The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King - November 26, 2017 (Cycle A) Dr. Scott Hahn

When the End Comes: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Solemnity of Christ the King   Listen Here   Readings: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17 Psalm 23:1-3, 5-6 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28 Matthew 25:31-46 Many saints and Church leaders have seen a connection between Christ’s words in the Gospel for the Solemnity of Christ the King (see Matthew 25:31-43) and His promise to be present in the Eucharist (see Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:15-20). For instance, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say of her work with the destitute: “In Holy Communion we have Christ under the appearance of bread. In our work we find Him under the appearance of flesh and blood. It is the same Christ. ‘I was hungry, I was naked, I was sick, I was homeless.'” St. John Chrysostom, the great patriarch of Eastern Catholicism, said the same thing in the fourth century: “Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore Him when He is naked. Do not pay Him homage in the temple clad in silk only then to neglect Him outside where He suffers cold and nakedness. He who said: ‘This is my body’ is the same One who said: ‘You saw me hungry and you gave me no food’, and ‘Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me’ . . . What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices, when He is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying His hunger, and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.” The Church year ends today with a vision of the end of time. The scene in the Gospel is stark and resounds with Old Testament echoes. The Son of Man is enthroned over all nations and peoples of every language (see Daniel 7:13-14). The nations have been gathered to see His glory and receive His judgment (see Isaiah 66:18; Zephaniah 3:8). The King is the divine shepherd Ezekiel foresees in today’s First Reading, judging as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. Each of us will be judged upon our performance of the simple works of mercy we hear in the Gospel today. These works, as Jesus explains today, are reflections or measures of our love for Him, our faithfulness to His commandment that we love God with all our might and our neighbor as ourselves (see Matthew 22:36-40). Our faith is dead, lifeless, unless it be expressed in works of love (see James 2:20; Galatians 5:6). And we cannot say we truly love God, whom we cannot see, if we don’t love our neighbor, whom we can (see 1 John 4:20). The Lord is our shepherd, as we sing in today’s Psalm. And we are to follow His lead, to imitate His example (see 1 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 5:1). He healed our sickness (see Luke 6:19), freed us from the prison of sin and death (see Romans 8:2,21), welcomed us who were once strangers to His covenant (see Ephesians 2:12,19). He clothed us in baptism (see Revelation 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:3-4), and feeds us with the food and drink of His own body and blood. At “the end,” He will come again to hand over His kingdom to His Father, as Paul says in today’s Epistle. Let us strive to be following Him in right paths, that this kingdom might be our inheritance, that we might enter into the eternal rest promised for the people of God (see Hebrews 4:1,9-11).

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) November 19, 2017 (Scott Hahn)

Reading I: Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20, 30-31    Her value is far beyond pearls.

Responsorial Psalm: 128:1-2, 3, 4-5     R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

Reading II: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6      The day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30     Well done, good and faithful servant.

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The day of the Lord is coming, Paul warns in today’s Epistle. What matters isn’t the time or the season, but what the Lord finds us doing with the new life, the graces He has given to us.

This is at the heart of Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel. Jesus is the Master. Having died, risen, and ascended into heaven, He appears to have gone away for a long time.

By our baptism, He has entrusted to each of us a portion of His “possessions,” a share in His divine life (see 2 Peter 1:4). He has given us talents and responsibilities, according to the measure of our faith (see Romans 12:3,8).

We are to be like the worthy wife in today’s First Reading, and the faithful man we sing of in today’s Psalm. Like them, we should walk in the “fear of the Lord”—in reverence, awe, and thanksgiving for His marvelous gifts. This is the beginning of wisdom (see Acts 9:31; Proverbs 1:7).

This is not the “fear” of the useless servant in today’s parable. His is the fear of a slave cowering before a cruel master, the fear of one who refuses the relationship that God calls us to.

He has called us to be trusted servants, fellow workers (see 1 Corinthians 3:9), using our talents to serve one another and His kingdom as good stewards of His grace (see 1 Peter 4:10).

In this, we each have a different part to play.

Though the good servants in today’s parable were given different numbers of talents, each “doubled” what he was given. And each earned the same reward for his faithfulness—greater responsibilities and a share of the Master’s joy.

So let us resolve again in this Eucharist to make much of what we’ve been given, to do all for the glory of God (see 1 Corinthians 10:31). That we, too, may approach our Master with confidence and love when He comes to settle accounts.

