Occasional Homilies

Easter Vigil 2020

MAKING SENSE OF DIFFICULT TIMES

– Homilies for a Time of Pandemic –

There are different understandings these days of what it means to be a Christian. Many, for example, mistakenly think of Christianity as an ethic. They focus upon Jesus’ teachings about love, forgiveness, compassion and social justice. They can often accuse others of ‘not being Christian’ whenever they fail to behave in ways others think of as loving, compassionate and just.

Today, too, there is a common tendency to give less emphasis to teachings of Jesus which people find difficult to live, such as those about marriage and sexual morality.[1] This selectivity shows a misunderstanding of the Gospel.

One consequence is for people to think of Christianity as being like other religions, which urge people to live good lives by human effort alone. They see Mass and other aspects of the Christian religious life as kind of nice extras, but not essential.

Many say, for example: ‘You don’t need to go to church to be a good Christian’. However, this is not the Christianity Jesus came to teach.

A spiritually empowering faith

He taught Christianity as a divinely empowering faith. He never envisaged anyone striving to live his teachings without his power.

To appreciate what this means, we need to turn to the resurrection of Jesus.

The Risen Jesus

Tonight we contemplate the Risen Jesus. His followers saw him and recognised that the One they had thought of as a great prophet in fact was divine.

Jesus had raised others from the dead. But, eventually, they died again. He, on the other hand, would never die again.

The Risen Jesus revealed as divine and human

The body of the Risen Jesus as ‘glorified’ – that is, it revealed him to be both divine and human. For example, the Risen Jesus now could appear in a locked room. [2] He was no longer limited by walls or other physical obstacles.

Yet his body could also be touched by Thomas, the doubting Apostle, and Jesus ate food set aside for him.[3] Mary Magdelen, for example, thought him to be a gardener[4]

His risen body appeared different o that his followers on some occasions did not immediately recognise him.

The appearances of Jesus

In the gospels, we read of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdelen, the first proclaimer of the Resurrection; the Apostles; the two disciples on their journey to Emmaus.[5]

St Paul gave earlier accounts than the gospels of appearances of the Risen Jesus. His personal experience was on the road to Damascus[6]

He also wrote about his contemporaries who had seen the Risen Jesus. This included[7]

… more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us.

We share his divine life

Tonight, as we think of the Risen Jesus, we celebrate that he shares with us through Baptism his divine life, the life which was revealed at his Resurrection,. This is the life that, to the extent that it is nurtured within us, empowers us to think, speak and behave increasingly like the Jesus of the gospels.

It empowers us to love and to live as he taught by his own actions and words.

The Baptism of Jesus

His resurrection was not the first time the divine life of Jesus was revealed. The first time was at his baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.

The baptism of John the Baptist was a baptism of repentance for past sins. It reflected a desire for God’s forgiveness.

Jesus sought to undergo this baptism to show his solidarity with all seeking to repent and turn to God. John initially objected to baptising Jesus, for he was without sin. He then went along with what Jesus wanted after Jesus explained that his baptism was part of God’s plan.[8]

The forgiveness of sins through Christian Baptism

After Pentecost, Christian Baptism too involved immersion in water, reminding us that, when we were baptised, all sin – including original sin – was forgiven. Adult Baptism was the norm, and infants of the baptised also received Baptism.

In the first reading of this Mass, St Paul wrote about us being baptised ‘in Christ’s death’.[9] As we recalled on Good Friday, the death of Christ was for our redemption or freedom from sin.

So to be baptised into the death of Christ means, as St Paul expressed it, that we are freed of ‘the slavery of sin’. This freedom grows within us as we seek the redemptive power of the Risen Jesus in our daily lives.

As we recalled on Good Friday, we can experience this power as healing; growing inner freedom; sight where there are blindnesses in our lives; freedom from Satan’s power; inner renewal; and as forgiveness of sins.

Jesus shares his divine life through Christian Baptism

After his immersion by John the Baptist, something unique happened as Jesus ‘came up from the water’[10] and was praying.[11]

…heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical form, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I am well pleased.

Jesus was revealed as the divine Son of God. As the Apostles recognised who he is after his resurrection, they remembered that Jesus taught his mission to be [12]

…that they may have life, life to the full.

This is what St Paul is referring to when he wrote that[13]

…Christ was raised… (that) we too might live a new life.

He concluded that we need to be seeking the redeeming power of the Risen Jesus, and nurturing within us his divine life, which he shares through Baptism.[14]

…you too must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God – Christ Jesus.

Jesus as Saviour

In sharing with us his divine life, Jesus healed the human relationship with God, which was destroyed by the Fall of our first parents.[15] We recognise Jesus, therefore, as Saviour as well as Redeemer (the word ‘Saviour’ deriving from the Latin word for ‘healing’).

Jesus continues to heal our relationship with God as he empowers us to love and to live as he showed in the gospels. It is his saving power which empowers us as we seek his help, for example

to welcome those others consider ‘worthless’ (in the Roman empire, a child had no commercial value, unlike slaves)[16]
to give good example to others[17]
to remain faithful to marriage vows until death[18]
to dedicate our lives to God before all else[19]
to leave anyone or anything preventing us from following Jesus[20]
to lead by service, not power[21]

Experiencing the Risen Jesus as Redeemer and Saviour

We open ourselves to experiences of the Risen Jesus as Redeemer by seeking his power to free us from experiences of sin before and after the law: we open ourselves to experiences of the Risen Jesus as Saviour by nurturing the divine life he shares with us, particularly by receiving him in the Eucharist, and seeking his power when we struggle to live as be taught.

Redemption and salvation, therefore, are like two sides of the same coin. We reflect on each separately to deepen in appreciation for the ways the Risen Jesus seeks to help us in our daily lives.

Adopted children of God

What does sharing in Jesus’ divine life teach us further about ourselves? We learn we are adopted children of God.

