One Life

One Life
April 6, 2025    5th Sunday Lent – A (Scrutinies)
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    

For the last two weeks, at our 11 o’clock Mass, we have listened to and reflected on the first two of the three passages from St. John’s Gospel known as The Scrutinies – three specific Gospel passages that are meant to prepare us, through progressive revelations, for an encounter with Christ on our own spiritual journey.

The first was the story of the Woman at the Well.  An unnamed woman, a Samaritan, encounters Jesus at a well, and through his prophetic messages first she believes; and then others of her village come to believe in Jesus through her testimony.  Finally, others come to see Jesus for themselves and, upon hearing Jesus directly, also come to believe in him as the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world.  

Then last week we heard the story of the Man Born Blind.  This time an unnamed man, whose blindness was considered a sign of accursedness by God for sin by Jews, has his eyes opened both figuratively and spiritually.  His, too, was a gradual growth in faith, first in the healing of his blindness which Jesus points out was so that the works of God might be made visible through him, and then later when he acknowledged Jesus as a prophet before the Sanhedrin. Finally, when he encounters Jesus again after being thrown out of the synagogue, he confesses his belief in Jesus as the Son of Man and worships him.

Today we just heard the 3rd Scrutiny – the Death and Resurrection of Lazarus.

There’s an old saying that there are only two things in life that are certain: death and taxes.  And while if you’re poor enough or clever enough you might be able to avoid some taxes, it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re rich or poor, you’re going to die someday.  And sadly, the ones we love will die too.

But while death and the pain caused by it are inevitable, with faith we can find strength to continue on with our life.  And today’s Gospel gives us some pointers on the reality of our future, if we trust in God.

The story begins simply enough.  Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that his good friend, their brother Lazarus, is seriously ill.   They know about Jesus; more importantly, they know him and who he is – the Son of God. (The passage includes a bit of foreshadowing as well – it mentions that Mary anointed him with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair, although that doesn’t occur until after Lazarus has been raised from the dead.)

So, they reach out to Jesus to intercede on behalf of their brother.

Don’t we do the same thing whenever a family member or one of our friends is sick and in need of healing?  Reach out to our prayer groups and prayer warriors and ask them to storm heaven to intercede for us?  

But instead of going immediately to see Lazarus, Jesus stays on the other side of the Jordan.  His statement that Lazarus wasn’t going to die, that there was a purpose to his illness, may have seemed a little strange to his disciples but, as he had cured many people, maybe they thought he’d do the same thing remotely like the centurion’s slave or the royal official’s son.  After all, Lazarus lived near Jerusalem and the Jews there wanted to stone him.  Who’d blame him for staying where he was?

And then Lazarus died.  

It can be hard to imagine the pain and grief that Mary and Martha were going through unless you have experienced that kind of loss yourself – and most of us have.  Not just death of a loved one, although that is the ultimate loss, but it could have been the loss of a job; the loss of house and home through a natural disaster or other catastrophic event; or maybe a break-up in our relationship with another.  

We pray and pray and may even experience a glimmer of hope:  interviews for a better job; insurance payments or help from friends and family to compensate for our losses; the discovery of a miraculous cure or word that the cancer is in remission. 

And then the other shoe drops.

Mary and Martha probably felt that glimmer of hope as they sent word to Jesus, hoping that he would get there in time to heal Lazarus.  And when he didn’t; when their brother died and still Jesus didn’t show up right away, their grief must have been tremendous – along with feelings of frustration, despair and maybe even anger.  We see that in the accusations from Mary, Martha and their friends. 

First Martha: “Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

Then Mary, with the same words: “When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Finally, their friends: "Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?"

Their sobbing reflects their grief and mourning.

And Jesus wept.

Why did Jesus cry?  After all, Jesus knew that Lazarus wasn’t going to remain in the tomb.  He knew that, despite being buried for 4 days, Lazarus was going to rise and be with his family and friends, and that there would be great joy and celebration.  So why did Jesus weep?

Empathy.  Empathy is more than just witnessing another’s pain or joy; it is the ability to understand and SHARE the feelings of another, especially their feelings of sorrow and pain.  Jesus FELT their grief; their pain was real and no amount of knowledge that “everything will be all right” can take that pain away from them.
It was more than Jesus “knowing” that they were in pain; he FELT a pain that was so intense it made people cry.  And He Wept.

