Homily 2013-01-09 - Fr Wade Menezes CPM - Astounding

a reading from the first letter of Saint John beloved if God so loved us we must also love one another no one has ever seen God yet if we love one another god remains in US and his love is brought to perfection in us this is how we know that we remain in him and he in us that he has given us of his spirit moreover we have seen and testified that the father sent his son as Saviour of the world whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God God remains in him and he in God we have come to know and to believe in love in the love that God has for us god is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him in this is love bought brought to perfection among us that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world there is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment and so one who fears is yet perfect in love verbum Domini gracias Lord every nation on earth will adore you Oh God with your judgment endow the king and with your justice the king's son he shall govern your people with justice and your afflicted ones with judgment the kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts the kings of Arabia and Siva shall bring tribute for he shall rescue the poor when he cries out and the afflicted when he has no one to help him he shall have pity for the lowly in the poor the lives of the poor he shall save oh boy I'll hate boy Oh Oh glory to your Christ proclaim to the Gentiles glory to your Christ lived in throughout our world vámanos for b-school lectio sancti evangelii secundum Marcum after the five thousand had eaten and were satisfied Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side toward Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd and when he had taken leave of them he went off to the mountain to pray when it was evening the boat was far out on the sea and he was alone on shore then he saw that they were tossed about while rowing for the wind was against them about the fourth watch of the night he came toward them walking on the sea he meant to pass by them but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and cried out they had all seen him and were terrified but at once he spoke with them take courage it is I do not be afraid he got into the boat with them and the wind died down they were completely astounded they had not understood the incident of the loaves on the contrary their hearts were hardened at one Devon Nene a very telling line brings today's gospel to an end and that line is quote they were completely astounded they were completely astounded throughout epiphany this week my friends God's Word proclaims Jesus's mastery over creation in other words it proclaims his divinity that he is God and this is appropriate because one of the three gifts that the three kings just brought to him this past Sunday on the solemnity of the Epiphany which makes present to us in the Sacred Liturgy that real historical fact of the visitation of the Kings that actually took place one of those gifts tell us that they believed he was God so again throughout epiphany week God's Word proclaims Jesus's mastery over creation his divinity and of course that gift of the three was the frankincense symbolic of his deity his second divine personage of the Most Holy Trinity we know that Jesus can heal the sick Mondays gospel of this week we know that he can multiply food Tuesdays gospel of this week and today on Wednesday we can see that he can walk on water it's very interesting that the multiplication of the loaves and the walking on water appears side-by-side as two miracles in John chapter 6 which is known as the great bread of life discourse chapter in the very theological Gospel of John because the bread of life discourse follows those two miracles the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves which shows that Jesus has power over ordinary bread and the fact that he walked on water which shows that he has power over his own body and the natural elements of creation like water walking on water and then right after those two miracles comes the bread of life discourse the Eucharist and we see at each and every Mass at the words of consecration this is my body this is the chalice of my blood that Jesus has mastery over ordinary bread he has mastery over his body he has mastery over the natural elements like wine and water and John the Evangelist places those two miracles of the multiplication Bulow's and the walking on water side by side and then thirdly right after that he gives us the bread of life discourse what a beautiful testimony to the reality of the Eucharist so we have all these miracles this week huh all these miracles these miracles show us Jesus's almighty power and how much he thus actually emptied himself by becoming a little baby all these miracles thus show us just how much Jesus Christ God Himself in his second divine personage of the Trinity actually emptied himself by becoming a little baby the power of these miracles show us just how much he emptied himself huh when he became a helpless little infant the all-powerful creator of the world think about it the all-powerful creator of the world could not walk could not talk or roll over on his own the second person of the Blessed Trinity talked baby talk Almighty God weighed just a few pounds literally not metaphorically literally it's unfathomable he nursed at his mother's breasts the message of Christmas my dear friends and God's sacred Incarnation is so miraculous really that it's actually shocking and that's not too strong of a word to use it's so miraculous that God became a baby that God became man that he took on our human nature but in the Avenue or channel of infancy through a womb that's so miraculous it's actually shocking he who created the billions of galaxies with billions of stars who created countless creatures on this rather little planet of ours compared to the universe became completely dependent on his parents just like us it's it's unfathomable it seems almost blasphemous to suggest that God became a dependent little human being while retaining his divine personage yet he did out of love for us and amazingly we must have that same love for neighbor that's the theme of the first reading all this week from first John if we love one another God dwells in us God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him the mean of Christmas is shocking yes but ultimately it's about love that profound love that was so much that God had for us that he emptied himself in the form of a baby born from a human females womb this same God man that we see doing all these spectacular miracles and Mark's Gospel all during the week days this week between the solemnity of the Epiphany and the great feast of the baptism of the Lord this coming Sunday and because he had this love for us we are called to show a similar love toward neighbour maybe this is why Saint John of the Cross the great Carmelite mystic says at the evening of this life we will be majd on love at the evening of this life in other words when your particular judgment is about to take place you will be judged on love love of neighbor love of self love of God love of his son love of his spirit love of the sons bride the church standing up for her defending her at the evening of this life we will be judged on love yet we often do not love properly because of several things such as fear anxiety doubt worry preconceived notions about the person we don't love properly within families outside of families within covenant marriages outside of covenant marriages taking advantage of the other individual again because of such things as fear anxiety