Three Parables 16th Sunday In Ordinary Time Year A 2011

this is the sixteenth Sunday in ordinary time. In the Gospel the Lord, Jesus, gives his listeners three parables concerning The Kingdom of Heaven. The weeds sown among the wheat, the tiny mustard seed and the yeast the woman mixed with the three measures of flour, until the whole batch was leavened.

What Jesus proclaims to the crowds in the Gospel He speaks also to us through the power of The Holy Spirit. Jesus concludes by saying, "whoever has ears let him hear." The first parable is very clear. The Master who is God sowed good seed in his field. The field  being the world. The weeds found among the wheat was sown by the enemy of God. The Master refuses to have the weeds disturbed for fear the wheat will be disturbed as well so the Master waits for the harvest when the weeds will be cut down, bundled and thrown into the fire while the wheat will go into the Masters barn. The enemy is called the Devil in the Gospel passage.. The Masters barn is the kingdom of Heaven..

Jesus said in another place, "Whoever believes in me and keeps my commandments will have eternal life". The Lord is compassionate, merciful , forgiving and patient. Jesus has come not to judge the world but to save it. The time for judgement is at the moment of death of each of us. That moment  of decision is irreformable and everlasting. We cannot judge what it will be. Only God who knows the heart can do that.

We might question why Jesus would speak of the Kingdom of Heaven in this decisive way. His concern is for the happiness and eternal salvation of each of us.

"Where your treasure is there is your heart as well. " In the parable it is the yeast that leavens the whole batch, the yeast is an additive. It is something added from outside. That additive is sanctifying grace flowing from the Holy Cross of divine sacrafice made available through the sacraments of the Church.

We often hear the term, "The people of God" used to designate a group, and a group that has been or is in the process of salvation simply by membership in such a group. But our relationship with Jesus Christ is personal." He knows what is in your mind and heart before you do". It is the Holy Spirit that makes it known to you so that you may lead a virtuous life. So say the saints, like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

St. Augustine lived a sinful a careless life. he lived with a woman not his wife and had a son with her. He knew there was more but was held captive by sin. He said to God. "set me free from my sinfulness, but not yet". Now in his early thirties and in Italy, He walked and mused one day in a garden. He heard a child's voice saying,"Take up and read". There was a book lying open on a bench which the breeze had opened to a passage of St. Paul in the scriptures. Augustine picked up the book and read. That occurance changed his life. St. Augustine became the bishop of Hippo in North Africa, a great writer and theologian of the fifth century whose mother, St. Monica, prayed for her son for thirty years without an inkling that her prayers were heard. We are not called to be successful but faithful. The yeast of love and prayer leavened the whole of Augustine's life:The batch that was the man.

The final parable is number two, the one in the middle, the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds. The human body is formed by the soul. The soul is made in the image and likeness of God. The sin of our first parents found us aliantated from God  It was the sacrifice of Christ that restored our family relationship with our Father in Heaven. When our soul is continually infused with the grace that sanctifies we then grow and develope as does the very small mustard seed grow into a large bush. From its smallness it is destined to become large and a home for Christ. The human being cannot grow and become whar it is destined for without a continual infusion of God's life which is a share in God's very being.

St. Augustine said, "God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee".

It is Jesus who we will meet at the particular judgement. We will recognize that judgement as a just one".

The general judgement will occur at the end of time. Our souls will be reunited with our glorified bodies: there will be new heavens and a new earth. In the book of Revelations we are told that period will be the marriage feast of the Lamb.

The more we become like Christ the more glory we can expect in heaven, and the more suffering there will be in this life. At Baptism we promised to die with Him. There is a story about a woman named Phyllis who died. She had been wealthy and lived in a big house in a nice neighborhood. She was admitted to heaven and was greeted by an angel who said she would lead Phyllis to her new abode. They walked through several areas that were nice and Phyllis was excited about coming to her place among them. However they kept on going through some not so nice areas. They really looked like slums. The angel stopped in front of a very small house that was run down with the gate hanging on one hinge. The Angel said to Phyllis, "here is you place. Phyllis was shocked and crestfallen  and said"there must be some mistake-I can't live here". The Angel said apologetically , "well, with the material you sent up to us this is the best we could do".

