3rd Sunday in Lent "The Lord is Kind and Merciful"

How wonderful is our God?  His love and mercy are endless.  As we have difficulty imagining the far reaches of outer-space, we too have difficulty, - in the limits of our humanness, - in understanding the infinite patience, mercy and love God has for us, his beloved children.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2:9:

“Eye has not seen,

Ear has not heard

Nor can the human heart conceive

What God has prepared for those who love Him.”

God’s love is the perfection of love – enduring, limitless, powerful and all-encompassing.  In God’s love we rest in peace and security – without worry or care – in complete knowledge and understanding of its perfection for us.

God’s love is a love that responds to love - in its perfection.  We cannot be loved if we do not respond with love.  God’s love is always open to us, - showering us with his grace.  It is we who need to be open to God’s love - in order to receive his mercy and forgiveness.  We must open ourselves to his grace – through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There is only one unforgivable sin: “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” – it occurs when we close ourselves off from God’s love and grace.  It is a sin we impose on ourselves – when we do not allow ourselves to bask in God’s complete love. -- In our hard-heartedness, our stubbornness, - we say to God - we are not lovable.  “How can God love me when I have sinned so greatly?”

It is a sin born of selfishness, self-pity and obstinacy.  We place ourselves above God – thinking our sins are so great even God cannot forgive us.  How foolish we are – how vain and arrogant!

Thinking we are so terrible, so sinful, that Our Father in heaven - cannot possible forgive us.  Placing limits on God’s love, we turn away from his mercy and forgiveness and dwell in darkness – away from the light of His love.

The beginning of reconciliation with God is in forgiving ourselves and acknowledging our weakness.  When we recognize our own frailties – our need for mercy and forgiveness - we see how much we need God’s love.  It is then - when we can begin our journey to healing; opening ourselves to the abundance of God’s loving grace – (which showers down upon us like the rays of the sun).

Letting go of ourselves and our attachment to this world, we look to heaven and God’s kingdom with His promise of life eternal.  There is where we shall live forever - in God’s embrace, - the perfection of His love.

Jesus’ teaching in the parable of the fig tree is not to show us that God’s patience has limits, - but to show us that we need to respond to His love – so we may bear fruit.  No matter how sinful we are, how badly we believe we have behaved - God’s love is greater – overcoming all.

Just as the gardener promises to feed, water and nurture the fig tree, God too offers us ample opportunity to be nurtured in his care; responding to his love and grace. 

W  Sending his Word into the world to proclaim the Good News of His Kingdom

W  Sacrificing his Only Son, so that we may be saved. 

W  Sending the Holy Spirit to be with us as comfort and guide.

W  Establishing his Church where we gather together to give him worship and praise

W  Teaching us to pray – saying to us - ask and we shall receive, - seek and we shall find, - knock and the door shall be opened to us.

Everyday we encounter God’s love through opportunities of grace in discipleship in Christ Jesus –

W  loving the poor,

W  helping the lost and disenfranchised,

W  setting captives free;

W  feeding the hungry,

W  sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked and

W  giving comfort to the sorrowful

Jesus warns us that we should look not on the sins of others or accept the sinfulness of the world as excuse - in not fulfilling our call to holiness and obedience to God.  We are to look to ourselves and support one another in keeping holy.

Everyone is subject to the fires of Gehenna - if we do not respond to God’s love and rely on his mercy and forgiveness – which knows no bounds, and has no limits.  He is always ready to forgive; – welcoming the most wretched sinner into his kingdom of Light.

We need only to ask his forgiveness - be open to His love: accepting His gift of mercy to be received in His embrace.

~Amen

Peace,

Deacon Don Ron

RCIA - 1st Scrutiny - 3rd Sunday in Lent "Unbelief to Belief"

This morning we celebrate the First Scrutiny in the Rite of Christian Initiation.  Our Elect, Cameron, will stand before God and His Church as he begins his walk to Jerusalem and his death to sin and resurrection in the New Life through Jesus Christ.

The readings this morning are taken from the lectionary for Year A and are proper to the Rite of Christian Initiation.  The gospel story this morning of the Samaritan Woman at the Well is in its self a journey from unbelief to belief – the same journey each of the Elect make as they heed the call of the Holy Spirit within their hearts and journey from unbelief to belief in Jesus Christ.

