5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily

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5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Job 7:1-4, 6-8
Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5, 6 (3a)
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Mark 1:29-39
February 7, 2021

What is your life like?

Do you have a “good life” or would you call your “life on earth a drudgery?” 

Job had had a wonderful life with a great family, wealth, and prestige.  Now, all that has been taken away by Satan who is trying to get him to reject God.  With all that had been taken away, his life becomes a drudgery.  His life becomes like that of hirelings just trying to make wages to get by.

In faith, Job both accepts this and laments it.  He accepts his “assigned months of misery and troubled nights” with trust in the Lord.

Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, speaks of his calling to preach the gospel.  He has become well-known for his ministry to the Gentiles.  Yet, he sees what he does as no reason to boast because he is just fulfilling the “obligation” that God has imposed on him. 

When Jesus enters Simon’s house, Simon’s mother-in-law is sick and, “They immediately told him about her.”  They interceded for her.  What did Jesus do?  What He always does for the sick, He healed her.

What was her response?  “She waited on them.”  This is the response of a good disciple.  She could have started celebrating.  She could have been prideful and claimed Jesus loved her more than others.  She did not.  As a disciple, she served those around her with an attitude of gratitude.

Then it begins, Jesus healing many people and driving out many demons.  It is what He does.  It is a wonderful thing He does.  It is wonderful for the people to be set free of illness and unclean spirits.  It is wonderful for all of us that we see God’s power at work in Jesus.  It shows the authority He has as the Son of God.

Yet, it is not the only thing Jesus does. 

The next morning Jesus “went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”  He sets an example for us beginning our day in prayer.

Simon and the others came looking for him.  I wonder if they were just looking for more miracles or were they looking for something more?  There is something more.

When they find Jesus, he says to them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.  For this purpose have I come.”

Jesus came to die for us.  He came to preach.  As part of this, He did many miracles.

What are you called to do?

For those with a job, and those studying to pursue a career, do you look for a job that will make you a lot of money?  Or do you look for work where you can use the gifts God has given you to make the world a better place (thy kingdom come)? 

The latter is not simply a matter of working for the church.  If working for the church is your calling that is wonderful. 

What I am looking at is our motivation for the work we choose.  Are we looking for money or are we are responding to a calling from God while accepting recompense for our work to provide for our family’s needs?

For example, one might be interested in becoming an architect.  Are you interested in money?  Or you looking to make a name for yourself as a famous architect?  Or, in service to God and others, are you looking to design safe and beautiful buildings?

How about a career as a musician?  Again, are you looking to be rich and famous or are you looking to provide music that helps people relax and find peace, perhaps even singing religious music?  It’s okay to receive a just wage for the labor deserves his recompense.  We just can’t do it for the love of money (1 Timothy 6:10) for that would be greed (if being famous is one’s goal, that would be pride).

I’ve given just two examples of types of work and our motive.  I think we can ask similar questions for lots of careers.  For example, does one find a job working in a school because you want your summers off or because you want to help the children?

Does one become an accountant to make a profit or to make the company stronger in serving its customers?

Does one become a politician to make things the way they want or to work for the common good in accord with Jesus’ preaching?

Are you retired?  For those who are able, you can still use the gifts God has given you in volunteering.  If you are not able to volunteer physically, one can always pray.

There is also the vocation of being a parent where the parents dedicate themselves to helping their children become who God wants them to be.

Each “job” comes with its challenges that might make it seem like a drudgery at times.  It is then that we trust in the Lord for “he is good…for he is gracious.” 

Living the Priesthood (2021)

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Among the numerous pages on my website, you can find one on “Vocations.” There you will find information about “vocation” in general and how everyone is called to live as priest, prophet, and king from their baptism.

You will also find links to articles I have written on life as a lay person, in seminary, and my life as a priest. I recently realized that it has been some number of years so I have written an article explicitly on my life as a priest. (You can read the previous articles I have written for the whole picture on my vocations page.)

As I read through some of these articles, I believe that everything that I have written in the past is still what I would write today. So, rather than write something that would be redundant, I am going to focus on three things that are at the center of how I feel specifically called to serve as a priest.

