Homily Third Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 24, 2019
Dedicated to the Memory of My beloved Aunt, Mary Hodge, who entered eternal life on Wednesday the 13th March 2019. A woman of faith, hope, and Love, who 'ran the good race, who fought the good fight, and who kept the Faith.' May she rest in Peace. Amen.
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Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15. Working for his father-in-law Moses hears a call from the God of his forefathers.
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11. "The Lord is kind and merciful." The merciful and gracious God of salvation history remains the God of rescue today.
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12. Saint Paul traces a direct line from the Hebrew story to the Christian story.
Luke 13:1-9. Jesus insists that God is not the great punisher but has great forbearance.
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Third Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 24, 2019 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/lent-3c-faith-hope-and-love-episode-147/s-5df44 (EPISODE: 147)
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11. "The Lord is kind and merciful." The merciful and gracious God of salvation history remains the God of rescue today.
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12. Saint Paul traces a direct line from the Hebrew story to the Christian story.
Luke 13:1-9. Jesus insists that God is not the great punisher but has great forbearance.
++
Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Third Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 24, 2019 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/lent-3c-faith-hope-and-love-episode-147/s-5df44 (EPISODE: 147)
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In the second reading today… Saint Paul has some very strong words for the community in Corinth…. St Paul warns them very sternly, to be on their guard…… He lists three great dangers that can poison any community:…. Complacency….. Self-indulgence… and a culture of Complaint and negativity…..
Each of these three vices is absolutely lethal to any community…. Criticism, gossip and complaint in a community will rip the community apart and render it useless.
The readings this weekend also highlight the vital connection between God's nature and the 'doing of JUSTICE;' and between our God of love, who acts on that love in practical ways, to help those who suffer.
In the first reading, God SEES the need of his beloved people, who are being mistreated… God is determined to DO something about it, to free them from their terrible situation ….. And GOD then acts, definitively in history, by calling upon his servant Moses to 'set my people free'.
And God doesn't stop at that. The Lord works WITH and THROUGH Moses and his brother Aaron and the people of Israel, to achieve that freedom that God desires for his people. Its God's action, with the cooperation of people who are open and positive towards God's will.
Many people throughout history have asked: "how can God stand by and see so much suffering and so much injustice in the world and not DO something?" … But, in reality… God SEES and cannot STAND the wrongdoing and injustice in the world…. And God HAS done something… God continues to do something about it….. particularly, God CALLS and commissions people of goodwill… (just like Moses), …. / To DO something about what is wrong…./ As the saying goes, "God has no other hands on earth but ours…" / God wants to use our hands, our heart and our voices to bring a helping hand and a just response to those in need.
The message that GOD is WITH his people, is found even in God's name, which is revealed to Moses..... God's very name means many wonderful and mysterious things... and very basically translated, God's proper name means..."I am." And this also means (among many other things) that God is: ..."I AM with you!!!.".. God PROMISES to be with all who strive and work for justice in the world… and God is also very much with the people who are suffering and in need. In the midst of suffering and evil in the world, God is suffering in and with the people, as close as possible to those who are enduring these experiences.
Today's gospel emphasises that proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, cannot separated from history nor from what is happening in our lives: Rather, proclaiming the gospel includes reflecting deeply on what is going on in our lives and in our world... and seeking to interpret our lives in the light of the gospel and of Jesus' values.
So too, the events of our lives enable us to have a better understanding of the scope of Christ's message.
In this really important gospel passage, Our Lord uses two events which were at that time immediate current day happenings. Jesus makes it really clear that there are is NO connection between sin and the misfortunes which may happen to us, whether their cause is human willpower (Pilate killing worshippers, Lk 13:1) or accident, a tower collapsing on people (v. 4).
By this statement, Jesus goes against a very common concept of his time, according to which diseases, misfortunes, and poverty are seen as the consequences of the sins committed by the people in those situations.
