SPCP - Weekend Liturgy - Fourth Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 27, 2022 (EPISODE: 357)

Fourth Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 27, 2022 (EPISODE: 357) Readings for Fourth Sunday of Lent. C FIRST READING: Josh 5:9a, 10-12 Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7. "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord" SECOND READING: 2 Cor 5:17-21 GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 15:18). Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I will rise and go to my Father and tell him. Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. GOSPEL: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. Item ID: 1662774463 - Vienna, Austria. 2019/10/23. "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (1773) by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708-1787). Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum) in Vienna, Austria. Contributor: Adam Jan Figel ++++ Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for the Fourth Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 27, 2022 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/FN5c6ECNQMURsi6j7 (EPISODE: 357) +++++ * (Fr Paul Kelly) "He was Lost and is found!" As usual, the Pharisees and the scribes are on the lookout. They condemn the welcome that Jesus extends to those considered as public sinners, people who, for that reason, are on the edges of society and despised by them (Lk 15:1). This prompts our Lord to tell them a story about what God is really like. The parable of the Prodigal Son would have to be one of the best stories of all time. The fact that Jesus, (God made flesh, tells this story to show us how the Heavenly Father thinks and relates to us, even when we have done wrong, is truly amazing. Of all the images Jesus could have used, the one he persistently uses is that of an unconditionally loving parent.. a doting Father, no less. "Forgiveness comes from the welcoming person rather than from the repenting sinner. Forgiving is giving life."* "Failing to see the gratuitousness of love is failing to understand the gospel. - (the free and overflowing generosity of love, is given, not earned or deserved) - By converting the gospel into a mere set of obligations, external rules or a guarantee of authorities without moral worth, we make a joke or a cartoon out of Christ's divine love.* The reason Jesus told this story… is to appeal to the better judgment of the Pharisees and scribes. The Pharisees and scribes were, at the time of Jesus, known to be experts in the right application of the Law of Moses, and of God's law….. they made themselves out to be the perfect examples of how people should faithfully obey God and be considered at rights with God… but it is quite clear from the prodigal son story, that Jesus is trying to show them that, far from being the perfect model of what a good child of God is like… they were acting more like the older (seemingly loyal son) who, although he had done nothing wrong… was thinking and acting more like an embittered slave in his father's house than a beloved son… and resenting the forgiveness and reform of anyone who fell short… just like a lost son, realising the folly of their ways, would be welcomed back by his loving father… …. Jesus was trying to get all people to stop acting like dutiful, loveless, resentful and hard-hearted slaves of God.. and take up their rightful place as beloved, unconditionally loved children of God….. They should be sharing in their father's genuine joy and relief in getting back his lost son, they should be of one heart and mind with their beloved father and join the rejoicing when the lost are found and brought back… not whinging and complaining and recommending distance and rejection, and making the whole issue about themselves and how much they have slaved for their master – when all he wanted is for us to love as he does. Jesus is clearly saying that the self-righteous good guys who have not done anything wrong according to the letter of the law, may just be as bad a sinner or worse than those who had broken God's law and repented…. Because they fail to grasp the very essence of the gospel... (they are strangers to the heart of God's love). They are not living as God's beloved sons and daughters. instead, they act like ill-willed, mean-spirited slaves, who kept God's law only begrudgingly, and for a calculated expectation of reward… and with neither true love of their heavenly father, nor true love of their fellow brother or sister…. Jesus was trying to say to everyone… WAKE UP to yourselves…. If you do everything out of duty, self-righteousness, and judgementalism, and you are not loving, forgiving, gracious and inclusive….. then you are totally on the wrong track .. You have utterly missed the point of the Gospel and misunderstood the very nature of God. Ironically, they are acting as badly as the ones they condemn…. This parable is also wonderful for all who have ever sinned or turned away from God by their actions and attitudes… because Our Lord is imploring us to see ourselves as children of a loving God… who keeps searching for us like a doting father.. and who will happily welcome us back when we turn our faces back to home… not because we deserve it, but because God loves us and wants the best for us… and knows that being part of God's family is God's plan for us and what is best for us…. And he calls upon us to take on this attitude to others .. and see them too as our fellow brothers and sisters… all part of one big family loved and cherished and welcomed by God….. St Paul sums up our true role in this world…. "…we are ambassadors for Christ as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God." May God help us to be aware that we are loved children of God, not angry slaves but willing coworkers – who delight in sharing in the love and mindset of God, and we are ministers and instruments of God's love and forgiveness in our lives and in our community. -To listen to the whole Sunday Mass each week (including homily) from Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish, please visit this link: Liturgy for you at Home (by SPCP) - https:- soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks. +++++ References: Homily –Fr Paul W. Kelly *Barclay, W. (1975). The Gospel of Luke. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press). [Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. Item ID: 1662774463 - Vienna, Austria. 2019/10/23. "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (1773) by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708-1787). Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum) in Vienna, Austria. Contributor: Adam Jan Figel] Fourth Sunday of Lent. C (Sunday, March 27, 2022) (EPISODE: 357 ) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. +++++++++++++ {{May Our Lord's Fidelity strengthen you.}} welcome everyone, we gather - To take time to reflect upon the meaning of God's word for our everyday lives. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is full of love and mercy. And so, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us acknowledge our sins. Lord Jesus, you are mighty God and Prince of peace. Lord have mercy// You are Son of God and the Son of Mary. Christ have mercy// You are Word made flesh, the splendour of the Father. Lord have mercy. May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +++++++++++++++++++++ Memorial Acclamation 3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7. "Tast and see the goodness of the Lord" GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 15:18). Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I will rise and go to my Father and tell him. Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PREFACE: Sundays Ordinary I Eucharistic Prayer II Communion side. pwk: RH (theme variation: ) ++++ {May God's grace strengthen your love and hope and faith, and may God's love surprise you even in the trials and challenges of the week.} Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life. ++++++++ 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. Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly. Microphones: - Sennheiser MK4 Cardioid Condenser; and Shure Motiv MV5 Digital Condenser. Editing equipment: NCH software - MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 12.44 Sound Processing: iZotope RX 6 Audio Editor [ Production - KER - 2022] May God bless and keep you. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Copyright (C) 2022 Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish Office 50 Fairway Drive CLEAR ISLAND WATERS, QLD 4226 Australia Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