Jesus lets the weeds grow around us and in us. Keeping the commandments is necessary to meet God's criteria of a holy life.To love God and our neighbor fulfills the law and the prophets. Mankind needs help with those two indispensable commandments. The Holy Trinity , the Angels and the saints will help us win the race but we must make the effort.

The Holy Eucharist; The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

This is the 19^th Sunday in Ordinary time.  The Gospel of Mathew today follows or continues that of  last Sunday wherein Jesus performed the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish with which to feed a multitude of people.  Following this occurrence, at nightfall, Jesus left the other disciple to go up into the hills and pray while the others got into a boat.  A storm came up in the night and Jesus saw their predicament and came to them walking on the water.

Apology for long absence

My computer has had problems that needed to be attended to. I'll be back on line shortly. Thank you for being a follower. Fr. Corcoran

Divine Mercy Sunday

Today is the second Sunday of Easter. The Holy Father at the command of our Lord has also designated this day as Divine Mercy Sunday throughout the world. Jesus appeared to Saint Faustina as the Divine Mercy. We have all seen the portrait of Christ with His right hand raised in blessing and His left hand on His heart from which point two rays, one white and one red, spread forth. The white meaning the life that comes through the waters of baptism and the red representing the blood of the cross and the Eucharist, across the bottom of the picture are the words, “Jesus, I trust in you.”

The Lord’s Last Supper, The Washing of the Feet

The Lord Jesus has gathered with His disciples in the upper room to share with them the Passover meal. Undoubtedly the one year old male and unblemished lamb had been prepared. This in commemoration of the blood of the lamb affixed to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses of the Jews so that when Yahweh passed through Egypt at midnight they would be passed over and kept from death.

The Lord commanded that this feast be observed annually in perpetuity by the Jews. This Christian feast of the Lord’s Supper is the observance of the establishment of the new and everlasting covenant of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and the following day on the Cross of Calvary. That exact sacrifice is enacted in each holy sacrifice of the mass that is celebrated by a priest. We are present at Calvary and Calvary is present to us.

Passion Sunday

Today is Passion Sunday, The beginning of Holy week. The plan of God begun with the covenant with Abraham, for the salvation of man in the Old Testament is coming to a climax in the events of this week. God had previously made a covenant with Adam and Eve and with Noah. And both were broken. God finally made a covenant with Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments and pledged to be with the people in their journey from slavery to their occupation of the Promised Land, to be with them in the cloud by day and in the fire at night. The ark was built in which was placed the law and the manna which they carried with them for 300 years until they settled in Jerusalem under the kings David and Solomon.

The Man born Blind;The Anointing of David as King

Today is  Laetare Sunday, the forth Sunday of Lent , Laetare refer to the first word of the introit of the Latin mass which means rejoice, we rejoice today in the mercy and goodness of Almighty God.

The works of the Lord are directed toward our salvation in ways that are unexpected, unforeseen and which come suddenly. For our part we are to remain steadfast in our faith in Him. And we must continue to do our duty in patience and perseverance. We have two examples of that today, one in the first reading from First Samuel and the second from the Gospel.

Jesus, the Rock; The woman at the well

Today is the third Sunday of Lent. The theme of the Scriptures is on the glory of God that cannot be perceived by the senses buy only by faith. The beauty and order of the natural world is grasped by the senses which in turn can lead us to God, but the essence, the very being of God, once lost by sin and reestablished for us by the sacrifice of god’s Son is gained only by our participation in sanctifying grace. Water is the sign of that gift of grace.

Building our house on Christ, our Rock

This is the vigil Mass for the ninth Sunday in ordinary time.  The first reading is from Deuteronomy, the words of Moses to the people preparing to enter the land of Promise, Canaan.  “Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.”  I set before you the two ways, a blessing and a curse.  A blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord and a curse if you turn aside from the way I ordain for you today.”

The Lord is a sure foundation.  He is the rock upon which we build the footings for our house.  He is the vine and we are the branches.  “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.”

Preparation for Lent

Today is the forth Sunday in Ordinary time. Wednesday of this week is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the penitential season of Lent. The forty day period before Easter in which we accompany Jesus, through the desert and, in His temptations by the devil. The Church devotes February to meditation on the Lord’s passion.