What begins for Jesus as an ordinary request for a drink of water becomes an intense catechizing of a sinner; moving this woman from her sinful, unbelieving state into belief.  Through her new belief she becomes an evangelizer for belief in Jesus Christ herself; proclaiming to others that she has found the Christ, the Messiah and inviting them to encounter Jesus.

In her exchange with Jesus, she begins by calling him a “Jew” (Jews and Samaritans were not on friendly terms, so her voice may have had a tone of hostility to it).  As the conversation progresses she calls him, “Sir” three times, each time little softer and gentler.

“Sir, you do not even have a bucket.” – Hostility/Skepticism

“Sir, give me this water. . .” – Asking/Pleading

“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” – Honor/Praise

Now the woman recognizes Jesus as a prophet.  And when she goes to the village to tell others of Jesus, she refers to him as the Christ, the Messiah.

This remarkable transition – from unbelief and sin - to belief and grace - mirrors the faith journey of those who come to faith in Jesus through the Church’s Rite of Christian Initiation.  Each traveler on the journey of faith begins in an unsuspecting way – unknowingly responding to the call of the Father in their hearts through the Holy Spirit.  In His love and mercy, He moves each person’s heart into an ever closer encounter and understanding of His Word, Jesus Christ.  Each heart is called and purified – moved from indifference and unbelief – to engagement and belief – so in faith they may rise up proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord!

We, like Jesus in the story, are each evangelizers whether we realize it or not.  By our lives, - we walk in faith, - leading others to Jesus.  We speak volumes:

 – In our thoughts,

- In our words and

- In our deeds –

- Of the love of God in our lives. 

We are doing God’s will – calling others to His loving embrace - Calling our family, - Our co-workers - Calling those with whom we socialize - And all other people – whom we encounter in the ordinary moments of our day –

For we are known as Christians by our lives

Our lives in Christ, in the love of God and in the Holy Spirit

Amen ~

Peace, 

Deacon Don Ron

1st Sunday in Lent - No Pain, No Gain!

As we enter into the season of Lent, we are reminded of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert: 40 days of self-emptying, 40 days of self-examination, 40 days of reflection - on not only of our past life, but of our life to come.

In our frailty, our human-ness – we all fall down.  We all sin in “what we have done and what we have failed to do.”  But in our faith, - in our trust in the power and mercy of God – we return to the Lord and seek reconciliation with Him and with all our brothers and sisters.  For we believe in the Lord.  We trust in Jesus.  We seek salvation in God’s love through his Son, Jesus Christ, to whom he gave all power and honor and glory.

Jesus is our Lord, our Good Shepherd who “leads us into green pastures” and “beside still waters.”  It is through Him that we find salvation.  It is in Him that we see the perfection of God’s love.  It is with Him that we journey into the Kingdom of God and Life Eternal.  He is our Alpha and our Omega, our beginning and our end.  And it is in this that we declare that Jesus Christ is Lord!

We remember that at the Jordan, God spoke, saying, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”  God’s claim of Jesus as His Son was a challenge to the spirits of evil.  Satan needed to tear down this Divine Declaration; to take away the credibility of Jesus and thereby show the fallibility of God: To prove that Jesus was powerless, dis-honorable and disgraced – un-worthy of the title, Son of God.

As we see in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus met each of these challenges and overcame the temptations of the devil.  He proved the he was the Power, the Honor and the Glory of God – worthy Son of the Father.

God’s promise to us of Life Eternal in His heavenly Kingdom is not without pain or suffering as we see in Jesus’ suffering.  As we each declare that Jesus is Our Lord and Savior, we also challenge the spirits of evil. 

Satan tests each of us - for the strength of our conviction - as believers in Jesus Christ.  It is only through the Love of God and our Trust in Jesus - that we meet these challenges – these temptations – that seek to turn us away from God’s ever present Love and Mercy.

·         When we meet hardship, pain and suffering in this life – do we seek to offer our suffering up to God: to find comfort in His Love?  Or do we turn our back on God; accusing Him of failing us, doubting His Love for us by allowing us to suffer and feel pain?

