Gospel reading: Mark 1:14-20
Michel DeVerteuil
General Comments
On this Sunday, we begin the continuous reading of St Mark’s gospel, which will be interrupted during Lent and Easter but will eventually take us to the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem in November of this year.The passage is in two sections:
– verses 14 – 15: this first section is a summary of the preaching of Jesus;
– verses 16 – 20: the call of the first disciples.
The first section is short, but every word is precious. Stay with the context of “after John had been arrested,” remembering the enormous impact that the Baptist had made on the whole country, and gauging from that the traumatic effect of his arrest. Yet, what seemed to be the end of a movement was the beginning of something new. Take “the kingdom of heaven” in a down-to-earth way, as an expression meaning the kind of society which would correspond to what God wants. “Is at hand” means that it is within our grasp.
This second section is a may seem artificial at a first reading, but it is the classical story of the moment of grace, sudden and yet totally natural in the sense that it seems to happen so easily, like a ripe fruit falls in our hand.
The two calls are clearly meant to be similar – St Mark is telling us that this is how a call always works out.
Prayer Reflection
Lord, we thank you for the changes that have taken place in our world.
They happened so suddenly and unexpectedly –
yes it is always how moments of grace happen.
Like when John the Baptist was arrested
and it seemed that the movement of religious renewal in the country had been blocked,
but that was the occasion for Jesus to go into Galileeand proclaim the Good News from God.
So it was in those Eastern European countries
and countries where violent regimes take control
People just knew that a new era was at hand,
they must change their ways of thinking and acting,
and trust that something great and wonderful was in store for them,
even if for a while there is suffering.
Thank you, Lord.
“Some would consider our hopes utopian. It may be that these persons are not realistic enough, and that they have not perceived the dynamism of a world which desires to live more fraternally.” …Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio
Lord, the role of the Church is to preach the good news of God to the world,
and the good news is that the Kingdom of Heaven is within our reach,
if only we repent and believe that it is possible.
Lord, we pray for all the preachers of the gospel,especially those who give homilies at Sunday services.
Teach them not to be abstract in their preaching,
but to proclaim the Good News of God as Jesus did –
as new possibilities which are at hand.
They must of course preach repentance – but not as an imposition from outside;
rather, as good news within ourselves, good news which we can trust.
“To destroy human power nothing more is required than to be indifferent to its threats and to prefer other goods to those which it promises. Nothing less, however, is required also.” ...R.H. Tawney
Lord, your Son Jesus knew how to break the power of evil.
When John was arrested, he went into Galilee and preached the good news
that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.
Lord, in the modern world we are accustomed to calculate things
before coming to decisions.
We have feasibility studies, computer printouts and charts.
Eventually we think that personal relationships can be planned too,
like choosing a marriage partner or a friend,
picking those we want to work with us on a project.
But we cannot plan those decisions.These things work by a kind of instinct,
like Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee
and seeing two fishermen casting a net in the lake
and then saying to them, “Follow me”
and they left their nets and followed him.
Lord, when we want to start some work, we like to start with the spectacular.
Teach us the way of Jesus, that when the time for action comes
we should go to the periphery of life and choose a few companions,
letting the kingdom grow from there.
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Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
During this coming year we are going to read our way through the gospel preached by St Mark. And today we hear about Jesus’s first actions in inaugurating the kingdom of God. He proclaimed the good news that we should repent and begin life afresh; and he gathered about him the first members of his new people.
Here, now, today, we are gathering as that new people, gathering around him and listening to him in the Liturgy of the Word; and then with him we are going to offer thanks to our heavenly Father in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.Homily Notes
1. There is a strange surprise in today’s gospel if we just look at it for a moment. Right at the start we hear Jesus’s great message: begin life afresh and believe in the good news that God loves us. This is exactly what we should expect: the story of a great prophet’s teaching should begin with his core message Then, immediately after that, we are not given any further explanation of this teaching., but we are told abour how he recuited his first followers. We have all heard this so often that we forget that this is really strange, but it is.
2. For most people today, whenever they hear talk about Jesus, their first reaction is to say that he is a great religious leader, a prophet, or a teacher who said many wise things about how people should lead their lives. This is nothing new: many at the time of Jesus looked on him in just this way — a figure to be compared with Moses or Elijah or one of the prophets. To many in the first years of Christianity as it spread around the ancient world, it seemed as if Jesus was simply a Jewish equivalent of a Greek philosopher: a wise man offering advice on how to live life well. Similarly today, many compare Jesus with the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, or some well-respected wise leader.
3. The basic idea in all these comparisons is that what we are seeking a wise teaching by which to live our lives. Alas, for people on this quest, very little of the gospel can be considered such ‘teaching’: indeed, this year, when we read Mark’s gospel, we find that 37% is taken up with the account of the final days in Jerusalem. It is all about Jesus’s life and death, not about how we should live our lives.
4. Anyone who looks on Jesus as just a wise teacher will be very surprised that what they think is a book of his teachings, a gospel, moves from his message directly to the comparatively ephemeral matter of his organisational arrangements.
5. But the fact that this way of looking at Jesus is in the air around us must prompt us to remind ourselves about a few matters that are often so taken for granted that they are forgotten.
6. Jesus is our teacher, but he also the One sent by the Father to build up the new community. This is why Mark moves immediately from the core teaching to the call of the first members of this new people.