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) November 5, 2017

Calling the Fathers: 

Scott Hahn Reflects on the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

Malachi 1:14b - 2b:2,  8-10   Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us?

Psalm 131:1-3    R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.

1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13  We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. 

Matthew 23:1-12   Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
                                                                                                                                     (reiterated in Luke 18:14)

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Though they were Moses’ successors, the Pharisees and scribes exalted themselves and made their mastery of the law a badge of social privilege. Worse, they lorded the law over the people (see Matthew 20:25). Like the priests Malachi condemns in today’s First Reading, they caused many to falter and be closed off from God.

In a word, Israel’s leaders failed to be good spiritual fathers of God’s people. Moses was a humble father figure, preaching the law but also practicing it—interceding and begging God’s mercy and forgiveness of the people’s sins (see Exodus 32:9-14; Psalm 90).

And Jesus reminds us today that all fatherhood—in the family or in the people of God—comes from the our Father in heaven (see Ephesians 3:15).  

He doesn’t mean we’re to literally call no man “father.” He himself referred to Israel’s 

founding fathers (see John 7:42); the Apostles taught about natural fatherhood (see Hebrews 12:7-11) and described themselves as spiritual fathers (see 1 Corinthians 4:14-16)

The fatherhood of the Apostles and their successors, the Church’s priests and bishops, is a spiritual paternity given to raise us as God’s children. Our fathers give us new life in Baptism, and feed us the spiritual milk of the Gospel and the Eucharist (see 1 Peter 2:2-3). That’s why Paul, in today’s Epistle, can also compare himself to a nursing mother.

God’s fatherhood likewise transcends all human notions of fatherhood and motherhood. Perhaps that’s why the Psalm chosen for today includes one of the rare biblical images of God’s maternal care (see Isaiah 66:13).

His only Son has shown us the Father (see John 14:9) coming to gather His children as a hen gathers her young (see Matthew 23:37). We’re all brothers and sisters, our Lord tells us today. And all of us—even our spiritual fathers—are to trust in Him, humbly, like children on our mothers’ laps.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) Scott Hahn

Twenty-eighth Sunday
of Ordinary Time A


October 15, 2017

Reading I: Isaiah 25:6-10   He will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face

Responsorial Psalm: 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6  I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Reading II: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20    I can do all things in him who strengthens me. 

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14   Many are invited, but few are chosen.

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Our Lord’s parable in this Sunday’s Gospel is a fairly straightforward outline of salvation

history.

---> God is the king (Matthew 5:35) 

---> Jesus is the bridegroom (Matthew 9:15)

--->  The feast is the salvation & eternal life that Isaiah prophesies in the First Reading (Isaiah 25:6-10. 

---> The Israelites are those first invited to the feast by God’s servants, the prophets (Isaiah 7:25). For refusing repeated invitations and even killing His prophets, Israel has been punished, its city conquered by foreign armies.

Now Jesus makes it clear that God is sending new servants, His apostles, to call not only Israelites, but all people—good and bad alike—to the feast of His kingdom. 

---> This an image of the Church, which Jesus elsewhere compares to a field sown with both wheat and weeds, and a fishing net that catches good fish and bad (Matthew 13:24-43, 47-50).

We have all been called to this great feast of love in the Church, where, as Isaiah foretold, the veil that once separated the nations from the covenants of Israel has been destroyed, where the dividing wall of enmity has been torn down by the Blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-14).

As we sing in Sunday’s Psalm, the Lord has led us to this feast, refreshing our souls in the waters of Baptism, spreading the table before us in the Eucharist. As Paul tells us in this Sunday’s Epistle, in the glorious riches of Christ, we will find supplied whatever we need.

And in the rich food of His Body, and the choice wine of His Blood, we have a foretaste of the eternal banquet in the heavenly Jerusalem, when God will destroy death forever (Hebrews 12:22-24).

But are we dressed for the feast, clothed in the garment of righteousness (Revelation 19:8)? Not all who have been called will be chosen for eternal life, Jesus warns. Let us be sure that we’re living in a manner worthy of the invitation we’ve received (Ephesians 4:1). Many are invited but few are chosen.

The Story of Nastagio deli Onesti  - One of four paintings by Botticelli

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) October 8, 2017

Reading I: Isaiah 5:1-7  

 . . . . he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!

for justice, but hark, the outcry!