To share in Jesus’ own divine life, we need to share his divine nature. Hence, as the Second Letter of Peter reminds us[22]

His divine power has given us all the things that we need for life… so that through them you should share the divine nature…

Jesus, like us, is human by nature. However, whereas he is divine by nature, we became divine through Baptism by adoption.

Sharing God’s own nature, we then become adopted children of God – something not possible if we remained human alone. We share the intimacy of the relationship between Jesus, the Son, and God the Father.

Like, him, we can call God ‘Abba’ – a term of deep affection by an adult child for their father.[23]

Members of God’s family

Adopted children of God form a family, God’s family, which Jesus called his ‘church’.[24]

Within his Church, to all who share his divine life, the Risen Jesus is a brother.[25]

…that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters…

The baptised, therefore, belong both to God and to each other. This is why the life of each affects the others.[26]

As we grow in holiness through Christ’s power, his whole family or Church grows in holiness. If we sin, the holiness of the whole Church weakens.

The Christian life, therefore, never affects just the individual baptised believer. We are a family, and each of us affects others.

Members of Christ’s Body share in his mission

Since Jesus is the Source of the divine life we share through Baptism, we speak of him as Head of the Church – as the head of a river or a fountain is the source of its water. He shares with us the Holy Spirit.

As a body, therefore, we form this Body of Christ in today’s world. He is our Head.[27]

We, then, are called to continue the mission of Jesus to the humanity of our time – which is to lead all to him so that they may ‘have life and have it to the full’. As Jesus cared for the sick, the young and those in need, so, as a body, do parish and wider Church bodies. As Individuals too, we should each be playing whatever part we can in our families, among our friends, in our parishes and wider communities.

As Jesus prayed for others, taught and showed love in other ways, so are we called to as a body and as individual members. These are a few examples.

Conversation with Christ

Before we continue this Easter Mass, let us pause to converse with the Risen Jesus in our hearts. Let us ask for the faith to always seek his power as Redeemer and Saviour for our daily lives.

The more we do so, the more we can tell others ‘He is Risen!’ – for we will know this

through personal experiences.

Bishop Gerard Holohan

11 April 2020

[1] Mark 10: 9-12; Matthew 5: 28-30; Mark 7: 21

[2] E.g. Luke 24:36; John 20:17

[3] John 20:24-29; Luke 24:42-43

[4] John 20:11-18

[5] Matthew 28: 1-10, John 20:19-29, Luke 24:13-35

[6] 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8

[7] 1 Corinthians 15: 6

[8] Matthew 3: 15

[9] Romans 6: 3

[10] Matthew 3: 16

[11] Luke 3: 21-22

[12] John 10: 10

[13] Romans 6: 4

[14] Romans 6: 11

[15] Genesis 3

[16] Mark 9: 33-37

[17] Mark 9: 42-50

[18] Mark 10: 1-12

[19] Mark 10: 17-27

[20] Mark 10: 28-31

[21] Mark 10: 41-45

[22] 2 Peter 1: 3-4

[23] Mark 14: 36; Romans 8: 15; Galatians 4: 6

[24] Matthew 16: 18

[25] Hebrews 2: 11

[26] Romans 14: 7

[27] Colossians 1: 18

Good Friday 2020

Good Friday

MAKING SENSE OF DIFFICULT TIMES

– Homilies for a Time of Pandemic –

‘I know that my Redeemer Lives’

Today, we celebrate Jesus taking the path he foretold he must take for the triumph of his Resurrection, namely the path through suffering and death. The Gospel of John makes clear, as do the other gospels, that Jesus chose this path willingly. In John, for example, we heard how [1]

Jesus could have walked away when the solders fell down after he told them ‘I am he’.
Jesus refused to cooperate with Pilate by answering his questions.

In the first reading of this Liturgy, we heard of the Suffering Servant of God who bore the sins of many. Jesus identified himself with this prophecy. He taught that [2]

… the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus fulfilled this text when he gave up his life on the cross.

Though not sinless like Jesus, we too know the experience of bearing the sins of others. In our case, we have been bearing the sins of criminal priests who abused minors and of bishops who failed to protect the young.

Our sufferings in no way compare with those of survivors. However, we have still suffered embarrassment, humiliation and ridicule within families, wider communities and media.

Jesus the Redeemer

When Jesus spoke of his life being ‘a ransom for many’, he was using the language of a world which knew slavery and redemption. A person could be enslaved for not paying a debt. If another paid the debt, leading to the person’s freedom, they were his or her redeemer. [3]

Jesus fulfilled the Suffering Servant prophecy by redeeming the human race from sin. Sin was thought of in two senses in those times. The first was sin before God gave the ‘law’ or Ten Commandments, and sin after the law. [4]

Sin before the law referred to everything in human nature which was not part of God’s original creation. Sin after the law referred to behaviour which broke commandments.

How close am I to Christ my Redeemer?

The foundation of the Christian life is a personal relationship with the Risen Jesus himself. We only come to know others through our personal experiences of them.

Today, we need to reflect upon how close is our personal relationship with Jesus as our Redeemer. We need to ask ourselves whether we are taking all the opportunities to experience his redemptive power in our daily lives.

Jesus conquers sin ‘before the law’

Jesus began his ministry by showing his power to be greater than that of Satan. After rejecting Satan’s temptations, [5] he proceeded to perform miracles which demonstrated ways his redemptive power can help people in their lives.

A power which heals

Jesus first performed miracles of healing the sick. [6] He revealed his to be a healing power.

As we reflect this Good Friday upon how Jesus gave his life for us, we need to ask ourselves:

‘Do I seek the redeeming power of the Risen Jesus to heal me in my daily prayer and the Eucharist?’