Now, if all this Gospel was about was Jesus performing a miraculous cure for Mary and Martha because Lazarus was a friend, then it would be a wonderful story but it wouldn’t tell us much about God the Father or Jesus his Son.  After all, Lazarus eventually died again and that time wasn’t raised from the dead.  So, what does this story tell us?

1.    God loves us and understands our pain in loss.
2.    Grief is natural and expected.
3.    There’s a purpose to our life – and death – which we may never fully understand.
4.    Even in death, there’s hope for those of faith.
5.    Jesus is calling us to come to him, even if we’re bound up in sin.
6.    No matter how tightly our sins bind us, they are not enough to keep God from freeing us.  
7.    Death is not the end of life – merely a prelude to something better.

Beginning next Sunday and throughout Holy Week, we will witness Jesus’ Passion and Death.  As we reflect on what we hear and see, let us remember that all of the scriptures which we heard today: Ezekial with God’s promise that the people will be raised from the grave of their exile and returned to the promised land; St. Paul’s letter to the Romans that “the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies”; and this story of Lazarus, are meant to remind us of God’s love for us and His promise that death isn’t an end for us.   Despite whatever deaths or other loss we will experience in our lives, there’s going to be an Easter morning for us too.  Remember:

One life is all we have.
One life is all we need.
And Jesus is that life.

The Pawn

The Pawn
April 6, 2025    5th Sunday Lent – C
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    

Have you ever played Chess? When I was very young, my dad taught me how to play. In order to keep me from being discouraged, though, he would play without his queen. He would still beat me, of course, but it helped prolong the game and taught me the value of strategy, and to look ahead at the bigger picture - the consequences of my actions. And it taught me that the value of sacrifice was sometimes necessary.

Of course, once I reached a point where I could beat him, he brought his queen back into the game.  

Today's gospel is often referred to as A Woman Caught in Adultery. but it might have been better called, The Pawn in a Game of Chess."

It follows the strategic moves by the scribes and Pharisees as they try to capture Jesus.  They are angry and afraid of Jesus as he confronts and disputes their teaching, and he backs up his words with his many miraculous signs such as the multiplication of the loaves and walking on water.  It follows his Bread of Life discourse and the increasing attempts by the authorities to capture and kill him.  They need to discredit Jesus and destroy his popularity among the people, so that they can execute him without turning the people against themselves.

You see, today's gospel isn't about the woman.  She is merely a pawn.  According to Jewish law, those caught in adultery were to be stoned as specified in Deuteronomy 22:20-24 and Leviticus 20:10. She was dragged through the streets by the Jewish authorities and placed on “trial” before Jesus.  She no doubt was humiliated, and more than a little scared – probably terrified.  The irony is that rarely was stoning used in similar situations at that time.  And where’s the man who was with her? According to the law, both were to be stoned.

And so, this Gospel isn’t about a woman’s sin and potential punishment, but about the use of bullying and intimidation to get something done.  Face it, I’ll bet that just about everyone here – young AND old – has been bullied or intimidated at some time in our life for the things we have done or not done.  It happens every day to the young people in our schools; and it happens every day to adults in the workplace.  Forced to do something because someone doesn’t like you?  Put down because you aren’t as handsome or cute or strong or smart or … whatever?    Harassed?  Bossed about at work?  How about pressured just because your beliefs differ from someone else’s?  You get the picture.  As we get older, we think that we can deal with bullying better but it never goes away.  It only changes form.

Or maybe, just maybe, we ourselves are the bully.  I know that while there have been many times in my life that I’ve been bullied and afraid, to be honest, there have been times when I’ve been the bully.  It is easy to be intimidating when you don’t like or approve of someone and you’re convinced you are in the right.

In this story, however, while the young woman was bullied and threatened by the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus was their real target.  Again, the woman was a mere pawn in their efforts to trap Jesus – to pressure him into saying or doing something that they could turn against him.  For the threat of taking a life by stoning WAS real – as witnessed to by Paul, who was stoned for professing Christ crucified (and survived), and Stephen the deacon, the first martyr, who was stoned for witnessing to the Gospel (and died).

Like a good chess game, the pieces have been moved strategically around the board in order to trap the King. And the pawn was to be sacrificed in order to position the more powerful pieces for success.

