Daily Readings and Homily - 2022-03-06 - Fr. Mark

a reading from the book of deuteronomy moses spoke to the people saying the priest shall receive the basket from you and you shall set it in front of the altar of the lord your god then you shall declare before the lord your god my father was a wandering aramian who went down to egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien but there he became a nation great strong and numerous when the egyptians maltreated and oppressed us imposing hard labor upon us we cried to the lord the god of our fathers and he heard our cry and saw our affliction our toil and our oppression he brought us out of egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm with terrifying power with signs and wonders and bring us into this country he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey therefore i have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you o lord have given me and having set them before the lord your god you shall bow down in his presence the word of the lord [Music] [Music] my [Music] he who dwells in the shelter of the most high and abides in the shade of the almighty says to the lord my refuge my stronghold my god in whom i trust [Music] upon you no evil shall fall no plague approach [Music] for he you he has commanded his angers to keep you in all your ways [Music] they shall bear you upon their hands lest you strike your fort against the soul on the lion and the viper you will tread and trample the young lion and the serpent [Music] since he clings to me in love i will flee him for he knows my name when he calls on me i will answer him i will be with him in distress i will deliver him and give him [Music] in [Music] a reading from the letter of saint paul to the romans brothers and sisters what does scripture say the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith that we preach for if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved for one believes with the heart and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved for the scripture says no one who believes in him will be put to shame for there is no distinction between jew and greek the same lord is lord of all enriching all who call upon him for everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved the word of the lord [Music] r [Music] one does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of god [Music] dominus fabisco [Music] lukaku [Music] filled with the holy spirit jesus returned from the jordan and was led by the spirit into the desert for forty days to be tempted by the devil he ate nothing during those days and when they were over he was hungry the devil said to him if you are the son of god command this stone to become bread jesus answered him it is written one does not live on bread alone then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant the devil said to him i shall give to you all this power and glory for it has been handed over to me and i may give it to whomever i wish all this will be yours if you worship me jesus said to him in reply it is written you shall worship the lord your god and him alone shall you serve then he led them led him to jerusalem made him stand on the parapet of the temple and said to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you and with their hands they will support you lest you dash your foot against the stone jesus said to him in reply it also says you shall not put the lord your god to the test when the devil had finished every temptation he departed from him for a time verbum domini [Music] this first sunday of lent we have the account of jesus's temptation in the desert and the catechism teaches that during advent and lent and the easter vigil the church re-reads and relives the great events of salvation history in the today in quotes of her liturgy that today that these mysteries of jesus's life these saving mysteries his birth his public ministry his suffering death and resurrection in the liturgy represents these events that we can enter in through faith and share in them live them in our lives and receive the grace that jesus is meriting for us in these mysteries the catechism says that by the solemn 40 days of lent the church unites herself each year to the mystery of jesus in the desert where he went into the desert 40 days fasting was tempted and he overcame temptation he overcame satan the parable says that he binds the strong man the strong man that bound adam and eve tempted them they gave in and plundered their goods of sanctifying grace stole eternal life jesus is one stronger than that strong man and binds him and liberates us takes back the plunder so to speak he recapitulates the temptations of adam and paradise and of israel and the desert the israelites spent 40 years in the desert overcomes their their failures they gave in corporately they didn't it was a much shorter journey than 40 years but they're doing laps in the desert trying to learn this lesson of dependence on god so jesus is the new adam who remains faithful who does not give into sin that he is god's servant the son of god does the father's will is totally obedient the first reading from deuteronomy is a powerful scene it's so dramatic the israelites are crossing the jordan from the east into the promised land and they're going to cross a river and moses instructs them to you know to bring the first fruits when they enter the promised land this land flowing with milk and honey that's even today even today bountiful it's a rich soil to bring these first fruits to the lord because we have to recognize as moses recounts that god brought them out of egypt with his strong hand an outstretched arm with terrifying power it was god who liberated the israelites they're a weak enslaved nation they have to go in and battle and fight and you know take that promised land and overcome the egyptians to get away but that's all done by god's power he works these signs and miracles through moses and it says bring the first fruits of the land and having set them before the lord your god you shall bow down in his presence such a powerful thing bring the first fruits of the land flowing with milk and honey and then bow down before god because he has given this to you he has liberated you from this bondage from slavery and we experience that liberation in worship i think that's the theme here worshiping god giving him and practicing our religion it's the way we offer worship away we offer thanksgiving to god we're recognizing him as sovereign in our life we're recognizing the primacy of grace that he is god and i am not he is number one i am to seek his will to obey him and if they do that if they live the law the heart of the law is the ten commandments they will possess the land they will possess the land otherwise you break the covenant you're going to suffer and they do right they suffer invasions from the assyrians the babylonian captivity they're hauled off into captivity from that promised land and held in bondage in babylon for a time and then god brings them back and they rebuild the temple but there's this corporate continuing corporate failure of israel to live that that law and it is true for us today if we want to enjoy the fullness of the land the fullness of god's blessings if we want to enjoy freedom if we want to enjoy the dignity of being a child of god live the law live the commandments avoid sin do good we commit sin we find ourselves in bondage we lose freedom we mistake license for freedom today license to do whatever i want and to the extent that i violate god's law the more enslaved i get i go back to egypt i go back to bondage the next chapter in deuteronomy i think it's 27 as they when they they cross the jordan enter the land moses instructs them to plaster these big stones and write the entirety of the law on these stones and take stones and build an altar it's just a stark reminder that if you want to stay here keep the law keep the commandments offer worship offer sacrifice to god what do we have on the big stones in our culture the advertisements the things we cherish expressed in our culture it's hedonism it's consumerism it's materialism often