As we reflect upon our lives in this time when so many of our activities have stopped, we may find life hurts from childhood or a marriage breakdown; from rejected job applications or low self esteem; from ridicule by others or a sense of failure; from betrayal by a friend or a business partner. The possibilities are endless.

Then there is illness. We can experience cures by Jesus if these are for our good – that is, if they will help us on our journey to be with God in the next life, the goal God sees as the ultimate good. [7]

Otherwise, through Jesus, we can experience comfort and inner peace in illness as we seek his power, particularly though the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Through this Sacrament, we can experience [8]

strengthening, peace and courage
closer union with Jesus’ own sufferings, and the power of his Resurrection to help and support us
a sense of purpose in our suffering if we offer it for the benefit of others we pray for, or for all people
the strength to face death if we are dying.

A power which brings inner freedom

Jesus freed cripples and the maimed from various physical disabilities. [9] He showed his to be a liberating power from what can cripple our efforts to be who Christ calls us to be in our daily lives.

As we reflect on our lives this Good Friday, we need to ask ourselves: ‘Do I seek the redeeming power of the Risen Jesus to free me in my daily prayer and the Eucharist?’

Examples could be a quick temper, a shy personality, a habit that is hard to break; a fear of being unpopular, a vice, a personality weakness, an attitude or a bias. It is for each to know him or herself.

Then again, in the modern world, there are stresses and other experiences which can affect our mental health to the extent that they control aspects of our behaviour. We need professional help, but be afraid, to seek it.

Again, if this is our experience, ‘Do I seek the redeeming power of the Risen Jesus to free me in my daily prayer and the Eucharist?’

A power which gives new ‘sight’

Jesus restored sight to the blind. [10] There are many levels of blindness or situations in life when we cannot ‘see’.

Many people cannot see the goodness within themselves or others. We can be confused about who we are; our life’s meaning and direction; the path through problems and difficulties.

We may not be able to ‘see’ how to solve a relationship problem; how to discipline a teenager without risking alienation; whether it is best to take out a mortgage. We may be blinded by prejudice, racism or a person’s past.

As we reflect in this Good Friday celebration of the Risen Jesus as Redeemer, we need to ask ourselves ‘Do I seek his redeeming power so that I can see through the blindnesess in my life?’

A power which frees from Satan’s power

Jesus taught that Satan is the great deceiver. [11] Satan’s greatest successes are those people who do not believe that he exists. Such people are greatly vulnerable spiritually to this malevolent being for they see no danger.

Jesus revealed his power to be greater than that of Satan. First, he resisted temptations by Satan. [12] Then he demonstrated his power over Satan by casting him and his demons out of the possessed. [13]

We are under Satan’s power, every time we give into temptations and sin; every time a vice dominates us; every time we give into selfishness and human weaknesses.

We need, therefore, to ask ourselves: ‘Do I seek the redeeming power of the Risen Jesus to rise above temptations, vices and my personal weaknesses?’

A renewing power

Jesus showed that he could raise the dead. Well known examples are the daughter of Jairus; the son of the widow in the town of Nain; and Lazarus. [14]

The renewal of the lives of these people was radically different from the Resurrection of Jesus. For one thing, they would die again, whereas Jesus will not.

Jesus’ power, then, is an inner renewing power. We need this when disappointed, discouraged or depressed. We experience it every time we turn towards God, and away from thoughts and behaviour which are contrary to Jesus’ teachings.

Again, in this liturgical celebration of the Risen Jesus as Redeemer, we need to ask ourselves ‘Do I seek his redeeming power to renew me in times when I feel like giving up?’

Jesus conquers sin ‘after the law’

Jesus also healed a crippled man to show he could forgive sins as a result of disobeying God’s laws as he taught them. We read him commanding in the Gospel of Mark [Mark 2:10-11].

But so that you may know that the Son of man has authority to forgive sins on earth – he said to the paralytic – I say to you: get up, pick up your mat, and go off home.

Jesus taught that ‘everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin’. [15]

So that we could experience all our sins being forgiven, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. After his Resurrection, he taught the Apostles [16]

If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.

In this Good Friday celebration, we need to ask ourselves: ‘Do I seek the redeeming power of the Risen Jesus through his forgiveness of my sins, especially through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation?’

Conversations with Christ

As we have reflected upon personal experiences of the Risen Jesus as Redeemer, the real question is ‘Do we believe in him as Redeemer?’

Let us pause for silent conversation with the Risen Jesus, asking him for the faith to seek his redemptive power every time that we need

healing
inner freedom
new sight
freedom from the influence of Satan
personal renewal
and forgiveness of our sins.

Every time that I have an experience of his redeeming power, I can say: ‘I know that my redeemer lives’ [Job 19:25]

Bishop Gerard Holohan

10 April 2020

[1] John 18:6, 10

[2] Matthew 20:28

[3] See Luke 18:35

[4] Romans 5:12

[5] Matthew 4:1-11

[6] Eg Mark 1:31, 34 etc

[7] Matthew 7:11

[8] Catechism of the Catholic Church 1520-1523

[9] Mark 2:1-12; 3:1-6; 8:31-37 etc

[10] eg Mark 10:46-52

[11] John 8:44

[12] Matthew 4:1-11

[13] eg Mark 1:24; 5:1-20

[14] Luke 7:14; 8:34; John 11:43

[15] John 8:34

[16] John 20:23

Mass of the Last Supper 2020

MAKING SENSE OF DIFFICULT TIMES

– Homilies for a Time of Pandemic –

* Christ empowers Christian love *

One of the consequences of the regulations we now have to protect as many as possible from the coronavirus is pressure on our capacity to love. Many are not used to spending so much time at home together because social venues are closed – hotels, restaurants, bars, sports venues and so on. Tolerance can be a problem.

Many too are not used to thinking of new ways of reaching out to others living in isolation. The elderly being in locked down care facilities have a special need for other forms of contact.

