I am not.” About an hour later, still another insisted, “Assuredly, this man too was with him, for he also is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.” Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” He went out and began to weep bitterly. The men who held Jesus in custody were ridiculing and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” And they reviled him in saying many other things against him.

When day came the council of elders of the people met, both chief priests and scribes, and they brought him before their Sanhedrin. They said, “If you are the Christ, tell us,” but he replied to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question, you will not respond. But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied to them, “You say that I am.” Then they said, “What further need have we for testimony? We have heard it from his own mouth.”

Then the whole assembly of them arose and brought him before Pilate. They brought charges against him, saying, “We found this man misleading our people; he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar and maintains that he is the Christ, a king.” Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.” Pilate then addressed the chief priests and the crowds, “I find this man not guilty.” But they were adamant and said, “He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to here.”

On hearing this Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean; and upon learning that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at that time. Herod was very glad to see Jesus; he had been wanting to see him for a long time, for he had heard about him and had been hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at length, but he gave him no answer. The chief priests and scribes, meanwhile, stood by accusing him harshly. Herod and his soldiers treated him contemptuously and mocked him, and after clothing him in resplendent garb, he sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had been enemies formerly. Pilate then summoned the chief priests, the rulers, and the people and said to them, “You brought this man to me and accused him of inciting the people to revolt. I have conducted my investigation in your presence and have not found this man guilty of the charges you have brought against him, nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us. So no capital crime has been committed by him. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.”

But all together they shouted out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us.” —Now Barabbas had been imprisoned for a rebellion that had taken place in the city and for murder.— Again Pilate addressed them, still wishing to release Jesus, but they continued their shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate addressed them a third time, “What evil has this man done? I found him guilty of no capital crime. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.” With loud shouts, however, they persisted in calling for his crucifixion, and their voices prevailed. The verdict of Pilate was that their demand should be granted. So he released the man who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder, for whom they asked, and he handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they wished.

As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?” Now two others, both criminals, were led away with him to be executed.

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” They divided his garments by casting lots. The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last.

Here all kneel and pause for a short time.

The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.” When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts; but all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee and saw these events.

Now there was a virtuous and righteous man named Joseph, who, though he was a member of the council, had not consented to their plan of action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea and was awaiting the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. After he had taken the body down, he wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb in which no one had yet been buried. It was the day of preparation, and the sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind, and when they had seen the tomb and the way in which his body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils. Then they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment.

Reflections (5)

(i) Palm Sunday

We have just been listening to Luke’s account of Jesus’ final journey. Like any human being, Jesus recoiled at the prospect of crucifixion. It is only Luke who tells us that on the Mount of Olives, while praying intensely, his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. Jesus did not choose to be crucified. He choose to be faithful even if that meant being crucified. He choose to be faithful to God’s love for all of humanity. Although we have just heard a very tragic story, we consider it good news, gospel, because it is a story that proclaims the triumph of a truly life giving love. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ passion and death, Jesus refers to himself as the ‘green wood’. The cross, which was an instrument of torture, came to be venerated as the tree of life, because it is the place where love triumphed over hatred and life over death.

Calvary was a very dark place, an expression of human brutality at its worst. Yet, in the light of the resurrection of Jesus, the early church came to recognize that what happened on Calvary was more than just a monument to human brutality. There was already a light shining in that darkness, the light of God’s unconditional love for all humanity, including those who crucified Jesus. The church came to see that God was present in that place which seemed to proclaim the absence of God, God’s abandonment of Jesus and of humanity. There was a recognition ever after that God could be present in a loving way in the darkest of human situations. When faced with the cross, we can either renounce our faith in God, or open our hearts to God present in our suffering, loving us with a love we will never fully comprehend in this life. Just as God was present to Jesus and to all of humanity on Calvary, God is present in every experience of the cross, suffering with those who suffer, loving them into a new and fuller life.

The story we have just heard reveals both the worst and the best of the human spirit. The worst of the human spirit, the brutality of the absolute power of the Roman Empire, is there for all to see. Yet, as is often the way, the worst instincts of some drew forth the best instincts of others. It is above all Jesus who reveals the best of the human spirit in this hour. He dies as he lived, standing in loving solidarity with sinners, praying for those responsible for his death, promising paradise to a condemned criminal who turned to him for support. Those best instincts of human nature in the story we have heard can inspire us. We all struggle to forgive those who have hurt or damaged us, but, like Jesus, we may find it in us to pray for them, asking God to forgive them. We can all be a Joseph of Arimathea to others, working to take the wounded body of Christ, our suffering sisters and brothers, off their crosses. In the story of Jesus’ passion and death, we not only hear the good news of the Lord’s tremendous love for us, but we also hear the call to become that good news for others.

And/Or

(ii) Palm Sunday

Some of us may have accompanied loved ones on their last journey, as they passed from this life to the next. The stages of the final journey of a loved one can remain etched in our memories. Their journey was, in a sense, our journey. We travelled it with them. Very often, it is only some time after the death of our loved that the true significance of that final journey becomes clear to us. We come to see it in a new light; we come to understand what was going on in a way that was not possible at the time.

The final journey of Jesus was etched in the memory of his disciples. They too came to understand the full significance of that final journey only afterwards, in the light of Easter and with the coming of the Spirit. What they initially regarded as a great tragedy came to be seen as good news. A story of brokenness and failure came to be recognized as a story full of promise and hope. That is how we read and listen to Luke’s story of Jesus’ last journey this Palm Sunday. We hear this story, not as a depressing word, but as a word that nourishes us and strengthens our faith and hope.

Luke emphasizes that Jesus died as he lived. He lived prayerfully and he died prayerfully, praying to God that Simon’s faith would not fail, praying for forgiveness for his executioners, praying that his Father’s will would be done in his life and, with his final breath, praying himself into the welcoming hands of his Father. Jesus lived compassionately and he died compassionately, healing the wounded ear of one of his enemies, granting Peter a look of acceptance at the very moment that Peter denied him, promising Paradise to the condemned man who turned to him in his hour of need. The experience of his passion and death did not change Jesus. He remained in death all he was in life, a person in prayerful communion with God and in compassionate communion with all men and women, including those who rejected him and failed him.

The Jesus who lived and died is also the Jesus who is risen. As risen Lord, he remains in prayerful communion with God, interceding for us, and he remains in compassionate communion with ourselves. He joins us on our own life’s journey, as he joined the two sorrowful disciples on the road to Emmaus. As the Lord journeys with us, he pours out his Spirit into our hearts, so that we can journey in the same prayerful and compassionate way that he journeyed. His Spirit enables us to be prayerful and compassionate people as he was, in good times and in bad, when the path of life is easy and effortless and when it is painful and difficult. The portrait of Jesus that Luke gives us in his passion story is also intended as our portrait. We are being invited to identify with Jesus, to follow him, to become, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the person he was and is.

As we listen to Luke’s passion story we might find it easier to identify with the other characters in the story. We might recognize something of ourselves in the disciples who, at the last Supper, argued as to which of them was the greatest, in the followers of Jesus who, at the moment of his arrest, resorted to physical force when a different response was called for, in Peter who lacked the courage of his convictions under pressure. We might even recognize something of ourselves in Judas who turned a sign of affection into a signal of betrayal. I suspect many of us could also recognize something of ourselves in those who responded well, in Simon who helped to carry Jesus’ burden, in the good thief who confessed his sin and turned to Jesus in trusting prayer, in the centurion who saw more deeply than any other Roman, in Joseph of Arimathea who did not go along with his peers in the Jewish council but stood apart. Wherever we locate ourselves in the story, the prayerful and compassionate Saviour opens his arms to receive us. That is why this story is good news for us all.

And/Or

(iii) Palm Sunday

We have just heard the story of the last hours of Jesus as Nazareth as told for us by St. Luke. It is this story that we will be reflecting upon in the coming week. The passion narrative is a preview of the whole of this week, the only week in the church’s year that is called Holy Week. The story we have just heard is in one sense a tragic story, the story of the cruel execution of an innocent man. Luke’s telling of the story goes out of its way to declare the innocence of Jesus. Pilate declares Jesus innocent no less than three times, ‘I have found no case against him’. One of those crucified with Jesus declares, ‘This man has done nothing wrong’. The centurion, seeing how Jesus died, proclaims, ‘This was a great and good man’. Jesus dies as the innocent victim of a grave injustice. Therein lies the tragedy of the story we have just heard.

There have been many innocent victims of grave injustices since then, even close to home and in recent times. There may have been times in our own lives when we felt that we were unjustly treated. Such experiences can leave us feeling angry and our anger can turn to bitterness and resentment. The unfair and unjust treatment that we believed we received leaves us diminished. One of the extraordinary features of the story we have just heard is that the injustice done to its main character, to Jesus, did not diminish him in that sense. He retained his goodness, his love for others right to the end, even as the unjust forces were doing their worst to him. It is Luke who again brings out this dimension of the story more than the other evangelists. Luke portrays Jesus as healing the ear of those who came to arrest him, turning to look compassionately at Peter at the moment Peter denied him for the third time, praying aloud to God for forgiveness for those who were executing him, and in his last communication with a fellow human being, promising paradise to one of the criminals who were being crucified with him. Here was the triumph in the midst of the tragedy, the triumph of goodness over evil, of love and mercy over sin and injustice. This triumph would become visible to all when God raised his Son from the dead on the third day.