But Jesus does a curious thing.  He doesn’t disagree with the scribes and Pharisees; he doesn’t protest the cruelty of the proposed sentence; he doesn’t even engage them in a discussion about the validity of their interpretation of the law as he had done elsewhere.  He refuses to be drawn into the confrontation and instead merely states that the person who was without sin should throw the first stone.

Think about it.  In the Law of Moses as given in Deuteronomy 17:7, it was the witnesses to the sin who were to cast the first stone.  But Jesus, in directing that a person among the crowd be without sin to throw the stone, places the burden on the elders.

These leaders of the community had to be afraid that, should one of them pick up a stone, Jesus would reveal THEIR sins to all present.  After all, after listening to Jesus preach, they had to know that he could – somehow – find out about something they had done.  Maybe their own adultery?  One by one, they all go away.

Then Jesus turns to the woman.  I think we tend to forget that the woman WAS guilty of the crime she was accused of, and probably still afraid.  But Jesus neither condemns her nor condones her sin.  He merely commands her to “not sin any more.”  He responds to her with mercy.  In fact, by allowing the scribes and Pharisees to leave without a confrontation, Jesus has responded to them with mercy as well.

So, how should we respond when we are bullied or intimidated?  Are we afraid and allow someone to bully us because of something we have said or done? How do we overcome the fear or the sense of helplessness we feel when we are put on the spot?

In other words, whether we are bullied or are the bully, how do we respond “with mercy”?

This echoes through my mind as I've been watching closely the ongoing moves by the various world powers in order to gain advantages on the world chess board. And it is those very people that Jesus came to save - the poor, the elderly, the widow and homeless that are the pawns in this game that is unfolding before or eyes.

But unlike a game of chess where there are only two players, we all have a part in this game - as either the knight or the rook, the bishop – or the pawn.  And while we are often manipulated by unseen hands, we still possess the gift of free will from God in order to make our own moves - even if for sacrifice, to protect our King, Jesus Christ.

I think we may have been given some guidance by Pope Francis on how to face our challenges shortly after his election as pope in 2013.  In his first homily in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis asked that he would like all of us to have the courage to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord.  “Walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord.”  What does that mean?  

That may mean standing up to those who threaten us, but not in a violent or confrontational manner.  It may mean being rejected, or worse, to suffer the Cross of Christ through the loss of so-called friends, of jobs, or, in many parts of the world today, even our lives.  In other words, it won’t always be easy, but as Pope Francis said in that first homily, his hope for all of us “is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother Mary, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified.”  And, like Jesus, we ask for the grace to do it all with charity and mercy to others, even those who accuse or bully us.  For we WILL be bullied, intimidated, and persecuted for our faith.  

And yet, if we profess Christ without the Cross – if we don’t accept it and try to walk without it then we are not true disciples of the Lord.  Let us, then, be brave, be strong, be merciful – but most of all, let us continue to grow in faith and trust in our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Attitudes of Being

Attitudes of Being
February 16, 2025    6th Sunday OT - C
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    

Today’s Gospel is generally known as Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” and it is Luke’s version of Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount”, commonly known as “The Beatitudes”.  While many think that these two are different interpretations of the same event, they are most likely two different events, as Jesus would have preached with this theme often as he journeyed throughout Judea.

So, what is a “Beatitude”?

A beatitude might be considered a definition of what God considers as the measures of holiness in His people.  In his beatitudes, Jesus also tells us “how” people would be blessed if they possess this measure of holiness – their “reward”, if you will.  

Now, Jews of the time believed that the measure of God’s favor was reflected primarily in earthly measures of health, wealth, and procreativity.  We see this echoed throughout the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, like in Psalm 1 and Psalm 40, which make up our Responsorial Psalm for today.

But Jesus’ measure of blessedness is counter-intuitive to the Jewish belief.  We see this in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, although when we think of Jesus’ Beatitudes, we normally think of the nine from Matthew, chapter 5.  They and their corresponding rewards are:

1.    Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2.    Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
3.    Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
4.    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
5.    Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
6.    Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
7.    Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
8.    Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
9.    Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In today’s Gospel, however, Luke only lists 4, which correspond roughly to Matthew’s first, second, fourth and ninth ones.

1.    Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
2.    Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
3.    Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
4.    Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

And, unlike Matthew, in addition to the blessings, Luke also includes warnings for those who fail to pursue them:

•    If you are rich now, you have received your consolation.
•    If you are content now, you will be hungry later.
•    If you laugh now, you will grieve and weep later.
•    If all speak well of you, beware! for false prophets were honored the same way.