The ANNUNCIATION of the LORD - 25th March 2022 - (weekday Solemnity)

The ANNUNCIATION of the LORD - 25th March 2022 - (weekday Solemnity) Readings FIRST READING: Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10; PSALM 39:7-11. "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will." SECOND READING: Hebrews 10:4-10. GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 1:14). Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ! The word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ! GOSPEL: Luke 1:26-38 Shutterstock Licensed Image stock photo ID: 341782814 ATHENS, GREECE - OCTOBER 8, 2015: The fresco of Annunciation on the facade of Metropolitan Cathedaral by B. Antoniasis (1895). By Renata Sedmakova ++++ Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the ANNUNCIATION of the LORD - 25th March 2022 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-the-annunciation-weekday-solemnity-25th-march-2022 +++++ Today's feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated, in a timely fashion exactly nine months to the day of Christmas. and three months before the feast of the birth of JOHN the Baptist. It is a feast of the Lord, commemorating the announcement to the Virgin Mary of the Word made flesh, Mary's acceptance of God's will, and the conception of Christ nine months before Christmas. This feast originated in the East during the sixth century and gained universal observance in the West during the eighth century. Its occurrence close to Easter links the incarnation with the whole mystery of human redemption in Christ. ++++ Special for 2022:  Pope Francis announced that he will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25th, 2022 from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, at the Angelus for that day. Here is the full text of the prayer obtained by CNA: O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples' dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbour's keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord! Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life. He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity. By God's gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love. We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children. In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: "Am I not here, I who am your Mother?" You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times. In you we place our trust. We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid. That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs. To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: "They have no wine" (Jn 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help! Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer. Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war. Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation. Queen of Heaven, restore God's peace to the world. Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness. Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons. Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love. Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity. Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world. O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace. May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs. May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside. Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: "Behold your son" (Jn 19:26.) In this way he entrusted each of us to you. To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: "Behold, your Mother" (v. 27). Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ. The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty. Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The "Fiat" that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world. Through your intercession, may God's mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. Our Lady of the "Fiat," on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God. May you, our "living fountain of hope," water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion. You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace. Amen. ++++++ Homily : Mary was of the house of David and was engaged to be married to Joseph, of the same royal family. She had, however, not yet entered the household of her spouse, but was still in her mother's house, perhaps working, over her dowry. (Bardenhewer, Maria Verk., 69). And the angel having taken the figure and the form of a man came into the house and said to her: "Greetings, full of grace … the Lord is with you." Mary having heard the greeting words did not speak; she was troubled in spirit since she knew not the angel, nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the greeting. And the angel continued and said: "Fear not, Mary, for have found favour with God. Behold you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most-High, and the Lord God shall give to him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there shall be no end." The Virgin understood that there was a question of the coming Redeemer. But, why should she be elected from amongst women for the splendid dignity of being the mother of the Messiah, having vowed her virginity to God? (St. Augustine). Therefore, not doubting the word of God like Zachary, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I know not a man?" – this was not merely a present tense... This