Teenagers may be growing in frustration at not being able to engage in their normal social groups. Then there will be families who are trying to cope with a drug addicted member who can no longer get drugs.

These and countless other examples highlight how challenging people may find it to love others.

As we reflect upon the action of Jesus during the Last Supper, we are reminded that the Risen Jesus seeks to empower us to love.

Christian love different from purely human love

We just need to listen to songs on the radio, watch dramas on TV or read basic literature to realise that there are many ideas about what is love. Hence love is common to people of all religions and no religion.

No religion has a monopoly on human love as even people who reject any notion of God love in human ways. The source of human love is human nature, which our Creator created in the image and likeness of a loving God. [1]

Jesus, on the other hand, taught Christian love. This is the love which strengthens human love of those who relate with God in the ways Jesus taught.

Human love is weakened by selfishness, jealousies, resentments, desires for revenge, greed and a range of other human weaknesses. Christian love grows gradually in the responsive so that, increasingly, they can rise above these weaknesses.

Human love will struggle in many of the relationship situations people face in this period of social isolation. For those who relate with God in the ways Jesus taught, there will be gradual empowerment to rise above the challenges of these times.

Jesus prepared his listeners before teaching Christian love

Like any good teacher, Jesus prepared his hearers in stages before teaching Christian love. What is critical to observe is that Jesus always taught about how he would empower people before he taught the demands of Christian love.

To present any Gospel demand outside the context of empowerment by Christ is to set people up for failure. Many who have given up religious practice have done so because they found Jesus’ teachings too hard.

The Golden Rule

Jesus began his ministry by proclaiming the kingdom of God being greater than the kingdom of Satan. [2] Those who ‘repent and believe’ in him can seek his power to conquer all within them that was not part of God’s original creation before the Fall. This includes the human weaknesses which undermine people’s efforts to love.

In this context, Jesus taught the so-called ‘Golden Rule’ [3]

So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus here was teaching the real meaning of what his hearers knew as the ‘Silver Rule’ [4]

Do to no one what you would not want done to yourself.

The Golden Rule in the context of the kingdom is to do loving things, drawing on Christ’s power to rise above human weaknesses which make this difficult – regardless of how we feel about the other person. It is to love even if we do not like the other person.

The two greatest commandments in the Law

Next, Jesus taught what were the two greatest Commandments in the Law of the Sinai Covenant [5]

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.

But before this, he taught the kingdom also as drawing on the power of his Resurrection. Obviously, a power which causes the dead to rise can empower to love in greater ways than could have human love alone. As death is the greatest of all human limitations, no human weakness or failing is beyond the power of Christ’s Resurrection.

Jesus taught that he would suffer and die and rise again. [6] Then he taught that his followers need to follow the same path so that they too could experience the power of his

Resurrection [7]

Anyone who wants to be a follower of mine must renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

The first great Commandment is to love God so that we can be empowered to love our neighbour as ourselves. But this love is not just doing loving things: it is actually to love from the heart – which is much more difficult.

However, again, Jesus is teaching the proper understanding of the love God commanded before Jesus came.

What is Christian love?

Finally, Jesus taught that the reason he came was to share with all who believed his own divine life through Baptism [8]

I came that they may have life and have it to the full.

This life is experienced as divine love, which is why the First Letter of John proclaims in relation to Christian love [9]

No one who fails to love knows God, because God is love.

This is the love which the Holy Spirit communicates with the divine life through Baptism [10]

… since the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit …

The need for the Eucharist to nourish this love

As human life needs nourishment to grow, so the divine life which Jesus shares needs nourishment to grow stronger in our hearts and our lives. He stressed that we need to nourish this life, and so this love, with the Eucharist.

Speaking in the cultural manner of his time, where absolute terms were used for emphasis, we read him saying in John’s Gospel [11]

… if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life …

No one can nourish the divine life without the Eucharist and so the Eucharist is essential for anyone seeking to live the Christian life as Jesus taught it. This is why we have the Catholic practice of Mass on the Lord’s Day.

The love commandment of Jesus

Only in the context of the Last Supper, where Jesus gave us the Eucharist, did he give his own love commandment [12]

This is my commandment, that you should love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.

Christian love, therefore, empowered by the Holy Spirit and nourished with the Eucharist, is self sacrificing love. It is Christ-like love.

It is not just treating others as we want them to treat us – or loving others as we love ourselves. It is self sacrificing.

It is the love St Paul described in the text which is so attractive to couples in their marriage ceremony [13]

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not jealous; love is not boastful, or puffed up or rude; it does not insist on its rights, it does not take offence, it does not plan evil, it does not rejoice at wrong doing … it puts up with everything.

The words of St Paul are like pieces of the mosaic portraying the vision of Christian love to which all the baptised can aspire. People’s journeys towards this vision will differ with their personalities.

The shy may be at a different stage onn the journey from the extrovert; the person from an unhappy childhood from someone who grew up in a happy family. As Jesus taught, we

can never judge. [14]

Examples of how we fail to love in these ways are examples of our need to keep striving to nurture the divine life we share with Jesus through our Baptism.

Many today find that they lack the strength to love in times of challenge because they have not been receiving the Eucharist, and so are suffering from spiritual malnutrition.

Jesus modelled this love

To help his disciples understand that his death was a choice to love, Jesus during the Last Supper modelled Christian love as service by washing their feet.

As the Teacher, Jesus could expect to be waited upon by his disciples. The disciples could expect to be served by a slave.

Jesus dressed like a slave and washed his disciples’ feet, an act so culturally shocking that Peter said ‘You shall never wash my feet’. [15] Yet, Jesus taught [16]

If I, then, the Teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

Jesus taught Christian love, therefore, as a love he empowers by sharing his own divine life – and love. He calls his followers to keep striving to grow in this love, for it is a life-time journey. Believers will be at different stages for personality and other reasons.

