Fr. Andrew’s Daily Mass Homily – Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent
With help from some 4th graders from Mrs. Peterson’s class at Cathedral School, Fr. Andrew looks at how God can take bad things and bring about great goodness.
********************
If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Study: Reflect on a time when you were forgiven. What steps took place to make it happen?
Pray: Is there something in your life that’s prompting you to repent? Ask the Lord for the strength to do it!
Serve: Is there a situation in your life that you can help bring healing and reconciliation? How might you be an instrument of God’s grace?
3rd Sunday of Lent Readings – Year C
Here’s a quick recap of the readings this week:
On the one hand we hear how God takes pity on our plight, has great mercy, and longs to heal and love us. On the other hand, we also hear the crucial need to repent – to turn away from our sins and draw near to the Lord.
Remember this: God requires our repentance so that we can freely receive his mercy and forgiveness. Reconciliation means nothing if we aren’t sorry for what we have said and done. What’s more, without repentance we cannot begin to comprehend the unconditional love of Jesus on the Cross.
So what is our path to repentance? Consider these basic steps:
The Lord is calling us – out of his awesome grace, mercy, and forgiveness – to repent. Make this Lent extra special, and may all of us take the time to review our hearts and be about the business of God’s healing love.
********************
If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Study: Reflect on a moment when you were in a critical need. What pulled you through?
Pray: Ask the Lord for grace regarding a difficult situation.
Serve: How can you be a helping hand to another?
Let’s take a look at these readings that help us kick off Lent:
Have you ever been in trouble? Serious trouble? End of your rope? Lost? Confused? Abandoned? Scared? Feeling like you cannot breathe because the air has gone out of your chest? Feeling utterly alone?
You’re in good company. People of faith for over 3000 years have called upon the Lord in their darkest moments – seeking guidance and strength.
And God provides. We don’t have to look very hard to find examples of pain and suffering, hardship and loss, struggle, catastrophe and sin. We also know that there are no promises that life will be easy and free from pain. What we know is simple: God walks with us and sustains us in our moments of need.
Of course this is only a half truth – God walks with us always! God never leaves us, but for some very human reason we seem to call out loud and strong when we recognize our need for the Lord. Isn’t it odd that we “get it” when we are in need…that many of us who dedicate our lives to Christ see much more clearly when the truth is self-evident?
Perhaps not. Perhaps what this first week of Lent shows us is that our need for God (always present in our lives) is most easily observed when we cannot hide from our need. For when we are in trouble, we are confronted with the clear and obvious reality that it is only with the Lord’s grace that we can be guided and sustained. In the times of our testing we discover both our limitations and the Lord’s love.
What are you facing in your life right now? What requires your own personal admission and acceptance of Christ’s mercy? Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble!
********************
If you are looking for more material to help you this Lent, you might consider this list of presentations I have offered over the last couple of years. Feel free to check it out and share if you find it helpful:
Podcast Resources for a Powerful Lent
Fr. Andrew’s Catholic Schools’ Week Homily Podcast
Jesus gives us the example of how we forgive one another. Forgiveness can be part of our lives in two special ways:
Special blessings to all our Catholic Schools this week!
Fr. Andrew’s Daily Mass Homily Podcast – Friday of the 2nd Week of the Year
David’s example of mercy toward King Saul shows us a path to follow in our own lives. Rather than returning evil with evil, we are invited to bring the love and grace of Christ to the situations before us.
Fr. Andrew’s Jubilee Year of Mercy – Holy Door Podcast
This 22 minute presentation offers a quick overview of the Holy Door in the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Here are 4 key points of the presentation:
May this Year of Mercy transform us all!
Fr. Andrew’s 29th Sunday of the Year Homily Podcast
Jesus Christ shows us that suffering is a pathway, not a destination. Through suffering we experience a purification – whereby we grow and discover new insights through the process of challenge, pain, and difficulty. God permits suffering that we might be changed…for the good. For remember: the suffering of Good Friday will be transformed into the joy of Easter Day.
We are thus consoled and challenged by these words. Consoled, in that we take hope that the triumph of Christ on the Cross will one day be our triumph. He understands our suffering (he’s already been through his own) and we can cling to his mercy and grace.
Challenged, in that we are invited to drink from the cup of suffering. Like Christ, we pray that the cup will pass by, but like Christ we will accept what God sets before us – opening our hearts to God and allow this process to transform us.
Study: Consider an experience of suffering in your life. What lessons did you learn? How did you change and grow?
Pray: Many people carry heavy crosses every day…pray for them that they find the strength and grace they need.
Serve: Many people carry heavy crosses every day…how can you help them?
29th Sunday of the Year Readings
The readings today weave together around some common themes:
Let’s start with Jesus. The Lord’s mission included not only teaching and healing, but was most clearly articulated in his death and resurrection for the life of the world. Christ died for our sins – taking our place by his suffering on the Cross for the evil we have done. His resurrection blazes a trail for us that leads to Heaven.