The first two should be at the heart of any man’s priesthood, the Eucharist (see my video presentation on the Eucharist in my series on the Sacraments, Sacraments: Channels of God’s Grace, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The Eucharist is the sacrifice of Jesus given his life for us on the Cross. At the Last Supper, Jesus united his sacrifice to the Eucharist when He said this is my body…this is my blood. It is no longer bread and wine. It is becomes, it is transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Blessed Sacrament, the consecrated host, is not just a symbol of Jesus. It is Jesus. I see presiding at Mass as the very center of priesthood. As the Second Vatican Council said, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith (Lumen Gentium, 11). It is the Eucharist that feeds us with the grace we need to live as God calls. Presiding at Mass is not simply part of my job to me. Presiding at Mass is a privilege to me. I pray for the Holy Spirit to always be at work in me as I preside. It is not about me. It is about doing the will of God (as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy will be done”).

I also consider it a privilege to be God’s instrument in delivering his forgiveness to people in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are sinners. We need forgiveness. We also need to know that God loves us. I pray that the Holy Spirit always work through me to let the person who is confessing their sins see God as a loving and merciful God rather than a judge ready to condemn the sinner.

Many people are familiar with John 3:16. Here I also include the following verse, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).

Ministry is about helping the people to encounter God. The seven Sacraments are key to this (see my video series, Sacraments: Channels of God’s Grace). However, the Sacraments are not the only way we encounter Christ. It is not the only way I can bring Christ to the world. Ministry can happen at any time. For example, I like to take a walk everyday. Often, I do so dressed in the Roman collar to show Christ to the world. This has led to ministry conversations that never would have happened if I was dressed otherwise. There is the time that I walked passed a convenience store with four or five bikers in the parking lot talking. They asked to talk to me. Most of them were fallen-away Catholics. We talked for 15-20 minutes and they asked for a blessing as they started a road trip.

There’s also the day a fallen-away parishioner stopped me and he spoke to me about why he hadn’t been coming to church. Did these people start coming to church? I don’t know (the bikers were from outside the area) but I pray our conversation helped encourage them.

I was even stopped one day by a non-Catholic Christian who said he had seen me various times walking dressed in the Roman collar and thought it was a wonderful witness to the community at large that Christ is present in our community.

So, to get back to what I had been saying, the third thing I love doing as a priest is teaching. Certainly, this starts with preaching the homily at Mass. However, that is just a few minutes. There is much more to our faith than can be covered in a Sunday homily. For instance, the entire Mass is meant to be a deep encounter with God. However, we do not always why we do what we do at Mass. Hence, my webinar series, Uncovering the Treasurers of the Mass.

Of course, including in “teaching” is the numerous articles, I post here on this blog. I would say the silver lining in the cloud of the Coronavirus pandemic for me is how it has led me to write much more frequently on this blog. It started with articles relating to the Coronavirus but has become so much more. I thank God for leading me to do this. I am especially grateful for the both the words the Lord is given me in my current webinar series, Treating Life with Dignity and Respect (Part II is this week – sign up here) and the courage to speak an unpopular message that abortion and assisted suicide (and more) go against the Fifth Commandment, “You Shall not Kill.”

Even choosing topics to write about or do presentations on is an exercise in prayer for me. I do not simply want to pick topics that I like. In my preaching homilies, writing articles, and doing presentations, I pray that I be offering the message that God wants his people to hear, the message the people need to hear.

Related to my love of celebrating the Eucharist, offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and teaching is the role of shepherd. It is the role of priests to help bishops as shepherds lead people to God.

We need to do a better job as shepherds. We need to do a better job of being the Church that God calls us to be (see my document, “What Sort of Church Should We Be?”).

You may be familiar with Mark 6:34, “When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (see also Matthew 9:36). Jesus came to be the Good Shepherd (see John 10:1-21).

There are those in the Old Testament days who God had called to shepherd his people who fell short (see Numbers 27:17, 1 Kings 22:17, 1 Chronicles 11:2, and Jeremiah 23:1-4). It is not easy. Please pray for all those who are called to be shepherds today to lead people to the Lord.

Please pray for me to do not what I want or what you want, but to do what God wants, thy will be done.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

Do We Shape Our Own World?

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Last week I shared an article called “If It’s All About Me…” where I talked “me-centered” people. In that article, I included the following quote from Justice Anthony Kennedy,  “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life” (Reilly, America on Trial, 6.  interior quote “Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. et al,. v. Casey, Governor of Pennsylvania, et a, 505 U.S. 833, 851  (1992)  https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-744.ZS.html.”).