Today, it is all too common for people to be condemned as ‘not being Christian’ because they fail to love in some way or another. Jesus never intended his teachings on love to be used as bats with which to beat others.

To love as a Christian is to encourage and affirm ways others are reflecting Christian love, encouraging them too to seek Christ’s power always.

Conversation with Christ

As I mentioned at the start, these testing times will certainly test people’s capacity to love. There can be greater demands than normal for tolerance, forgiveness, patience, compassion, understanding and other challenges.

Though we cannot receive the Eucharist at present, we can turn to the Risen Jesus and seek his power to help us love by conversing with him daily about challenges to our efforts to love. Whatever our starting point, we will find ourselves empowered to love a little more than possibly previously.

Let us pause now, asking the Lord in our own words for greater faith in his empowerment so that we may seek it in our efforts to love in these trying times.

Bishop Gerard Holohan

9 April 2020

[1] Genesis 1:27

[2] Mark 1:15; Matthew 12:25

[3] Matthew 7:12

[4] Tobias 4:15

[5] Luke 10:27

[6] Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33-34

[7] Mark 8:34

[8] John 10:10

[9] 1 John 4:8

[10] Romans 5:5

[11] John 6:53-54

[12] John 15:12-13

[13] 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

[14] Matthew 7:1

[15] John 13:8

[16] John 13:14

PALM SUNDAY 2020

Palm Sunday Mass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ptvNMl6DU&

First Reading – Is 50:4-7

I did not cover my face against insult and I know I will not be ashamed.

The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue.
So that I may know how to reply to the wearied
he provides me with speech.
Each morning he wakes me to hear,
to listen like a disciple.
The Lord has opened my ear.
For my part, I made no resistance,
neither did I turn away.
I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my face
against insult and spittle.
The Lord comes to my help,
so that I am untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my face like flint;
I know I shall not be shamed.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 21:8-9. 17-20. 23-24. R. v.2

(R.) My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Second Reading – Phil 2:6-11

He humbled himself to become like us and God raised him on high.

His state was divine,
yet Christ Jesus did not cling
to his equality with God
but emptied himself
to assume the condition of a slave,
and became as men are,
and being as all men are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all other names
so that all beings
in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father..

Gospel Acclamation

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!

Christ became obedient for us even to death

dying on the cross.

Therefore God raised him on high

and gave him a name above all other names.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!

Gospel – Mt 27:11-54

The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, the governor, and the governor put to him this question, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘It is you who say it.’ But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders he refused to answer at all. Pilate then said to him, ‘Do you not hear how many charges they have brought against you?’ But to the governor’s complete amazement, he offered no reply to any of the charges.

At festival time it was the governor’s practice to release a prisoner for the people, anyone they chose. Now there was at that time a notorious prisoner whose name was Barabbas. So when the crowd gathered, Pilate said to them, ‘Which do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’ For Pilate knew it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.

Now as he was seated in the chair of judgement, his wife sent him a message, ‘Have nothing to do with that man; I have been upset all day by a dream I had about him.’

The chief priests and the elders, however, had persuaded the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus. So when the governor spoke and asked them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ they said ‘Barabbas’. ‘But in that case,’ Pilate said to them ‘what am I to do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’ ‘Why?’ he asked ‘What harm has he done?’ But they shouted all the louder, ‘Let him be crucified!’ Then Pilate saw that he was making no impression, that in fact a riot was imminent. So he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd and said, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your concern.’ And the people, to a man, shouted back, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’ Then he released Barabbas for them. He ordered Jesus to be first scourged and then handed over to be crucified.

The governor’s soldiers took Jesus with them into the Praetorium and collected the whole cohort around him. Then they stripped him and made him wear a scarlet cloak, and having twisted some thorns into a crown they put this on his head and placed a reed in his right hand. To make fun of him they knelt to him saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head with it. And when they had finished making fun of him, they took off the cloak and dressed him in his own clothes and led him away to crucify him.

On their way out, they came across a man from Cyrene, Simon by name, and enlisted him to carry his cross. When they had reached a place called Golgotha, that is, the place of the skull, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall, which he tasted but refused to drink. When they had finished crucifying him they shared out his clothing by casting lots, and then sat down and stayed there keeping guard over him.

Above his head was placed the charge against him; it read: ‘This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.’ At the same time two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.

The passers-by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said ‘So you would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself! If you are God’s son, come down from the cross!’ The chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him in the same way. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He put his trust in God; now let God rescue him if he wants him. For he did say, “I am the son of God.”’ Even the robbers who were crucified with him taunted him in the same way.

From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When some of those who stood there heard this, they said, ‘The man is calling on Elijah,’ and one of them quickly ran to get a sponge which he dipped in vinegar and putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink. ‘Wait!’ said the rest of them ‘and see if Elijah will come to save him.’ But Jesus again crying out in a loud voice, yielded up his spirit.

At that, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked; the rocks were split; the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy men rose from the dead, and these, after his resurrection, came out of the tombs, entered the Holy City and appeared to a number of people. Meanwhile the centurion, together with the others guarding Jesus, had seen the earthquake and all that was taking place, and they were terrified and said, ‘In truth this was a son of God.’

© The scriptural quotations are taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Co Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. The English translation of the Psalm Responses, the Alleluia and Gospel Verses, and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, and the Titles, Summaries, and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass © 1997, 1981, 1968, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mass Fifth Sunday in Lent 2020

Fifth Sunday of Lent 2020

MAKING SENSE OF DIFFICULT TIMES

– Homilies for a Time of Pandemic –

The quality of our lives is a common preoccupation of human beings. People look for happiness and keep modifying their daily lives in ways they think will help them to find it.

Many look more deeply for a happiness which stays for their whole lives from their youth to their twilight years: a happiness which remains whether they are well or sick; able bodied or disabled.