7. Jesus not only teaches us the way to the Father, he unites us to himself within the church in order to present us to the Father.
8. To follow Jesus is to not only listen and agree with his message, but to be willing to work with others he has called to build the kingdom.9. Mark preached his gospel to help us know who we are as a people — those who have chosen to become one with Jesus in baptism; he did not imagine that he was writing down wise religious sayings.
10. For the people of the gospel, to hear the call of Jesus to start life afresh is also to hear the call to follow him as his community.
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Sean Goan
Gospel Notes
With this gospel we have the beginning of the proclamation of the good news in Mark. Jesus is portrayed as discerning that the time is right for people to respond to the preaching of the kingdom. The essence of his message is simple: it is time to repent and believe. Behind the word to repent there is a much stronger meaning than simply ‘Be sorry and start again.’ Rather Jesus is looking for conversion, a change of mindset and attitude that will leave us open to God and allow us to trust that the news really is good. The radical response of the two sets of brothers shows something of what is intended, they leave their nets and they follow. The road they are taking will bring them to places they never imagined and will show them that following Jesus is a constant challenge to put themselves entirely into God’s hands.Reflection
Both readings today warn us about the dangers of being self-obsessed.
The parable of Jonah speaks very clearly of the dangers involved in imagining that we are better than everyone else. Such an attitude blinds us both to the goodness in others and the graciousness of our God whose mercy reaches out to all.
Paul is trying to get across to groups, who are trying to outdo each other in terms of their Christian virtue, that they don’t have to go making radical changes to their lifestyle in order to be faithful to the gospel.
It is much more important that in the ordinary details of their daily life and relationships they are guided by the love of Christ.
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Donal Neary SJ
The Ordinary
There’s something very ordinary for a fisherman about washing nets. Daily work, done with some drudgery but knowing that it is essential for a good catch of fish which would feed the family at this time Jesus called his first apostles.
There is something sacred about the ordinary. About bathing a child, loving a spouse, daily employment, family time and all that goes to make up our days.
The old Irish spirituality had blessings for everything – for milking a cow, cleaning and dusting a room, visiting the sick and many more. there were prayers for meals, for a safe journey and a happy death. Our Irish spirituality found God as much in mountains and people as in the church, and often more so.
Maybe the disciples remember in difficult times the way they were called in their ordinary work, and found their ongoing call to follow the Lord in the ordinary of their lives for the rest of their lives.
***
From The Connections:
To follow Christ means “abandoning our nets” of self-interest to embrace the needs of others; Jesus calls us to follow him along the difficult path of humility and selflessness. If we are going to realize his call to be “fishers of men,” we have to be willing to cast our nets into waters that are deep and turbulent, waters we do not know, waters that threaten the safety and security of our small boats.
But Jesus entrusts to them, for all of humankind, the proclamation of his Gospel. We, too, are called by Christ to be his “fishers,” to help one another discover the love of God in our midst.
The Gospel is about possibilities: Christ came to show us how it is possible to love life to the fullest, if we dare to make forgiveness, reconciliation and selfless charity the center of our lives.
3. The connections:
1. From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
1: The management forgives you: J. Edwin Orr, a professor of
Church history has described the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the
Protestant Welsh Revivals of the nineteenth century, which resulted for many in
real metanoia. As people sought to be filled with the Spirit, they
did all they could to confess their wrongdoings and to make restitution. But
this created serious problems for the shipyards along the coast of Wales. Over
the years, workers had “appropriated,” or “borrowed,” all kinds of things, from
wheelbarrows to hammers. However, as people sought to be right with God, they
understood that they had actually stolen all these things from their shipyards,
so they started to return all they had taken, with the result that soon the
shipyards of Wales were overwhelmed with returned property. There were such
huge piles of returned tools that several of the yards put up signs that read,
“If you have been led by God to return what you have stolen, please know that
the management forgives you and wishes you to keep what you have taken.” — In
today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges each one of us to revive our life with a true
spirit of repentance. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2: Bigotry and the Church’s universal mission: Bigotry
creates the gaping chasm between God’s universal vision and the often myopic
and selective insight of believers. Bigotry decides that certain people are
better than others and worthier of attention, while it writes off others as
valueless and not worth the effort. Bigotry went to the Berlin Olympics in
1936. Jesse Owens, a black American track and field athlete won four gold
medals, but the leader of the host country refused to acknowledge him. Until
1954, bigotry relegated immigrants to the United States of America to places
like Ellis Island. Many remained there for months; many were unsympathetically
deported. Bigotry has gone to the voting polls several times since 1954 to
further limit the rights and freedoms of immigrants. Bigotry organized and
executed the systematic annihilation of six million Europeans whose beliefs and
traditions were considered a threat to racial purity. Bigotry rounded up and
forcibly detained Asian-American citizens during World War II. Bigotry denied
women in the U.S. the right to vote until 1921. Bigotry walked the streets of
Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965 when advocates of civil rights were clubbed and
tear-gassed by police and stoned and beaten with bottles by opponents of
integration. Despite these instances of its presence (and there are countless
others), bigotry is such an ugly word, that, while we readily recognize it in
others, few of us are willing to consider it as a possible, personal flaw.