Luke’s story of the last journey of Jesus reminds us that our greatest triumph lies in how we respond to others, regardless of how they have treated us. We sometimes have little control over how others treat us or regard us. We have some control over how we respond to others. If we respond in the way Jesus did, then we share in his triumph. When we retain our goodness, our integrity, in the midst of forces that threaten to diminish it, then the Lord’s triumph, the triumph of this Holy Week, takes flesh in our lives. The story of Jesus becomes our story. That is the call this Holy Week makes on us.

And/Or

(iv) Palm Sunday

We have just heard the story of the last hours of Jesus as Nazareth as told for us by St. Luke. It is this story that we will be reflecting upon in the coming week, the only week in the church’s year that is called Holy Week. The story we have just heard is in one sense a tragic story, the story of the cruel execution of an innocent man. Luke’s telling of the story goes out of its way to declare the innocence of Jesus. Pilate declares Jesus innocent no less than three times, ‘I have found no case against him’. One of those crucified with Jesus declares, ‘This man has done nothing wrong’. The centurion, seeing how Jesus died, proclaims, ‘This was a great and good man’. Jesus dies as the innocent victim of a grave injustice. Therein lies the tragedy of the story we have just heard.

There have been many innocent victims of grave injustices since then. There may have been times in our own lives when we felt that we were unjustly treated. Such experiences can leave us feeling angry and resentful. One of the extraordinary features of the story we have just heard is that the injustice done to Jesus did not fundamentally change him. He retained his goodness, his love for others, right to the end. He remained the person he had been all his life, even as he unjustly endured so much hostility and hatred. Luke portrays Jesus as healing the ear of one of those who came to arrest him, turning to look compassionately at Peter at the moment Peter denied him for the third time, praying aloud asking God to forgive those who were executing him, and in the final words he spoke to another human being, promising paradise to one of the criminals crucified alongsie him. Here was the triumph in the midst of the tragedy, the triumph of goodness over evil, of love and mercy over sin and injustice. I am reminded of Saint Paul’s words in his letter to the church in Rome. ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’.

Luke’s story of the last journey of Jesus reminds us that our greatest triumph lies in how we relate to others, regardless of how they relate to us. We sometimes have little control over how others treat us or regard us. We have some control over how we respond to the way others relate to us. If, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we respond in the way Jesus did, then we share in his triumph. When we retain our goodness, our integrity, in the face of forces that threaten to diminish us and violate our dignity, then the Lord’s triumph, the triumph of this Holy Week, takes flesh in our own lives. The story of Jesus becomes our story, and the love of God which Jesus revealed most fully in the hour of his passion and death is revealed in our lives.

And/Or

(v) Palm Sunday

According to Luke’s version of the passion and death of Jesus which we have just heard, three groups mocked Jesus as he hung from the cross. Each group called on him to save himself. The leaders jeered at him saying, ‘He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One’. The soldiers mocked him, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself’. One of the criminals hurled abuse at him, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us as well’. They all wanted Jesus to come down from the cross. Otherwise, he could not be taken seriously as the Christ of God, the king of the Jews.

The notion of a crucified king, a crucified Christ or Messiah, was a scandal. As Paul declares in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’. If the notion of a crucified Messiah was a scandal and foolishness, a crucified God would have been even more scandalous. Yet, we believe that Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us, not only when he was preaching and performing miracles in Galilee but when he was hanging powerlessly and silently on the cross. We believe that Jesus was God in human form from the first moment of his earthly life to the last. When we look upon the cross we are looking at a crucified God. Here is a God who is not removed from human suffering but who, in Jesus, enters fully and deeply into our suffering, not just our physical suffering, but our emotional, mental and spiritual suffering. Jesus suffered in all those ways on the cross; God suffered in all those ways on Calvary. We believe in a God who is with us in our darkest moments. We believe in a God who suffers with us whenever we suffer, which is the true meaning of compassion. Whenever we find ourselves undergoing our own Golgotha, our own Calvary, we can be certain that God is with us, that the Lord is with us, as one who knows that experience from within, and, so, can be our strength in weakness. When Saint Paul was experiencing his own Golgotha in a Roman prison he wrote to the church in Philippi, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me’. We can all make those words of Paul our own.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

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Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

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[romancatholicreflections]

14th April >> Sunday Homilies and Reflections for Roman Catholics on Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion - Year C.

To be celebrated on 14th April 2019

Palm/ Passion Sunday

Gospel Reading: Luke 19:28-40

vs. 28 Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

vs. 29 Now when he was near Bethphage, close by the Mount of Olives, as it is called, he sent two of the disciples, telling them,

vs. 30 “Go off to the village opposite, and as you enter it you will find a tethered colt that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

vs. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you are to say this, ‘The Master needs it.'”

vs. 32 The messengers went off and found everything just as he had told them.

vs. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owner said, “Why are you untying that colt?”

vs. 34 and they answered, “The Master needs it.”

palm sunday 1

vs. 35 So they took the colt to Jesus, and throwing their garments over its back, they helped Jesus onto it.

vs. 36 As he moved off, people spread their cloaks in the road, and now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives,

vs. 37 the whole group of disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen.

vs. 38 They cried out: “Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!”

vs. 39 Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Master, check your disciples,”

vs. 40 but he answered, “I tell you, if these keep silence the stones will cry out.”

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We have four commentators available from whom you may wish to choose .

Michel DeVerteuil : A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, director of the Centre of Biblical renewal .

Thomas O’Loughlin: Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter.

Sean Goan: Studied scripture in Rome, Jerusalem and Chicago and teaches at Blackrock College and works with Le Chéile

Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger

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Michel de Verteuil

Lectio Divina The Year of Luke

www.columba.ie

General Comments

The Palm Sunday procession is a living lesson in liturgy. By inviting us to imitate the actions of Jesus entering Jerusalem and the crowd welcoming him, the Church wants us to experience that the story is still being lived today. Whenever people of faith decide to confront evil at its source, and do so with inner freedom, remaining faithful to their values, Jesus is once more entering Jerusalem.

We have the same experience by meditating on the gospel texts and recognizing ourselves in them.

Each of the gospels tells the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in a distinctive way. In St Luke’s account, which we read this year, there is first of all the very significant verse 28, which describes Jesus “going on ahead of his disciples.”

The events described in verses 29 to 34 are found in all the synoptic accounts, a sign that the early Church found them highly symbolical. Some take the story as evidence of Jesus’ supernatural powers, but it could merely be evidence of his self-confidence as he faces his great moment of truth, a mark of true leadership.

In St Luke’s account, it is the disciples themselves, entering alongside Jesus, who are moved to excitement at this moment.

A small detail, but clearly significant for St Luke: the disciples “helped Jesus on to the colt.”

The people do not wave palm branches in St Luke’s account, but their gesture of spreading their cloaks in the road before Jesus is both a sign of their wild excitement and their welcoming him as a king.

The cry of the people in verse 38 echoes the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:14).

The brief dialogue in verses 39-40 can be interpreted in different ways. The Pharisees in question may have been followers of Jesus who were afraid of confrontation and wanted to protect Jesus. Or they may have represented the first assault of the opposition to Jesus. In either case his answer expresses his inner freedom very dramatically.

Scripture reflection

Lord, there comes a time in the lives of all of us when we, like Jesus,

must enter into a radical confrontation:

– those in authority have been abusing their power;

– we finally recognise that we need help to overcome an addiction;

– some members of our community have betrayed the cause and must be excluded;

– we need to give up our comfortable situation and move into something new.

At these moments, give us

– and especially those of us whom you have called to be leaders in our communities –

a share in the inner freedom of Jesus,

so that like him we can go on ahead of the rest, as we go up to our Jerusalem.walking-with-jesus1

Help us like Jesus to make our arrangements confident that they will come to pass,

and to allow ourselves to be put in a position of authority.

Help us to be so confident of our cause

that if someone told us to check our followers

we would know that if they kept silence, the stones would cry out.

Lord, we thank you for glorious moments of grace

– we found a friend whom we felt we could trust perfectly;

– we enjoyed intimacy with our spouse;

– one of our children did us proud;

– a new social movement arose in our country.

We were like the disciples when Jesus approached the downward slope of the Mount of Olives:

we joyfully began to praise you at the top of our voices for the miracle which we had seen.

We cried out, ”Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

We glorified you in the highest heavens.

Lord, it is strange how when the moment of grace comes,

everything seems to fall into place very naturally.

If we need something, we find as the disciples did on the first Palm Sunday,

that all we need say is, “The Master needs it,” and immediately all obstacles are removed.

Lord, we pray that as a Church we may not betray our young people.

Often we lack the courage of our convictions,

are too anxious to please them, and do not go ahead of them.

But when young people today meet leaders who challenge them, they joyfully praise God,

they are ready to spread their cloaks in the road before them,

and welcome them as kings who come in the name of the Lord.

“The important events of history are the thousands of humble actions that heal and reconcile.” …Cardinal Arms of Sao Paulo in Brazil, 1994

Lord, we thank you for the many humble people who enter Jerusalem in peace.

As we think of them, we praise you at the top of our voices

and cry out, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”

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Thomas O’Loughlin,

Liturgical Resources for the Year of Luke

www.Columba.ie

Introduction to the Celebration

The text in the Missal (p. 123: ‘Dear friends in Christ …‘) cannot be bettered. However, care should be taken to read it as if it were one’s own notes so as to stress the notion that we are entering into the Great Week, accompanying Christ in the Paschal Mystery.