Such happiness needs to be deeper than the emotions so that it is not lost in times of fear or distress; pressures or reversals. It is a happiness which grows and remains regardless of whatever challenges life brings.

The happiness the Risen Jesus makes possible

This is the happiness which God alone can give. We cannot earn it or achieve it by human effort alone.

It is the happiness which grows as the life of God, or ‘eternal life’, grows within us. This is the life Jesus offers all who believe in him. He taught that it was to share this life that he came [1]

I came that they may have life and have it to the full.

Seeing Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead must have shocked most who were present. Martha’s words in John’s account hinted a deeper faith in who Jesus is. [2]

If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.

Jesus then spoke of himself, not merely as someone whose prayer can bring about the seemingly impossible, but as the actual source of God’s life for people [3]

I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

As was common in the culture of the time, Jesus was playing with different meanings of the word ‘life’. His further teaching on human and eternal life can be summarised as

human life finishes in this world when the person’s soul leaves their body
the human soul is immortal, and so lives on forever
body and soul are reunited at the Resurrection of all the dead when he comes again
through Jesus, the human soul becomes united with God’s own life through Baptism
God’s life changes a person from within as he or she nurtures it in ways Jesus taught.

Eternal life an inner experience

The deep happiness for which people yearn grows within the baptised as they nurture the life of God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – within them. Jesus likened this experience to an ‘inner spring of water’ which ‘wells up’ as it is nurtured. [4]

Jesus always taught Christianity as an empowerment faith – a faith which God within empowers the responsive to live. The capacity of believers to live Jesus teachings – especially the more difficult ones – depends on their personal relationships with himself, the oOne who strengthens divine life within them.

Outside this context, many of Christ’s teachings about forgiveness, marriage and turning the other cheek would be no more than impossible dreams.

The Eucharist

Jesus emphasised that God’s life needs to be nourished by the Eucharist. Using the absolutist speaking style of the time for the purpose of emphasis, he taught [5]

… if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life …

This is one reason why Catholics share in the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day each week.

‘Knowing’ God

As believers have experiences of God’s life, they come ‘to know’ God. This is much more then just ‘knowing about’ God. He prayed to God the Father

And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Experiences of eternal life in daily life

God’s life changes the responsive from within. They grow to think, think, feel and behave more like Jesus. Different personalities have different starting points, but the same basic experience applies to all.

Let me give two examples of experiences of divine life which Jesus wishes for us in our daily lives – especially now.

The love of the Son of God for people led him to give his life for all. This was the context within which he taught Christian love [6]

This is my commandment, that you should love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.

Christian love, therefore, is the self sacrificing love empowered by divine life. While he also clarified the meaning of love commandments of the Old Testament when teaching the Golden Rule and the two great commandments to love God and one’s neighbour as oneself, these are not the love commandment of Jesus himself.

Jesus gave examples of Christian love when he taught that his followers should, for example,

not merely live God’s laws externally, but from the heart. (The Fifth Commandment, for example, not only forbids murder but also anger directed at another person [7]
never judge others [8]
love those in need of the basics for life [9]
remain faithful in marriage until death [10]
welcome those others think worthless [11]
resist the lure of materialism [12]
be servants to all [13]
love enemies. [14]

Christian self-sacrificing love is being called for in the current pandemic. For example

grand parents and grand children need to sacrifice treasured time together to avoid becoming sources of infection for each other and for others
we are all called not to engage in hoarding
we need to look out and help others with shopping
people need to be tolerant and patient towards each other as they spend more time than usual inside their homes together
we need to forgive when others annoy or hurt us in times of frustration.

Growth in wisdom

In the scriptures, wisdom is the gift which enables us to see life, others and ourselves as God does. This gift grows with the divine life within us. It enables us

to see through negative thoughts and feelings to recognise reality, especially the good
to find solutions to problems
to think clearly through times of confusion
to recognise the goodness in others, even when they frustrate us
to find hope in times of despair
to see a path to the future in times of difficulty.

At the present time, many people are in a state of shock as their lives have been turned upside down due to the sudden unemployment, the financial collapse of a business, the closure of schools, the loss of the company of friends because of self isolation.

The wisdom of God can lead us through all such personal crisis.

We nurture the divine life within us, therefore, every time we seek to draw on its power. Two important ways are to draw its power to love in Christian self-sacrificing ways and to seek wisdom in our present crisis.

And as we allow the influence of God’s life to grow within us, the deeper happiness for which the human heart yearns grows.

Let us pause now for a few moments to share with Christ in conversation in our hearts where we need the power of eternal life

to overcome challenges to love as Jesus taught
to see the way through our present problems.

Let us open ourselves to the only one who can lead us to true happiness.

Bishop Gerard Holohan

28/29 March 2020

[1] John 10:10

[2] John 11:21

[3] John 11:25

[4] John 4:14

[5] John 6:53-54

[6] John 15:12-13

[7] Matthew 5:22

[8] Matthew 7:1-5

[9] Matthew 25:31-46

[10] Mark 10:9-12

[11] Mark 9:37

[12] Mark 10:21-27

[13] Mark 10:43-45

[14] Luke 6:27-30

COVID19 Update to All Parishes Issued March 24th 2020

TO PARISHIONERS OF PARISHES IN THE BUNBURY DIOCESE

Dear Brothers and Sisters

For the first time in our memories, it is no longer possible to celebrate public masses in Australia. No one can say how long this situation will continue.

For the moment, therefore, I need to clarify what is demanded of us – Priests, Deacons, Consecrated Religious and people – while current Orders are in place.

All churches are to be closed

Please ensure that all churches and chapels are locked closed until further notice. No one is to be admitted into a church for any reason.

Masses and public devotions

The Sunday Mass obligation is suspended for everyone but priests at present – so no one should feel guilty about missing Mass while the coronavirus remains in the community.