Scholars point out there’s a difference in focus in how Luke presents his blessings and woes to those of Matthew.  Matthew emphasized the religious and spiritual attitudes required for blessings in the heavenly kingdom inaugurated by Jesus (as seen in “poor in spirit,”, “meekness”, “mercy”, “hunger and thirst for righteousness”, and so on.) In all instances, there will be a reversal of fortunes as measured in the heavenly kingdom to come for those who cannot identify with those who are less fortunate.

By contrast, Luke’s blessings and woes address the real economic and social conditions of humanity (the poor vs. the rich; the hungry vs. the satisfied; those grieving vs. those laughing; the outcast vs. the socially acceptable).

Does this mean that you should not be rich, or well-fed, or happy, or thought well of?  Of course not!  But they do present a warning to living a life that is too comfortable and not addressing the challenges that others face in this life.  (Maybe instead of saying, “… you will be …”, it should read “… you should be …”, which would better reflect how we should identify with those who are experiencing these states of life.)  His “woes” identify the reversal of fortunes for those who ignore the woes of others, both in this life, and especially in the afterlife.

It also means that if you are suffering today from poverty, hunger, depression, isolation or discrimination, God still loves you and has something better in mind for you.  It can be hard to feel blessed as we struggle, but God is still there for us.

And we don’t have to “earn” God’s blessings.  We, through God’s Love, are already blessed spiritually.  But if we are also materially blessed, then we should take to heart what can happen if we don’t appreciate His blessings, and if we don’t recognize from whom those blessings stem.  Like Jeremiah: “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, but blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD”.  If we depend on others for our prosperity, good health, or other earthly blessings, we not only risk disappointment but we may miss out on the true blessings that only come from God.

We are all blessed.  But we should never forget that true blessings do not come from what we have here on Earth, but in what we will receive in Heaven.  And we don’t want to lose what God has already promised us.

A priest-friend of mine likes to ask this question of children and adults alike:  What is a Beatitude?  His answer:  It’s an Attitude to Be.  If we profess to be Christian, then others should recognize us as Christians by how we live out these beatitudes, these blessings. By our Love.

Those of you who were ever on an ACTS Retreat with Hector Cardenas before he passed away might remember one of his favorite adages: “My point to you is, Life should not be about working through your To Do List, but is all about working through your To Be List!”

Most of us, if we even made a list of New Year’s resolutions have already cast them aside, and if you’re like me you have a to-do list of tasks to accomplish at work or honey-do things at home.  But it isn’t what we accomplish that is important to God.  It is who we are that is.

God didn’t create Human-Doings, He created Human-Beings.  Let your humanity show just how God has blessed you.  And if you don’t feel blessed today, remember Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.”   God will bless us when it counts the most – in heaven, for all eternity.

Whatever He Says

Whatever He Says

January 19, 2025     2nd Sunday in OT - C
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi     

In today’s Gospel from St. John, we see the beginning of Jesus’ ministry – and the first of the seven “signs”, or miracles, that John uses to showcase the divine nature of Jesus as the Christ.  

In addition to the changing of water into wine here, the other six signs are:

1.    The healing of the royal official's son in Capernaum (John 4:46-54)
2.    The healing of the paralytic at Bethesda (John 5:1-15)
3.    The feeding of the 5000 (John 6:5-14)
4.    Jesus walking on water (John 6:16-24)
5.    The healing of the man blind from birth (John 9:1-7)
and
6.    The raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45)

Now, while John in his Gospel only emphasized these seven “signs” instead of the collection of miracles that the other Gospel list, John used each one of his to help his community understand a particular aspect of the divine nature of Jesus, and to set the stage for John’s version of the Passion of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection.

It is important to note that most scholars figure that John’s Gospel was probably the last one written, maybe somewhere in the 90’s, and so his need to portray the various “whats” of Jesus’ ministry – the many healing and other miracles which would have been fairly well known by Christian followers by then – would be of less importance to the people than the “whys” of each, which witnessed to Jesus’ divinity as the only Son of God.1

Now, I often wonder, why change water into wine as your first sign? Jesus could have just as easily raised someone from the dead, like Lazarus, which would have really gotten people’s attention.  And why was this sign so important to John?  I mean, this particular miracle of changing water into wine is unique to the Gospel of John – you won’t find it mentioned anywhere in any of the other Gospels.