Passion Notes

1. For those who seeking in the gospels an historical record of the events of Jesus’ life, the passion accounts present an awful problem: for the most crucial event in the whole story the early churches had at least four different pictures. When Christians today think of Jesus’s death their picture is invariably a mixture with the people drawn from John and the general scene from the synoptics. Ct the real oneChrist is flanked by two other crosses (Jn 19:18; but a detail common to all four), and standing near him are ‘his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene’ and John (Jn 19:25-26). Nearby also are soldiers casting lots for his clothes (Jn 19:23-25 but with parallels in all four). The scene is one of darkness covering the earth (Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44 — a darkness unknown in Jn). Against this conflation, it is worth noting how Luke sets out his scene as it allows us to see his particular perception. The scene of the crucifixion is dark (Lk 23:44) not only in terms of light, but in terms of the courage of his followers: those who knew him, men and women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching the event unfold (Lk 23:49). Near him there are a crowd of spectacle lovers, scoffing leaders and mocking soldiers (Lk 23:35-36). In Matthew and Mark both criminals also taunt him (they are silent in John), but in Luke (23:39-43) we have the dialogue of the Good Thief whose opening words are a confession that Jesus is suffering as an innocent man (23:41). The centurion’s confession is found only in Mark (15:39) and Luke (23:47), but while in Mark this is a christological statement, in Luke it is a declaration of the imiocent suffering of Jesus: ‘Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, “Certainly this man was innocent!”.’ Luke, uniquely, adds another detail at this point: ‘And all … who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts’(23:48).

2. A convenient way to see how Luke’s passion differs from the other is to note those items which are proper to him. These present Christ as the righteous one who is faithful to the end alone. Luke presents Jesus as alone from all those whom he had spent time with, eaten with, and been with in the good times; yet in the dark hour his goodness still shone out and transformed people. While his long-term followers were lying low, Jesus was gathering new witnesses to his truth amidst the moral chaos which was his crucifixion. The sense of finality is heightened at the beginning of the passage when Christ states his longing to eat the meal (the final meal in a whole series of meals in Luke) and that he shall not drink wine again until the kingdom comes (22:15- 20). It is also seen in his instructions for the church after his departure (22:35-7) and his warning to Jerusalem (23:27-32). His aloneness is pointed out in the prophesy that the disciples will desert him (22:21-3 and 33-4), and this is fulfilled in the detailed story of the triple denial of Peter (22:54-62)Jesus and cross

By this time Luke presents all the disciples as having fled. By the time of the crucifixion — in stark contrast to John from whence comes our familiar picture of John, Mary, and the other women standing beneath the Cross — there is not a single friendly face nearby: his acquaintances (hoi gnóstoi) and the women stand watching at a distance (23:49). In the end the only ones who acknowledge him are outsiders who at least recognise him as a good and righteous man: Pilate, a criminal, and Roman soldier. Luke alone has Pilate recognise him as one without fault (23:5; 14-5; and 22); similarly he alone has ‘the good thief’ incident who states that this man has done nothing wrong (23:39-43); and finally the centurion, but while in Mark 15:39 and Matthew 27:54 he states, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’, here Luke has him state simply: ‘Certainly this man was righteous (dikaios).’

For Luke Christ in his passion is utterly abandoned, and he in turn abandons himself to the Father to do the Father’s will (22:22, 29, 37, 42-3). This abandonment reaches its climax in the final cry from the Cross (23:46).

Homily Notes

1. The Missal says that ‘a brief homily may be given.’ There is definitely a case today for taking up this permission to omit the homily altogether; not because such an omission might shorten an already long liturgy, but since we have just come through one of the longest verbal elements in the whole of the liturgy (the passion), another verbal event (a homily) does not bring contrast or help the gospel reading to sink in. A better way to highlight what has been read would be a couple of moments of structured silence (e.g. ‘Let us now reflect in silence on the passion of our Saviour’) before standing for the Creed. On the subject of the length of today’s liturgy we should remember that length of time is one of the key non-verbal ritual cues that humans use to indicate special importance: a crucial symbolic event that is over in a moment, or takes just the same length of time as an ordinary event is an anti-climax – do not forget that Christmas dinner must take longer than an everyday meal. Because this is a special day opening a special week, it should md must take a noticeably longer time than an ordinary Sunday.

Holy wk2. If one does preach, then the brief comments should be directed introducing the week as a whole rather than particular comments on the readings. This could take its starting point from the gospel outside – that Christ has arrived at, and entered Jerusalem, and that ‘his hour’ has arrived. As Christians we are sharers in this event.

3. If the situation calls for a meditation rather than a homily, then a suitable meditation is provided in the Christ-hymn (the second reading) as a way of interpreting the events narrated. However, rather than re-reading it directly from the lectionary it may be broken up into its verses and read with pauses. The version used in the Office is better for such use than either the RSV/ JB. Better still, have it sung by a soloist and simply introduce as the earliest Christian meditation we possess on what we lve just recal1ed about the death of Jesus.

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3. Sean Goan

Let the reader understand

www.columba.ie

Gospel: Luke 22:14-23:56

Holy week begins with a dual focus, namely the events of Palm Sunday and the triumphant march of Jesus into Jerusalem and then, by contrast, the story of his passion and death. In year C we read from Luke’s account of the passion and it is worth our while noting the differences, as each evangelist highlights different things in order to bring out the meaning of what is taking place. As in the public ministry of Jesus, so too in his death Luke stresses the themes of forgiveness and prayer. Only in Luke does Jesus pray that his executioners be forgiven and only here is the good thief mentioned. Also in Luke, Jesus dies with a prayer of trust on his lips, thus embodying a teaching that he had given many times in his life.

Reflection

Suffering is part and parcel of being human and while we must readily acknowledge this fact it is also true that we usually do all in our power to avoid it. The readings for today are an invitation to reflect on how the passion of Jesus can change our outlook on suffering. Our Saviour may be seen in these texts as a model of patient endurance and of faithfulness. We are not asked to believe that suffering is good in itself but to see that good can come of it and to recognise in Jesus God’s solidarity with all those who endure suffering for doing what is right.

boy-and-cross-of-jesus

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4. Donal Neary S.J.

Gospel reflections

www.columba.ie

PALM SUNDAY

Who was there at the end?

Who was there at the end? The friends of Jesus: from a distance, but still around. They stayed near, not wanting to leave. Did they all stand around for a while? Wanting to go and not wanting to go, like mourners at a graveside – confused, sad and discouraged – silent in the moments of violent death. Were they afraid that this might happen to them too? The friends and acquaintances of Jesus, the one who promised much and said he would rise again… Did any of them remember this promise? Did they whisper it to each other as they closed the stone at the tomb? Did they wonder if more was yet to come? For there was always more with Jesus. We are that ‘more!

centurian at the cross

There also was the centurion: the good man who said, ‘he was a Son of God’. The one from Rome saw through the many from Jerusalem. He was a strange type of guy at the cross – the Roman who had been told to get these crucifixions done, with the least amount of trouble and publicity. Away from home and his own people, he would find a new God in the home of his heart and would be linked forever to a new people.

Something about this man gave a scent of love, and an authority that came from somewhere far away – further than an emperor or a political power. He knew that this man was a Son of God; may we know this too of Jesus.

Lord by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free.

You are the savior of the world.

___________________________________

[romancatholicreflections]

10th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 4:1-13 for the First Sunday in Lent, Year C: 'The devil left him to return at the opportune time.'

First Sunday of Lent, Year C.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 4:1-13

The temptation in the wilderness

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

You must worship the Lord your God,

and serve him alone.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:

He will put his angels in charge of you

to guard you,

and again:

They will hold you up on their hands

in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’

But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:

You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 4:1–13

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert and was tempted.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written:

You shall worship the Lord, your God,

and him alone shall you serve.”

Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you,

to guard you,

and:

With their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says,

You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

Reflections (3)

(i) First Sunday of Lent

We all get a certain satisfaction out of discovering shortcuts. In the fast-moving world in which we live, the question that often arises is: ‘What is the fastest way from A to B? What is the quickest way to get this done?’ We have got used to doing some things much more quickly than we would ever have done them in the past. In no area of life is this truer than in that of communications. Communications that once took days or even weeks now take seconds. We have come to benefit greatly from the fact that some things happen much more quickly than they used to in the past. However, we also know that when it comes to the more important things in life there are no shortcuts. Time and patience, faithfulness and application, are required and cannot be substituted for.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is tempted to take a variety of shortcuts. His mission was to lead people to God. Satan suggests a number of shortcuts Jesus could take to ensure that his mission gets quick results. He could use his power to turn stones into bread and thereby become a kind of one-man bread basket for the people of Palestine. He would have people eating out of his hand, literally, and he could then lead them anywhere he wanted. Alternatively, if Jesus were to worship Satan, he would be given authority and power over all the kingdoms of the world. From such a position of power, he could influence and control people in any way he wished. Or else, knowing that God would protect him, he could perform a series of heroic feats without getting hurt, like throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. Such circus-like acts would be great entertainment and would have people flocking to him in large numbers.

Jesus resisted those temptations because he knew that there was no shortcut for what God had sent him to do. There was no easy way of doing God’s work. Indeed, Jesus was well aware that his mission of revealing God’s love and justice to Jews and pagans, of gathering people together into a new family under God, would necessitate the way of the cross, the way of suffering, rejection, humiliation and death. There was no other way, if he was to be faithful to the mission that God had given him.