One gets a whiff of this same awful mentality even to this day. And Our Lord is clearly aware that this adds an additional amount of suffering and misery to people already suffering harsh circumstances. Insult is added to injury by the wrong suggestion that the poor and the sick and victims of crime or accident have somehow brought these situations on themselves or are being paid back for their wrongdoings or somehow deserving of the misfortunes that happen to them. What a terrible thing that those suffering from all sorts of hardship are also then burdened by a painful sense of guilt.
Our Lord showed that he always cares very much about the poor and suffering and points out that if that was really the way God worked, everyone could expect a building to fall on top of them, for there are a great many wrongs throughout any community and most of these wrongs are not visited with any kind of divine or natural or human retribution.
So, the Lord frees us from this concept which prevents us, on one hand, from facing the real causes of the evils and wrongs befalling us, because people are wrongly attributing them to some type of fatality which plunges us into passivity - unable to do anything to accept what has happened as something we deserved. ....
To advocate an image of God as one who works through the malice of others or natural disasters to punish the wicked, is to terribly distort the true image of the God of love and life.
Unavoidable disasters or events or even bad things happening at the hands of malicious people is not a sign that the victim was being punished. If one wants to see where the hand of God is to be found in the midst of disaster and tragedy... don't look to God as the cause of the disaster... rather look for God's hands embracing the mourners, bandaging the wounded, and feeding the starving... and so on.
A more helpful sign of the results of sin is the failure to bear fruit in situations where it is possible. Our Lord states this in the parable immediately following (vv. 6-9),
In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God is not filled with anger, vengeance and summary justice.... but God is a loving parent, long-suffering, fore-bearing. God is patiently waiting for / and encouraging our deeds and for the good fruits of our faith, hope, and love.
Jesus is the God not of punishment but of patience, mercy, justice, and love.
+++++
References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
Gutiérrez, G. and Dees, C. (1997). Sharing the Word through the liturgical year. 1st ed. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Each of these three vices is absolutely lethal to any community…. Criticism, gossip and complaint in a community will rip the community apart and render it useless.
The readings this weekend also highlight the vital connection between God's nature and the 'doing of JUSTICE;' and between our God of love, who acts on that love in practical ways, to help those who suffer.
In the first reading, God SEES the need of his beloved people, who are being mistreated… God is determined to DO something about it, to free them from their terrible situation ….. And GOD then acts, definitively in history, by calling upon his servant Moses to 'set my people free'.
And God doesn't stop at that. The Lord works WITH and THROUGH Moses and his brother Aaron and the people of Israel, to achieve that freedom that God desires for his people. Its God's action, with the cooperation of people who are open and positive towards God's will.
Many people throughout history have asked: "how can God stand by and see so much suffering and so much injustice in the world and not DO something?" … But, in reality… God SEES and cannot STAND the wrongdoing and injustice in the world…. And God HAS done something… God continues to do something about it….. particularly, God CALLS and commissions people of goodwill… (just like Moses), …. / To DO something about what is wrong…./ As the saying goes, "God has no other hands on earth but ours…" / God wants to use our hands, our heart and our voices to bring a helping hand and a just response to those in need.
The message that GOD is WITH his people, is found even in God's name, which is revealed to Moses..... God's very name means many wonderful and mysterious things... and very basically translated, God's proper name means..."I am." And this also means (among many other things) that God is: ..."I AM with you!!!.".. God PROMISES to be with all who strive and work for justice in the world… and God is also very much with the people who are suffering and in need. In the midst of suffering and evil in the world, God is suffering in and with the people, as close as possible to those who are enduring these experiences.
Today's gospel emphasises that proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom, cannot separated from history nor from what is happening in our lives: Rather, proclaiming the gospel includes reflecting deeply on what is going on in our lives and in our world... and seeking to interpret our lives in the light of the gospel and of Jesus' values.
So too, the events of our lives enable us to have a better understanding of the scope of Christ's message.
In this really important gospel passage, Our Lord uses two events which were at that time immediate current day happenings. Jesus makes it really clear that there are is NO connection between sin and the misfortunes which may happen to us, whether their cause is human willpower (Pilate killing worshippers, Lk 13:1) or accident, a tower collapsing on people (v. 4).