According to the introduction to the Gospel of John in the latest revision of the New American Bible, this first sign “symbolizes the entire creative and transforming work of Jesus.”

Let’s look at this story a little closer.  It begins with Mary, Jesus and some of his disciples being invited to a wedding in Cana, shortly after the calling of Jesus’ first disciples.  It’s about 4 miles from Nazareth to Cana, so the wedding must have been fairly important to Mary to travel that far to attend it.  It is also reasonable to assume that this would be a fairly large celebration.  Mary might have even been related to the couple.

As for Jesus and his disciples, they had recently begun traveling together – the previous chapter ends with the calling of Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanial, and the beginning of this verse, although not included in today’s reading, puts this event as three days later. So, while John the Baptist has identified Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Son of God, these new disciples have yet to fully experience the divinity of Jesus.

The story also doesn’t say how long the party had been going on, but according to ancient Jewish wedding customs, a wedding celebration usually lasted for several days, so the fact that they ran out of wine isn’t necessarily surprising.  But we can see some important symbolism in this sign:
•    Weddings were communal events meant for celebration.
•    Wine was a significant part of Jewish celebrations – it was meant to “gladden men’s hearts” as we hear in Psalm 104.
•    Wine production was a major industry for the Jewish people, and God’s blessings were often compared to wine.
•    And of course, at the Last Supper, Jesus used wine to signify His Blood.

From a theological perspective, Jesus’ creation of wine from water would have been seen by the Jewish people as a sign of the generosity of God and the amount created would show the abundance of that gift.

But before the sign itself is what might be the most important statement in this passage - Mary’s comment to the servers:  "Do whatever He tells you."  I’m not sure that converting water into wine was what Mary had in mind, but she had confidence in Jesus ability to come to the wedding party’s assistance.   

Note:
•    Mary’s intercession on behalf of the wedding party without being asked is a sign of her motherly concern for those around her. We recognize the same thing in her today when we ask her for her intercession on our behalf.
•    Mary’s direction to the servers is the same to us today – if you are a disciple of her Son, you must do whatever He tells you.

And therein lies our greatest challenge: understanding what Jesus is telling us to do right now.  I sometimes wonder what the servants thought when Jesus told them to fill those water jars.  If it was me, I’d be wondering what jars of water had to do with the wine running out.  

Kind of like someone today saying to God, “Hey, I’m out of gas” and God replying, “OK, go and get a five-gallon bucket of water.”  It wouldn’t make sense to me.

Which I think may be our greatest challenge today.  We face so many problems, both personally and in our communities at large, and we don’t know what we are to do.  So, we turn to God for help.  But what we are told doesn’t seem to make sense to us. Follow the commandments.

On the surface, the two greatest commandments sound simple: Love God, and love our neighbor.  But how do we do that?  If we listen to what the world says in all its fears, we may not hear what Jesus is saying to us in our hearts.  Or, even if we hear, we may not trust that it will work out for the best.

Which brings us back to today’s Gospel.  Once the water became wine, everyone at the celebration benefited, even without knowing how it came to be – or even knowing there was a problem in the first place. But the servants knew; and so did the disciples.  

Even though they were just starting on their journey with Jesus and probably didn’t know what to expect, this first sign opened their eyes to the wonder – the mystery – of Jesus.  And it says that they began to believe in Him.

We too are journeying with Jesus.  And like his disciples, we too will see wonders and signs which we may not understand, and we will be called to do whatever he commands us, even if we don’t understand it or agree with it.  And it will probably cost us something – maybe a lot.  But if we will trust in Jesus, then we will share in the copious gifts God has in store for all of us, either in this world or in the next.  

So, in the face of uncertainty or doubt – when the wine runs out – let us always do whatever Jesus commands us.  And remember the simple prayer from St. Faustina Kowalska whenever we are in doubt or don't understand:  

Jesus, I trust in You.

Rejoice! God Is Here!

Rejoice! God Is Here!
December 15, 2024    Third Sunday of Advent - C
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

Where is God?

During Advent, we are asked to reflect on the three comings of Christ: the first, the coming of Jesus in history as Man – God incarnate; the second, God with us today – the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete; and the third, Jesus’ “second coming” at the End of Time - Christ in Glory.  And we sort of reflect on them in reverse order, with the first part of Advent oriented to His second coming and then, as we get closer to Christmas, shifting our focus toward the celebration of Jesus’ birth in time.  Of course, whether we look forward or backward, we always look through the lens of the Holy Spirit within us today.