Perhaps if we were to ask ourselves a few pointed questions. . . Do I consider
anyone or any group as a lost cause and therefore beyond the scope of my
ministry as a Christian? Are there people of a certain race or ethnic group I’d
rather not have as neighbors? In-laws? Bosses? When ethic jokes are told, do I
laugh as loudly as anyone else? What if the experience of Jonah were to be
contemporized… If a call went out for a modern-day Jonah to be dispatched
to [any of “countries [currently] ranked in the top 10 for
extreme persecution of Christians … North Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Iraq [Ancient Assyria], Iran, Yemen, Eritrea …” where
“nearly 215 million Christians face high persecution…” (Open Doors USA), and
where, “between the years 2005-2015, an estimated 900,000 Christians were
martyred – an average of 90,000 Christians each year” (The Center for the Study
of Global Christianity)] with the duty of preaching repentance
and conversion to Islamic extremists there, would I volunteer for the job?
Would I think it a worthwhile endeavor? Would I put off my trip, or would I
labor with the sense of urgency which Paul describes in today’s second reading?
Would I rejoice if my mission were successful? Do I truly believe the reign of
God and the Good News of salvation are for all, without exception? Are there
discrepancies between God’s concerns and my own? Jonah, Paul, and Mark
challenge each of us gathered in this assembly to consider these questions
today and to deal with any discrepancies we may discover. (Sanchez Files). Fr.
Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3: Deep-sea fishing: How many of you have ever been deep-sea fishing? I was shocked to learn that more than 2.4 million people participated in this sport last year, resulting in retail sales of almost $2.4 billion dollars and a total economic impact of almost $4.5 billion dollars. Deep-sea fishing provides jobs for nearly 55,000 people. You may be asking what deep-sea fishing has to do with the Church. You are going to see over the next four weeks that deep-sea fishing is a picture of the deep-soul fishing we are to be about as Church. “As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and, I will make you fishers of men.'” (Mark 1:16-17). That one statement tells us what our primary business is as Church, both corporately and as followers of Jesus individually. If you are a follower of Jesus, I want you to understand that every day Jesus Christ wants fishermen-disciples to launch out into the sea of humanity and go deep-soul fishing, because the Church’s primary business, and so the Christian’s primary business, is the fishing business. No matter what else we do or how well we do it, if we ever get out of the fishing business, we are out of business. Your neighborhood is a lake full of fish. Your office is a lake full of fish. Your school is a lake full of fish. When Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men,” He was saying, “I will take you, with your personality, your background, your testimony, your influence, and I will use you to catch men, women, boys, and girls and bring them into My family.” Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4. Good News and Bad
News: An old man visits his doctor and after thorough examination the doctor
tells him: “I have good news and bad news; what would you like to hear first?”
Patient: “Well, let me have the bad news first.” Doctor: “You have cancer. I
estimate that you have about two years left.” Patient: “Oh no! That’s just
awful! In two years my life will be over! What kind of good news could you
probably tell me, after this?” Doctor: “You also have Alzheimer’s. In about
three months you are going to forget everything I told you.”
5. Jonah and the whale: There was this Christian lady that
had to do a lot of traveling for her business, so she did a lot of flying. But
flying made her nervous so she always took her Bible along with her to read,
and it helped relax her. One time she was sitting next to a man. When he saw
her pull out her Bible he gave a little chuckle and went back to what he was
doing.
After a while he turned to her and asked, “You don’t really believe all that
stuff in there do you?”
The lady replied “Of course I do! It is the Bible.”
He said, “Well what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?”
She replied “Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that; it is in the Bible. The Bible says
Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and I believe it. And if it had said that Jonah
had swallowed the whale, I would believe that too!”
He asked “Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?”
The lady said “Well I don’t really know. I guess when I get to Heaven I will
ask him.” “What if he isn’t in Heaven?” the man asked sarcastically.
“Then you can ask him when you reach the Hell,” replied the lady.
3) The best prayer I ever heard was: “Lord, please make me
the kind of person my dog thinks I am.”
6. A young boy wanted to go down to the lake to fish, and his mother asked him to take his little sister with him. He said, “Mom, don’t make me take her with me. The last time she came with me, I didn’t catch a single fish.” The mother said, “I’ll talk to her, and I promise this time she won’t make any noise.” The boy said, “Mom, it wasn’t the noise. She ate all my bait!”
25- Additional anecdotes:
1) They abandoned their father: Columban, who
died in AD 615., was the greatest of the Irish medieval monk-missionaries. A
well-educated youth, he had a very passionate nature that caused him great
concern. “Flight from the world is the only solution,” a holy anchoress (a
woman living enclosed in a cell abutting ad Church with a window into the
Church for Mass and the Sacraments, and a window to the outside world to
counsel those who came to her for advice), advised him: “flight even from your
own native land.” Following her counsel, he entered the monastic life and
studied the spiritual way at the feet of some of the most noted – and strictest
– Irish monks. He lived in the monastery of Bangor until he was about
forty-five. Then he sought permission of the abbot to head a group of monks as
missionaries among the Germans. In Germanic Burgundy he founded the monastery
of Annegaray, and then the more famous one of Luxeil. To the men who flocked to
become monks under his tutelage, he gave a very strict rule, heavy with
penalties for even slight infractions. If his followers observed so stringent a
way of life at all, it was doubtless because they saw St. Columban himself
observing it to the last letter. On account of political opposition, Abbot
Columban moved away from Burgundy into Switzerland, and eventually into
northern Italy. Here the Germanic King Agilulf gave him land for a new
monastery, and the Abbot, now in his seventies, erected the Abbey of Bobbio,
where he died not long afterward. When young Columban had first felt the call
to become a monk, his mother had objected very strongly. To prevent his
departure, she had even thrown herself across the doorway of their home. This
did give the saint pause, but only for a moment. He stepped over her and went
his way, never to return.