Responsorial Psalm: 80: 9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20    

The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

                                                                                     Reading II: Philippians 4:6-9   

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

make your requests known to God.

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43

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•  The First Reading, from the prophet Isaiah, likens the house of Israel to the  Lord’s vineyard which he loves.

•  The Psalm shows how the Lord protects this vineyard planted by his own hand.

•  The apostle Paul, in the Second Reading, takes up this theme. He encourages those at Philippi to be confident that their security can only be found in the Lord’s nurturing care of them. 

•  The parable of the wicked tenants (Gospel) shows that even when the Lord’s plans are seemingly thwarted, God can turn all to good. 

This week, we are encouraged, despite our worries, concerns and troubles, to remain in the peace of God, which is so much greater than we could ever understand. It will guard our hearts and minds.

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Living on the Vine: Scott Hahn Reflection

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus returns to the Old Testament symbol of the vineyard to teach about Israel, the Church, and the kingdom of God. And the symbolism of today’s First Reading and Psalm is readily understood.

God is the owner and the house of Israel is the vineyard. A cherished vine, Israel was plucked from Egypt and transplanted in a fertile land specially spaded and prepared by God, hedged about by the city walls of Jerusalem, watched over by the towering Temple. But the vineyard produced no good grapes for the wine, a symbol for the holy lives God wanted for His people. So God allowed His vineyard to be overrun by foreign invaders, as Isaiah foresees in the First Reading.

Jesus picks up the story where Isaiah leaves off, even using Isaiah’s words to describe the vineyard’s wine press, hedge, and watchtower. Israel’s religious leaders, the tenants in His parable, have learned nothing from Isaiah or Israel’s past. Instead of producing good fruits, they’ve killed the owner’s servants, the prophets sent to gather the harvest of faithful souls.

In a dark foreshadowing of His own crucifixion outside Jerusalem, Jesus says the tenants’ final outrage will be to seize the owner’s son, and to kill him outside the vineyard walls.

For this, the vineyard, which Jesus calls the kingdom of God, will be taken away and given to new tenants—the leaders of the Church, who will produce its fruit.

We are each a vine in the Lord’s vineyard, grafted onto the true vine of Christ (see John 15:1-8), called to bear fruits of the righteousness in Him (see Philippians 1:11), and to be the “first fruits” of a new creation (see James 1:18).

We need to take care that we don’t let ourselves be overgrown with the thorns and briers of worldly anxiety. As Sunday’s Epistle advises, we need to fill our hearts and minds with noble intentions and virtuous deeds, rejoicing always that the Lord is near.

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If you only have a minute more for reflection:

First Reading   Let me sing the song of his love for his vineyard. 
Reading I: Isaiah 5:1-7

Responsorial Psalm  Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted. 
Responsorial Psalm: 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20

Second Reading  There is no need to worry. 
Reading II: Philippians 4:6-9  

Gospel  This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see. 
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43

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Sources: Pathways to God
Pathways to God 27thSundayOrdinaryTimeCycleA

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) September 10, 2017

Reading I: Ezekiel 33:7-9     ". . . . you shall warn them for me."

Responsorial Psalm: 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9    "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

Reading II: Romans 13:8-10   "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 

Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20-20"Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

                                                         and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  AND

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As Ezekiel is appointed watchman over the house of Israel in today’s first Reading, so Jesus in the Gospel today establishes His disciples as guardians of the new Israel of God, the Church (see Galatians 6:16).

Jesus also puts in place procedures for dealing with sin and breaches of the faith, building on laws of discipline prescribed by Moses for Israel (see Leviticus 19:17-20; Deuteronomy 19:13). However, the heads of the new Israel (which is the Church), receive extraordinary powers—similar to those given to Peter (see Matthew 16:19). They have the power to bind and loose, to forgive sins and to reconcile sinners in His name (see John 20:21-23).

Notice that both the Gospel and the First Reading presume that believers have a duty to correct sinners in our midst. Ezekiel is even told that he will be held accountable for their souls if he fails to speak out and try to correct them.

This is the love that Paul speaks of in his Letter to the Romans (13: 8-10). To love our neighbors as ourselves is to be vitally concerned for their salvation. We must make every effort, as Jesus says, to win our brothers and sisters back, to turn them from the false paths.

*St. John Chrysostom writes, 

"So if your Lord shed His blood for that person, surely it is right for each of us to offer at least some words of encouragement and to extend a helping hand to those who through laxity have fallen into the snares of the devil."  