The temptations that we find in today’s gospel reading were somewhat unique to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet, they are not without relevance to all of us. Like Jesus we too have been baptized, and like him we too received a calling and a mission on the day of our baptism. We are called to follow Jesus and to reveal him to others. That involves setting out on a journey that does not lend itself to shortcuts or to easy options. Following Jesus today will often mean taking the road less travelled, saying ‘no’ to what seems very attractive and beguiling. When Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the shortcuts that Satan was suggesting to him, he was really saying ‘no’ to putting himself first. Rather than putting himself first, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. That is our calling too. As we begin Lent we are asked to look at ways we might become less self-serving and more the servant of others. In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that our baptismal calling is to confess Jesus as Lord, not just on our lips but in our hearts, with our lives. To confess Jesus as Lord is to live as his servants, to empty ourselves for others as he did. This will often mean going the long way around for the sake of others rather than taking the shortcut, going the extra mile with someone who needs our companionship and support.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the temptation to compromise himself for the sake of getting quick results. He would, instead, set out on a path that would not bring quick results. On the contrary, as he hung dying from the cross, it appeared that his mission would have very little, if any, results. Yet, he had sown a small seed and it would go on to become a large shrub. His life would ultimately bear rich fruit. Jesus, thereby, teaches us that faithfulness to God’s calling is a more important value than instant success, as this world measures success. If we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, then our lives too will bear rich fruit, both for ourselves and for others, even if they don’t appear to be successful in the way that success is often measured today. In our struggle with temptation, we have the same resource to help us that Jesus had. According to the gospel reading, Jesus entered the wilderness ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. That same Spirit has been poured into our hearts at our baptism. In the wilderness, Jesus drew inspiration from the word of God every time he was put to the test by Satan. That same word of God has been given to us, a word which, according to Paul in the second reading, ‘is very near to you’. In our own testing times, we can pray in the words of today’s psalmist, ‘My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’

And/Or

(ii) First Sunday of Lent

We have all experienced testing times in the course of our lives. School and college examinations test our knowledge. Our patience can be tested by someone whom we experience as annoying or troublesome. Our courage can be put to the test by the onset of serious illness. Our integrity can be tested when an opportunity comes along to make easy money at other people’s expense. Our fidelity to someone can be tested, when that relationship proves more demanding that we had anticipated. Our faith in God can be put to the test when, finding ourselves in a dark valley, our prayers seem to go unanswered.

Jesus knew what it was to be tested. The gospels tell us that, from time to time, individuals or groups deliberately set out to test him. Today’s gospel reading describes how Jesus endured a very difficult test immediately after his baptism. He left the river Jordan where he had been baptized and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tested or tempted for forty days. The gospel reading suggests that during these forty days Jesus was tested in a very fundamental way. His very baptismal identity was put to the test. Who he was and what his life was about was at issue. Will he use his power to satisfy his own physical appetites or will he use it to serve others? Will he compromise on his worship of God so as to gain worldly power and honours for himself? Will he take the short cut to gaining followers by relying on spectacular stunts, thereby putting God to the test? Jesus came through that testing time because he did not face it alone. God was with him in the test. He was supported by the word of God, and he was strengthened by the Spirit of God, whom he had received at his baptism. In the wilderness of temptation, he remained true to his baptismal identity.

Like Jesus, we have all been baptized. We have each received the Holy Spirit at our baptism, as he did. Our own baptismal identity will certainly be put to the test from time to time, as his was. Our baptism has made us sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, members of Christ’s body the church. Because of our baptism, we have a certain set of beliefs. In the words of today’s second reading, we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord. Who we are as baptized Christians and what we believe will often be put to the test. We may not be led into the physical wilderness as Jesus was after his baptism, but the world in which we live can be experienced as something of a wilderness when it comes to living out our baptism and being true to our baptismal identity. We often experience pressure from our culture to be someone other than what our baptism calls us to be; our peers can tempt us to live in a way that is at odds with our baptismal calling. As he was tempted to take various paths that were contrary to what God wanted for him, we will be tempted in a similar way. As his faithfulness to God’s call was severely tested, so also will our faithfulness be tested.

We are at the beginning of the seven week season of Lent. Lent is a season when we face the reality that our baptismal identity is always being put to the test, when we remind ourselves of the struggle we are always engaged in to be faithful to the call of our baptism. If remaining faithful to his baptism was a struggle for Jesus, it will certainly be a struggle for us. You could say that Lent is a season when we look temptation in the eye as it were, when we try to identity the particular ways in which we are being pulled away from the path the Lord is asking us to take. It is a season when we try to grow in our freedom to say ‘no’ to the subtle, and not-so-subtle, seductions of every day living. It is a time when we take an honest look at ourselves, and at the direction our lives are taking. This is not something we can do overnight. The season of Lent is nearly seven weeks long. We are given time, because when it comes to getting the basics right, like who we want to be and how we want to live, we need time.

The same resources that were available to Jesus in the wilderness are available to us as we enter this Lenten time. When Jesus was tempted, he fell back on the word of God to help him through. That same word of God has been given to us as a resource in coping with the various assaults on our baptismal identity. Lent is a good time to make greater use of that resource. Perhaps one Lenten exercise we might consider is to take away the Sunday Mass leaflet, and each day of the week to read the readings of the previous Sunday in a prayerful way for a few minutes, inviting the Lord to speak to us through them. We might begin our daily reading of those readings with the prayer, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’. The Holy Spirit also helped Jesus to be faithful to his baptismal call. We might conclude our prayerful reading of the Sunday readings with the prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit; keep me faithful to my baptismal calling’. As we begin our Lenten journey together, we ask the Lord to help us to travel it well, so that when Easter comes we can wholeheartedly renew our baptismal promises together.

And/Or

(iii) First Sunday of Lent

We all get a certain satisfaction out of discovering shortcuts. If we have a journey to make on foot or by car and one day we discover a shortcut we are delighted. In the fast moving world in which we live, the question that often arises is: ‘What is the quickest way from A to B? What is the fastest way to get this done?’ Instant this, that or the other has become commonplace. We have got used to doing some things much more quickly than we would ever have done them in the past. In no area of life is this truer than in that of communications. Communications that once took days or even weeks now take seconds. We have come to benefit greatly from the fact that some things happen much quickly than they used to in the past. We are also very aware that more speed in one area of life has been counterbalanced by less speed in other areas. It takes much longer to drive across the city than it used to, which is why the discovery of the shortcut has become so important. However, we also know that when it comes to the more important things in life there are no shortcuts. Time and patience, faithfulness and application, are required and cannot be substituted for.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus is tempted to take a variety of shortcuts or easy options. His mission was to reveal God to people and to lead people to God. This was the mission Jesus publicly undertook at the moment of his baptism. In the gospel reading, Satan suggests a number of shortcuts Jesus could take to ensure that his mission gets quick results. He could use his power to turn stones into bread and thereby become a kind of one man bread basket for the people of Palestine. He would have people eating out of his hand, literally, and he could then lead them anywhere he wanted. Alternatively, if Jesus were to worship Satan, he would be given authority and power over all the kingdoms of the world. From such a position of power, he could influence and control people in any way he wished. Or else he could perform a whole series of heroic feats without getting hurt, knowing that God would protect him, like throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. Such circus-like acts would be great entertainment and would have people flocking to him in large numbers.

Jesus resisted those temptations because he knew that there was no shortcut for what God had sent him to do. There was no easy way of doing God’s work. Indeed, Jesus was well aware that his mission of revealing God’s love and justice to Jews and pagans, of gathering people together into a new family under God, would involve the long haul, necessitating the way of the cross, the way of suffering, rejection, humiliation and death. There was no other way, if he was to be faithful to the mission that God had given him.

The temptations that we find in today’s gospel reading were somewhat unique to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet, they are not without relevance to all of us. Like Jesus we too have been baptized, and like him we too received a calling and a mission on the day of our baptism. We are called to follow Jesus, to take the path that he took, to set out on a journey that does not lend itself to shortcuts or to easy options. Following Jesus today will often mean taking the road less travelled, saying ‘no’ to what a lot of our contemporaries are saying ‘yes’ to. When Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the shortcuts that Satan was suggesting to him, he was really saying ‘no’ to putting himself first. Rather than putting himself first, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. That is our calling too. As we begin Lent we are asked to look at ways we might become less self-serving and more the servant of others. In today’s second reading Paul reminds us that our baptismal faith finds expression in confessing Jesus as Lord, not just with our lips but with our lives. To confess Jesus as Lord is to acknowledge ourselves as his servants, called to serve as he did, to empty ourselves for others as he did. This is our baptismal calling that we try to say ‘yes’ to everyday of our lives. It will often mean going the long way round for the sake of the other rather than taking the shortcut, going the extra mile with someone who needs our companionship and support.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus was saying ‘no’ to the temptation to compromise himself for the sake of getting quick results. He would, instead, set out on a path that would not bring quick results. On the contrary, as he hung dying from the cross, it appeared that his mission would have very little, if any, results. Yet, he had sown a mustard seed that would become a large shrub. His life would ultimately bear rich fruit. Jesus, thereby, teaches us that faithfulness to God’s calling is a more important value than success, as this world measures success. If we are rooted in the gospel, if we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives, to shape how we live, then our lives too will bear rich fruit, both for ourselves and for others, even if they do not appear to be successful in the way that success is often measured today. In our struggle with the temptation to sell ourselves short as the Lord’s followers, we have the same resource to help us as Jesus had in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit who came down upon us at our baptism, as he came down upon him as his baptism.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or  [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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10th March >> ‘Grant, almighty God,’ ~ Thought for the Day for Roman Catholics.