·         Are we tempted by the fleeting things of this world that seek to possess us and make us slaves or do we cast aside the distractions of this world to seek Peace in the Kingdom of Everlasting Life? 

·         Are we impatient for our reward by seeking power and glory in this world?  Or is God’s grace sufficient for us?  Is it His love we seek - to sustain us as we await the heavenly Kingdom or is it power and glory in this world that fills our desires? 

·         Do we yearn to “Lord it over others” or do we love others with the same love of God, - as we are loved; seeking to lift one another up as His precious children?

·         Is it God’s love that fills us and satisfies all our needs or is it the need for immediate gratification that brings us true happiness?

Unlike Jesus, who was given all honor, power and glory, – we are flawed and fragile beings - needing the Love of God to lift us up and hold us in His embrace: 

·         In the Father’s Love - we find Forgiveness and Mercy for our failings and sins

·         In His Son, Jesus, - we seek strength and courage to resist temptations

·         In His Spirit, - we are filled and sustained by His grace

So we might be saved: to Live with Him in Peace for ever and ever. ~ Amen

Peace,

Deacon Don Ron

"Here I am, Lord!"

I am always intrigued by the last line in today’s Gospel, “. . . they left everything and followed him.”  I am awed by the power of the Word of Jesus to inspire.  I find in it - hope and encouragement - that I too may, through the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, find the courage to stand up each day and say, “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”

Do we have many examples in our lives that show this kind of courage and strength of belief - to follow the Lord, leaving everything behind?  I was fortunate at one time to meet a young priest who was such a person.

“Fr. James” is a member of a religious order that seeks vocations in others to the priesthood and religious life.  He is a living story of the power of God and an inspiration to those of us who may be ‘Doubting Thomas’ or from Missouri.

Fr. James grew up in Philadelphia, PA, the youngest son of a Baptist minister in a large close-knit religious family.  He, along with his brothers and sisters, and all his aunts, uncles and cousins, attended church each Sunday and were all very involved in the life of their faith community.  He studied the Bible and could quote scripture with the best of them.  He sang the praises of the Lord in their church choir and helped served the poor and needy in their neighborhood.  He was a solid member of the church and his father had hopes the James would follow him into ministry.

Because the Catholic school in their neighborhood was far superior to the public school, James attended both the Catholic elementary and high school taught by the religious Brothers.  In their teachings and lives dedicated to the Lord, James found comfort and inspiration.  He admired the Brothers, their simple lives and strong faith in Jesus. 

Upon graduation from high school James’ father expected him to attend a Baptist college to study for the ministry.  But James had other plans, which he kept from his family until graduation day.  At his graduation party James announced that he was entering the religious order of the Brothers who taught in his high school and hoped to become a Catholic priest.

It can be assumed that this news was greeted: first with stony silence and then chaos.  James was finally ordered out of his family home and told to never return.

Throughout his years in seminary all his letters home went unanswered and no one in his family made any attempt to contact him.  When it came time for James to be ordained to the priesthood he sent invitations to his father and mother and other family members.  Not one of them came or called or sent him a card and to this day, many years later, he has still not heard from his family.

While this appears to be a sad story without the expected happy ending of reconciliation and reunification – it is a happy story of the power of God through the Word made Flesh and the Spirit.  It is a story that inspires us to do as Jesus asks, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catchers of men.”

Fr. James is a tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord: seeking others who will, like Isaiah, when the Lord asks, “Who shall I send? Who will go for us?”  Will stand up and say, “Here I am Lord! Send me!”

Peace,

Deacon Don Ron

"Fulfilled in your hearing"

I imagine the scene in the synagogue as Jesus finishes speaking.  Absolute silence – if you listen hard enough you can hear the crickets in the background; so profound was the silence in that room as “all looked at him intently.”

Today marks a turning point in Jesus’ ministry.  Up until now he was just an ordinary itinerant preacher, one among many, traveling around the country side.  Now he begins his journey to Jerusalem which ends on a hillside in Calvary.  We know that this is not the end, but the beginning and with this bold proclamation Jesus sets us on our path of discipleship.  His mission becomes our mission to the world as followers of His Way.

Jesus arrives in Nazareth, his home town where everyone knows him. He is just the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary.  “We know his brothers and sisters,” the people say, “they still live here among us.”