We should never correct out of anger, or a desire to punish.
Instead our message must be that of the responsorial Psalm—urging our brothers and sisters (and reminding ourselves) to hear God’s voice and to harden not our hearts.

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Sources:

Dr. Scott Hahn 

St. Teresa of Avila  

Harden Not Your Hearts

* St. John Chrysostom  Homily 6, 18-20: SC 50, 224-225

Father Kavanaugh   (Father Kavanaugh was a professor of Philosophy at St. Louis University in St. Louis. He reached many people during his lifetime.)

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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) July 16, 2017

Readings: 

Isaiah 55:10-11
Psalm 65:10-14
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-23

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Today’s readings, like last week’s, ask us to meditate on Israel’s response to God’s Word—and our own. Why do some hear the word of the kingdom, yet fail to accept it as a call to conversion and faith in Jesus? That question underlies today’s Gospel, especially.

Again we see, as we did last week, that the kingdom’s mysteries are unfolded to those who open their hearts, making of them a rich soil in the which the Word can grow and bear fruit.

As we sing in today’s Psalm, in Jesus, God’s Word has visited our land, to water the stony earth of our hearts with the living waters of the Spirit (see John 7:38; Revelation 22:1).

The first fruit of the Word is the Spirit of love and adoption poured into our hearts in baptism, making us children of God, as Paul reminds us in today’s Epistle (see Romans 5:5; 8:15-16). In this, we are made a “new creation” (see  2 Corinthians 5:17), the firstfruits of a new heaven and a new earth (see 2 Peter 3:13).

Since the first humans rejected God’s Word, creation has been enslaved to futility (see Genesis 3:17-19; 5:29). But God’s Word does not go forth only to return to Him void, as we hear in today’s First Reading.

His Word awaits our response. We must show ourselves to be children of that Word. We must allow that Word to accomplish God’s will in our lives. As Jesus warns today, we must take care lest the devil steal it away or lest it be choked by worldly concerns.

In the Eucharist, the Word gives himself to us as bread to eat. He does so that we might be made fertile, yielding fruits of holiness.

And we await the crowning of the year, the great harvest of the Lord’s Day (see Mark 4:29; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 1:10)—when His Word will have achieved the end for which it was sent.

Sources:
Scott Hahn
Patches and Facepaint

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) July 2, 2017

Sunday, July 2, 2017  Readings  

First Reading: 

2 Kgs 4:8–11, 14–16  

4Then come back and close the door on yourself and your children; pour the oil into all the vessels, and as each is filled, set it aside.”5So she went out. She closed the door on herself and her children and, as they handed her the vessels, she would pour in oil.6When all the vessels were filled, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” He answered, “There is none left.” And then the oil stopped.7She went and told the man of God, who said, “Go sell the oil to pay off your creditor; with what remains, you and your children can live.”

8One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who pressed him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he would stop there to dine. (The Shunnamite woman opened her home to him - see Dr. Scott Hahn's reflection below)

11One day Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

14Later Elisha asked, “What can we do for her?” Gehazi answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”15Elisha said, “Call her.” He did so, and when she stood at the door,16Elisha promised, “This time next year you will be cradling a baby son.” She said, “My lord, you are a man of God; do not deceive your servant.”

Responsorial Psalm: 

Ps 89:2–3,16–19

2     I will sing of your mercy forever, LORD

proclaim your faithfulness through all ages.

3        For I said, “My mercy is established forever;

my faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.

16Blessed the people who know the war cry,

who walk in the radiance of your face, LORD.

17In your name they sing joyfully all the day;

they rejoice in your righteousness.

18You are their majestic strength;

by your favor our horn is exalted. ( Horn: a concrete noun for an abstract quality; horn is a symbol of strength.) 

19Truly the LORD is our shield,

the Holy One of Israel, our king!

Second  Reading:   

Rom 6:3–4,8–11  

3Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?4We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

8If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.9We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.10As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.11Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel:

Matthew 10:37–42   

The Conditions of Discipleship

37“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards40“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.41 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward.42And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

Matthew 10:37-42

 Jesus explains the difficulties of discipleship, yet reveals 

that those who welcome the disciples have also welcomed him.  (Loyal Press)

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Scott Hahn's Reflection (edited for length)

The Liturgy this week continues to instruct us in the elements of discipleship. We’re told that even the most humble among us have a share in the mission Christ gives to His Church.