I do not believe we get to determine our own concept of existence, meaning, or life. Rather, I agree with Hahn and McGinley who write, “Societies are only doomed to mutual suspicion and discord if they rule out, as just about every post-Enlightenment society has done, the possibility of a principal of social unity – a common good – outside and above itself (Scott Hann & Brandon McGinley, It is Right and Just: Why the Future of Civilization Depends on True Religion. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Road Publishing. 2020, page 167, my emphasis). We need something “outside and above” us. We need God.

To see ourselves as determining our own meaning and existence sells us short. We are greater than the sum of our parts because we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) who breathed life into us (see Genesis 2:7). To see ourselves as the center of our own world leads us down the path of pride, one of the seven deadly sins. What we need is humility (see “The Battle Against Sin”). Seeing ourselves as the center of our own world may also lead us to the sin of gluttony (if we don’t care about the needs of others, especially their need for food) and/or the sin of greed.

We are finite human beings. Our personal knowledge and worldview is limited. That means we need to be open to perspectives beyond our individual worldview. However, as we do, we need to realize that “Pluralism is not the natural state of humanity” (Hahn and McGinley, 169). There is “Truth”. It comes from God. We need to listen to God.

Hahn and McGinley speak of trying to put a pentagon into a hexagon-shape holed (67). It is the old adage “you can’t put a round peg in a square hole.” However, is that not exactly what we try to do when we determine our own meaning? Hahn and McGinley offer a better analogy for our interaction with the world with the weather (66). We might often pray for the weather to be what we want but, in reality, we know that we do not control the weather. Before we go outside, if we are wise, we check the weather and we dress accordingly.

We have free will but, as I wrote in “If It’s All About Me,” if we think it is all about me, we put ourselves in constant competition with each other. Ultimately, “We depend on God. We do not create our own reality but are part of his reality” (Hahn and McGinley, 91).

As Hahn and McGinley write, “For real, actually existing human beings, genuine freedom and humane autonomy are found not in the absence of restraint but in harmony with the divine order” (92, see also my video presentation, Where Do We Go for Truth?). In my video presentation, Are They Rules or a Way of Life, I discuss how the commandments God gives us are not just rules to appease him. The commandments provide a way of life that is good for us.

There are people who want to cast off the way of life given to us by God and found in the Bible because they believe there is no one truth. They desire complete freedom and autonomy. What they fail to realize is the when you cast off the “old truths,” whether we realize it or not, new “truths” take their place (see Hahn and McGinley, 93). We have to believe in something. It should be God because God is real and He loves us. Jesus loves us so much that He is willing to lay down his life for us (see John 15:13).

For many, it seems one of the “new truths” is the “cult of success.” People make “prestige and wealth” their god (see Hahn and McGinley, 94). God wants us to do our best but not in a way that is prideful but for a greater good.

I see “success” not as having money or prestige in this world. This is short-lived and can be taken away. For me, success is to do the will of God. Success for me is leading others to Heaven (with the hope that I get to Heaven myself!).

No matter how hard one tries to shape their own reality, “our misapprehension of reality doesn’t change reality itself: Our treating of God as less than He is doesn’t make Him so” (Hahn and McGinley, 102). Whether one believes in God or not, God is real.

Remember that, if you wish to spend eternity in Heaven, “If Jesus Christ is not at the top of the soul’s hierarchy of goods, something or someone else will be” (Hahn and McGinley, 98). That “something or someone else” will lead you away from the Kingdom of Heaven. For eternity, you have two choices, Heaven or Hell. Choose wisely.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily

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4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9 (8)
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Mark 1:21-28
January 31, 2021

What is Jesus remembered for?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

John 3:16 is one of the most quoted versus in the Bible.  It tells us what Jesus came for, to die for us so that we might have eternal life.

Is that all that Jesus is remembered for?

If one prods a little further, people may also likely remember the miracles Jesus did.  He healed many people of illnesses.  He drove out many demons.  This is certainly good news!

It is still not all Jesus did.  His mission culminates in his Crucifixion and Resurrection but what was the first thing Jesus did in his public ministry?