Now Jesus, as the good Jewish son that he is, reverent, dedicated to God and the practice of his faith, goes into the synagogue, as expected.  An ordinary act, as ordinary as each one of us on Sunday attending Mass, as is our custom.

And as is the custom, Jesus, who has been away from home, is invited to read.  He selects from among the scrolls of scripture, Isaiah, the great prophet.   He reads from the Immanuel prophesies, the announcement of the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus proclaims:

• I am filled with the Spirit of God. It is I whom He sends to you
• I bring hope to the poor and outcast
• I announce freedom to those held captive by oppression and despair
• I give sight to those who cannot see and heal those sick at heart
• I release from sin those held in its terrible grip
• I bring to you God’s favor and blessings; proclaiming that all should live in right relationship with God and one another.
• All that was promised to you is now come to be.  In me is your hope and life.

This is our belief in Jesus – he is our hope and our life.  His mission is our mission.  He calls his disciples to continue the work he began on earth:

• Giving hope to the poor and marginalized
• Helping one another to see the truth of God’s promise of salvation and Eternal Life
• Bringing the Light into the lives of the forlorned and despaired
• Encouraging all to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness; to leave sin behind and seek the better things of God’s Kingdom on earth
• Making saints of one another by living in right relationship – filled with God’s love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness.
• Loving God and giving Him praise for all that he does for us: for His gifts of grace, His bounty of this earth and sharing its life-sustaining resources.

God uses the ordinary to confound those who would make gods of themselves.  It is through the weak and ordinary that God accomplishes his mighty works.  God gives each of us, through our baptism, gifts and talents to do his will, the work begun in Christ Jesus. 

• We are the proclaimer’s of God’s truth.
• We bring His Good News to the poor,

• We carry his message of freedom to the oppressed,
• We heal the sick and give sight to the blind
• We free captives to sin through our works in the Lord
• We are the peacemakers; living God’s love of forgiveness, compassion and mercy. 

• By our Life in Christ, - we proclaim God’s favor on his people.
• In the Peace of Christ, - we live in right relationship with one another, greeting one another with love, mercy and compassion.
• In the Light of Christ, - we:
•  give aid to the fallen,
• give hope to the discouraged,
• give voice to the oppressed and forgotten
• In the Love of Christ - we lift each other up bringing His Light into World.

Our discipleship is doing and being Christ’s work, fulfilling his mission.  He sends his Spirit to fill us, so:

• we who are ordinary
• can do the extra-ordinary. 

Filled with God’s Spirit we proclaim the Good News that all people are Beloved Children of God - heirs of his Kingdom of Heaven and Life Everlasting.

Peace,

Deacon Don Ron

Wedding at Cana

A wedding is a sign of a new beginning.  A new beginning of lives joined together – two becoming one.  It is a new beginning of people living in hope of a bright future.  Leaving behind their old lives for a new life together - a beginning of a new and everlasting pledge of love, faith and devotion to one another – bridegroom and bride - that shall remain unbroken.

At the Wedding at Cana we have a new beginning, a joining together of two to become one.  We have the beginning of a new relationship that leaves behind their former lives to begin a new life – joined together, - the beginning of a new and everlasting pledge of love, faith and devotion – a covenant of bridegroom and bride – that shall remain unbroken. 

The focus is not the wedding of the bridegroom and his bride, but on Jesus, the Bridegroom joining with his bride, the Church.  Here is the very beginning, - the joining together, - a wedding - of Jesus with the people of God - that takes place during this celebration at Cana.  It is the beginning of a new relationship between Jesus and His bride – leaving behind their old lives - and together - forming a new life – filled with hope, love and devotion – that shall remain unbroken forever and ever.

Jesus’ first miracle, - the changing of water into wine begins with Mary, his mother.  She, in love and concern, recognizes a problem – and says to Jesus, “They have no wine”.  His answer though is unexpected – “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”  A little cold and harsh, don’t you think?  But Mary, who has kept all things in her heart, tells the servers “Do whatever he tells you.”

Weddings are about relationship – new relationships forming, old relationships changing – as bridegroom and bride discovering their new lives together.  Here we have the relationship of Jesus with his Father increasing in emphasis. It is the very beginning of His Hour – His Hour that comes to fulfillment on the cross.  It is a relationship increasing as the Divine is now emphasized in Jesus. 