Epiphany, Baptism, Cana, Transfiguration

The Solemnity of the Epiphany, a word which means manifestation, the manifestation of Christ’s divinity to the Gentiles. It is by way of the Magi, the three kings who travelled to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, drawn by light of the star. They came from the East. They said: “We saw His star and its rising.” Also the divinity of Christ will be manifested at the start of his public ministry, at his baptism which we celebrate on Monday, at his first miracle at the wedding Feast of Cana in the changing of water into wine and toward the end on the Mount of the Transfiguration with the disciples Peter, James and John where the voice from the cloud was heard to say, as was heard also at Jesus’ baptism, “Thou art my Beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.” “Listen to him.”

The Holy Family

Today is the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, The Holy Family of Nazareth.

Five days ago we celebrated the feast of the Nativity, the birth of a baby boy to his mother Mary who had conceived  Him nine months earlier through the power of the Holy Spirit which took place when this young girl at the invitation of the angel at the Annunciation had said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.”

Christmas Day

The Lord Jesus is come. Today is His birthday. A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth.

This is the day the Old Testament prophets spoke of, Isaiah said “The virgin shall be with child and she shall bear a son and shall call him Emmanuel. That is God is with us.”

Jesus is the Difference

Today is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent. We celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, day after tomorrow. Christians salute others with the words “Merry Christmas!”

But those who are indifferent or who live in the spirit of the world often say “Happy Holidays!” Over the years in the Western world which thru the centuries grew up Christian, the later greeting has gained ascendency over the former. Is there a difference and if so what is it?

The Immaculate Conception

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary as proclaimed a dogma of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Many was, by the grace of God, conceived in her mother’s womb without, or absent, the stain of the original sin of Adam and Eve. In the eyes of God, she was perfect in holiness, made perfect for a reason, that when the time came she would be ready, through her own free will, to accede to the invitation of God as announced by the message of an angel to become the Mother of God, to give God’s son a human nature.

Christ is the One, There is no other ; Vatican II—the Spirit

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the liturgical year of the Church, the beginning of our preparation for welcoming the birth of Christ at Christmas, the coming of the Lord to His people to set them free; free from error and from sin.

The theme of Advent is not only the coming of the Lord into the world at Christmas, the nativity, but the two comings-the second for which the first took place.

First Sunday of Advent

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, the three week period that prepares us for the Solemnity of the Nativity, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is also a penitential time in which we examine ourselves in readiness to receive and welcome such a great gift from God.

In the preface of the Mass we look toward the two comings of Christ. The First which we will celebrate as having already taken place and the second which we anticipate at the judgment.

Incarnation, Resurrection and Holy Trinity Secular Culture / Maccabees

Today is the thirty second Sunday in ordinary time. We are two weeks away from the solemnity of Christ the King and three weeks from the start of Advent on December 2nd. Advent like Lent is a penitential season. Lent prepares us to enter fully into the suffering and death of Christ and His Joyful resurrection on Easter Sunday. Advent prepares us for Jesus birth at Bethlehem through Mary, His Virgin Mother. The resurrection and the incarnation and nativity of the Son of God are the great mysteries of our holy religion. The Holy Trinity being a third. God sent His Son to become one of us and so to rescue us who had been lost; rescued by one like ourselves. To be lost is a frightful realization. Often we don’t know we are lost even through the feeling of abandonment is in us.

The Tax Collector, the Pharisee “O God, Be Merciful to Me, a Sinner”

“O God, Be Merciful to Me, A sinner” Which of the two people in today’s Gospel do we relate to more readily? the Pharisee or the tax collector?

In Jesus time the Pharisees represented the intellectual sector of the people. They were contentious students of Jewish religious law. They were self righteous as can be seen by the statement. “I thank you that I am not like the rest of uhumanity.”

Faith

Faith is the substance of things not seen but hoped for. The first theological virtue is a pure gift to each of us who have it and to others. We must not take it for granted but pray that it be increased in us and obtained by those who have it not or who reject it.

This is the essence of the Gospel message of Jesus to us today. Pray always and do not become weary. Even so Jesus Himself questions whether When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?