Fifth Sunday of Lent. Year B. - Sunday, March 21, 2021 (EPISODE: 286)

Fifth Sunday of Lent. Year B.  - Sunday, March 21, 2021
(EPISODE: 286)

Readings for Fifth Sunday of Lent. Year B.
FIRST READING: Jer 31: 31-34
Ps 51: 3-4, 12-13, 14-15. "Create a clean heart in me, O God. "
SECOND READING: Heb 5: 7-9
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 12: 26). Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ. If you serve me, follow me, says the Lord. And where I am, my servant will also be.
GOSPEL: John 12: 20-33

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. image:  photo ID:1901084980-  Jesus teaches from a boat on the sea of Galilee, in front of a large crowd- By Annalisa Jones
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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Year B.  - Sunday, March 21, 2021, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ep-286-lent-5-b-2021  
(EPISODE: 286)
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* (Prologue:  Fr Paul Kelly)
The Greeks, in today's gospel, ask to 'see Jesus'. They were foreigners, and had heard about Jesus and were curious to meet him…. but the reply they get is unexpected….. do you want to see Jesus??? well, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains a single grain….but if it dies… it produces a rich harvest…
 
We are asking the same thing….. let us see Jesus…. and Jesus gives us a cryptic reply too….. if you want to see me…. I am to be found in the suffering…. in the broken….. in the act of self-sacrificing service…..in self-emptying love……
 
Also, why do some Greeks, (foreigners, Gentiles most likely), asking to see Jesus signal that the hour has come and that the Son of Man will be handed over and lifted up?  Probably because the message of Jesus has now reached the ears of foreigners and people outside of the Jewish community...   do, it is now inevitable that all nations have begun to hear of his message and that this kind of attention will most certainly lead to his arrest and crucifixion.  The hour has come.   

The opening prayer for this weekend is revealing.. it picks up on the theme of loving, sacrificing, service. today…
may we walk eagerly in that same charity (THAT SAME LOVE) with which, out of love for the world, your Son handed himself over to death.
 
WE ARE ASKING THE LORD TO Change our selfishness into self-giving. //
Help us, Lord,  to embrace the world you have given us, that we may transform the darkness of its pain into life and joy of Easter.
 
How difficult it can be to die to one's selfishness so that others might benefit..... to make the difficult step... to sacrifice oneself for one's own self-interests for the good of others... it can be the hardest thing in the world...... but it is the way of Christ.. the way of the Cross, but also the way of the fullness of life and grace...
 One of the greatest gifts that can be given to this tired world we live in…. if the gift of unselfishness…. or self-giving…… or generosity and love…. where so many others keep asking 'what's in it for me' what's it worth???
 
Our following of Jesus has a cost, but it is not suffering for the sake of suffering. Rather, it is suffering because of what we believe in. It is suffering because we are living the values of Jesus. Jesus gives us an example of how we can react when faced with the cost of our values: 'Father… should I say, save me from this hour….but no…. for this is why I came……'
 
To live a life of service, love, self-forgetting and self-giving; This is why Jesus came, and this is why we follow him.
 
In these dying days of Lent… let us ask God to kindle in us all a deeper charity, a deeper, unselfish love…… to live the values of "service, self-emptying and compassion no matter what the cost"…. knowing the cost… and trusting that Jesus went before us in this and all things….

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Homily:  Fr Peter Dillon: 
5th Sunday of Lent Year B 2021

Life begins in loss. In the act of birth we were pushed out from the warm womb of our mother, then dragged helplessly into the big world of watching adults. Disconnected from our mother, we screamed and protested as we were held upside down in the hands of a stranger who slapped us. Some welcome! Our new separateness was frightening. Even though we were returned to our mother, we inhabited a space that was different from her's. To gain a place in the new world, we first had to lose our place in the old one. The act of birth is inseparable from the pain of letting go. That was our first education.

When we think of loss we usually have in mind the loss of some loved one in death. But the experience of loss plays a larger part in our lives than we might think: we lose not only by someone's death but by leaving and being left, by letting go and moving on, by relinquishing our false dreams. Throughout our lives, we have to face a whole series of necessary losses, people and relationships and attachments we have to give up if we are to grow. Our gradual development is marked by renunciation, for it is only through losses that we learn to change and adapt and make new gains. No pain, no gain.