The relationship of Jesus with his mother and brothers is now diminishing.  As Jesus grows in his Divinity, - his relationship with his bride, the Church, increases.  In his new life with his bride - his relationship with his mother and brothers is de-emphazied.  To show this change, in another story, Jesus is told his mother and brothers are waiting outside for him, and he replies, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”  Jesus shows his new - increasing relationship with his new family.

Mary shows her unconditional love and trust in Jesus.  As his first disciple, she understands and accepts this change in Jesus and believes.  She asks the servers to also trust in Jesus - and accept his word when she tells them to, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Jesus’ word to them is to “fill the jars” which they do in silent obedience.  Jesus then tells the servers to “draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.”  All that happens - comes through the word of Jesus.

The word of Jesus – brings about a transformation – a miracle - the changing of water into wine.  In their silent witness, the servers who knew the jars were filled with water, see and come to trust in his word and his disciples come to believe too, as they witness the power of Jesus’ word. 

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.  He is the bridegroom to his bride, the people of God, the Church.  The new covenant of God with his people is through Jesus, the Word.  In our new beginning, - through our baptism, - in our relationship with Jesus - we witness the power of the God.  In faith, we trust in His Word, - we come to believe and are joined with Him, as bride is with bridegroom -  to form a new and everlasting 

covenant – a life that shall remain forever and ever.

Peace,

Deacon Don Ron

Baptismal Promises

The Baptism of the Lord

Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22

Today we celebrate the transition point in the Life of Jesus.  Today marks the end of Jesus’ private life, the end of his life as carpenter, the end of his life of obscurity; living quietly among the members of his family within his community. 

It is a day celebrating a new beginning.  The beginning of Jesus’ life as preacher and teacher, the beginning of his public ministry: The beginning of his journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem, to the fulfillment of his mission.

This is also the turning point from the old to the new – the ending of old Covenant of God with the People Israel to the beginning of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ to all of God’s children.

In Isaiah God speaks, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased. . .”

While in Luke the heavenly voice echoes, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The God of the Old Covenant is the God of the New Covenant.  The heavenly voice of God proclaims Jesus as His chosen one, His beloved in whom He is well pleased. 

This proclamation was important in the culture of Jesus’ time. A father needed to make a claim of paternity or else a child would be considered illegitimate: unable to inherit and partake in the life of the community.  A father’s claim of a child brought honor and standing to the child among the people: in the family and in the community.   With this claim the child’s official life began.

The baptism of Jesus should remind us of our own baptism, though most of us were probably too young to remember such an important event in our life.  For in our baptism, we too are claimed by God as his child.  While a heavenly voice does not come down - it is the Church, in the priest or deacon, who claims us in the name of Jesus Christ; recognizing us, in the family and the community that we are now a child of God, heirs of his eternal kingdom.

It is a new beginning of our life in Christ with all the honors and standings that it brings to us as members of the Body of Christ, children of God.  It also carries with it responsibilities.

As members of the Body of Christ we are a chosen people called to live as followers of The Way.  In our baptism we are called to live out our promise to reject Satan and all his empty promises.  We are called to believe in God and in Christ Jesus, the Word made Flesh, the Holy Spirit and all that His Church believes and teaches.  And in doing so, we ask for forgiveness of our sins; looking forward to the Hope of the resurrection and eternal life with God.

In our baptism, we are called to live in the love of God and the love of all our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are called to continual conversion and a closer relationship with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  As children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ: called to love as we are loved, we find inspiration through the Spirit - to live - in thought, word and action - our baptismal promises.

As we are claimed by God in our baptism, we are commissioned and called to live as Jesus taught: To love one another, to care for one another, to treat each other with dignity and respect as we want love, care and respect.  For as one suffers and is diminished, we all suffer and are diminished.

For us, our baptism is not an event that happened in the past, but a continual way of being, - a continual beginning, - in which we live - as children of God, -

·         seeking His face, -

·         believing in His promise –

·         loving as we are loved -

·         and living in this life

-       with faith in the heavenly life to come.

     

     Peace,

     Deacon Don Ron