At Baptism our lives were joined forever to the cross of Christ, as Paul tells us in today’s Epistle. Baptized into His death, we’re to renounce sin and live for God in Christ Jesus.

We are to follow Him, each of us taking up our personal cross, as Jesus says in today’s Gospel. That doesn’t mean we will all be asked to suffer a martyr’s death. But each of us is called to self-denial, to the offering of our lives in service of God’s plan.

Jesus must be elevated to first place in our lives—above even our closest bonds of kinship and love. By Baptism, we’ve been made part of a new family—the kingdom of God, the Church. We are to proclaim that kingdom with our lives, bringing our fathers and mothers, and all men and women to live as “little ones” under the fatherhood of God and the kingship of the Holy One.

We do this by opening our hearts and homes to the service of the Lord, following the Shunnamite woman’s example in today’s First Reading. As Jesus tells us, we’re to receive others—not only prophets, but also little children, the poor and the imprisoned—as we receive Christ himself (see Matthew 18:5;  25:31–46).

As we sing in today’s Psalm, we are to testify to His favors and kindness in our lives.

We’re to hold fast to the promise—that if we have died with Christ, we shall also live, that if we lose our lives for His sake, we shall find our reward, and walk forever in His countenance.

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Reflection by John Kavanaugh, SJ (edited for length):

Those who find their life will lose it (Matthew 10:39).

In Matthew's account, Jesus tells us not to love our family members more than we love him. This text illuminates, I believe, the rather troubling formulation found in chapter 14 of Luke. Luke has it this way: “If you come to me without hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and your own life too, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Although the word translated “hate” in Luke is closer to the original Aramaic, John L. McKenzie reminded us that Aramaic actually had no words for “love more than.” Thus, the comparative softening of Matthew's “loving more than” is a fair alternative. It also provides an insight into the nature of human loves.

In scripture passages dealing with the claims human relations make upon us, at least two dangers are suggested. 
The First danger: 
The beloved can become more important to us than God. 
The Second danger:  
Such love can become possessive.

If the totality of our love is exhausted by any created thing or person, then that “loved one”must become the anchor of our being, our purpose and fulfillment, our security and final hope. Sooner or later such a total object of our love becomes our idol, a false god.

But God must always be “more than” any creature of earth. If we turn a human person into a god, either that person will eventually possess us, or we will try to possess and use the fabricated god as an idol.

Love-idols are functions of a craving inadequacy.

Psychologically this paradox makes sense, although not to the person under the spell of idolatry. If we say to another, “You're my everything; you're my meaning; I am nothing without you,” then what is left of us to give that person? Why would he or she even be bothered with us, if we are nothing without them?

Thus our love shatters because we are shrunk by the idolized creature without whom we would be nothing. Oddly enough, we also shrink the beloved; for there is a strategy in counterfeit love, always doomed to failure, which seeks control by investing all our attention. Parents thus suffocate the child who becomes their “everything.” Love-idols are functions of a craving inadequacy; but when they fail as our ”rock” or “security,” we come to hate them for betraying our expectations.

The same paradox applies to the way we love ourselves. If we make ourselves the absolute goal of our seeking, we bring ruin upon ourselves. Only when we die to such narcissistic illusions can we be fulfilled. Only when we take up the cross of true love—“laying down our lives,” sharing ourselves freely with our family and friends, not demanding that they be our gods or we be theirs—do we find ourselves.

If neither I nor you are God, but only God is God, then we may love each other freely, nonpossessively, and without jealousy. There is no question of domination or control. Then we know the greatest gift God has given us: the capacity to bestow our lives freely in covenants and promises to our dear ones, who even in eternity are loved in God.

  “Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me and the one who sent me,” Jesus said. In this life and the next, when we so welcome each other, we truly love the God who dwells in us and yet is not reduced to us.

John Kavanaugh, SJ

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A wonderful bite size "take-away" on the Gospel:

~~> Choosing life with Christ means that every relationship we have must be understood from a new perspective.  (Loyola Press)

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sources:

Scott Hahn

John Kavanaugh, SJ 

St. Louis University Sunday Website

http://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/liturgical-year/sunday-connection/13th-sunday-of-ordinary-time-a-sunday-connection

http://www.agnusday.org/comics/

http://www.catholicdoors.com/homilies/  Did not use this site - I just found it. This week's homily is very "works oriented" and the wording seems careless to me . . . .  hmmmm?

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