You can see that if you pray Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. At the beginning with Advent, the antiphon for our daily Invitatory, except for feast days, becomes, “Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come.”  Beginning on the 17th, however, our focus changes to, “The Lord is close at hand; come, let us worship him.”

And on Christmas day, we will greet Emmanuel – God With Us.

Today we celebrate Gaudete (Gow-de-tay’) Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Advent.  Gaudete means Rejoice!, and so we should, as we have passed the half-way mark of our journey toward Christmas.  We pause in our Advent preparations to remind ourselves of the promise of joy that is to come. We light the rose-colored candle in our Advent wreath, and we don festive rose-colored vestments.  

(Yes, these are ROSE, not pink. Like in that old 80’s movie, girls may be “Pretty in Pink”, but not clergy.  Besides, have you ever heard of “pink” wine?)

So, this may be a good time to ask ourselves – are we still excited about the coming of Christmas?  Are we joyful?  Or are we being worn down by the minutiae of our preparations and the false messages of despair that seem to come to us from every direction?  

If we are not careful, we can lose the joy of what we should be anticipating.  After all, we are surrounded by evil in the news – so why should we rejoice?  We know of friends and family members who have died and we miss those who cannot share the holidays with us – so why should we rejoice?  We cannot afford to celebrate the holidays in a matter that is being emphasized in the commercials we see and hear – so why should we rejoice?  We have so many things that are pressing in upon us – challenges to our health, our families, our well-being – so why rejoice?

And yet, that’s the theme of all of our readings: REJOICE!  REJOICE in the Lord Always!  I shall say it again: REJOICE! The LORD, our God, is in our midst even now; He has not abandoned us to our troubles and tribulations but extends His Love and Mercy with the promise of better things to come. Rejoice! Because God IS with us.  

What did the messages from Zephaniah, Isaiah, and St. Paul have in common today?  They all saw the bigger picture.  And their message? God is Near!   God is With You!   God is in your Midst!

In our first reading, the prophet Zephaniah encourages Israel to sing for joy and to rejoice in anticipation of God’s mercy, for “The LORD, your God, is in your midst…”  The people that Zephaniah spoke to couldn’t see what the future held for them. Written around 650 to 600 BC, the first two chapters of Zephaniah prophesied that Israel, by rejecting God, were going to suffer the Assyrian invasion, but chapter 3 concludes with God’s promise that He would remain with them and would restore their kingdom.  God loved them, He would show them His mercy.  And He did.

Isaiah, too, commands us to: “Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!”  In the Responsorial for today, the prophet Isaiah spoke hope to a people in exile in Babylon. Yet Isaiah reminds the people of God’s promise that they would be restored to their land. And they were.  

St. Paul is even more insistent.  “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! ... The Lord is near.”

I love St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, and in particular this passage.   He speaks of rejoicing and hope, yet he himself was in prison when he wrote this letter, either in Rome, or possibly in Caesarea.  Paul is fairly certain that his execution was close at hand, yet he was at peace with the Peace of Jesus Christ, which surpasses all understanding, and that through Jesus he had no anxiety over the problems that he faced. He keeps returning to the theme of joy and rejoicing throughout the letter, because of his belief in Christ Jesus, and he lived with the hope promised for the next life, despite the trials he faced in his earthly one.

Finally, in today’s Gospel, we listen to John the Baptist tell the people – US – about how we should prepare for the presence of Christ in our lives – to continue to live our lives and to carry out our jobs in honesty and integrity, with a charitable heart.  And despite his exhortations about what NOT to do, John continued to preach the “Good News” of the Christ’s coming.

All preached an attitude of joy in the LORD.  The evils of this world WILL pass away.  The troubles we face today we do not face alone.  Emmanuel, God with Us, is here, offering us love, mercy and peace.  May we accept that God loves us, cries with us, laughs with us, rejoices with us.  As hard as it can be, we need to accept that God is with us.  As hard as it can be, we need to share our joy with others.

I was once told that “JOY” stands for “Jesus, Others and You”.  It takes all 3 to be able to truly experience joy.  So, I shall say it again.  Rejoice!  Christ is near – let us go out and welcome him.  Rejoice!