What did Zebedee the fisherman say when his sons, James and
John, left him for good to follow Christ? The Scriptures do not tell us. He
quite likely grumbled for a while about the fate of the family business. What
did St. Columban’s mother do when he stepped over her and left? History does
not tell us. Being a sensible Irishwoman, she quite likely got up, dusted off
her clothes, and sought consolation in a cup of tea. Both she and Zebedee,
God-fearing persons that they were, probably came to realize all the more clearly
thereafter that children are a gift from God, and so He has first claim on
their service. “They abandoned their father Zebedee.. . and went off in
His company.” (Mk 1:20. Today’s Gospel). (Father Robert F. McNamara). Fr.
Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Four reasons why people do not catch fish: I
have come to the conclusion that there are basically four reasons why people do
not catch fish: (1) Some people are using the wrong bait. (2) Some people are fishing
in the wrong lake, that is, they don’t know where the fish are. (3) Some people
have got the right bait and they’re in the right lake, but they don’t know how
to fish. (4) Then there are some people who have the right bait, and they’re in
the right lake, and they know how to fish but they’re just not going fishing.
The Lord Jesus came not only that we might put our Faith in Him, but that we
might go fishing with Him. You see, our problem is not that we have the wrong
lake. The water is full of fish. The problem is not that we have the wrong
bait. We have the Gospel which can hook any fish. Our problem, I believe, is
one of ignorance and apathy. There are many Christians who believe they do not
know how to share the Lord Jesus, and then there are many who just don’t want
to go. (Rev. Maxie Dunnam). Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Then we can have the greatest renewal: Years
ago, Richard Cardinal Cushing (b. August 24, 1895- d. Nov. 2, 1970. Archbishop
of Boston 1944-10=970l created Cardinal, 1958), wrote: “If all the sleeping
folks will wake up, and all the lukewarm folks will fire up, and all the
disgruntled folks will sweeten up, and all the discouraged folks will cheer up,
and all the depressed folks will look up, and all the estranged folks will make
up, and all the gossiping folks will shut up, and all the dry bones will shake
up, and all the true soldiers will stand up, and all the Church members will
pray up, and if the Savior of all will be lifted up . . . then we can have the
greatest renewal this world has ever known. Amen.” Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) “Follow me.” Billy Graham was in a certain
town years ago, and he wanted to mail a letter, but he had no idea where the
Post Office was. So he stopped a little boy walking the street and asked him if
he could direct him to the nearest Post Office. Well, the little boy said, “Yes
sir, go down to the red light, turn right, go two blocks to the second red
light, turn left, go one block, turn back to the right and you will be right
there.” Dr. Graham thanked him and said, “Son, if you will come to the
Convention Center this evening, you can hear me telling everybody how to get to
Heaven.” The boy said, “Well, I don’t think I’ll be there, Mister; you don’t
even know your way to the Post Office.” Well I want to tell you that Jesus not
only knows the way to Heaven, He is the Way to Heaven. He not only knows how to
live, He is Life more abundant. The very first command He ever gave to any
disciple was: “Follow Me.” For that is where discipleship begins and ends, in
following Jesus. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) “Follow the Leader” Has any of you ever
played “Follow the Leader?” Of course you have! I played the game when I was a
child — my father played the game when he was a child — his father played the
game when he was a child. Follow the Leader is a game that is played and
enjoyed by children all over the world. The rules are very simple. You choose a
leader and you follow him wherever he goes — and do whatever he does. In our
daily lives, too, we play follow the leader. In school, in Church, in sports,
in any activity we join, there are always leaders. Every day we are faced with
making a choice of which leader we will follow. But we must be sure to choose a
leader who will lead us in the right direction. Today’s Gospel tells us how
Jesus selected his first disciples and instructed them to follow him as the
leader. As Jesus was walking along the seashore he saw two fishermen, Peter and
Andrew, and called out to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers
of men.” The Gospel tells us that they laid down their nets and followed
Jesus. Jesus went a little farther and he saw two more men, James and John
sitting in their boat mending their nets. Jesus called out to them and the
Bible tells us that they left their boat and their father and followed Jesus
(Mt 5:19-20). Jesus is still calling people to follow him today. He has called
you and me to follow him. Now it’s up to us to decide if we will follow the
Leader. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.”
Purdue Farms had the same problem when they tried to expand their chicken
business. Their popular slogan tried to appeal to women by making men prepare a
chicken dinner. Do you recall the slogan? It was, “It takes a tough man to make
a tender chicken.” Desiring to reach into the Spanish market they translated
their slogan and announced to the entire Latino world, “It takes a virile man
to make a chicken affectionate.” Now that’s a personal touch but not the kind I
had in mind. How can we reach others for Christ? We can do it by speaking their
language – understanding their jobs, taking an interest in their hobbies,
speaking to them about their families. We can do it with a personal touch. Fr.
Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) “Come to the Chapel,” and “Jesus Sets the
Prisoners Free!” Some of you are familiar with the name Charles Colson.