No public Masses

There are to be no public Masses or public devotions until further notice. This will be a real hardship for many Catholics, I know, but there is no other option at present.

However, the Lord is still with us and we can still pray parts of the Mass in our homes.

Cathedral streaming

There will be Mass streamed from the cathedral each Sunday when we cannot celebrate public Masses. The cathedral Mass will also be available on YouTube.

Spiritual offering

Like many areas of the world where Catholics are deprived of weekly Mass because of persecution or a shortage of priests, we can

Repent of our sins by praying the Penitential Act
Pray for our personal intentions before the Collect Prayer
Reflect prayerfully on the scripture readings, asking the Lord to see how they relate to our personal lives and situations
Unite ourselves with the Lord by offering our own lives and crosses as we pray the words of the Preface and Eucharistic Prayer
Pray a spiritual Communion Prayer, such as

My Jesus,
I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if You were already there.
And unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.

Mass readings and reflections on the scriptures can be found also on numerous websites.

Some Parishes will be streaming Masses also.

Home prayer and devotions

Those less familiar with technology can use the time they normally participate in the parish Mass to pray devotions. The decades of the Rosary is a common example. We could pray the four mysteries – the Joyful, Light, Sorrowful and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary.

The main thing is to give time to the Lord as best we can.

Priests, Deacons and Consecrated Religious

Priests will continue to celebrate private Masses on their own. I ask them to offer Masses periodically for the sick; those working hard to protect the community; those caring for the sick; for the protection of the community from the further spread of the virus.

I ask Priests, Deacons and Consecrated Religious to include these intentions when they pray the Prayer of the Church each day.

The celebration of Baptism

Celebrations of Baptism should be postponed until further notice – except where there is danger of death.

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation

This Sacrament will not be available inside churches or other buildings until further notice – either the First, Second or Third forms.

Parishioners should make sincere examinations of their consciences and pray an Act of Contrition from their hearts.

If individuals feel still that they need to go to confession for reasons other than personal devotion, Priests should agree if requested only if the conditions for hygiene can be strictly followed outside a church or other building.

Under no circumstances should Confessions outside buildings be advertised: they should be ad hoc and only upon specific request.

All Catholics are dispensed of their annual duty in relation to this Sacrament.

Weddings and funerals

These may be held in a church for a very small group, normally the immediate family only. The church is to be opened to admit them and closed again once they have been admitted. It should not be left open.

Pastoral visits to the sick, the frail shut-ins and the elderly

These people need to be cared for especially by Priests and Deacons – provided they are low risk where the catching of coronavirus is concerned. However the normal hygiene regulations must be adhered to strictly.

Under no circumstances should the person be touched.

Priests must ensure that their own health will never be at risk.

Priests should wash their hands carefully before and immediately after the visit –before they touch the doors or steering wheels of their cars.

Holy Communion

Holy Communion can be given only in the hand, never on the tongue.

The Sacrament of Anointing

For the celebration of this Sacrament

The Laying on of Hands should be only over the head of the person receiving the sacrament – the head should never be touched
The priest should use a cotton wool ball or a glove for the anointing
Anointing the head alone will be sufficient – not the hands.

Conclusion

It is sad that we have come to this situation in Australia. However, we must do everything in our power to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Let us all pray that the Lord, who always brings good out of evil, will help us to see also what we can do for the good of others.

We can pray for all, but especially for those for whom this will be a time of reassessment of their lives and values and an opportunity to return to God.

God bless you all

Most Rev Gerard J Holohan

Bishop of Bunbury

Forth Sunday in Lent 2020

MAKING SENSE OF DIFFICULT TIMES

– Homilies for a Time of Pandemic –

* Fourth Sunday of Lent *

To say that these are unsettling times is something of an understatement. In a country that seemed so secure, we now find

we are facing a disease over which we have absolutely no control
freedoms we have taken for granted, such as gathering whenever and with who we please, being taken away
our national self image – ‘We are one, we are many … we are Australians’ – battered by TV images of grocery hoarding and people fighting over toilet paper
grand parents and grand children being isolated from each other.

For many, Australia feels something like a yacht in a storm that has lost is keel.

Natural reactions

The national regulations we are now following to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus have come as a bolt out of the blue. Who would have imagined them three weeks ago? Necessarily, they are leaving us shocked.

People now are realising the seriousness of our situation. Inevitably, over coming months, many will begin to reflect on their lives” ‘Where am I going with my life?’ ‘How can I reconcile with others after neglecting relationships?’ ‘Do I have the right life priorities’? ‘What are the meaning and purpose of my life?’ ‘Should I be getting more from life?’ These are five of the countless possible examples.

We have been told too that some will die as a result of this virus. This will be disturbing for those who fear death. So often we find people trying to sugar coat grief and the reality that eventually we will all have to account for our lives by speaking in terms of ‘celebrating the person’s life’.

The regulations inevitably will show the pace of life. People will have more time to think. New opportunities for love and doing good will emerge. People will have more time to ‘get in touch’ with themselves.

Life will change.

Remember who we are: children of the light

St Paul reminds us in the Second Scripture Reading of this Mass that we are ‘children of the light’. The ‘light’, of course, is God. We are God’s children because, through Baptism, we share in the divine life of Jesus himself, the life of God.

The contrast is darkness – a life without a relationship with God and the subsequent loss of Christ’s guidance and power through the Holy Spirit to help us. This darkness is growing across our land – around a third of all Australians, for example, declared themselves ‘atheist’ in the last national census. The decline in Christian values across the country is obvious. The decline in worship and other religious practices show that many are no longer relating with God in the ways Jesus taught.

As a result, many Australians will be facing heart questions and other challenges without Christ’s guidance or power for their lives. This will have consequences for their personal lives, their relationships and how they cope with difficulties such as physical distancing.