The Greatest Commandment

The Greatest Commandment
November 3, 2024    31st Sunday of OT - B
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi     

Ever notice how, in suspense, action or thriller movies, as the movie gets closer to the end, the music begins to pick up and there’s a sense of urgency as an unseen threat draws ever closer to the main characters?  We in the audience are usually privileged to see how the action unfolds, but while we think we know how the good guys will win it isn’t much of a movie if there wasn’t some doubt as to just how it would be done.  That’s why we have “spoiler alerts” – so as to not tip off the climax too soon.

But the reality of our lives is different.  In life, we don’t like bad surprises.  We pray that our crosses, our cups of suffering, may be taken from us.  And yet, we also know that there will be times when we will face our own mortality and we pray that God will give us the strength to face whatever comes our way.

The Church understands that, and to help us as we draw near to the end of our liturgical year, our focus begins to shift towards the end of times – and what comes next.  We just celebrated All Saints and All Souls days, (and of course, All Hallow’s Eve – Halloween) and they serve to remind us not only of our mortality, but our hopes for Eternity.  The next few Sundays will continue to build on that end-of-times theme as we reflect on the glory of God’s Kingdom and the hope and promise of that Kingdom, which will culminate with the end of our liturgical year with celebration of Christ, the King of the Universe at the end of this month.

Now, underlying all of today’s readings is an unseen sense of urgency.  The last line from today’s Gospel carries with it a sense of foreboding: And no one dared to ask him any more questions.”  In previous verses from Mark’s Gospel (and echoed in Matthew and Luke), we’ve listened as the Sadducees, Pharisees, and scribes have confronted Jesus in an attempt to find an excuse to have him killed.  By quoting Israel’s greatest prayer, Jesus in effect shuts them down and sets the stage for his own execution.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus quotes the first part of the Shema Yisra’el, the foundational prayer of the Jewish faith and the first of the only two prayers specifically commanded in the Torah to be recited daily – the second being the saying Grace after meals.  (Interestingly, as Catholics we once stressed praying after meals too but I know I rarely think about giving thanks after eating. Probably too full.)

According to my Judaism 101 website, there’s actually two more parts to the Shema taken from Deuteronomy Chapter 11 and from the Book of Numbers Chapter 15 which expand on the details describing Part 1. But this first part is the primary part of the prayer and it is what is normally recited at least twice a day by faithful Jews.
 
It begins with the second part of today’s first reading from Deuteronomy – “Sh'ma Yisra'eil” – “Hear, O Israel”.  By the way, I carried it with me when I was presiding at Communion Services at nursing homes so that I could pray with Jewish residents whenever I visited with them.   The complete prayer begins:

  Sh'ma Yisra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Barukh sheim k'vod malkhuto …

Nevermind.  I’ll stick to English:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.  Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And it shall be that these words that I command you today [shall be] in your heart.
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as tefillin between your eyes.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Why is this prayer so important?  Because it is more than just a prayer “to” God – it is a command to the Jewish people, and, a command to us.  Unlike the Lord’s Prayer, which we consider the perfect prayer in that it acknowledges God as Our Father, His Holiness, His Will for us, and our requests, the Shema, as it is called, is a command to us to acknowledge God as God. Listen closely:

“Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”  

It is a command to love, and Jesus combines it with another command from Leviticus Chapter 18, verse 18, which Jesus recites: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”, it leaves no room for doubt as to what is important in the priorities of our lives.

We’ve talked many times about just how hard it is to love with the love of Christ.  Especially in the world today, with wars abroad and our own political conflicts associated with the elections next week, we can find all sorts of reasons to justify not “loving our neighbor”.  

And yet, we must find a way.  In his first letter, St. John makes it clear – we cannot fulfill the first command, the most important one, if we cannot fulfill the second: “If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”  (1 John 4:20)  It is more important than our comfort, our opinions, even our lives.  If the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect prayer for petitioning God, it still must always be offered from the perspective of the Shema.

I’ve always said our lives are about our priorities.  The command to love God AND our neighbor must be our number one priority.  Is it difficult? Yes! But we can.  St. Thomas Aquinas defines love as “the choice to will the good of the other.”  We get to choose.  WE choose.  And as we heard just a couple of weeks ago, since only God is Good, when we choose the good for someone, even if we disagree with them, or even hate what they stand for, we are asking that God allows them to find Him - that God helps them find Him.  That's love.  That fulfills the command.  And in doing so, we too can experience the goodness - the love - that is God.