Jesus began his public ministry following his Baptism and the temptation by the devil by calling disciples and teaching.  We heard last week how He called Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, and John to be his disciples.  Today’s gospel passage immediately follows that.

As a good Jew, “on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue.”  It is there that He began to teach.  This is the one part of Jesus’ mission that I haven’t mentioned yet.  Given the moral state of our society, I think his teaching may be the least remembered part of his ministry. 

It is, however, a very important part of his ministry for Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (see Matthew 5:17).

His teaching did not go unnoticed that day.  In fact, “The people were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.”

The scribes were part of the official religious authority in those days.  They were the ones highly educated in the Law.  Yet, the people did not perceive the teaching of the scribes to be with “authority.”

Why?  In part because they did not always practice what they preached.  One might also wonder if they spoke like they believed what they were saying.

What do you look for in a person to believe they speak with authority?

Unfortunately, I think the first quality that many people look for today is that the one speaking agrees with what one already thinks.  That can be affirming but it does not guarantee authority.

There is a type of authority that comes with position.  In our Catholic Church, by their ordination, it is the bishops, priests, and deacons who have the “authority” to preach.  There’s also the fact that we earn master’s degrees in seminary to show our educational creditability.   

Yet, we may still know preachers who don’t seem to speak with authority.  Please pray for all who preach to listen to the Holy Spirit to know and offer the message God wants the people to hear.

Returning to the idea that people look for speakers who agree with them, let’s take a look at our psalm response, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Of course, the voice this verse is talking about is God’s voice.  Who would ever want to harden their hearts to God’s voice?

I think some people harden their hearts because they know they are not living as they should.  That means if they truly listen to God with open hearts, they will have to change their ways.  They don’t want to, so they don’t listen well. 

Do you listen?  Do you listen well?

Many of the prophets were treated in the same way.  Jeremiah was persecuted as a prophet for preaching an unpopular message.  While his message was unpopular, the people who persecuted him did not try to prove him wrong.  Perhaps they knew he was right.  They just wanted to get rid of him.

Being a prophet is not easy.  In the time of Moses, the people did not listen directly to God, “Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die” because they did not feel worthy to speak to God directly.  So, they asked for intermediaries.  The prophets are the intermediaries.

We may not feel worthy to hear God’s voice.  We might not feel worthy to receive the Eucharist.  On our own, we are not.  Jesus died to make us worthy.

We need to listen to God but it is hard in a world where we hear many different voices telling us what is right and wrong.  Some of those voices tell us we are free to choose how to live however we want as long as we don’t hurt anyone.  (see my recent article, “Many Voices:  Who Should We Listen To?”)

We have free will.  However, making decisions only for ourselves is not what we are given freedom for.  We use our freedom best when we choose to live focused on the “the things of the Lord” instead of the “things of the world.” 

In today’s gospel, it is the “unclean spirit” who recognizes who Jesus truly is, “the Holy One of God.”  It is the “unclean spirit” who obeys Jesus.

Do we make God the authority in our lives?  Do we surrender ourselves to the Lord?

“Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us.”

In our opening prayer today we pray that we may honor God “with all our mind, and love everyone in truth of heart.” May this always be our goal.

If It’s All About Me…

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Relativists say you can believe whatever you want as long as you don’t hurt anyone. For relativists, the truth is what you want it to be. For them, it seems, it’s all about me. We pray for them to know God’s Truth. “Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

There are people whose first question when they are asked to do something is, “what’s in it for me?”. For them, it seems, it’s all about me. We pray for them. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40).

I write this on January 29, 2021. My TV is on right now with live coverage of the March for Life going on in Washington, DC. There are various reasons a person may choose abortion (see my webinar series, Treating Life with Dignity and Love, at www.renewaloffaith.org/prolife. One of the reasons is the child is not wanted because the child will get in the way of the mother being able to live her life in the way she wants. For them, it seems, it’s all about me. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me” (Mark 10:14).

I do not claim to know what any of the types of people mentioned above are thinking. That’s why I say each time, “For them, it seems, it’s all about me.” I pray for them as I pray for all of us to give our lives to God.

That said, if it’s all about me, where does that leave us? Does this mean we are always in competition with everyone else? If it’s all about me, what about our relationships with family and friends.  Can we only communicate with those who share our thinking?