Grant, almighty God.

through the yearly observances of holy Lent,

that we may grow in understanding

of the riches hidden in Christ

and by worthy conduct pursue their effects.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Source: From the Collect of the Mass.

[romancatholicreflections]

10th March >> Sunday Homilies and Reflections for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent - Year C

To be celebrated on 10 March 2019

Gospel reading: Luke 4:1-13 vs.1  Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, vs.2  being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. vs.3  Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf. vs.4  But Jesus replied, “Scripture says, ‘Man does not live on bread alone.'” vs.5  Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him,

vs.6  “I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. vs.7  Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.” vs.8  But Jesus answered him, “Scripture says, ‘You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.'” vs.9  Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said to him “throw yourself down from here, vs.10  for scripture says, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you to guard you,’ and again: vs.11  ‘they will hold you up on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.'” vs.12  But Jesus answered him, “It has been said, ‘You must not put the Lord your God to the test.'” vs.13  Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

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We have four commentators available from whom you may wish to choose .

Michel DeVerteuil :     A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, director of the Centre of Biblical renewal . Thomas O’Loughlin:  Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter. Sean Goan:                    Studied scripture in Rome, Jerusalem and Chicago and teaches at Blackrock College and works with Le Chéile Donal Neary SJ:         Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger and National Director of The Apostleship of Prayer.

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Michel DeVerteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels www.columba.ie

General comments

The story of Jesus’ temptation reveals to us the deepest thing about him: he had total trust in his heavenly Father. This is why the incident is placed at the very beginning of his public life. The evangelists are telling us that he chose this path and he would remain faithful to it through all the ups and downs of his ministry.

Telling the story in the form of ‘temptations’ does two things: • Jesus’ attitude is highlighted since it is set in contrast with other possible attitudes; • we are reminded that for Jesus trust was a free and deliberate choice, as it is for every human being: he chose to trust.

In meditating on the temptations, feel free to focus on the one that appeals to you and remain with it until you find yourself identifying deeply with it. Eventually you will find that all three are really variations on the one temptation not to be totally trusting.

The story has an introduction in verses 1 and 2 and a conclusion in verse 13. You might like to spend some time on these verses as they are very significant.

Scripture reflection

“What use are victories on the battlefields if we are defeated in our innermost personal selves?“   …Maximilian Kolbe

Lord, we like to remain on the banks of the river Jordan where we busy ourselves with external activities, organizing communities, entering into relationships, academic discussions.

We have bits of ourselves hidden deep within the obvious. Often left unprocessed, undefined

We pray that during these forty days of Lent we may allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit into the depths of ourselves, into the wilderness, away from the world of achievements, where we can face up to the evil tendencies that are active within us: – our feeling that as children of God we have the right to dominate the world as we will; – our yearning for the power and the glory of earthly kingdoms; – the subtle ways in which we try to manipulate you. We need not be afraid of this wilderness experience, Lord, because even if we have to face evil in ourselves, we will also discover, like Jesus, that trust in your love is a law written deep within us, and when the devil has exhausted all these ways of tempting us he will leave. But, Lord, do not let us become complacent, because he will return at some time you have appointed, and we must be ready to start the struggle all over again.

Lord, as a Church, we are inclined to remain on the banks of the Jordan,content to baptise and preach and look after our Church affairs.But if, like Jesus, we are filled with your Holy Spirit,we too will leave the Jordan and let the Spirit lead us through the wilderness,through the worlds of politics, business, industrial relations and international trade,being tempted there by the devil as all our contemporaries are,so that we can find even within those wildernessesthat the words of scripture are still true.Lord, we remember today a difficult period in our lives:• our financial situation was very precarious;• we had a succession of failures in our work;• our children were causing us problems.You led us through the wilderness for those forty days;we felt as if we had nothing to nourish ourselves and we were hungry.We were resentful too: were we not the children of God?Why could we not take up a stone and tell it to turn into a loaf of bread?Then one day it suddenly came home to usthat there is much more to life than having our needs satisfied.We had discovered that we had loyal friends, good health,and most of all trust in you.Jesus had reminded us how scripture says that man does not live on bread alone.

“The hope that rests on calculation has lost its innocence.”     …Thomas Merton

Lord, in the world today, people like to plan things rationally and we would like to plan our lives that way too. We would like to go up on a height and see in a moment of time all the kingdoms of this world, and then find out to whom the power and the glory of these kingdoms have been   committed so that they can be given to us. But that, Lord, is the way of calculation, whereas to become whole persons we must take the way of Jesus, which is to have as our only security that we worship you, our Lord and God, and that we serve you alone.

Lord, we thank you for great people who have touched our lives,not world figures or those who make the headlines,but ordinary people who have done their duty without fuss:• parents who brought up handicapped children;• dedicated teachers;• business people who remained honest.We thank you that they knew how to remain in the wilderness,not threatening to throw themselves from the parapet of the templeand calling on you to send angels who would guard them and hold them on their handsso that they would not hurt their feet against a stone.Like Jesus, they knew that you were their Lord and God,and they did not have to put your love to the test.Lord, Lent is a time when we have deep prayer experiences,and we might think that in those experiences we are free from the evil one.Remind us, Lord, that there is a temptationspecial to those who stand at the parapet of your temple,and that is to become arrogant towards you,to insist that your angels must hold us up in case we hurt our feet against a stone.Help us, Lord, in our prayers, to remain perfectly still and trusting,remembering, like Jesus, how it is saidthat we must not put you, our Lord and God, to the test.

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Thomas O’Loughlin, Liturgical Resources for the Year of Luke www.Columba.ie

Introduction to the Celebration In every area of our lives there are periods of mending, renewing, and refocusing. We talk about ‘spring cleaning’, ‘annual reviews, and ‘in-service training’. Now we enter a period to renew our discipleship prior to celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter. So now can we spend some moments considering how God our creator made us and has provided for us. Let us recall that God our saviour has called us to live in a new way and to build a world of justice and peace. Let us remember how God our inspiration offers us strength for our discipleship.

Homily Notes

1. Lent has three themes intertwined within it as we celebrate it. (1) It is a time of preparation for Easter, especially for those who are to be baptised. (2) It is a time of repentance and reparation for wrongs done to others around us, the larger community, and the creation. (3) It is a time of stocktaking and renewal in discipleship, the skills needed to be a disciple, and in the commitment to the work and activities of being a Christian.

The homily today could take the form of a ‘checklist’ or ex­amination of conscience on these aspects.

1. Preparing for Easter.

• What plans has the community to make Easter the central moment of the year? We should recall that today in many places this is the time when many people think of going for a , spring break’ and a time when many who are involved in the liturgy during the school-term times are going to be away. • If people are going away for Easter, how do they view it as their community’s central celebration: will they miss the community, will they be missed? • What opportunities are going to be provided, and by whom, for preparation and reflection; and do people see this as important? • Are there candidates preparing for baptism; how is the community involved in this; are there people designated to pray for the candidates? • Can particular talents be harnessed for all this lenten preparation? 1£ so, what are they and who has them?

2. Repentance and reparation.

• How does the community plan to celebrate reconciliation with God in Christ this Lent? How will people be helped to experience this reconciliation? What help do members of the community want to help them overcome bad memories of the confessional? • Will the community want to celebrate healing during this time? • What plans have the community to make reparation to poorer peoples across the globe this Lent? • How willienten preparation take concrete forms in work­ing for justice, peace, and reconciliation in our world?

3.Stock-taking of discipleship.

What plans have the community to renew itself in prayer? What plans are there for fasting to give physical form to prayer? What plans have the community for generosity that will enhance the world, aid the poor, and provide resources for building the kingdom of justice, love, and peace? How will the community support these plans with special liturgies, groups, or inputs form other Christians? • How can the community’s liturgy be enhanced during this time?

6. Lent and the community

Many clergy think that these are only questions for them, but it is the whole community that needs the time of renewal; and if any lenten activity is to have more support than just ‘the usual suspects,’ then the whole lenten agenda has to be owned by the community. The community can only own it if it has been offered to them as an option.

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3. Sean Goan Let the reader understand www.columba.ie

Gospel

Lent is a time of repentance, a time to set aside the usual stuff of life in order to take stock of where we are and where we want to go. It is, therefore, no accident that Lent begins with a reflection on Jesus’ time in the desert. In keeping with a central theme of his gospel, Luke says that Jesus was filled with the Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

For Luke, the presence of the Spirit is the evidence that God is with Jesus and that Jesus is from God. It is the Spirit that allows him to recognise the temptations of the devil for what they are, and it is the Spirit that guides him in his rejection of the temptation. This is the same for his disciples; we can only follow Jesus by an awareness of his Spirit within us. All our Lenten endeavours will be just a waste of time and effort if we are not guided by the Holy Spirit in what we do.

Reflection

The gospel for the first Sunday of Lent is always the story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. It is intended to make us think not only about Jesus and his struggle but to help us realise that the history of God’s people from Adam and Eve to the present day involves a similar story. The essence of the temptation of Jesus was the idea that he could go it alone, that he could be entirely self sufficient. Jesus resisted this because he recognised his complete dependence on the Father. He knew that he needed to be nourished by God’s word and that his true destiny lay in his seeking to do his Father’s will. When Satan succeeds in convincing us that we have it in our power to save ourselves then we are on the path to self destruction. Lent is a time for us to humbly take God’s hand and to walk the path of faith and love that leads to Easter.

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Donal Neary S.J. Gospel reflections www.messenger.ie/bookshop

Jesus tempted off course

Jesus was brought out of the ordinary into a place where he was tempted off course with three temptations – to comfort, power, and wealth – three things that can take us over.