As we grow older we have to let go of our youthful good health, our perfect vision, our waistlines, our earnestness to save the world, our unreal expectations of others, our naive belief in the progress of the earth. The time comes when we have to let go of life itself, and that final act can be as painful a leave-taking as the act of birth. But in the midst of this litany of loss, there can be new growth and new life. As Jesus says in today's Gospel: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

The way of the cross Jesus' death is ahead of him. The hour has come. The pilgrims are arriving in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, including some Greek converts who want to see Jesus. At this Passover feast, the sacrificial lamb will be Jesus himself. Now the time has come for Jesus when there is no more time. He must face the loss of freedom, the loss of friends, the loss of support, and the loss of his own life. Not surprisingly, all this loss troubles him.

The other three Gospels speak of Jesus' agony on the Mount of Olives, how Jesus anguished over his approaching death, hoping and praying that it might be the Father's will to avoid the violent consequences of the mission. In John's Gospel there is no agony scene. Jesus is troubled, but he rejects the temptation to ask the Father to save him from what is to come: "What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour? But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." In this portrayal, Jesus is aware that the pain and the loss cannot be avoided if the Father's name is to be glorified. There is going to be gain from the pain; there is going to be glory from the way of the cross. For Jesus to imagine that his suffering is avoidable is a false hope that has to be relinquished. The losing of his life is a necessary loss. The way of the cross, which appeared as a possibility at the beginning of the ministry, now presents itself as inevitable. The hour has come. His decision is to go through the humiliation and agony of the cross and be put to death. This, as John admits, does not mean that Jesus is untroubled about what is ahead. The pain will still be acute; the loss will still be crushing. But the Father's solidarity with his Son will keep Jesus going to the end. Only that gives a point to it all.

Jesus' loss is our gain. His radical act of self-forgetfulness stands at the centre of the Christian story. He is the grain of wheat that died in order to bear much fruit. That is why the cross has such a position of prominence wherever Christians gather. The great loss of Jesus' life — and the loss was great — has become in time the ground of our hope. It points us beyond the reality of suffering to the reality of Easter.

 In the midst of our own loss, however, it is difficult to imagine what good can emerge from the pain. Sometimes the pain can reduce us to silence so that we become dumb witnesses preoccupied with our own affliction. Few of us can see any point to pain at the time — often the pain is the fact that it all seems pointless. The Christian community needed time to make sense of the death of Jesus, they needed help to see that their immense loss was more than a terrible accident. We too need time and help. Only then can we look back, like the Gospel does, and cherish what good has been achieved.
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References:

Homily – Fr Peter Dillon
Prologue - Fr Paul W. Kelly

PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED. BY FR. RICHARD LEONARD.S.J.,
SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAY LITURGIES. YEAR B. FLOR MCCARTHY S.D.B.,  · SHARING THE WORD THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ}.
 
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. image:  photo ID:1901084980-  Jesus teaches from a boat on the sea of Galilee, in front of a large crowd- By Annalisa Jones }


Fifth Sunday of Lent. Year B.   (Sunday, March 21, 2021)  (EPISODE: 286 )
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
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{{Goodness and kindness  to you all}} welcome everyone, we gather -  To Pray, listen and reflect upon God and God's Kingdom.

As one family in Christ, let us prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries by calling to mind our sins. 
Lord Jesus, you have revealed yourself as the way to the Father: Lord, have mercy//You have poured out on your people the Spirit of truth: Christ, have mercy//You are the Good Shepherd, leading us to eternal life: Lord, have mercy.//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
2. When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
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Ps 51: 3-4, 12-13, 14-15. "Create a clean heart in me, O God. "

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 12: 26). Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ. If you serve me, follow me, says the Lord. And where I am, my servant will also be.
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PREFACE: Lent I  (Or Lazarus, which may still be suitable even when the gospel of raising Lazarus is not proclaimed this year)

EP III or Reco I

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{Thanks everyone, and have a grace-filled and compassion-filled week. }

Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.

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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email:  paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

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 - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993). (Sydney Australia).

"Quiet Time."  Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.

Lenten Hymn: "Have Mercy"  inspired by Psalm 50(51). Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2020.

[ Production -  KER -  2021]

May God bless and keep you.
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