was akin to "I have made a perpetual vow of virginity to God, even as I plan to be married, so how can this be?" (Her question and confusion make no sense unless this is the clarification she seeks). The angel, to remove Mary's anxiety and to reassure her resolve, answered: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most-High shall overshadow you. And therefore also the Holy One which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God." Mary, very likely, would not have yet fully understood the full meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting to the all-powerful faithfulness of God she said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." Many holy fathers (Sts. Jerome, Cyril, Ephrem, Augustine) say that the consent of Mary was essential to the redemption. It was the will of God, St. Thomas says (Summa III:30), that the redemption of mankind should depend upon the consent of the Virgin Mary. This does not mean that God in His plans was bound by the will of a creature, and that man would not have been redeemed if Mary had not consented. It only means that the consent of Mary was foreseen from all eternity, and therefore was received as essential into the design of God. https://sarahclarkson.com/thoroughly-alive/2017/11/17/annunciation-a-poem-and-a-holy-provocation Annunciation by Denise Levertov We know the scene: ……Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings, the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering, whom she acknowledges, a guest. But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage.  The engendering Spirit did not enter her without consent. God waited. She was free to accept or to refuse, choice integral to humanness. Aren't there annunciations of one sort or another in most lives? Some unwillingly undertake great destinies, enact them in sullen pride, uncomprehending. More often those moments when roads of light and storm open from darkness in a man or woman, are turned away from in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair and with relief. Ordinary lives continue.  God does not smite them. But the gates close, the pathway vanishes. She had been a child who played, ate, slept like any other child–but unlike others, wept only for pity, laughed in joy, not triumph. Compassion and intelligence fused in her, indivisible. Called to a destiny more momentous than any in all of Time, she did not quail, only asked a simple, 'How can this be?' and gravely, courteously, took to heart the angel's reply, the astounding ministry she was offered: To bear in her womb Infinite weight and lightness; to carry in hidden, finite inwardness, nine months of Eternity; to contain in slender vase of being, the sum of power–in narrow flesh, the sum of light. Then bring to the birth, ……. a child needing, like any other, milk and love– but who was God! This was the moment no one speaks of when she could still refuse. A breath un-breathed, Spirit, suspended, waiting .... She did object: 'I cannot. I am not worthy,' Nor did she cry out: 'I have not the strength.' She did not submit with gritted teeth, raging, coerced. Bravest of all humans, consent illumined her. The room filled with its light, the lily glowed in it, and the iridescent wings. Consent, courage unparalleled, opened her utterly. +++++ ++++++++ References: Fr Paul W. Kelly https://sarahclarkson.com/thoroughly-alive/2017/11/17/annunciation-a-poem-and-a-holy-provocation Holweck, Frederick. "The Annunciation." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 7 Feb. 2020 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01541c.htm Shutterstock Licensed Image stock photo ID: 341782814 ATHENS, GREECE - OCTOBER 8, 2015: The fresco of Annunciation on the facade of Metropolitan Cathedaral by B. Antoniasis (1895). By Renata Sedmakova \ +++++ The ANNUNCIATION of the LORD - (25th March) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. +++++++++++++ Lord Jesus, you are mighty God and Prince of Peace. Lord have mercy// You are Son of God and the Son of Mary. Christ have mercy// You are Word made flesh, the splendour of the Father. Lord have mercy. May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +++++++++++++++++++++ Memorial Acclamation 1. We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Preface of Annunciation // EUCH II //. ++++ Go, and Announce the gospel of the Lord. +++ 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). Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The ….Gloria, copyright 2011 ccwatershed.org} Hymn – "Rainfall – Hail Holy Queen." Music by Paul W. Kelly. 1994, 2021. Words by Paul kelly, based on the Traditional Salve Regina Hymn. Arranged & with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2021. https://www.airgigs.com/user/stefankelk Marian Hymn - "Salve Regina Mater Misericordiae." (Traditional 11th Century). Melody: Mainz (1712), Hymn #783 - Brébeuf Hymnal. From https://www.ccwatershed.org/hymn/ Marian Hymn – "Whom Earth and Sea and Sky Proclaim." Traditional 6th Century Hymn. Melody: Bartholomaus Gesius (d.1613). #376 - Brébeuf Hymnal. From https://www.ccwatershed.org/hymn/ [ Production - KER - 2022] May God bless and keep you. Copyright (C) 2022 Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.   Our mailing address is: Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish Office 50 Fairway Drive CLEAR ISLAND WATERS, QLD  4226 Australia Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