Money, power and comfort can lead us astray….when we want wealth, to be no. 1 and prioritise  comfort in various ways. ……..

He goes back to the word of God to find strength and insight to fight off evil – to the words he learned at home, and at school.

A big source of energy for us is the word of God. On Ash Wednesday the invitation was to believe the good news. That is where we may find life and strength.

We remain in the Church because of Jesus Christ. The word of God in his gospel remains life-giving and strong. Today’s scripture shows us that temptations happen often to take us off the path. So too does the unexpected, and scandals have happened in many of the national institutions. Church life may leave us down and weak, but the spirit who kept Jesus strong in the desert will do the same for us.

A Lenten thing to do could be to read a bit of the gospel every day. Look up Sacred Space on the web and pray from that. Or Pray-as-you-go. Pray your own favourite gospels. Read the gospel to the children. Hear the word at weekday Mass. We look to the word of God to build us up as God’s children and community and find strength to use all in the service of God and others in love.

Speak your word O Lord, and we shall be the better for it.

[romancatholicreflections]

10th March >> My Daily Eucharist - Reflection for Roman Catholics.

February 2, 1937. Today, from early morning, Divine absorption penetrates my soul. During Mass, I thought I would see the little Jesus, as I often do; however, today during Holy Mass I saw the Crucified Jesus. Jesus was nailed to the cross and was in great agony. His suffering pierced me, soul and body, in a manner which was invisible, but nevertheless most painful.

Oh, what awesome mysteries take place during Mass! A great mystery is accomplished in the Holy Mass. With what great devotion should we listen to and take part in this death of Jesus. One day we will know what God is doing for us in each Mass, and what sort of gift He is preparing in it for us. Only His divine love could permit that such a gift be provided for us. O Jesus, my Jesus, with what great pain is my soul pierced when I see this fountain of life gushing forth with such sweetness and power for each soul, while at the same time I see souls withering away and drying up through their own fault. O Jesus, grant that the power of mercy embrace these souls.

Tell My Priests, The Words of Our Lord to Priests About His Mercy

Rev. George W. Kosicki

[romancatholicreflections]

10th March >> “Will You Reach Lent’s Destination?” ~ One Bread, One Body - Dauly Reflection for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, then returned from the Jordan and was conducted by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where He was tempted by the devil. During that time He ate nothing." – Luke 4:1-2.

Lent is a march with a destination of the renewal of our baptismal promises at all the Easter Sunday Masses in the world.

Jesus' forty days in the desert prefigure Lent. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert (Lk 4:1), where He fasted for forty days (Lk 4:2) and refused to doubt that He was the beloved Son of God the Father (cf Lk 3:22; 4:3, 9). Thus, Lent is Trinitarian, and its destination is Trinitarian, for when we renew our baptismal promises, we profess our faith in God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Lent is a time of waging special warfare against the devil (Lk 4:2) by imitating Jesus' forty-day fast (see Mt 17:21, NAB). This is especially appropriate, for when we renew our baptismal promises at Easter, we reject Satan, all his works, and all his empty promises.

Ask the Holy Spirit what He has planned for you this Lent. He knows the best route for you to reach your destination, the renewal of your baptismal promises this Easter. The Holy Spirit will give you the power to make decisions and sacrifices necessary to reach Lent's destination and to live your Baptism in total love, abandonment, and joy. Let the Spirit lead you into a Lent that leads you to fullness of baptismal life.

PRAYER: Father, may I celebrate Lent with zeal.

PROMISE: "For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." –Rm 10:9

PRAISE: Praise and honor to You, Lord, Love, Life, Jesus Christ!

[romancatholicreflections]

10th March >> Daily Reflection/Commentary on Today’s Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C (Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13)

WE HAVE NOW ENTERED the great season of Lent. For those of us who are old enough to remember, Lent in the past was not, in some respects, a time we looked forward to. Fasting and abstinence, not to mention other forms of penance, were in force and it was a serious business. Easter was looked forward to with real anticipation. Our attitudes to Lent tended to be on the gloomy and negative side. Perhaps nowadays we have gone to the other extreme where Lent hardly means anything at all. “You mean Lent has started already? Really, I had no idea! Easter will be on top of us before we know where we are and I haven’t bought a thing!”

Yet Lent has always been one of the key periods of the Church year and it would be a great pity if we were to forget its real meaning. In fact, that is what we ask for in the Opening Prayer just before we sit down to listen to the readings: “Father, through our observance of Lent, help us to understand the meaning of your Son’s death and resurrection and teach us to reflect it in our lives.” Really, the whole purpose of Lent is beautifully summarised in that prayer – to understand the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus and to live that out in our own lives.

An annual retreat

The period of Lent is six weeks to help us do precisely that. The Church provides Lent almost like an annual retreat, a time for deepening the understanding of our Christian faith, a time for reflection and renewal, a time to make a fresh start.

It was a pious custom in the past for people, as part of their Lenten observance to go to Mass every day during this time. This is even more meaningful now since the Second Vatican Council and the reformation of the liturgy, because we are provided with a magnificent set of Scripture readings from both the Hebrew (Old) and Christian (New) Testaments every day during the Lenten season.

In the First Reading of today’s Mass, Moses speaks to the Israelites at the end of their forty years wandering in the desert and he prepares them for their new life in the Promised Land. That is what the Lenten season is meant to do for us also.

Traditionally on this First Sunday of Lent the Gospel speaks of the temptations of Jesus in the desert. Jesus has just completed his forty days of preparation in the desert and he now faces one more test before he begins his mission. This incident takes place between the baptism of Jesus and the start of his public mission, beginning (in Luke’s gospel) at Nazareth.

A time of beginning

In the early centuries of the Church, Lent was seen as a time of beginning. It was – and again now is – a time for forming new converts, preparing them for their formal entry into the Church community by baptism and confirmation during the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection at the Easter Vigil. Today, in fact, is their day of Election. Our catechumens are entering the last six weeks of preparation for Baptism. Let us pray for them and be in solidarity with them during this time.

For those of us who are already baptised, it can equally be a new beginning. Often we prefer to stay with the known and the familiar, even though it does not give us great satisfaction. We can settle into a routine kind of Christianity that goes on basically unchanged from year to year. It is not very inspiring but we stick with it rather than risk the unknown that radical conversion can bring.

Forty days in the desert

The forty days of Lent correspond to Jesus’ own forty days spent in the desert. For him, it was a period of preparation for his coming mission. At the end of the forty days – as described in Matthew and Luke – Jesus had three encounters with the Evil One.

It might be worth noting that we may not be dealing here with a strictly historical happening, something which could have been video-taped or covered by television. The devil normally does not carry on conversations with people like this. Temptations to evil – and they can be many and frequent – usually come to us in far more subtle ways. (On this, read C.S. Lewis’ marvellously entertaining book The Screwtape Letters – a delightful read with a deadly serious message.)

Rather than just seeing them as three consecutive temptations happening almost simultaneously at a particular moment, we should perhaps see them as three key areas where Jesus was tempted to compromise his mission during his public life. They were not just passing temptations of the moment but temptations with which he was beset all through his public life.

Some real examples of these temptations can be found in the Gospel accounts: [The Pharisees asked Jesus] “to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him” (Mark 8:11). “Save yourself if you are God’s Son! Come on down from the cross!” (Matthew 27:40). After feeding 5,000 hungry people with an abundance of food, “the people there said, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!’ Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself” (John 6:14-15). Clearly, in varying forms, these temptations of Jesus can come into our lives too.

Superstar

The first temptation (to change stones into bread) and the third (to jump from the top of the Temple) try to turn Jesus away from his role as the Servant-Messiah to become an eye-catching, self-serving superstar. “Follow me because I am the greatest.” The second temptation (to worship the devil who can give power and wealth) tries to entice Jesus away from the true direction of all human living – the love and service of God and his creation. He is being lured from setting up a Kingdom of love and service to controlling an empire of minions.

Luke reverses the second and third temptations from Matthew’s version in order to make Jerusalem the climax of the temptations just as it is the final destiny of Jesus’ mission and the starting point for the Church.

The forty days in the desert eating nothing reminds us of Moses doing the very same. At the end Moses received and proclaimed the message of God (the Law) just as Jesus will go on to make his mission statement in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21). Also, the replies that Jesus gives to the Evil One are all from Deuteronomy (one of five books attributed to Moses) and his temptations correspond to those which afflicted the Israelites on their desert journey. The difference is that the Israelites succumbed but not Jesus:

– The Israelites grumbled about not having enough food. “It is not on bread alone that we live but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

– Israel constantly tended to chase after false gods (e.g. the golden calf) but Jesus recognises only one God. “You must worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.”

– Israel tested God at Massah and Meribah to provide them with water but Jesus refuses to manipulate God. “You must not put your Lord to God to the test.”

All in all Jesus shows himself totally faithful and trusting in God and thus qualified for his role as Messiah. And these temptations are made to sound all the more reasonable because the Messiah was expected to bring bread down from heaven, to subject other kingdoms to Israel and to perform a dazzling sign to prove his credentials.

Most dangerous temptations

When we think of temptations, we tend to think of sexual sins, telling lies, losing our tempers, gossiping about people’s (imagined) faults, getting angry, feeling resentment and the like. But the really dangerous temptations are to want material wealth for its own sake (the ability to turn anything into money [‘bread’]), to want status (everyone looks up to me), and power (I can manipulate people and things for my own ends), things which are seen as going with wealth, power and status.