Live as children of the light

St Paul urges us to live as children of the light. Jesus told us that [1]

… your light must shine for people, so that they may see your good work and give praise to your Father in heaven.

Take opportunities to love

Let us first behave as children of the light by taking every opportunity that we can to love others in this time of crisis – especially those who need help getting food; those whose loneliness we can relieve with a phone call. These are our neighbours, even if we have not yet met them. There will be other opportunities if we keep alert to them.

Share a Gospel perspective

As people face their human heart questions, we need to share with them the insights of our faith. We do so in a spirit of sharing, never imposing. Let me take just two of many possible examples. I will suggest others over coming months.

Two examples

The first example is the gradual biblical revelation that God brings good out of evil. A well known example is the last story of Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his brothers but became like the Prime Minister of Egypt.

In the scene of Joseph’s death, his brothers feared he would have them killed for their betrayal. However, Joseph says [2]

Do not be afraid: am I in the place of God? You planned to do me harm, but God has turned it to good …

So often, believers going though crises have said to me: ‘I could not have survived without our faith’. They experienced personally the presence, guidance and strengthening of God.

Others suffering tragedy, such as the death of a child, have discovered friends and others coming forward to help in surprising ways. Whenever there is love and goodness, there too is the touch of God – even though those moved by God may not be aware of this.

We need to be people of hope, therefore, for God is with us and will remain with us no matter what unknown we have to face.

The pandemic is not a punishment from God

Some, of course, may not know well the God revealed gradually over the books of the Bible. They may suggest that the pandemic is the punishment of God on people who have turned from their Creator.

This is a similar mind set to those in today’s Gospel who asked whether the man’s blindness was punishment for sin. [3] Jesus quickly dismissed this idea and focussed upon giving the blind man sight.

We too need to be quick to dismiss any suggestion that God caused the pandemic to punish people. Such a suggestion shows little actual knowledge or personal relationship with God.

The meaning of death

The fact that Australians will die as a result of the coronavirus will cause fear in many. None of us can afford to ignore this possibility or fail to prepare ourselves.

From Christ’s teachings, we know that the destiny planned for all by God is the relationship with God called ‘heaven’. It is oneness with the God of infinite love and goodness which brings with it ever growing happiness.

However, even God cannot force a person into a relationship he or she does not want. People can only choose heaven freely.

Making this choice is the ultimate purpose of our lives in this world. We can all choose, therefore, not to accept heaven and experience instead the eternal separation from God called ‘hell’.

This certainly is not God’s wish. However, like the child who is disappointed by another who does not want to be his or her friend, God has to accept the choices of those who do not want to relate with their loving Creator.

Jesus taught that we show that we accept a relationship with God through Jesus by living his commandments. [4] Closeness with God, therefore, is not just a feeling. Keeping his commandments is the objective measure of closeness.

We know too that, though we may accept a relationship with God, we cannot experience heaven while there is any trace of selfishness or wrong in us. God, therefore, purifies us through ‘purgatory’ so that we can enjoy heaven. We are called to pray for souls in purgatory.

Personal conversation with Christ our Light

Like other Australians, the current crisis will stir questions in our hearts. We will find time on our hands and be more inclined to think about our lives. Grandparents will miss their grandchildren and many will become lonely through social isolation. Many will face terrible financial situations due to the loss of jobs and the closures of businesses.

We too will worry about how those close to us will cope, and even survive. We will be anxious about health risks to ourselves and others

We need to remember always that the Risen Jesus is present within us. We need to recall the challenge St Paul gave the Corinthians [5]

Do you not recognise that Jesus Christ is in you …

We need to remember too that, though there are many wonderful religious devotions, the most basic Christian devotion is daily personal conversation with Christ. It was through conversation with him that the blind man came to understand and recognise who Jesus is. [6]

He said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.

For some people, knowing that Christ is within them is like knowing that someone is next to them on a bus. The other person remains a stranger while there is no conversation, much less sharing of life.

We find his light guiding us for our lives and decisions as we grow to ‘know’ him, not just ‘know about’ him. We experience him as we share with him our most secret fears, concerns, questions, joys – and the rest of our lives.

This includes too questions about how to respond to the questions, issues and needs of others.

Silent conversation now

Let us pause now for silent conversation with Christ, who is within us. Let us share with him all that is in our hearts as we face the challenge of the coronavirus, along with our loved ones and others we encounter in our daily lives.

And let us do this every day of our lives.

Bishop Gerard Holohan

22nd March 2020

[1] Matthews 5:16

[2] Genesis 30:19-20

[3] John 9:3

[4] John 14:20

[5] 2 Corinthians 13:5

[6] John 9:38

Pilgrimage of St Therese of Lisieux and her parents Ss Louis and Zelie Martin

Bunbury Diocese Thurs 30 Apr – Mon 4 May 2020

Our Lady’s Assumption Church, Mandurah.
Midday 30 April to 9.30 am 1 May

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Bunbury
Midday to 4.30pm 1 May

Carmelite Monastery, Gelorup
5.30 – 8pm 1 May;
8am to 11am 2 May

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Bunbury
Midday 2 May to 3pm 3 May

Our Lady of the Bay Church, Busselton
5.30pm 3 May to 1.30pm 4 May

During the time in each Parish there will be celebration of the Eucharist, opportunities for individual Penance/Reconciliation, various devotions, veneration of the relics, liturgy of the hours, all night vigils, meditation, information about the Saints and their spirituality, rosary. Families, groups, students and individuals are invited to participate.

Please contact Deborah for assistance with accommodation and any further information.

Check Catholic Mission website to follow journey and find educational materials https://www.catholicmission.org.au/relics-of-saint-th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se-of-lisieux

Deborah Robertson
Diocesan Director – Bunbury
Mob 0474 928 765
Email bunbury.director@catholicmission.org.au

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