Chuck Colson was, at one time, a power player in Washington politics, a member
of President Richard Nixon’s inner circle. He was one of Nixon’s most
enthusiastic “hatchet men.” Those who knew him best described him as a man of
few principles. But his involvement in the infamous Watergate scandal led to
his disgrace. It was while serving time in prison for his role in the
scandal that Charles Colson came to an authentic relationship with
Christ. After his release, Colson founded Prison Fellowship, a ministry
to inmates in prisons around the world. Many years ago, Colson started a Prison
Fellowship group with just eight young inmates at a maximum-security prison in
Delaware. One young inmate was deeply affected by what he learned in the
Prison Fellowship Bible study. When a judge reviewed his case and unexpectedly
set him free, this young man asked to be allowed to remain in prison until he
had finished the study. About a year after Colson’s first visit to the Delaware
prison, he returned for an Easter morning service. Dozens of prisoners
stood outside the chapel and held up signs announcing, “Come to the Chapel,”
and “Jesus Sets the Prisoners Free!” Hundreds of inmates packed the
chapel that morning to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. [Charles
Colson. Loving God (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1987), pp. 21-24.] Christ reaches out to all kinds of
people. They don’t have to be special people. But he turns them into special
people. All they have to do is say, “Yes.” Here’s what we need to see: it can
happen to us. Christ can turn us into someone special if we will let him. Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) Integrity, intelligence, and energy: Warren
Buffett, the nation’s most successful financial investor and the second-richest
man in America, has some very valuable advice on hiring the best people for
your business. He says, “Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire,
you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they
don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” [Omaha World Herald,
Feb. 1, 1994. Cited in Thoughts of Chairman Buffett, (New York:
HarperBusiness, 1998).] If you were looking to hire someone to work for you,
where would you begin? Wouldn’t you begin with someone you could trust? Jesus
saw something in these men that helped him to know that he could depend on
them. This is not to say that the disciples were perfect. Certainly they were not.
There is a silly story about Jesus having his Last Supper with his disciples.
As they ate, he looked around at them. There, in one direction, he saw Judas
Iscariot, who would betray him to the authorities before three hours had
passed. On the other side was Peter, who would deny him three times before the
cock crowed. And almost immediately opposite him was Thomas, who, on a crucial
occasion, would express doubts. There seemed only one thing to do. Jesus called
over the headwaiter, “Max,” he said, “separate checks.” Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) Do you remember “Top Gun”? Remember how planes
took off and landed on aircraft carriers? These sleek, large,
worth-more-than-their-weight-in-gold jets sit on even bigger, more expensive
ships. In order for both pieces of equipment to function without disaster, a
bond of complete trust and genuine teamwork must be established between those
who fly and those who remain grounded. Those trained to pilot the most powerful
and sophisticated aircraft in the world must rely upon and wait for a series of
“go-ahead” hand signals from their always-grounded “air boss.” Each step must
be carried out in proper sequence before the big jets can set off on their
appointed missions. The first duty of the air boss is to signal the removal of
the “chocks,” the small clamps that lock in place the aircraft’s wheels and
keep them from rolling. When Jesus utters his first proclamation of the Good
News, “the Kingdom of God has come near” (Mk 1:15), he follows it with the
command to “repent.” Before anything else can happen, even before he urges
listeners to “believe in the Good News,” Jesus preaches repentance. Jesus knows
that our sins and shortcomings, prejudices and preconceived notions can
effectively block us from making any headway in our search for God’s kingdom.
Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) Word-of-mouth evangelization in a world of
commercials: One of the biggest industries in the United States today
is the production of advertising. Billboards, signs on benches, magazines,
newspapers, placards on the sides of buses, messages on the insides of match
books, “junk” mail, computer phone calls, radio and, of course, television, all
seek to commercial-ize us, to sell us something. Commercials make a host of
promises. We’re told that if we just use what they sell, people will notice us;
we’ll be healthier, happier, sexier; smell better; look better; feel better;
get just about everything we want. I’d hate to add up the amount of time each
day that is ruined by commercials. Kids, especially, are fascinated with them
and affected by them (most of the time affected badly). About forty years ago
there used to be an automobile named the Packard. Packard was the last car
manufacturer to get into advertising, It didn’t happen until old man Packard
died, because whenever he was approached to buy some advertising for his cars
he always said, “Don’t need any; just ask the man who owns one.” Our Lord Jesus
Christ is also known through word-of-mouth advertising. That’s how the word
about him gets out. Only the Shepherds at the first Christmas heard the Good
News from angels. Only the Wise Men were led by a Star. Just a comparative few
were touched by miracles. But almost everybody came to know Jesus Christ, and
is still coming to know him, through word-of-mouth advertising, one person
telling another. There are other names we use: preaching, witnessing, sharing,
testifying, evangelizing. Basically, however, it’s all word-of-mouth
advertising, one person telling another. Our Gospel lesson reminds us that John
the Baptizer was one of the first to get the word out about Jesus. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) “MVSU was the only school to come to my house and
give me a personal visit.” Some of you will remember the 1989 MVP of
Super Bowl 23: Jerry Rice. There is an interesting story about him. He was the
longtime star for the San Francisco 49ers, considered one of the greatest
receivers in the history of football; he played for the 49ers for 15 years,
1985 to 2000. He is a famous athlete, and you would think he came from some
legendary college team but he didn’t. He played for Mississippi Valley State