These are dangerous because they reduce other people and even the material world to things that can be used purely for my personal gain. They are dangerous because they create a world and a society in which everyone has to compete to get as much for themselves as they can. In such a rat race world, a minority corners to itself a disproportionate amount of the world’s goods while the majority is left without what they need. Above all, such people are dangerous because they can create the prevailing creed of the society in which we live. They believe that undiluted happiness comes with winning millions in the lottery. They believe that the ownership of what they have acquired is absolute. But there is no absolute ownership of anything.

Values of the Kingdom

The world, the Kingdom that Jesus came to build, has a different set of values altogether. And it is those values we will be considering all during Lent. Many Christians are chasing the idols of wealth, status and power just as fanatically as their non-Christian brothers and sisters. But, in fact, these are non-Christian, even anti-Christian, ambitions. They are not the way of Jesus, they are not the way of the Kingdom, nor indeed are they the way to a fully human, fully satisfying life for anyone.

This is what today’s Gospel is about. This is what Lent means as a time of reflection and a time of re-evaluating the quality and direction of our lives. A time for reconsidering our priorities both as Christians and human beings. A time to re-affirm our conviction of the equal dignity of every single human person.

Says the Second Reading today: “Those who believe in him will have no cause for shame, it makes no difference between Jew and Greek. All belong to the same Lord who is rich enough, however many ask for his help, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” It is a scandal and a crime then when some of us actively prevent brothers and sisters having access to the material, social and spiritual goods of God’s creation.

Endless battle

Finally, before we leave today’s Gospel, let us not overlook its final sentence: “The devil left him to return at the appointed time.” The battle with evil was not over for Jesus. It will occur again and again at various stages in his life, right up to and especially at those last hours in the garden and on the Cross.

For us, too, the battle against evil never stops. The selfishness, the greed, the anger and hostility, the jealousy and resentment, above all the desire to have rather than to share, to control rather than to serve will continually dog us. We and our children are caught up in the competitive rat race without even knowing it. Our only success in life can be what we achieve in building not palaces or empires but in building a society that is more loving and just, based on the message of Jesus, a message of truth and integrity, of love and compassion, of freedom and peace.

That is why we need this purifying period of Lent every year. If, in past years, we let it go by largely unnoticed, let this year be a little different. Let it be a second spring in our lives. Let it mean something in our discipleship with Christ.

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10th March >> Daily Reflection on Today’s Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C (Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Psalms 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15 & Romans 10:8-13).

Lectionary: 24

Luke 4:1-13

Praying Lent

The First Week of Lent - 26 min.

- Text Transcript

Parish Resources For Lent

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

Doing Lent As A Family

Setting Captives Free

In many ancient civilizations, the interactions of their gods with human beings were often characterized by caprice and inconsistency as well as distance. By contrast the God revealed to our ancestors was known for intervening faithfully in human history by specific events with an astonishing attentiveness to human need. What is more, the quality of these events can be summed up by the words, “delivering, saving, rescuing, freeing.”

The book of Deuteronomy recites in a tight narrative the wonders of God’s intervention to free our Hebrew ancestors from slavery. The experience was not only a wondrous event but marked a decisive revelation of God: this is who God is, God is one who saves!

Jesus, whose very name means, “God saves,” breaks into human history in a way never foreseen by our ancestors. He comes to do battle with all that continues to enslave those whom God has created out of love: the power of sin, the power of Satan and the power of death itself.

The temptation of Jesus, then, marks not an isolated experience of Jesus’ early public life, but rather a revelation of God who has come daringly close, to deliver in his very person, the people whom he loves: “For God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son” (John 3, 16).

We may see in the specific temptations which Jesus undergoes a battle with temptations to which every human heart is vulnerable: “Turn these stones into bread” – the temptation to live only “on bread alone,” to live as though material things are the only source of life. “I shall give you all this power and glory” – the temptation to amass reputation and wealth as false gods in an attempt to escape human vulnerability. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down . . .” – the very subtle temptation for believers: to presume no responsibility for our actions, since “God will take care of everything.”

Our Lenten journey begins, then, with an invitation to bring our hearts and lives before the Lord, especially those places where we are still held captive. We trust that Jesus remains the God who saves, who continues to do battle on our behalf so that Easter might find as slaves who have been set free.

by Rev. Richard Gabuzda

Creighton University's Institute for Priestly Formation

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10th March >> ‘Faithful in all things’ ~ Daily Reflection on Today’s Godpel Reading for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C.

The threat of rising interest rates, more taxes and less welfare, huge amounts of foreign debt putting a strain on health and education spending, is a recurring refrain in our media. All this talk about money, understandable as it is, leaves us wondering: ‘Is this all there is? Is it really money that makes the world go round? Whatever happened media to human interest stories, to human relationships? Are our only values economic ones?‘ Thank God we still have the living memory of Jesus, and the stories of his teaching and example to remind us that there’s a lot more to life than money!

This Sunday we remember how Jesus kept God’s highest commandment: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.’ ‘With all your heart‘ (with total determination,) ‘With all your soul‘ (loving and serving God our whole life long) ‘With all your strength‘ (putting all of ourselves at God’s disposal.) The love of Jesus for God and God’s people was total; but this does not mean that it was any easier for him to practice than it is for us. He too had to struggle to choose between God and self. The tension of it is spelled out in the dramatic story of the temptations Jesus faced during his time of prayer in the desert. There he spent forty days working out the meaning of his life, trying to figure out what God wanted of him. In the process he came face to face with certain fundamental choices.

First, the tempter suggests to Jesus, who was hungry after fasting: ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.’ In other words, use your power and influence, not for others but for your own satisfaction, comfort and convenience. But though Jesus is desperate for something to eat, he will not dally with this desire, even for a moment. Instead he seeks nourishment of a different kind, relying on God’s clear message: ‘One does not live on bread alone.’

That was one kind of temptation, but the idea that next comes to Jesus is even more subtle and appealing. This is to use his intelligence and his charisma to gather round him the rich and powerful from every nation, and, eventually, to become a great political leader. It was the temptation to seek world attention and become a political messiah, a temptation to fame and fortune and empire-building. This attraction is the very opposite of what God has said in Scripture about his chosen servant, the saviour of the world’s poor and marginalised. God clearly means his Messiah to be a humble servant, a suffering servant, one who sacrifices his life in love. Jesus remembers this, realizes this, and takes it to heart. And so he blitzes the temptation with another clear and definite command of God in Scripture: ‘You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’

The third temptation (according to Luke) is to go to the very top of the temple in Jerusalem and take a flying leap from there. A stunt like this will surely attract new followers, and prove to Jesus personally whether God cares about him or not. The very thought of it is fascinating. Jesus, however, promptly puts the idea completely out of his mind as he remembers and relishes God’s word: ‘You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

During his temptations Jesus was weak with hunger, but he still held firm. He hadn’t eaten for many days, but he still said No. What mattered to him was to do the will of his heavenly Father. He treasured the word of God and was determine to live by it. Each of the temptations pointed to some selfish option that was contrary to his real mission. In each case, he resisted, to be faithful to God. We too are sometimes drawn to some selfish option or other, whether pride, anger, lust, gluttony or the rest. But if we turn to God for guidance, by his grace we too can stay faithful.

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10th March >> ‘Three ways of losing track’ ~ Daily Reflection on Today’s Gospel Reading for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday in Lent, Cycle C.

The first temptation is about bread to satisfy hunger. Jesus resists using divine power to satisfy his own hunger. What’s important for him is seeking God’s reign and justice. We must work so that there may be bread for everyone. When Jesus begs God for food, but it will be to feed a hungry crowd. Our temptation can be to worry exclusively about our own needs. We lose track of Jesus when we think we have the right to everything, and forget those who have nothing.

The second temptation is about power and glory. Jesus renounces all that, even when satan offers to hand over to him all the kingdoms of the world. He doesn’t ever seek to be served, but to serve. Some Christians are tempted to maintain all the power the Church has had in times past. We lose track of Jesus when we try to impose our beliefs by force. God’s reign opens up paths for them when we work for a world of more compassion and solidarity.

The third temptation proposes that he display himself in grandiose manner to the people, held up by God’s angels. Jesus doesn’t let himself be led astray. He is not interested in spectacular signs for his own prestige. He dedicates himself to do signs of goodness in order to ease the suffering and the pains of the people. We can lose track of truth when we confuse our own flaunting with God’s glory. Our celebrity doesn’t reveal God’s greatness. Only a life of humble service to those in need manifests and spreads God’s Love. [adapted from J.A. Pagola]

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10th March >> ‘Saying “NO” to temptation’ ~ Daily Reflection on Today’s Gospel Reading for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C.

When we want to give in to any temptation, we will always find reasons, arguments and logic to support our desires. But when we need wisdom from God to challenge, question and walk over our temptations. Every year on the First Sunday of Lent we read the gospel story of Jesus being tempted by Satan. The message of the Gospel is not just about saying “NO” to temptation but about challenging the temptation or the tempter.

The first temptation was to turn stone into bread. Stones were in plenty around Jesus. If all the stones changed to bread, there would be enough food for a lifetime. The problem of poverty in the world is because so many people want to stack up and store money and material for a life-time. It is the feeling of insecurity. Jesus spoke of a parable of a man who wanted to pull down his barns and build larger ones but the Lord asked him ‘you fool. If your life would be demanded of you tonight, whose will all this be?’ Giving in to the first kind of temptation is like trying to accumulate for a life time when God wants us to live one day at a time. Giving in to this temptation will lead us to pillage, plunder, cheat, grab and snatch from others as much as we can.