doubt worry preconceived notions taking advantage of the other in other words things that lead us to be self-centered as opposed to other centered and God becoming a baby is an example par excellence of one being other centered so much so did the creator of the universe empty himself out of love that he became a baby of just a few pounds for love of us and so we need to be other centered as opposed to self-centered self-centered is caused by self-love as opposed to other love st. Francis DeSales says kind of an equip if you will self love is so strong it dies 15 minutes after we do self love can be so strong that it dies 15 minutes after we do doctor of the church it has also been said that dying to self is not fatal like many people think it is dying to self is not fatal so we should practice it that is dying to self st. Catherine Laboure the great visionary and seer of the miraculous metal tells us one must see God into every one one must see God and everyone it's a beautiful quote promoting other centeredness as opposed to self-centeredness st. John Vianney the great patron saint of parish priests says no one heals himself by wounding another no one heals himself by wounding another galatians chapter 5 tells us out of love place yourselves at one another's service the whole law has found its fulfillment in this one saying quote you shall love your neighbor as yourself and the greatest form of love or charity that one can have for another is wanting them to attain heaven for all eternity that's the greatest love one can have for another and so wanting to arrive at that truth the greatest love that one can have for another is wanting them to enter heaven for all eternity is to lead that other to the truth and not bend or budge on the truth when that other is being tempted to leave the truth like truths concerning the sanctification of marriage and family today natural marriage according to God's design we want to lead people to the truth of natural marriage by God's own design and to not do so is to not want to have eternity for the other to lead them to the fullness of truth out of love place yourselves at one another service the whole law has found its fulfillment in this one saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself and do you not want eternal salvation for yourself I hope you do blessed john paul ii said the giving of oneself brings with it a simultaneous enriching of oneself the giving of oneself brings with it simultaneously an enriching of oneself it breeds in other words virtue breeds virtue that's great news but the opposite is just as true vais breeds vice 1865 of the Catechism tells us that sin is so strong it creates a proclivity to itself sin causes further sin sin induces further sin sin can become so strong in an individual's life and breeds so strong that it can actually cause veritable structures of sin that we see in political systems that are actually made manifest in political systems and structures structures of sins and then we end up seeing those structures of sins doing what infringing upon religious freedoms to the point that the Catholic Church is claimed to be a hate organization because she's standing up for truth there's a big problem there Pope Benedict the 16th said that there's something very sinister that's the word he used he says there is something very sinister when the notions of freedom and tolerance separate themselves from objective world truth there is something sinister about the fact when the notions of freedom and tolerance separate themselves from objective moral truths and what is so sinister about such facts those very notions can take on similarities of totalitarianism but yet freedom sounds great tolerance sounds great until object of moral truths attempt to show themselves then in the name of freedom and tolerance we want to railroad those object of moral truths this is why pope benedict xvi again says that relativism can actually become a dictatorship within his first year as pope from April of 2005 to April of 2006 within that first year he talked about quote the dictatorship of relativism the giving of oneself brings with it an enriching of oneself and the greatest charity or love that one can have for another is to want to lead that person to the fullness of truth st. Augustine says since you do not yet see God you merit the vision of God by loving your neighbor by loving your neighbor you prepare your eyes to see God st. John says it clearly if you do not love the brother whom you can see how will you love God whom you cannot see how much you love God is indicative my dear friends of how much you love your neighbor and how much you love your neighbor is indicative of how much you love God it is your neighbor who is made in the image and likeness of God all this comes full circle for us by coming back around to the sacred incarnation of our Lord blessed john paul ii again says i love this quote he says the most radical and elevating affirmation of the value of every human being was made by the son of god in his becoming man in the womb of a woman that once sentences is theologically packed with meaning the most radical and elevating affirmation of the value of every human being was made by the son of god in his becoming man in the womb of a woman again he emptied himself he emptied himself out for each one of us pope benedict also says this the saint is the person who is so fascinated by the beauty of god and by his perfect truth as to be progressively transformed by it because of this beauty and truth seen in creation and the natural order of things the natural law for example such a person is ready to renounce everything even himself love of god is enough for him experienced in humble and disinterested service to one's neighbor especially towards those who cannot give back to him in return in other words we give to other were others centered simply out of love of god and knowing that the other is made in God's own image and likeness and having that beautiful disinterested service towards another disinterested meaning we're doing it precisely just to do it not because we're doing it too something back in return that would be utilitarianism I'll do this for the other only because I know I'm getting something back no no utilitarianism here but rather a loving disinterested service we hear the word disinterested it almost sounds like a negative term but it's not in this sense it's meant as a great good a loving disinterested service towards another precisely knowing that I'm not getting anything back in return in other words like wanting to lead neighbor to the fullness of truth whatever it takes never budging from that truth again Pope Benedict the saint is the person who is so fascinated by the beauty of God and by His perfect truth as to be progressively transformed by it because of this beauty and truth love of this natural order of things the natural law for example he is ready to renounce everything even himself love of God is enough for him experienced in humble and disinterested service to one's neighbor especially towards those who cannot give back in return the incarnation of this truth was seen in the life of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta a loving disinterested in disinterested service towards other especially when that other cannot give back in return Romans 13 sums this up for us nicely when it states the man who loves his neighbor fulfills the law the whole law is summed up in love for love is the fulfillment of the law god bless you you

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Length: 24min 52sec (1492 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 09 2013