If it’s all about me and there is no universal truth, what can we base our laws on?  Is Utilitarianism, the greatest good for the greatest number, the only possibility?  If there is no universal truth, who determines what is the greatest good?   Is the best we can do for our laws, only what is good for the greatest number (Utilitarianism)? Where is “love” in this?

“Freedom” is a frequently used word today. Justice Anthony Kennedy uses the word “liberty” for “freedom” when he wrote, “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life” (Reilly, America on Trial, 6.  interior quote “Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. et al,. v. Casey, Governor of Pennsylvania, et a, 505 U.S. 833, 851  (1992)  https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-744.ZS.html.”).

If we are born without “meaning” and no defined “concept of existence,” do we ever have any “meaning”? I think we only find “meaning” and understand “the mystery of life” when we look beyond ourselves. It is NOT all about me. God is the author of life. We have meaning because God is our creator and gives us meaning (for more on our dignity, see Part I in my webinar series, Treating Life with Dignity and Love).

I end with the words Jesus spoke in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.“

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

A Reminder for Webinar Series on Catholic Pro-Life Teaching

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If you have not already registered for the second webinar in my series, Treating Life with Dignity and Love on Catholic Pro-Life teaching, here is the information:

Treating Life with Dignity and Love
Many people know the Catholic Church is against abortion, assisted-suicide, and the death penalty.  However, not as many people know why.  In part II in this series Fr. Jeff will talk about life in the womb, abortion and the death penalty.   Fr. Jeff will discuss how we are called to speak up for life and how we can help people choose life.  If you missed the first webinar, you can view it online at www.renewaloffaith.org/prolife. 

This series will be conducted via Zoom webinar.  Preregistration is required.  You can register now for the second webinar in this series at:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fIq7-a_BTtCoRqwMjIRRsg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

“For I Know Well the Plans”

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It is no secret that 2020 was a difficult year. A number of my blog articles in the last year reflect that. In particular, there were the articles, “2020: What a Year!” and “2020 is Over!”.

Now, we try to look forward and develop a plan. With vaccines for the Coronavirus now being distributed, we have some hope that the end to the pandemic is in sight. It will take time as distributing the vaccine is not a simple task as we are talking about seven billion people across the world, but, again, the end to the pandemic is in sight.

For now, we continue the “plan” we have been on with social distancing and wearing masks. We are tried of it but, with God’s grace, we will persevere.

What about the political situation in our country? The party in charge of the White House and the Senate has changed. Like it or not, this means there will be changes in policy and priorities. Changes are already happening promoting abortion as well as policies concerning people of different sexual orientations and attractions. We need to hold firm to our Catholic faith. For my part, I continue my new series on Catholic Pro-Life teaching, Treating Life with Dignity and Love (see www.renewaloffaith.org/prolife). I also pray for our country and our elected leaders.

2020 was a year of many riots. I can understand protests. I don’t understand riots. 2021 started with a riot that I don’t know if anyone would have imagined. Our nation’s Capitol building in Washington, DC was overrun. I pray for our country.

What about what is going in our Catholic Church? We shutdown public Masses for months (exact length varied depending on location and the Coronavirus). When we resumed public Masses, attendance at Sunday Mass was greatly reduced. At the parish where I serve, even now attendance is only 30-50% of what it was before the pandemic began. Once the pandemic is over, I believe more people will come back to church but will all of them? Let’s face it. Attendance has been dropping for years. We need a plan to invite people to come and see what God offers them.

We also have a problem of “confusion” in our Church. In society in general, we hear many different people telling us different things about morality (see my articles on “morality”, especially “Many Voices: Who Should We Listen To?”). This happens even within the church. Through my preaching, webinars, and articles I try to help people understand what our Catholic teaches. I also pray for the Holy Spirit to help us know the Truth, Truth that comes from God. We do not get to determine what is right and wrong. Only God does.

Here I include the words of Isaiah 55:6-8 (I encourage to read the whole chapter (Isaiah 55),

“Seek the Lord while he may be found,
    call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their way,
    and sinners their thoughts;
Let them turn to the Lord to find mercy;
    to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the Lord.“

I wish I could say I have a plan that will fix everything. I don’t. I already mentioned above some of how I try to do my part. I desire to do more.