not solely but often it's a stream of temptation in our in our culture to disobey the law now certainly there's there's lights and and devout people of faith and just good people you know seeking to follow their conscience that exists but i think anyone who lives in our culture the very air we breathe is becoming more secularized and it's a temptation that's what's before our face this this false offering of of liberty license but not true freedom live the law possess the land and ultimately possess our heavenly land the gospel today from luke's gospel shows us the scene of jesus temptation and the catechism teaches again that jesus's temptation reveals the way in which the son of god is messiah contrary to the way satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him become a messiah in a different way a different way than the cross jesus cannot be tempted internally we you know due to the fall we do not our reason our rational mind is not doesn't have easy control of our emotions and passions we have disordered desires that's not true of jesus he has a perfect humanity but he can be tempted from without externally you know do not become a messiah by the cross by suffering we see his human nature recoils at this in the in the garden of gethsemane and satan shows him different ways that he could be a messiah if you are the son of god command this stone to become bread feed the people and you'll have a great big church feed the people you can raise up an army to drive out these romans that are brutally occupying our land or taxing us to death and crucifying us at every turn jesus answer one does not live on bread alone he took him up and you know saying that we are yes we need bread for physical life but we need god in our life we need god to live that law to be free you know to flourish then he took him up and showed him the kingdoms of the world in a single instant and the devil said to him i shall give to you all this power and glory for it has been handed over to me don't you love that drama satan that that talking snake has been stirring up chaos since day one has this rain in this fallen world the world has a way of doing things that's antithetical to the gospel it's living by power you know seeking a big great big power struggle pushing to the side right and wrong natural moral loss just might makes right and it is ugly and brutal in man's history satan is is reigning there when that happens pope benedict points out that all the kingdoms of the world that jesus was shown that day would pass away that's not a lasting kingdom the kingdom that jesus establishes where his suffering and death is lifting up on the cross is at the center of that kingdom that's the one that lasts forever and that's not one of violence and power and struggle he says jesus's answer you shall worship the lord your god and him alone you shall serve so satan is telling him you know if you bow down before me i'll give you this and jesus reminds them that god is number one he is sovereign he is the one that we follow in the third temptation satan leads them to jerusalem makes them stand on the parapet of the temple and said to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you with their hands they support you lest you dash your foot against a stone if you work dazzling miracles you'll have followers you'll you know have this awe-inspiring miracles that you know people will be drawn to maybe to your power and ability but not to a feeling a relationship of love and submission to your will maybe just overpower us dazzling us through demonstrations of power and i was thinking you know maybe for us today a temptation would be to use religion to manipulate people the pharisees were doing that they had places of authority and they were exercising their influence through their religious status that's a temptation for us to put ourselves above others due to our religious practice or maybe some authority we've been given but here jesus overturns the temptation by quoting scripture you should not put the lord your god to the test and the catechism talks about these temptations especially as is putting god's goodness and almighty power to the test by word or deed you're trying to force god to act and it wounds the respect and trust we owe to god so jesus is giving us that example that god is father we are his children we are to have a filial respect and trust to love him to seek his will not to doubt his love not to doubt his providential care over us satan is trying to you know he says if you are the son of god if you have this filial relationship do these things and he's he's inserting these temptations to really to not trust in god as father you know seek power seek dazzling miracles seek signs you know anything but god's will of the cross that's what they tell him on the cross right if you're the son of god come down from there why would the son of god be crucified that's how he saves us that's what we enter into and that's what our human nature rebels against suffering anything but that go a different way when when peter tries to remember to dissuade him you know jesus asked who do you say that i am peter gets the right answer you're the son of god the christ and he gives a passion prediction and and jesus says forbid it lord that you undergo this and jesus says get behind me satan that's a satanic temptation a different way than the cross and jesus today also gives us a model for us in temptation and the underlying theme i think in all of this is depend on god he's quoting scripture showing his dependence and trust on the lord and literally we can do that as well when we have temptations what i like to do is just find a google you know google it and and say you know scripture passage about x y or z about envy covetousness whatever it is and then quote that to yourself say that read that meditate upon that trust in god not in ourselves because it's only by the power of god's outstretched hand that we are liberated from the bondage of egypt the bondage of sin and death depend on god when we get out of that filial relationship of dependence we sin we fall away the second reading today from romans says everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved and jesus also exhorts us in the gospel that if we cry out lord and lord lord we have to seek his will so not just calling out on his name to remove this so i can go on my merry way but god wants us to again have that feeling relationship where we are seeking the father's will and we call out to him help and doing his will he liberates us and i think we need to i think couple couple this practically too is just to get out of our own heads there's a famous test that was done they call it the marshmallow test and there's different forms of it you put someone in the room say if you don't eat this marshmallow for x amount of time we'll give you a second one right let me put an oreo cookie alright's got marshmallow inside of it we'll give you a second one one of the forms of it they looked at how men and women did in this test and they said women fared better when they talked about the temptation they talked it out men did better if they distracted themselves from it did something else some activity whatever you have to do if you got a talker to help with a friend or distract yourself with some activity do that let's just get out of our heads our own isolation ideally serving somebody else and doing something good we're much less likely to fall into temptation clean toilets pick up trash call a friend who's lonely it helps us to get out of ourselves and call on the lord to depend on him jesus gives us a model today he's overcome the tempter we cry out to him in his name he will strengthen us to overcome sin in our life and it is possible we have saints and holiness does not mean that we are not tempted jesus himself was tempted it's part and parcel of the christian life but he offers us liberation and freedom he offers us a heavenly promised land you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 199

Keywords: homily, ytsync-en

Id: mE6yiOGGCoI

Length: 28min 12sec (1692 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022