The second temptation was that Satan would give all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will worship him. This temptation is all too evident from the growing power struggles seen in the world today and increase in violence and bloodshed; one religion trying to dominate another, nations trying to out-do another in economy and weaponry to become world-superpowers; cultures, communities and ethnic groups claiming superiority over another. This temptation for power begins at the individual level when we forget Jesus teaching ‘those who wish to be first must be the servant of all’ leading us to clamor for power, position and fame even at the cost and dignity of another.

The third temptation was for Jesus to perform a spectacular act of falling from the pinnacle and not getting hurt. This temptation reveals itself in certain dangerously advancing technologies where man is trying to play God. Technology is good if it improves the quality of life, but dangerous when the creature wants to become creator. When we rely only on our own strengths and intelligence we will discount God. All our intelligence put together still cannot stop a tsunami, an earthquake or the raging waters of our flood. Paradoxically, it is our intelligence itself that has breached nature’s course and aggravated natural calamities.

So when any temptation faces you, don’t just say “No”, but question it as Jesus did. Liken your temptation to any of his temptations and seek the wisdom of God to handle it.

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10th March >> ‘The great temptation’ ~ Daily Reflection on Today’s Gospel Reading for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent, Year C.

The story of Jesus’ temptations is not to be taken lightly. It’s a warning that we can ruin our lives if we stray from the path God wills for us. The first temptation was decisively important. On the surface it is a desire for something innocent and good: why not call on God power to satisfy our hunger. “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread,” the tempter says to Jesus. His reply is surprising: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” We must always seek God’s will above all. At every moment we must listen to God’s Word, seek God’s will.

Our deepest needs are not met by physical food and drink. Human beings need and yearn for more, for spiritual nurture. To help save other people from hunger and misery, we need to listen to God our Father, who awakens in our conscience a hunger for justice and solidarity.

Perhaps our great temptation today is to “change things into bread”, to reduce our desires to what is tangible and consumable. Indiscriminate consumerism is all around us, but it is hardly the way to progress and liberation. A consumerist society leads to emptiness and discontent. Why do the number of suicides keep growing? Why do we barricade ourselves in gated communities, and build walls and barriers to stop hungry people from sharing our prosperity and disturbing our peace?

Jesus wants us to be aware that human beings do not live on bread alone. We also need to nurture the spirit, know love and friendship, develop solidarity with those who suffer, listen to ouir conscience, open to the ultimate Mystery of sharing, that joins us with God.

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10th March >> ‘Fundamental Options’ ~ Daily Reflection on Today’s Gospel Reading for Roman Catholics on the First Sunday of Lent, Year C.

Since he was alone in the desert, nobody but Jesus himself could know what went on in his heart. The implication of the temptation story is that he had to struggle within himself to find the best way to live his life for God. We ordinary mortals will hardly imagine ourselves turning stones into bread; but in the first temptation Jesus seems to toy with the possibility of providing a limitless supply of bread for people, like the daily dole-out of food by which Roman emperors kept popular with their followers. But Jesus saw how a focus on food and drink can lead to forgetting spiritual values. “Man does not live on bread alone.”

Next, the scene on the mountain-top, seeing all the kingdoms of the world, suggests a temptation to become a secular messiah, dominating the the nations and having power to impose religion on people, like it or not. He dismisses this notion too, since people will enter into a true union with God only if they are drawn to it in spirit. The third and final temptation was to become just a sensational celebrity, since throughout his public life people kept asking for further miracles. What if he were to throw himself from off the pinnacle of the Temple and be unscathed. But he saw quite clearly that this would be just showmanship. He saw, “You must not put the Lord your God to the test!” as a warning not to be rash and superficial.

Jesus sensed that his ultimate service to mankind, the effective one that would endure, would be through suffering and the Cross, after which would come the crown. Without his crucifixion and resurrection his message would be forgotten. In every event of life, God is saying something to us too. The story of the Temptations is warns us not to let selfishness govern our lives. We need to be guided by the Holy Spirit, who continues to prompt our conscience throughout our days. Imitate Our Lord by taking up life’s challenges, not with an air of gloomy resignation, but cheerfully accepting what providence may bring. Let Jesus be a major influence in our lives, reflect upon his words and actions with reverence and affection, so as to bring about an inner purification of our minds and wills.

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9th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 5:27-32 for Saturday after Ash Wednesday:  ‘I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance’.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 5:27-32

Jesus comes not to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance

Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.

In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 5:27-32

I have not come to call righteous to repentance but sinners.

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Saturday after Ash Wednesday

When I read the gospels, I am often struck by the questions that people ask. Jesus himself asks many questions in the gospel, as do many of the other characters who appear in the gospel story. In today’s gospel reading, the scribes and the Pharisees ask a question of Jesus’ disciples, ‘Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ As far as they were concerned, to eat with tax collectors and sinners was to risk being contaminated by them. They would have argued that it was better for people to keep themselves separate from such people in order to preserve their moral health. Indeed, the term ‘Pharisees’ means ‘separated ones’. However, Jesus did not share this concern of the Pharisees. He knew that rather than the sin of others infecting him, his goodness, God’s goodness in him, would transform others. That remains true of Jesus’ relationship with us all. The Lord is never diminished by our failings; rather, we are always ennobled and enriched by his holiness. That is why the Lord does not separate himself from us, even when we might be tempted to separate ourselves from him, because of what we have done or failed to do, just as Peter, on one occasion in the gospels, said to Jesus, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man’. The Lord always desires to sit with us, to share table with us, to enter into communion with us, in order that in our weakness we might draw from his strength, and in our many failings we might draw from his goodness and love. As today’s gospel reading reminds us, he has not come to call the virtuous but sinners to repentance, and we are all sinners in need of his merciful love. If we acknowledge that reality, then the Lord can pour his healing love into our lives.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday after Ash Wednesday

The gospels suggest that Jesus engaged with the kind of people that many at the time, especially the religious leaders, would have written off. In this morning’s gospel reading we hear that Jesus called a tax collector, Levi, to be his follower and to share in his work of calling people into the kingdom of God. He would have been regarded as a most unlikely candidate for such a calling. Tax collectors were considered sinners, people who had alienated themselves from their fellow countrymen because they collected taxes from the Romans, and who had separated themselves from God, because it was presumed they were corrupt. Nothing good was expected of them. Yet, Jesus called one of them to be a member of the group of twelve that he gathered around himself to have a special share in his work. Jesus, it seems, did not look upon people the way that society in general looked upon them. He saw people in a much more generous way than they were viewed by others, or even by themselves. The Lord continues to relate to each of us in the generous same way; he doesn’t sell us short but gives us a calling that is in keeping with our gifts and our dignity as members of his body and temples of his Spirit. This Lent we pray for the grace to be as generous in our response to the Lord’s call as Levi was.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday after Ash Wednesday

The first people Jesus called to follow him were fishermen. He went on to call people from other walks of life to follow him. In this morning’s gospel reading he calls a tax collector, Levi, someone in the pay of the Romans, to follow him. On another occasion he called a rich man to follow him. The gospels also inform us that he had many women followers. Jesus looked on all people as his potential followers. His call to ‘follow me’ was addressed to all who would respond to it. It was addressed to people who were considered sinners by those who did their utmost to live by God’s law. Jesus got close to those he was calling to follow him, sharing table with them, regardless of how they were regarded by others. The gospel reading reminds us that the Lord is always drawing close to us, to all of us, even when we think of ourselves as sinners. He never ceases to draw near to us and to call on us to follow him. We may think that we have to put a distance between ourselves and the Lord, but the Lord never puts a distance between himself and us. He is always standing at the door of our lives and knocking, calling out to us to follow him, to walk in his way so as to share in his mission in the world.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or  [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

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9th March >> ‘Self-denial isn’t easy.’ ~ Though for the Day for Roman Catholics.

Self-denial isn’t easy. It doesn’t come naturally and requires a decision, a commitment, and an inner resolve. The ancient Christian discipline of fasting isn’t just about denying ourselves food or drink. It’s also about an interior attitude, the inner condition of our hearts and our desire to love God and serve our neighbour. St. John Chrysostom said: ‘No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.’ We can fast from food and drink, which denies our bodies, but also from gossiping, and being indifferent to others.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, grant me joy on my face and love in my heart when I fast so that my self-denial will not be obvious but to you who sees what is done in secret.

Source: extract from “Walk With Me, A Lenten Journey of Prayer,” published by alive publishing (Publisher to the Holy See).

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9th March >> My Daily Eucharist - Reflection for Roman Catholics

Christianity is more than a doctrine. It is Christ Himself, living in those whom He has united to Himself in one Mystical body. It is the mystery by which the Incarnation of the Word of God continues and extends itself throughout the history of the world, reaching into the souls and lives of all men, until the final completion of God's plan. Christianity is the "re-establishment of all things in Christ" (Ephesians 1:10).

Now Christ lives and acts in men by faith and by the sacraments of faith. The greatest of all the sacraments, the crown of the whole Christian life on earth, is the Sacrament of charity, the Blessed Eucharist, in which Christ not only gives us grace but actually gives us Himself. For in this most Holy Sacrament Jesus Christ Himself is truly and substantially present, and remains present as long as the consecrated species of bread and wine continue in existence. The Blessed Eucharist is therefore the very heart of Christianity since it contains Christ Himself, and since it is the chief means by which Christ mystically unites the faithful to Himself in one Body.

The Living Bread

Thomas Merton.