University, in Itta Bena, Mississippi, a virtual unknown. He was once asked,
“Why did you attend a small, obscure university like Mississippi Valley State
University in Itta Bena, Mississippi?” Rice responded, “Out of all the big-time
schools (such as UCLA) to recruit me, MVSU was the only school to come to my
house and give me a personal visit.” The big-time schools recruited through
cards, letters, and advertisements, but only one came to meet him and showed
Rice personal attention. It makes a difference in this world to meet people eye
to eye and invite them to be a part of something. As Jesus passed along the Sea
of Galilee, the Scriptures say, he saw Simon and his brother casting a net into
the sea. He approached them and Personally invited them to be a part of His
ministry and mission. They followed Him. He went a little further and he saw
two more brothers: James and John. He went up to them extending the same
Personal invitation, and they followed. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) “Unlike a religious fanatic, a football fanatic can
be perfectly harmless.” A man in one Church recalled how during
football season he and his son watched football on television the whole
weekend. On Saturdays it was college football, on Sundays, professional
football, and then to cap it off professional football on Monday evenings. This
same father was uncomfortable with his son being away for a weekend religious
retreat, fearing his son might turn into a religious fanatic! I asked him if he
thought being a sports fan was okay for his son. Of course, he replied. But
when I pointed out that “fan” is the shortened form of “fanatic,” he was taken
aback. His long-neglected wife, a football widow of the first rank, wondered
aloud why it was perfectly acceptable to be a football fanatic and not a
religious fanatic. “Because,” replied her husband without thinking, “unlike a
religious fanatic, a football fanatic can be perfectly harmless.” “Yes,” said
the long-unnoticed football widow, “I can vouch for that!” Neither fanaticism
nor academism by themselves will do for discipleship. The word “disciple” means
“learning follower.” It is the root of the word “discipline.” And the
discipline required of Jesus’ disciples is thinking and acting, learning and
following. Jesus calls all of us to renewed discipleship, to follow him toward
new goals and priorities, to be faithful fishers of men, like Peter, Andrew,
James, and John– and look how they changed the world! Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) Just 6 were about the Bible, 4 about Jesus, and 3 about
evangelism. In the “prosperity gospel” that has gripped so many of our
Churches and most of our minds, “conversion” is less a turning toward Christ
than a turning toward success or fame or fortune, especially a turning towards
self. Just check out “best-seller Christianity,” which has become
ladder-climbing wrapped up as spirituality. A survey of CBA’s best-selling
books as we began the 21st century found that family and
women’s topics accounted for nearly half of the titles, with the rest focused
mainly on success and the self. Of the top 100 books, just 6 were about the
Bible, 4 about Jesus, and 3 about evangelism. The rest of them were about how
to climb higher and higher on the ladders of success. “The Christianity of the
bestseller lists tends to be personal, private, and interior,” writes Gene
Edward Veith in World magazine (July 2008), “with little
attention to objective theology or to the Church.” We have even made conversion
primarily about ourselves, a finding of ourselves and a fulfilling of ourselves,
a journey of self-discovery rather than a journey of God-discovery. “Any
version of the Gospel that substitutes the message of personal success for the
cross is a manipulative counterfeit,” writes A. C. Thiselton in his commentary
on The First Epistle to the Corinthians. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) There are people who are unhappy with their lives and
situations. In 1957, as John Galbraith was about to describe us as
“the affluent society,” our per-person income, expressed in today’s dollars,
was less than $10,000. Today it is more than twice that – making us The More
Than Doubly Affluent Society. Compared to 1957, we have more than twice as many
cars per person; we have digital TVs, satellite dishes, cell phones and $15
billion a year worth of brand name athletic shoes. So are we happier than we
were sixty-four years ago? We are not. In 1957, thirty-five percent of
Americans told The National Opinion Research Center they were very happy. By
1991, our per-capita income had already doubled, and yet only thirty-one
percent said they were very happy. And the trends continue. “Judged by soaring
rates of depression, the quintupling of the violent crime rate, the doubling of
the divorce rate, the slight decline in marital happiness among the marital
survivors, and the tripling of the teen suicide rate, we are richer and
unhappier.” [Adapted from James Merritt, Friends, Foes & Fools, Nashville,
TN: Broadman & Holmes, 1997.] The first disciples of Jesus were probably
dissatisfied with their lives. So when Christ showed them something better –
when he offered to give them a dynamic new purpose for their lives – they did
not hesitate. They dropped everything and followed him. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) Decide between a new car and getting engaged. There
are some issues too important to put off. A decision has to be made. Once, an
Ann Landers column told about a dilemma faced by another young man: “Dear Ann,
I have got to decide between a new car and getting engaged. I really love this
wonderful young lady. But every night when I go to sleep, I dream about the
car.” When we hear an invitation from Christ, we often find two conflicting
inner voices within our spirit. One is telling us, look before you leap; don’t
get involved; you can always do it later on. Then there is a voice urging us to
trust and be obedient to the call. We can’t have it both ways. We must respond
to one voice or the other. We can’t waver between two opinions. The disciples
were teachable; they were decisive. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) “And those who quit will be doctors, lawyers, and
captains of industry.” Some of you football fans will remember when Bo
Schembechler was the coach of the Michigan Wolverines. It’s said that
Schembechler used to work his players especially hard during spring practice to
see what kind of young men he had, winners or quitters. He made a sign
with a slogan on it and hung it above the locker room door. The sign read like
this: “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.” Of course, not everyone stayed. One