By this statement, Jesus goes against a very common concept of his time, according to which diseases, misfortunes, and poverty are seen as the consequences of the sins committed by the people in those situations.
One gets a whiff of this same awful mentality even to this day. And Our Lord is clearly aware that this adds an additional amount of suffering and misery to people already suffering harsh circumstances. Insult is added to injury by the wrong suggestion that the poor and the sick and victims of crime or accident have somehow brought these situations on themselves or are being paid back for their wrongdoings or somehow deserving of the misfortunes that happen to them. What a terrible thing that those suffering from all sorts of hardship are also then burdened by a painful sense of guilt.
Our Lord showed that he always cares very much about the poor and suffering and points out that if that was really the way God worked, everyone could expect a building to fall on top of them, for there are a great many wrongs throughout any community and most of these wrongs are not visited with any kind of divine or natural or human retribution.
So, the Lord frees us from this concept which prevents us, on one hand, from facing the real causes of the evils and wrongs befalling us, because people are wrongly attributing them to some type of fatality which plunges us into passivity - unable to do anything to accept what has happened as something we deserved. ....
To advocate an image of God as one who works through the malice of others or natural disasters to punish the wicked, is to terribly distort the true image of the God of love and life.
Unavoidable disasters or events or even bad things happening at the hands of malicious people is not a sign that the victim was being punished. If one wants to see where the hand of God is to be found in the midst of disaster and tragedy... don't look to God as the cause of the disaster... rather look for God's hands embracing the mourners, bandaging the wounded, and feeding the starving... and so on.
A more helpful sign of the results of sin is the failure to bear fruit in situations where it is possible. Our Lord states this in the parable immediately following (vv. 6-9),
In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God is not filled with anger, vengeance and summary justice.... but God is a loving parent, long-suffering, fore-bearing. God is patiently waiting for / and encouraging our deeds and for the good fruits of our faith, hope, and love.
Jesus is the God not of punishment but of patience, mercy, justice, and love.
+++++
References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
Gutiérrez, G. and Dees, C. (1997). Sharing the Word through the liturgical year. 1st ed. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
+++++
Archive homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address:paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope, and Love, A time of Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
[{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]
Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).
{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011, Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski
Featuring the….Gloria, The Creed, The Kyrie, The Mass parts, Psalms: http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/ ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/
"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn: Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly.
For more details please visit http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au/
Contact us atpaulwkelly68@gmail.com
Production by Kelly Enterprises Resources.
May God bless and keep you.
Third Sunday of Lent. C
(Sunday, March 24, 2019)
(EPISODE: 147 )
The Lord be with you.
+++++++++++++
Our Gods love and mercy knows no bounds, and so let us recall our sins so as to worthily celebrate this Holy Sacrifice.
You were sent to heal the contrite of heart. Lord, have mercy.// You came to call sinners:Christ, have mercy. //You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us:Lord, have mercy.//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Memorial Acclamation
When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday Lent III
Eucaristic Prayer II
Communion side. pwk: LH
++++
Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
Archive homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address:paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope, and Love, A time of Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
[{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]
Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).
{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011, Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski
Featuring the….Gloria, The Creed, The Kyrie, The Mass parts, Psalms: http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/ ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/
"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn: Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly.
For more details please visit http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au/
Contact us atpaulwkelly68@gmail.com
Production by Kelly Enterprises Resources.
May God bless and keep you.
Third Sunday of Lent. C
(Sunday, March 24, 2019)
(EPISODE: 147 )
The Lord be with you.
+++++++++++++
Our Gods love and mercy knows no bounds, and so let us recall our sins so as to worthily celebrate this Holy Sacrifice.
You were sent to heal the contrite of heart. Lord, have mercy.// You came to call sinners:Christ, have mercy. //You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us:Lord, have mercy.//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Memorial Acclamation
When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday Lent III
Eucaristic Prayer II
Communion side. pwk: LH
++++
Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
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