It is crucial to note that suffering is the path, not the goal. God the Father did not choose Jesus to suffer out of a desire for pain, but to bridge the gap between the human and divine. The Lord is the High Priest whose suffering draws near to a wounded and broken humanity. Like us in all things but sin, Jesus embraces us as he stretched out his hands on the Cross.
The victory of the Resurrection reveals suffering as the doorway, a path that when taken purges and cleanses, through which Christ has passed to break the bonds of sin and death. Suffering does not end in suffering; it leads to a freedom in Christ that is filled with grace, mercy, and peace.
This message has elements of consolation and challenge for us today. The consolation? We look to Christ for our redemption – turning to the Lord whose saving death and resurrection give us eternal life.
The challenge? We are called to face our suffering, recognizing in the crosses of our lives the path of redemption that God sets before us. In other words, we drink from the cup of Christ’s suffering – but we do it with conviction, faith, and hope.
The suffering we face today is part of our transformation as disciples. We engage the challenges of this life, not because we welcome pain, but because we see God’s hand at work in our struggles to purify our hearts and desires. Through this process we offer our lives, following the example of Jesus Christ to bring life to those in our midst.
Drink from the cup. Consider the sufferings of today as an offering to the Lord – given out of love that our lives might be transformed into the image and likeness of Christ!
***************
La crucifixion, Philippe de Champaigne; 1644-1646, 800 x 600 pixels.
Study: Reflect on a moment when sin has touched your life. Where did you find God’s grace at work?
Pray: Take some time for personal reflection. Make this an Examination of Conscience to recall how God continues to touch your heart and bless your life.
Serve: Consider a simple and practical way that you can care for another this Lent. Something personal…something real.
“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
These are the words we hear today as we come forward to begin a new Lent. We physically mark our foreheads – smudge them with grimy ashes – to recall the simple fact that we are all sinners and stand in need of God’s mercy.
And what great mercy it is! Perhaps that’s why we pause. We need mercy. We crave forgiveness. We hunger to be loved simply and gently, no strings attached, no conditions required.
These ashes remind us that we need….God.
Pause today. We reflect on what is broken or wounded in our lives – to discover where we are hurting.
Then look outward. This is our opportunity to consider how we have broken or wounded others – recognizing that perhaps another has suffered through our thoughts, words, or deeds.
Ashes.
Repentance.
God’s Grace.
Have a blessed and holy Lent.
Study: What one thing can you choose to do this Christmas to make it better?
Pray: Ask God for the help to do that one thing wisely and well!
Serve: How can you help someone make their Christmas better?
Christmas Readings
Vigil Mass Mass during the Night Mass at Dawn Mass during the Day
A Christmas Carol
Part V: Christmas Day
When Scrooge finally awakes on Christmas morning, he is a changed man. Filled with joy and newfound hope, he begins to live his life very differently from the day before. Reaching out to the people in his midst, Scrooge recognizes the beauty and richness that has always been around him.
Whether it’s buying an enormous turkey for the Cratchit family, wishing a small boy “Merry Christmas!”, accepting a dinner invitation at his nephew’s home, or raising Bob Cratchit’s salary, what we discover is that Scrooge is transformed. He has recognized something powerful in his life, and he is following a new course of action.
In the Gospel today Mary greets her kinswoman Elizabeth, who also recognizes something wonderful has happened. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy – a sign that God was present in a powerful way. Elizabeth understood that God was working in Mary’s life, and she responded to this insight accordingly.
There comes a moment in our lives when we discover something new. Perhaps we have seen a mistake in the past or regret an action that we have done; at these times we encounter a reason to hope and start over. We have a reason to live.
The reason? Christmas joy! Our lives are transformed by the grace of Christ; through the birth of Jesus all barriers between heaven and earth have been removed and we are united with God. Once we throw open the doors of our hearts, the power of the Christ child brings a renewal and healing – we live in hope!
It is this sense of hope which can give us new life. Emerging from doubt or despair, we rediscover that God walks with and among us – helping us in moments of sadness and leading us to peace. Yet God requires that we actively accept this invitation. The promise of hope needs our action, and it relies on our willingness to follow.
Scrooge provides an example for us. With the help of the Spirits of Christmas, he saw a world filled with very different possibilities. He discovered that he need not be unhappy; he could change his life and embrace the joys which were all around him. His willingness to see, judge, and act become an inspiration for us – reminding us that life gives us opportunities to change our ways and follow God’s call.
As Elizabeth recognized God’s presence in Mary, we too are invited to discover the Lord in our midst. May our eyes be open to see God among us, and may we respond with hearts that are open to the abundant love which is our inheritance.
Merry Christmas!
Catholic Inspiration – Podcast Archives of Homilies & Talks
Three Great Things 