morning Schembechler came to the office and looked at the sign. Underneath the
words “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions,” someone had written, “And those who
quit will be doctors, lawyers, and captains of industry.” Not everyone has what
it takes to answer the call to be a champion, regardless of the field or
profession. Well, you get the idea. Not everyone is cut out to play
football. Not everyone will be happy as a sailor. And not everyone was called
to be among Jesus’ original twelve disciples. Jesus calls many, but only a few
heed his summons. In most Churches, only about twenty percent of the congregation
is really involved in the life of the Church. Another twenty percent are
relatively faithful in worship, but can’t truly be counted on for anything
else. Another twenty percent are sporadic attenders. And then there are about
forty percent who are of the hatched, matched, and dispatched variety. That is,
they are here when they need to be baptized, married and finally buried –
hatched, matched, and dispatched – but they couldn’t be much more nominal in
their devotion. So the fact that these first disciples were willing to not only
say “yes” to the Master, but also to leave their nets and follow him is no
little matter. As they say, “showing up is half the battle.” Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) Radical conversion of Honest Jake: Former
Massachusetts congressman Tip O’Neill tells the story of a metanoia or
change – the story of a man named “Honest Jake.” Honest Jake became well-known
in the Boston area because of his assistance to three generations of immigrant
families. He owned a little variety store and would extend credit to the poor
immigrants to help them get started in their new land. As Honest Jake neared
his sixtieth birthday, a group of people he had helped decided to give him a
party and a generous gift of money. Jake received the money gratefully and
began to use it for his own makeover. He had his teeth capped. He bought a
hairpiece. He invested in a diet and exercise program and lost a lot of weight.
He purchased a whole new wardrobe. Then he boarded a plane and a few hours
later the new Honest Jake hit the beach at Miami. He met a beautiful young
woman, asked her for a date, and she accepted. But before they could go out on
the date, a thunderstorm came up, and Honest Jake was struck by a lightning
bolt and died instantly. In Heaven, he said to God, “After all those years of
hard work in Your service, I was just trying to enjoy myself a little. Why? Why
me?” And God said to him, “Oh, is that you, Jake? I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize
you.” The Scripture for this Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is about change,
about the radical change we make by repentance – not in the way of Honest Jake,
perhaps, but making ourselves over into the image to which the love of God and
the ministry of Jesus Christ call us. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Whom and what are your ready to renounce? Hermit’s
loin-cloth (‘Baavaani Iangoti’) is a popular Gujarati
folktale of a devoted hermit (sadhu) who owned nothing but a
pair of loin-cloths and lived a life totally committed to God. Once, a rat
nibbled a hole in one of his loin-cloths and so he got a cat to protect it.
However, he had to beg for extra food and milk to feed the cat. “I’ll keep a
cow to get milk for the cat and myself,” thought he. So he got a cow, but had
to find fodder for the cow. “Too troublesome!” mused he, and married a woman to
look after the cow. With wife, cow and cat to feed, he got some land and hired
laborers to work upon it. Soon, he became the richest man in town. When asked
about why he renounced discipleship, he explained, “This is the only way I
could preserve my loin-cloths!” To become fishers of Man, Jesus’ first
disciples renounced everything. Whom and what are you ready to renounce?
(Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by
Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19)“I, and this nation, should be on the Lord’s side.” A
friend of Abraham Lincoln one day tried to console the President in his many
problems by saying: “I hope that the Lord is on our side.” Lincoln replied
kindly but firmly that this was not his hope. Everyone was amazed! Then he went
on to say: “I am not at all concerned about that, for we know that the Lord is
always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that
I, and this nation, should be on the Lord’s side.” If we are on the Lord’s side
and for His Kingdom, we will use the countless gifts He has given to each of us
to advance his Kingdom. (Vima Dasan in His Word Lives; quoted by
Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) Who and what am I working for? There
was once a holy rabbi who lived in a town where the houses of the rich stood in
an isolated area so that they had to hire men to watch over their property at
night. Late one evening as the rabbi was coming home, he met a watchman walking
up and down. ‘For whom are you working?’ the rabbi asked. The man told him and
then inquired in his turn, ’And for whom are you working, rabbi?’ The words
struck the rabbi like a shaft. ‘I am not working for anyone just now,’ he
barely managed to say. Then he walked up and down beside the man for a long
time. ‘Will you be my servant?’ he finally asked. ‘I should like to,’ the man
replied, ‘but what would be my duties?’ ‘To ask me that question every now and
then,’ said the rabbi. It’s a question each of us might ask ourselves every now
and then: Who or what am I working for? (Flor McCarthy in Sundays and Holy Day
Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) On whose side? A Russian youth who had
become a conscientious objector to war, through reading of Tolstoy and the New
Testament, was brought before a magistrate. With the strength of conviction he
told the judge that he believed in a life which loves its enemies, which does
good to those who despitefully use it, which overcomes evil and which refuses
war. “Yes,” said the judge, “I understand. But you must be realistic. These
laws you are talking about are the laws of the Kingdom of God, and it has not
come yet.” The young man straightened and said, “Sir, I recognize it has not
come for you, nor yet for Russia or the world. But the Kingdom of God has come
for me! I can’t go on hating and killing as though it had not come.” In a way,
the Russian youth summed up what we believe about the Kingdom of God. –How soon
will the plan of God for his Kingdom be realised? It depends much on how
earnest we are to be on God’s side and cooperate with his plan. (Fr. Botelho). Fr.
Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22)Turning Evil to Good: A lady once showed
Ruskin a costly handkerchief on which had fallen a large blot of ink. “What a
shame!” she moaned. “It is absolutely good for nothing now. It is totally
spoiled. Ruskin said nothing but asked to borrow the handkerchief for a day.
The next day he handed it to her without a word, and the lady delightedly saw
that, using the blot as a starting point, the great artist had designed an
intriguing pattern on that corner of the handkerchief. Now it was actually
worth more than it had ever been before the blot had disfigured it. God can
draw forth good from evil! (Bruno Hagspiel, from Tonic from the Heart in 1000
Bottles; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) History Changed by One Man: In September of
1862, the Civil War tilted decisively in favour of the South. The morale of the
Northern army dipped to its lowest point of the war. Large numbers of Union
troops were in full retreat in Virginia. Northern leaders feared the worst.
They saw no way to reverse the situation and turn the beaten, exhausted troops
into a useful army again. There was only one general who might be able to work
this miracle. That was General McClellan. He had trained men for combat, and
they loved and admired him. But the War Department didn’t see this, nor did the
Cabinet see it. Only President Lincoln saw it. Fortunately, Lincoln ignored the
protests of advisors and put McClellan back in command. He told him to go to
Virginia and give those soldiers something no other man on earth could give
them: enthusiasm, strength, and hope. McClellan accepted the command. He
mounted his great black horse and cantered down the dusty roads of Virginia.
What happened next is hard to explain. Northern leaders couldn’t explain it.
Even McClellan couldn’t quite explain it. McClellan met the retreating Union
columns. He waved his cap in the air and shouted words of encouragement. When
the tired men saw their beloved leader, they began to take heart. They began to
get the unexplainable feeling that now things could be different. Now things
could be right again. Here’s how Bruce Catton, the great Civil War
historian, describes the excitement that grew and grew when word spread that
McClellan was now back in command. “Down mile after mile of Virginia roads the stumbling
columns came alive, and threw caps and knapsacks into the air, and yelled until
they could yell no more…. because they saw this dapper little rider outlined
against the purple starlight. And this, in a way, was the turning point of the
war…. No one could quite explain it.” And whatever it was, it gave Lincoln and
the North what was needed. And history was forever changed because of it. —
That is what Jesus did by choosing his apostles. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies;
quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) An epitaph to God’s grace: In the small
cemetery of a parish churchyard in Olney, England, stands a granite tombstone
with this inscription: “John Newton, clerk [pastor], once an infidel
& Libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our
Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to
preach the Faith he had long labored to destroy.” You may not remember
his name, but all of us know the song he wrote as a testimony of his
life: Amazing Grace.” Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
25) A Priest is always wrong
If he waits for people, they say he has never been punctual.
If he starts the Mass on time, they say his watch is wrong.
If he owns a car, people say he is luxurious.
If he does not have one, they say he is always late.
If he asks for donation, people say he is a money-grubber.
If he does not ask, they say he is proud and lazy.
If he is seen with women, people say he is a playboy.
If he goes with men, they say he is a sissy.
If he preaches too long, they say they get bored.
If his homily is too short, they say he is unprepared.
If he visits houses, people say he is always out.
If he stays in the rectory, they say he has no time for
them.
If he is young, they say he has no experience.
If he is old, they say he should have retired.
But when a priest dies nobody takes his place. Perhaps,
we should put this into our minds — that being God’s priest does not abolish
his humanity. When he is ordained as a priest, he does not become an angel.
Pride, ambition, personal interest, greed for power and materials, and even
sensuality are very much present in a priest, and they can blind him just as
they can other people. But the Lord called and selected imperfect men — just
like St. Peter who was so sensitive and denied Him three times, and yet he
became the head of His universal church. These church leaders on their part
have the obligation by virtue of their Divine calling, to strive constantly to
overcome their human weaknesses and, so, to become better priests and
servant-leaders. Concretely, they should continue to pray, and to strive to live
as good shepherds, servants and stewards of people whom God has entrusted to
them, and always to seek help from Him Who can and will make them what they
cannot make themselves. Fr. Tony(http://frtonyshomilies.com/)
*****
3. From other Sources including Sermons.com
Green is smooth and sweet, while yellow is sharp and pungent.
Purple has the depth of a bruise.
Orange may not rhyme with anything, but is feels like the sun on your face on a warm day.
Explaining the impossible to the unknowing describes much of the mission and message of Jesus.
How could he communicate the vastness of divine love to individual human hearts?
How could he present the fullness of time to a world parsed into days, hours, minutes, seconds?
How could he reveal the unity of all creation to warring nations, cracked communities, and fractured families?
Be real, be vulnerable, and be honest.
Be creative. We don't have to do things the same old way.
Be spiritual, but not "churchy".
Be patient
Be ready for surprises!
Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
Be on the lookout for where God is at work.
Be praying.
+ If you'll do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with other activities, it's a job. If you're committed to staying with it even when it means letting go of other things, it's a ministry.
+ If you quit because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a job. If you stay with it even though no one seems to notice, it's a ministry.
+ If you do it because someone else said that it needs to be done, it's a job. If you are doing it because you are convinced it needs to be done, it's a ministry.
+ It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry.
+ If your concern is success, it's a job. If your concern is faithfulness, it's a ministry.