While I am uncertain about the future, I have not abandoned hope for we hear in the gospels, “nothing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1:37, cf. Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27).

In looking for hope, we must remember this is not the first time the people of God have lost faith and fallen away from God. At times, they followed their own plan on how to live. What did their plan get them? Jeremiah was a prophet at the time when many Israelites had lost faith and fallen into sin. God allowed them to be defeated by their enemy, the Babylonians. However, God did not abandon them.

In Jeremiah 29 we read Jeremiah’s letter to those in exile. In verses 29:5-7, he tells them to build houses, establish families, and work for the welfare of the city because they will be there for a while. However, it is not God’s plan to leave them there forever. His plan calls for them to find him and he will change their lot (Jeremiah 29:14).

While we abandon God when we sin, God does not abandon us. He has a plan for our salvation. He tells us of his plan in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.”

We need to let go of our own plans and seek the plan of God. His ways are better than our ways.

Let us pray:
Lord, we live in difficult times. The world is not as you intend. Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” We struggle to know your will. We hear human voices that tell us their way but it is not your way. In pride, we may think we have all the answers but we don’t. Help us to set aside human pride to humbly do your will. Teach us your plan. Give us the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and courage from the Holy Spirit so that we might fulfill your plan and make the world a better place.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

Many Voices: Who Should We Listen To?

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Yesterday I started writing a new blog article, continuing the ongoing articles on the topic of morality. The article applies biblical tests for a prophet to our contemporary problem of hearing many different voices telling us different ways of living that are not all moral.

I thought it would be a medium length article. However, as I wrote it, I found the article to be twice as long (about three pages) as I expected and much more involved. So, instead of posting here as a blog article, I reformatted into a PDF file on my website.

You can read the article at:

http://nebula.wsimg.com/b73c44d450096da94ad9c9ca83fde363?AccessKeyId=F465FCE598BCE1CD661B&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily

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3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (4a)
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
January 24, 2021

Now, as we proceed through Ordinary Time, we are reading from the Gospel of Mark in this Year B of our Sunday lectionary cycle.  Today’s reading begins with verse 14 of the first chapter.

The first eight verses of chapter tell of the ministry of John the Baptist.  Verses 9 through 11 tell of the Baptism of Jesus while verses 12 & 13 tell of the Temptation of Jesus by Satan. (We heard about John the Baptist in the Advent readings. We heard the verses on Jesus’ Baptism on the Feast of his Baptism. We will hear the story of the Temptation of Jesus in Lent.)

Now, in what we hear today Jesus begins his public ministry.

He does not begin something radically new.  Instead, He picks up where John the Baptist left off, “proclaiming the gospel of God,” calling all to “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

It’s important to note that in what Jesus says here, the word “gospel” is not capitalized.  When we refer to one of the four gospels by name, we capitalize the word “Gospel” as part of a proper name. 

Of course, when Jesus began his public ministry the four gospels have not been written yet.  He uses the word “gospel” for its meaning.  It means “good news.”  Jesus comes to bring us the good news of God’s love for us.  He comes to bring the good news of God’s Truth.

Jesus also says, “This is the time of fulfillment.”  Many prophecies from the Old Testament are fulfilled in what Jesus does.  The birth of Jesus at Christmas fulfills prophecies. His Passion that we will hear during Holy Week fulfills prophecies. In today’s reading, we see another prophecy fulfilled. He said to Simon and Andrew, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  This fulfills what was foretold in Jeremiah 16:14-16.

As Jesus began his public ministry, He immediately began calling disciples.  Simon and Andrew “abandoned their nets and followed him.”  James and John did likewise.

The immediacy of their responses might seem amazing.  They barely know Jesus yet they see something in him that they are willing to abandon their nets to follow him.

How long does it take us to turn our lives totally over to Jesus?  There can be big moments of conversion for us.  It can also be a long process of us giving up earthly things.  It isn’t easy to let go of things we have.

So, the response of Simon, Andrew, James, and John might seem beyond our reach.  Likewise, if we take the first reading as the whole story, the response of Jonah might seem amazing.  God told Jonah to “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”  Jonah “made ready” and did it.  His response seems immediate.

Yet, this is not the whole story.  Do you remember as a child hearing the story of Jonah and the whale?  Do you know that this story is in the Bible?