Called to Mission

Called to Mission

October 20, 2024    29TH Sunday of OT - B
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi    World Missions Sunday

What is your Mission in life?  Do you know?  Do you think that the Apostles understood their mission?

I’ve always wondered: what in the world were James and John thinking?  In the verses in both Matthew and Mark immediately before this, Jesus has taken the Twelve aside from the rest of the disciples and told them plainly that not only was He going to die, but it would be a horrible death, one at the hand of the Gentiles. He said:

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days he will rise.”

In fact, this is the third time He tells them of His upcoming Passion and death.  

And yet, I don’t think there was ever a greater misconception of what it meant to be a disciple from the Apostles than what was indicated by the story we hear today.  It begins with James and John coming to Jesus and asking for seats of prestige when he comes into His glory.  (I find it particularly amusing that in Matthew’s version, it is Mom that asks for them.  A good Jewish mother, looking out for her ya-lah-DEEM – her children.)  I wonder if they (or Mom) would have asked the same question if they had known in advance that the two who would sit at Jesus’ right and left would be convicted criminals sentenced to death, or that His glory would begin with Jesus looking down from His throne on the Cross?

And it isn’t just James and John.  It says the other ten became indignant when they heard the brothers’ request. Now, granted, they’ve all seen the powerful signs that Jesus has performed and have even participated in miraculous events themselves, but are they really that clueless as to what Jesus has been telling them?  I wonder.

Actually, I suppose we shouldn’t be that surprised.  After all, aren’t we often a bit clueless as to the price of discipleship in our own lives?  We all know, or should know, that we have a common goal in life – eternity with Jesus in Heaven. But when it comes to getting there and our individual vocations – our individual missions – things sort of break down for us.  

Which brings us to today – World Mission Sunday.  What is World Mission Sunday?  It is a day of prayer for missionary work around the world, established by Pope Pius XI in 1926 and, as Pope St. John Paul II said on the occasion of its anniversary in 1992, is a day to make a “renewed commitment to everyone’s responsibility for the spread of the Gospel message.  It is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to reflect on their own baptismal call, to think back on when they received the gift of faith, and to recommit themselves to the Church's missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice."

But it isn’t easy being a missionary, is it?  James and John – indeed all of the Apostles – seemed more than willing to take leadership roles when they thought that they were going to be part of a new order that would be one of earthly glory and honor, and they wanted to be right there in the thick of it, when Jesus came into glory, one on his right, and the other on his left.  

But it is one thing to proclaim the good news as a leader. It’s something quite different to do so as a servant, as a “slave to all”.

Jesus challenges them: “Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”  In other words, will you be missionaries like me? They answered YES, but without fully understanding what it was going to mean. For when the glory of Jesus was revealed when he was lifted up on the cross, and the place of “honor” on his left and right was taken by the two criminals, the Apostles all fled.

Yet once it became clear after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension that His mission had to be carried on, Jesus’ disciples did not shrink from it.  They embraced it, and the result was a world set on fire with the faith of Christ.

As Christians we too should be ready to drink the cup of sacrifice that Jesus drank on our behalf.  And that sacrifice isn’t just in putting up with the crosses we carry, as heavy as they may be, but to be ready and willing to help others bear their crosses too. And to do so with love.

Too often though, when we think of mission, we think of trips filled with social service projects ministering to those less fortunate.  But I was reminded by a podcast yesterday called Homeless but Human from Christ in the City that our true mission from Jesus is to bring the Good News to those who need to hear it. And in doing so, we may discover that it is those we encounter that actually minister to us.  Father Tymo pointed out to me last week that those we encounter, especially the young but also any who are in need, that what they need most is to be accepted for who they are, to be recognized as human, and to be listened to.  And that is true for all of us as well.
 
Pope Francis once said on a previous World Mission Sunday, that, “Both before and after his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples, “Go!”, thus involving them in his own mission.  The Church, for her part, in fidelity to the mission she has received from the Lord, will continue to go to the ends of the earth, to set out over and over again, without ever growing weary or losing heart in the face of difficulties and obstacles.”  It is good for us to remember that even when we cannot go out among the people, we can still fill our baptismal call by assisting the Church in its missionary efforts through our financial contributions and, most importantly, through our prayers.

As we leave Mass today, let us embrace our mission to proclaim the Good News!  Let us Go and Announce the Gospel of Our Lord!