Third Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 20, 2022 (EPISODE:356)

Third Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 20, 2022 (EPISODE:356)

Readings for Sunday, March 20, 2022 

FIRST READING: Exod 3:1-8a, 13-15
Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8+11. "The Lord is kind and merciful"
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Matt 4:17). Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ. Repent, says the Lord. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
GOSPEL: Luke 13:1-9

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. Item ID: 1108054889 - Biblical vector illustration series, Moses and the burning bush. Formats. Contributor: rudall30 

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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Third Sunday of Lent. C - Sunday, March 20, 2022 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ep-356-lent-3c-2022?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing   (EPISODE:356)
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* (Homily: Fr Paul Kelly)
Set My People Free

In the second reading today, Saint Paul has some very strong words for the community in Corinth.  He warns them very sternly, to be on their guard and lists three great dangers that can poison any community: Complacency, Self-indulgence, and 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 does not simply stop at that. The Lord works WITH and THROUGH Moses and his brother Aaron and also through the cooperation of the people of Israel, to achieve that freedom which God so deeply desires for his people. It is God's action, with the people's cooperation. God acts definitively in history through the united cooperation of people who are open, positive and practical in achieving 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 and suffering in the world…. And God HAS done something…  

God continues to do something about it! Particularly, God CALLS and commissions people of goodwill, (people 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 just response to those in need.

 

The message that GOD is WITH his people, is found even in God's holy and mysterious name, which is revealed to Moses. God's very name means many wonderful and mysterious things, but very basically (for it defies full translation), 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 diligently to work for justice in the world.  God is also very much with the people who are suffering and in need and who are enduring great harm in this world. God is suffering in and with the people, as close as possible to those who are enduring these experiences.

 

Jesus makes it really clear, in this Gospel this weekend,  that there are is NO connection between sin and the misfortunes which may happen to us, whether the cause is human willpower, (eg Pilate ruthlessly killing worshippers while they are at prayer, Lk 13:1) or even whether the tragedy is caused by accident or negligence, (eg. a tower collapsing on people (v. 4)).

 

Insult is added to injury by the callous suggestion that the poor and the sick, and also any 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 to burden people who are already suffering horribly.  

 

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. People are wrongly attributing disasters to some type of fatality which plunges us into passivity - unable to do anything to accept what has happened as something we somehow deserve. 

 

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 is somehow being punished.  If one wants to see where the hand of God is to be found in the midst of disaster and tragedy,  then we ought not to look at God as the cause of the disaster, but rather look for God's healing and compassionate touch, in the hands of all those rallying to offer practical help in times of disaster and loss. It is Christ himself we see active and practically at work in the actions and compassion and assistance and healing offered by loved ones and friends and people of goodwill who are embracing the mourners, bandaging the wounded, and feeding the starving and rebuilding fallen structures... and so on.

 

A more helpful sign of the results of sin is the failure to bear the fruits of charity, justice, compassion, mercy and healing, in situations where it is possible. Our Lord states this in the parable he teaches today (Vv. 6-9),

 

In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God is not filled with anger, vengeance or summary justice....  but God is a loving parent, who is very long-suffering, fore-bearing and compassionate. 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.

But he leaves us with this final caveat…    time is limited, so start bearing fruit now, there is no time like the present. 

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References:

Homily –Fr Paul W. Kelly

 

Gutiérrez, G. and Dees, C. (1997). Sharing the Word through the liturgical year. 1st ed. Maryknoll: Orbis Books)

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. Item ID: 1108054889 - Biblical vector illustration series, Moses and the burning bush. Formats. Contributor: rudall30.


Third Sunday of Lent. C  (Sunday, March 20, 2022)  (EPISODE:356)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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{{Peace and Patience to you all}} welcome everyone, we gather - To offer or praise, prayers and intercessions to our loving God

 

my brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins.

 

Lord Jesus, you call your people to turn away from sin: Lord, have mercy//You teach us wisdom, and write your truth in our inmost heart: Christ, have mercy//You forgive sins through the ministry of reconciliation: 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

3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.

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PREFACE: Lent II

 

EP III

 

(theme variation: 3 )

 

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{Thank you for giving generously of your time and prayer.}

 

Go forth, the Mass is ended.

 

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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 - 2022]

 

May God bless and keep you.

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