Today we hear from chapter three of “The Book of Jonah.”  I encourage you to read the whole book.  It is only four pages long.  In the first two chapters we see a very different response of Jonah the first time God tells him to go to Nineveh with the message.

Jonah doesn’t want to go to Nineveh to deliver the message (chapter 4 tells us why).  So, he runs away.  He ends up in a boat in a terrible storm.  When the ship’s crew learns that he has rejected God’s instruction, they throw him overboard.  Jonah ends up in the belly of the “great fish.”  After spending three days there, he repents. 

After that, when God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah goes.  When the people of Nineveh hear of God’s imminent punishment, they repent, proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth.  Seeing their repentance, God spares them.

The Ninevites heard God’s message and believed it.  Do you believe God’s Word?

Do you want to follow God’s Word?  From our psalm, do you want God to teach you his ways, to make them know to you?

In our opening prayer, we prayed, “direct our actions according to your good pleasure, that…we may abound in good works.” 

Where do we find God’s Word in written form?  The answer, of course, is the Bible.

The Bible is full of interesting stories, but they are not just stories.

The Bible is full of commandments, but they are not just rules to follow.

The Bible (particularly in the Book of Psalms) contains prayers of the writers, but they are not just the prayers of one person.  They often reflect the prayers of many people.  They often reflect our own feelings, prayers, and needs.

The Bible is God’s Word to us.  The stories tell us of God’s love for his people.  The commands guide us in good living. 

Recognizing the importance of the Bible, last year Pope Francis declared the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time every year to be the “Sunday of the Word of God.”

We need to read the Bible.  We need to read both the New and the Old Testament.  The “new” does not cast off the “old.”  The new brings to fulfillment what is in the old.  That’s why the Second Vatican Council restored the practice of including a reading from the Old Testament at Mass.  The first reading is picked to help us understand the gospel.

You hear God’s Word at Mass.  I hope you read it on your own at home.  Do you live what you have heard?  Do you say “yes” to Jesus?

Does Hell Really Exist?

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I recently wrote an article, “Is Heaven a Crowded Place?”, regarding who gets into Heaven and how we know Satan exists. This followed articles I wrote last summer, “What Will Heaven Be Like?” and “Purgatory as a Gift That Gets Us in Shape for Heaven.”

Purgatory and Heaven do exist. That leaves us with the question “does Hell really exist?” This is a very important question. If Hell does exist and it is where sinners go, then knowing this should motivate us to live good moral lives.

The Apostles’ Creed says, regarding Jesus, “he descended into Hell.” What about the Bible?

The English word “hell” is not found in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). Before one rushes to rejoice at that, the Bible does talk about “hell”, albeit with different names.

A search on www.biblegateway.com shows the term “Sheol” is used 75 times in the Old Testament. These verses portray “Sheol” as place where people who have done evil go. It refers to “Sheol” as a place to be rescued from.

The word “Sheol” is not found in the New Testament. The word we find used twelve times in the New Testament is “Gehenna.” Eleven of the twelve are Jesus’ own words. The definition provided by the Catholic Culture Dictionary says originally Gehenna was an actual place where much evil was done. From there, the word “Gehenna” became the word for “hell” in Jesus’ time.

If Jesus talks about Hell, then we know it exists. Before going into what Jesus actually says, I think it necessary to say that while Hell does exist, God does not desire anyone to end up in Hell. It is God’s desire that everyone ends up in Heaven. Let us recall the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” We only end up in Hell if we choose to do evil and fail to repent.

The common image of Hell is a place of fire. We find this in Jesus’ own words when He refers to “fiery Gehenna” in Matthew 5:22 and the “unquenchable fire” in Mark 9:43.

Jesus tells us that we will end up in Gehenna if we sin in Matthew 5:29-30 (cf. Matthew 18:6-9, Mark 9:42-48). He tells us to be be strong in our efforts to avoid Hell. He describes it as a place of judgment in Matthew 23:33.

So, Hell exists. Sin has consequences beyond the grave. God desires for us to be in Heaven but it is our choice. We are to choose between what the world says and what God says. What choice should we make?

The answer, of course, is found in Jesus’ words, “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:5-6).

I pray we all choose well. When we choose poorly, remember Jesus’ died for our sins. Repent and seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff