Importance: 1) The last two precious gifts given to us by Jesus are the Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food on Holy Thursday and Jesus’ mother Mary as our spiritual mother on Good Friday 2) Corpus Christi is the celebration of the abiding presence of a loving God as Emmanuel – God with us – in order to give collective thanks to our Lord for his living with us in the Eucharist. 3) The feast also gives us an occasion to learn more about the importance and value of the “Real Presence” so that we may appreciate the Sacrament better and receive maximum benefit from the Eucharist

We believe in the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because 1) Jesus promised it after miraculously feeding the 5000. 2) Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist during his Last Supper. 3) Jesus commanded his disciples to repeat it in his memory. 4) “Nothing is impossible for God.”

We explain the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist by: “transubstantiation” which means that the substance of the consecrated bread and wine is changed to the substance of the risen Jesus’ glorified Body and Blood by the action of the Holy Spirit, and its accidents (like color, shape, taste etc.), remain the same.

Scripture lessons: This year's readings for the Feast emphasize the theme of Covenant blood because the ancient peoples sealed Covenants with the blood of ritually sacrificed animals, and Jesus sealed his New Covenant with his own Blood shed on Calvary. Today’s first reading describes how Moses, by sprinkling the blood of a sacrificed animal on the altar and on the people, accepted the Covenant Yahweh proposed and made with His People. In the second reading, St. Paul affirms that Jesus sealed the New Covenant with his own Blood, thereby putting an end to animal sacrifices. Today’s Gospel details how Jesus converted this ancient ritual into a Sacrament and sacrifice. Instead of the lamb’s blood, Jesus offered his own Divine/human Body and Blood, and instead of sprinkling us with blood, Jesus put it into our hands as food and drink: "Take … eat … this IS my Body which will be given up for you" (He did not say "This represents my body”), and "Take … drink …This is … my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal Covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many….” (nor did He say, “This represents my blood…”).

A Sacrament and a sacrifice: Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist both as a sacramental banquet and a sacrificial offering. As a Sacrament, a) the Eucharist is a visible sign that gives us God’s grace and God’s life and, b) as a Meal, The Eucharist nourishes our souls. As a sacrifice a) the Eucharistic celebration is a re-presentation or re-enactment of Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary, completed in His Resurrection. b) We offer Jesus’ sacrifice to God the Father for the remission of our sins, using signs and symbols.

Life messages: 1) Let us appreciate the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, by receiving him with true repentance for our sins, due preparation and reverence.

2) Let us be Christ-bearers and conveyers: By receiving Holy Communion, we become Christ-bearers as Mary was, with the duty of conveying Christ to others at home and in the workplace, through love, mercy, forgiveness and humble and sacrificial service.

3) Let us offer our lives on the altar along with Jesus’ sacrifice, asking pardon for our sins, expressing gratitude for the blessings we have received and presenting our needs and petitions on the altar.

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST [B]

(EX. 24:3-8, HEBREWS 9:11-15, MARK: 14:12-16, 22-26)

Homily starter anecdotes # 1: “I would like to say Mass.” Dominic Tang, the courageous Chinese archbishop, was imprisoned for twenty-one years for nothing more than his loyalty to Christ and Christ’s one, true Church. After five years of solitary confinement in a windowless, damp cell, the Archbishop was told by his jailers that he could leave it for a few hours to do whatever he wanted. Five years of solitary confinement and he had a couple of hours to do what he wanted! What would it be? A hot shower? A change of clothes? Certainly, a long walk outside? A chance to call or write to family? What would it be, the jailer asked him. “I would like to say Mass,” replied Archbishop Tang. [Msgr. Timothy M. Dolan, Priests of the Third Millennium (2000), p. 216]. The Vietnamese Jesuit, Joseph Nguyen-Cong Doan, who spent nine years in labor camps in Vietnam, relates how he was finally able to say Mass when a fellow priest-prisoner shared some of his own smuggled supplies. “That night, when the other prisoners were asleep, lying on the floor of my cell, I celebrated Mass with tears of joy. My altar was my blanket, my prison clothes my vestments. But I felt myself at the heart of humanity and of the whole of creation.” (Ibid., p. 224). Today’s feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus constantly calls us beyond ourselves to sacrificial love for others. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

# 2: The greatest work of art in St. Peter’s Basilica: One of the seminarians who gives tours of St. Peter’s told me of an interesting incident. He was leading a group of Japanese tourists who knew absolutely nothing of our Faith. With particular care he explained the great masterpieces of art, sculpture and architecture. He finally concluded at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel trying his best to explain quickly what it was. As the group dispersed, an elderly man, who had been particularly attentive stayed behind, and said, “Pardon me. Would you explain again this ‘Blessed Sacrament?’” Our student did, after which the man exclaimed, “Ah, if this is so, what is in this chapel is a greater work of art than anything else in this basilica.”’ [Msgr. Timothy M Dolan in Priests of the Third Millennium, (2000), p. 226.]Today’s feast of Corpus Christi is intended to make us value and appreciate the worth of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/)

# 3: Communion on the moon: The Lord's Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July

20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong's first words as he stepped onto the moon's surface: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA Astronaut had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit." Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering moon to Jesus. Next, he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong. (Dan Gulley: "Communion on the Moon": Our Daily Bread: June/July/August 2007). His actions remind us that in the Lord's Supper, God's children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth — and even from the moon. God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality. In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. (Dennis Fisher)

EASTER III [B] (April 18) SUNDAY (Eight-minute homily in one page)

Introduction: The common theme of today’s readings is the challenge to adjust our lives to the living presence of the risen Lord as we grow daily more aware of the presence of His Holy Spirit within us and surrounding us. This awareness should strengthen our hope in His promises, bring us to true repentance for our sins and the renewal of our lives, and lead us to bear witness to Christ by our works of charity. The readings also remind us that the purpose of the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Jesus was to save us from our sins.

Scripture lessons: The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, gives us Peter’s second sermon addressing the Jewish assembly at the Portico of Solomon in Jerusalem. Peter forcefully shows how the messianic prophecies have been fulfilled in the crucified and risen Jesus and challenges the Jews to repent and turn toward God so that their sins may be wiped away. In the second reading, John answers doubts raised by the heretics of his time, asserting the fundamental Christian doctrine that Jesus’ death was a sacrifice offered as expiation for our sins. Today's Gospel describes Jesus’ appearance on the evening of His Resurrection to his apostles who were in the locked Upper Room, the Cenacle. We see Jesus remove the doubts of his apostles about his Resurrection by inviting them to touch him and by eating a piece of cooked fish. Jesus explains how the prophecies have been fulfilled in him. Then he commissions them to bear witness to him and preach "repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name” after receiving the Holy Spirit.     

Life messages: 1) We need to share the apostles’ "Upper Room Experience" in the Holy Mass: The same Jesus who, in the Upper Room,  the Cenacle, prepared the disciples for their preaching and witnessing mission, is present with us in the Eucharistic celebration.   In the "Liturgy of the Word” of God, Jesus speaks to us. In the "Liturgy of the Eucharist," Jesus becomes our spiritual food and drink.  Thus, today's Gospel scene is repeated every Sunday on our parish altars.  Like the early disciples, we come together to repent of our sins, express our gratitude for blessings received, listen to God’s word, and offer our lives to God along with our petitions and His gifts of consecrated Bread and Wine.  We also consume the spiritual food Jesus supplies, thus gaining the strength necessary for sharing Christ’s message with the entire world, mainly by living transparent Christian lives.  2) Jesus needs us as witnesses to continue his mission.  Jesus needs Spirit-filled followers to be his eyes, ears, hands, and feet,  to bear witness to his love, mercy and forgiveness by our interactions with our brother and sisters. 3) Our daily lives are meant to serve as a means for us to experience and share the risen Lord with others. Just as the disciples experienced the risen Lord in their community, let us learn to recognize the presence of Jesus in our own homes, social service centers, nursing facilities, hospitals, workplaces, and schools.  Jesus wants us to be a community which shares and cares, a community which knows how to recognize Jesus in the poor, the marginalized, the sick – that is, in everyone – and does so. 

EASTER III [B] Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; I Jn, 2:1-5a; Lk 24:35-48 (L/21)

Homily starter anecdotes # 1: The ghost story!   There is a true story in Ripley’s Believe It or Not about a judge in Yugoslavia who had an unfortunate accident.  He was “electrocuted” when he reached up to turn on the light while standing in the bathtub.  His wife found his body sprawled on the bathroom floor.  She called for help. Friends and neighbors, police--everyone showed up.  He was pronounced dead and taken to the funeral home.  The local radio picked up the story and broadcast it all over the air.  In the middle of the night, the judge regained consciousness.  When he realized where he was, he rushed over to alert the night watchman, who promptly ran off, terrified.  The first thought of the judge was to phone his wife and reassure her, using the funeral home phone.  But he got no further than, "Hello darling, it’s me," when she screamed and fainted.  He tried calling a couple of the neighbors, but they all thought it was some sort of a sick prank.  He even went so far as to go to the homes of several friends, but they were all sure he was a ghost and slammed the door in his face.  Finally, he was able to call a friend in the next town who hadn't heard of his death.  This friend was able to convince his family and other friends that he really was alive. -- Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had to convince the disciples that he wasn’t a ghost.  He had to dispel their doubts and their fears.  He showed them his hands and his feet.  He invited them to touch him and see that he was real.  And he even ate a piece of cooked fish with them -- all to prove that he was alive and not a ghost or spirit.  He stood there before them, as real and alive as he had been over the past three years. (The Autoillustrator). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

# 2: "What in the world happened to you?" A man showed up at Church with both his ears painfully blistered. After the service, his concerned pastor asked "What in the world happened to you?" The man replied, "I was lying on the couch yesterday afternoon watching a ball game on TV and my wife was ironing nearby. I was totally engrossed in the game when she left the room, leaving the iron near the phone. The phone rang and keeping my eyes glued to the television, I grabbed for the phone, got the iron and put it to my ear." "So how did the other ear get burned?" the pastor asked. "Well, I had no more than hung up and the guy called again." [Bill Tewels, “Overheard at the Country Café,” Country (Oct-Nov 1994), p. 45.] --  Here is a man who was focused! He was so caught up in watching the game, he didn't know what he was doing. In our Gospel lesson for today the disciples of Jesus have lost their focus. They are confused and weary. They need a break. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

# 3: “We’re walking proud!” Each year the Irish National Tourist Board invites marching bands from home and abroad to take part in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day parade. The band from Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester accepted in 1982. It was the eighth parade trip to Dublin for the “Marching Kings,” and they had won the major Irish awards in 1979. But a win in 1979 did not guarantee a win in 1982. In three years the band membership had changed almost completely, and they were in competition against over eighty international quick-stepping units. Flying to Ireland a bit early, the Kings marched in some smaller parades. At Galway their concert and jazz bands carried off first honors. Judges of the Limerick parade voted them the top school band. These awards were encouraging but second-class. Band Director Ray Shahin would not let his team relax. At Dublin, he warned them he would simply not let them beat themselves. Well, the big parade took place on March 17 on Dublin’s O’Connell Street. Traditional Irish rain mixed with hail didn’t make the high stepping any easier. The Marching Kings did their best, but the prize winners were not to be announced until evening. They all went to an official dancing party tired and tense. Finally, at 8 PM Mr. Shahin came in with the verdict. Color Guard and Twirlers category, first place: Bishop Kearney. Best overseas band category: Bishop Kearney. And finally, over-all best band category: Bishop Kearney. Pandemonium broke loose. The 140 winners sprang to life again, cheering, hugging, weeping. Two days later their schoolmates welcomed them back to Rochester with a banner inscribed “We’re walking proud!” -- God permits us all occasional moments of unexpected delight. “Pinch me,” we say, “I think I’m dreaming.” Thrills like these can help us to appreciate the far greater joy of the disciples at Easter. The Jesus whom they had seen hurried off to death stood live again before them. “They were incredulous for sheer joy and wonder.” (Luke 24:41 Today’s Gospel.) -Father Robert F. McNamara. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

# 4:  The “miracle principle”.  The great promoter of positive thinking, Rev. Norman Vincent Peale (died, 1993 at 95), believed that one of the most wonderful principles known to man is called the “miracle principle”. Six words describe the principle: Expect a miracle – make miracles happen. According to Peale, if you keep your eyes open expectantly every day for great and wonderful things to happen, great and wonderful things will tend to happen to you. If one expects great things from God, one will receive great things from God. How then, can one go about expecting miracles and causing miracles to happen? According to Rev. Peale, the number one thing is to have a tremendous Faith, a deep Faith - a Faith that is so positively strong that it rises above doubt. He asserts that if we train ourselves to have faith in depth, it will release an astonishing power in our life to produce miracles. --Indeed, there are some people who are figuratively swimming in a sea of troubles. They are so discouraged and dismayed by so many things that it is impossible for them to believe that a life-giving miracle could ever happen in their lives. The disciples of Jesus who were devastated by the event of their Lord’s passion and death were similarly troubled with doubts, fears and despair. An Easter apparition was necessary to assure them of the reality of a stupendous miracle: The Lord’s Resurrection. To the frightened and troubled disciples who were incredulous of the beautiful reality of the “miracle”, the Risen Christ revealed himself anew, opening their minds and hearts, instructing them about the Paschal event of His death and Resurrection, and its implications in their life as Easter witnesses. (Lectio Divina) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

Introduction: The common theme of today’s readings is a challenge to our Faith in the living presence of the risen Lord. That Faith should strengthen our Hope in His promises, call us to true repentance for our sins and lead us to bearing witness to Christ by our works of Charity. Does our Faith do that for us?  The readings also remind us that the purpose of Jesus’ death and Resurrection was to save us from our sins. Hence, they invite us to make our bearing witness to the risen Lord more effective by repenting of our sins, renewing our lives, and meeting Jesus in the Word of God and at the Eucharistic Table.  The first reading, taken  from the Acts of the Apostles, describes how Peter fulfills the mission of preaching Jesus.  In this second sermon, Peter goes on with the preaching mission begun on Pentecost in Jerusalem, and again presents Jesus as the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.  He also asks the Jews to “repent” (= think again), and turn toward God so that their sins may be wiped away. In the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 4) we declare our trust in God, asking, “Lord, let the Light of Your countenance “ – the Risen Jesus –“shine upon us,” and declaring, “You alone, O Lord, bring security to my dwelling” (vv 7, 9). In the second reading, John tells us that true knowledge and love of God consist in acknowledging that Jesus is the expiation for our sins. We make that acknowledgement daily by bearing witness to Him in our lives and by obeying His commandments.  Today's Gospel leads us to reflect on Faith, doubts, and crises.  It shows us how Jesus convinced his disciples of his Resurrection and then commissioned them to be his witnesses throughout the world.  Jesus prepared them to receive God's power through the coming descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, and  commanded them to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  

 The first reading: Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19, explained: Saint Luke wrote for an audience of cosmopolitan, middle-class Gentile converts, living in a skeptical society, yet committed to a religion with long, historic, Jewish roots.  This new religion reached out to all humankind.  To tell that story, to ground his audience in their adopted religious heritage, and to keep them focused on the new religion's mission, Luke needed to show how the story of Jesus continued in His Church in a second book, the Acts of the Apostles.  Today’s lesson is taken from the earlier part of the second of five discourses preached by Peter.  This forceful address astonished the crowd gathered at the Portico of Solomon in the Jerusalem Temple after a healing miracle. In it, Peter speaks of the Jewish heritage of Christianity, reminding his hearers, and us, of how the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent His Son Jesus as the Messiah to save the world and of how His chosen people rejected their Messiah, manipulating the Romans to execute Jesus.    Peter also reports how Jesus was raised from the dead and fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies.  This portion of the sermon concludes with the admonition to the Jews, and a reminder to ourselves: “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away” (Acts 3:19). Although we were not part of that crowd demanding Jesus’ death, it was our sins that Christ carried to the cross, and it was for those sins that Christ asked the Father's forgiveness from the cross.  Hence, we also need to reform our lives and turn to God with repentant hearts.  Since we believe that Christ has forgiven our sins, we must forgive the sins of others. 

Second Reading, 1 John 2:1-5, explained:  In liturgical year Cycle B, we read from the First Letter of Saint John on the Sundays of Easter.  This Letter was addressed to the early Christian community beset with many problems. Some members were advocating false doctrines. These errors are here recognized and rejected. Although their advocates had left the community, the threat they posed remained.  They had refused to acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who came into the world as a true man.  They had been difficult people to deal with, claiming special knowledge of God but disregarding the Divine commandments, particularly that of love of neighbor.   Likewise, they had refused to accept Faith in Christ as the source of sanctification.  Thus, they denied the redemptive value of Jesus' death.  While neither today’s reading from Luke nor the reading from Acts explains how Jesus’ death and Resurrection frees us from sins, John in his letter provides an explanation, calling Jesus the “expiation for our sins.”  This presupposes that the death of Jesus was a sacrifice, like the sacrifices prescribed in the Old Testament (Numbers 5:8).  The sacrifice of Jesus makes up for sins, and so offers an opportunity for their forgiveness. Jesus continues to remain our advocate when we encounter the harsh reality of our sins in our lives. Hence, John advises true Christians to approach Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and to lead true Christian lives by obeying his commandments. 

Gospel exegesis: The context: This apparition of Jesus took place on Easter evening, after Jesus had appeared to the two disciples of Emmaus who immediately hurriedly back to Jerusalem to report the glad news: they had met Jesus, alive! He had seemed to be stranger who had explained to them the Sacred Scriptures, but when he “broke the bread” they had recognized Jesus.  The Emmaus disciples discovered that the apostles were already convinced   of the resurrection of Jesus because Simon had seen him as well.  While they were discussing these things in the still-locked Upper Room, Jesus appeared in their midst, shocking and terrifying them.  Refuting the  rumor that Jesus had not actually died on the cross but had been taken down and hidden by his friends, Luke shows  that the risen Jesus could now suddenly and wondrously appear in their midst (v. 36).This story was told and retold and recorded by Luke for at least three reasons: (1) Jesus' death and Resurrection fit God's purpose as revealed in Scripture; (2) the risen Jesus is present in the breaking of bread; and (3) the risen Jesus is also physically absent from the disciples. 

The facts emphasized: 1) The reality of Christ’s Resurrection. By inviting his apostles to look closely at him and touch him, Jesus removed any fear that they were seeing a ghost. He instilled confidence in them that he loved them by greeting them: “Peace be with you.”  By eating a piece of broiled fish before their eyes, he convinced them that they were not dreaming or having a mere vision or hallucination. Jesus wanted them to be authentic witnesses to the reality of his life as their risen Lord with his glorified soul and body. “The resurrection community that had experienced Jesus' dying now experienced his risen presence. And it was, quite insistently, an embodied one.  This is a Jesus of sight and sound, of memories and relationships, of love and tenderness. He would take food and allow himself to be touched. Even his wounds could be examined. It was a recognizable and identifiable Jesus, a realization of his bodied existence.” (Fr. John Kavanaugh; Center for Liturgy).

2) The necessity of the cross:  Jesus explained that his death on the cross had not been the result of a failed plan.  Instead, it was part of God's eternal plan to show His love for His people by subjecting His Son to a willing, sacrificial, suffering and death.   

3) The Resurrection of Jesus gives meaning to the Old Testament prophecies. Bible scholars cite 324 Messianic prophecies scattered throughout the Old Testament, especially in the prophets and in Psalms.  Jesus explained to his disciples how these prophecies had been fulfilled in him so that they might become witnesses to their risen Lord in Jerusalem and to all the nations. 

4) The commissioning of the disciples with the missionary task of preaching the Good News of salvation through repentance and Faith in Jesus.  Jesus told the disciples what they were to preach, namely:  a) that the Son of God was crucified and died on the cross as expiation for our sins; b) that he rose from the dead and conquered death; and c) that all people must repent of their sins and obtain forgiveness in his name. In this Gospel passage, Jesus also commanded His disciples to remain in Jerusalem, waiting and praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

Life messages: 1) We need to relive the "Upper Room Experience" in the Holy Mass: The same Jesus who, in the Upper Room, prepared his disciples for their preaching and witnessing mission, is present with us in the Eucharistic celebration.  He invites us to share in the "Liturgy of the Word” and in “The Liturgy of Eucharist."   In the first part of the Mass, Jesus speaks to us through the "Word of God."  In the second part, He becomes our spiritual food and drink.  Thus, today's Gospel scene is repeated every Sunday on our parish altars.  Like the early disciples, we come together to repent of our sins, express our thanks for the blessings we have received, listen to God’s words and offer ourselves to God on the altar along with our gifts of bread and wine.  We also share in the spiritual food Jesus supplies, and we are sent to share his message with the entire world.
2) Jesus needs us as witnesses to continue his mission. Witnessing to Jesus is testifying by our lives that the power of the Risen Jesus has touched us and transformed us in the most remarkable way imaginable. Witnessing to Jesus is letting Jesus speak through us to other people. Jesus needs Spirit-filled followers to be his eyes, ears, hands and feet so that we may bear witness to his love, mercy and forgiveness by exercising these gifts in our compassionate loving service of all our brothers and sisters.    The Church desperately needs dedicated witnesses: priests, deacons, Brothers, Sisters, parents, teachers, doctors, and nurses – all of us.  The essence of bearing witness is to testify by our lives that the power of the risen Jesus has touched and transformed us.  In other words, Jesus is to speak to other people through us. In Calcutta, a dying old woman with her head in the lap of St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), looked at her for a long time, and, in a feeble voice, asked:   "Are you the God Jesus who loves the poor and the sick?”

3)  Our daily lives need to become the means of experiencing and sharing the risen Lord with others. Just as the disciples experienced their risen Lord in their community, let us learn to recognize the presence of Jesus in our own homes, social service centers, nursing facilities, workplaces, hospitals, and schools.  These are also the places where we have the opportunity to convey our peace and joy to others.  

4) We need to become agents with Jesus in the establishing of the Kingdom in our world: Jesus wants us to be a community which shares and in which everything is shared; a community which knows how to recognize Jesus in the poor, in the marginalized, and  in the sick; a community to bring healing into people's lives; and a community of peacemakers and not makers of division or conflict.

JOKE OF THE WEEK: A man dies and goes to heaven.  As St. Peter shows the newly arrived man around the heavenly city, they hear singing coming from a nearby building.  When the man asks Peter what's going on, Peter says, “Ssshh! That's the [name your least favorite Christian group].  They don't know the rest of us are here.”  (It's a tired old joke, but it says a lot about Christian disunity).  

The Websites of the Week:

1) Roman Missal chants (Recorded music of the revised missal with texts):   http://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/roman_missal_chants

2) Beautiful website by Fr. Alexander Barbieto, STL:    http://www.dailygospelreflection.com/ 

3) American Catholic radio: http://www.franciscanradio.org/ACRepisode.asp?EpisodeNum=264

4) Catholic tube: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/CatholicTube

5) Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant:

https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066

6) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://lectiotube.com/

19 Additional anecdotes: 1) A man at the Super Bowl.  A man bought the very last seat for the Super Bowl.  It was a rotten seat, closer to the blimp than to the field, but early in the first quarter, he noticed an empty seat on the 50-yard line.  He scrambled down and somewhat furtively sat in the seat.  "Excuse me," he asked, "is anyone sitting here?"
"No," said the man on his right.
"That's incredible.  Who in his right mind would pass up a seat like this for the Super Bowl?"
"Well, actually," said the man, "the seat belongs to me.  I was supposed to be here with my dear wife, but she passed away. This is the first Super bowl in twenty years that we haven't been together."
"How sad!" said the other fellow.  "But couldn't you find someone to come with you, a relative or a close friend?"
"No," said the man, "they're all at her funeral!" 

--The widower in the story was missing something in head and heart.  Emotional crisis can blur our vision of reality as happened to the apostles in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

2)  “Dr. Louis Pasteur, Academy of Science, Paris.” A train was racing for Paris.  In one of its compartments two men sat opposite each other.  The first was a young medical research student who was bored by the long journey.  The other was an old man reciting his rosary with closed eyes.  The young researcher began to ridicule the old man for his superstitious beliefs.  He then went on to tell of the wonders of medical science.  The old man just nodded, smiled and continued his prayer in spite of the humiliating comments of his fellow passenger.  When they reached the Paris station, the old man enquired where the youngster was going.  The young man proudly announced that he was going to attend a lecture by the world-famous scientist, Louis Pasteur.  The old man took out a visiting card from his pocket, gave it to the young man and bid him farewell.  The card read: "Dr. Louis Pasteur, Academy of Science, Paris.” -- Pride and prejudice often blur our vision and occasionally blind us to reality, leading us to wrong judgments as it happened to the apostles in today’s Gospel. 

3) “We can see your love and loyalty in your hands." Tolstoy once told a story of a Czar and Czarina who wished to honor the members of their court with a banquet. They sent out invitations and requested that the guests come with the invitations in their hands. When they arrived at the banquet the guests were surprised to discover that the guards did not look at their invitations at all. Instead they examined their hands. The guests wondered about this, but they were also curious to see who the Czar and Czarina would choose as the guest of honor to sit between them at the banquet. They were flabbergasted to see that it was the old scrubwoman who had worked to keep the palace clean for years. The guards, having examined her hands, declared, "You have the proper credentials to be the guest of honor. We can see your love and loyalty in your hands." In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges the unbelieving disciples:  "See my hands and my feet..." They were invited to remove their superstitious doubt that he was a ghost. 

4) Witnessing with power: The grandfather of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber was lame. One day they asked him to tell a story about his teacher, and he related how his master used to hop and dance while he prayed. The old man rose as he spoke and was so swept away by his story that he himself began to hop and dance to show how his master did it. From that moment he was cured of his lameness. -- When we tell the story of Christ, we achieve two things. We enable others to experience him and we ourselves experience his power even more. We can see that happening in today’s Gospel.  

5) The Godfather In the early 70s, the Mafia, especially in New York City, was washed up and worn out. Then the movie, The Godfather, came out. More than anything else, it was that movie that brought the Mafia back to life. The Godfather movie energized them and told them who they were. They weren’t thugs. They were just like every other ethnic group: trying to get their piece of the pie, trying to make the dream of the American Promised Land come true. And that was the beginning of their comeback.-- This morning, we are like the disciples after Jesus’ crucifixion: washed up, worn down, bummed-out creatures. Then Jesus changed everything. It was Jesus’ appearance and assurance that energized them and reminded them of who they were and could be. This morning, Jesus appears to us in his Word, we who are washed up, worn down, bummed-out creatures, energizing us with the mission of who we are and who we can be—if only we “Trust and Obey.” 

6) “Run for your lives! Run for your lives!” The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once told a story about a circus that caught fire. The flames from the circus fire spread to the fields surrounding the circus grounds and began to burn toward the village below. The circus master, convinced that the village would be destroyed, and the people killed unless they were warned, asked if there was anybody who could go to the village and warn the people. The clown, dressed in full costume, jumped on a bicycle and sped down the hill to the village below. "Run for your lives! Run for your lives! A fire is coming, and the village is going to burn!" he shouted as he rode up and down the streets of the village. "The village is going to burn! Run for your lives!" Curious, the villagers came out of their houses and shops and stood along the sidewalks. They shouted back to the clown, laughing and applauding his performance. The more desperately the clown shouted, the more the villagers cheered. The village burned to the ground and the loss of life was great because no one took the clown seriously. After all, he was just a clown. [Soren Kierkegaard, Parables of Kierkegaard (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1978).] -- It's startling the amount of influence we don't have when we look like clowns and don't live like Jesus. And when we don't live our Faith, we're startled when our Faith is challenged or when it comes under attack, even though Jesus said this would be normal for Christians who truly lived their Faith. But the most startling thing of all is that this startling Savior, Jesus, still reaches out in startling encounters and changes lives. 

7) Like the story of Luiqi Tarisio who, some years ago was found dead one morning with hardly any creature comforts in his home, except the presence of 246 exquisite violins. He had been collecting them all his life. They were all stored in the attic. The best violins were found in the bottom drawer of an old rickety bureau. The greatest of his collection, a Stradivarius, when it was finally played, had had 147 speechless years. In his very devotion to the violin, he had robbed the world of all that exquisite music. -- How many of Christ's people are like old Tarisio? In our very love of the Church we fail to give the glad tidings to the world; in our zeal for the truth we forget to publish it. When shall we all learn that the Good News needs not just to be cherished, but needs to be told? Don't bury God's Good News of Easter at the bottom of a rickety old bureau. Let the people hear the great sound of the music: “He is Risen!”

8) “I don’t really belong here, I’m simply staying here.” Malcolm Muggeridge died in the fall of 1990. He was a highly intelligent man who served at various times in his life as a foreign correspondent, newspaper editor, editor of Punch magazine, and well-known television personality in Great Britain. It was as an adult, rather late in his life, that he finally became a Christian. He wrote of his dilemma as a journalist-turned-believer in his works such Jesus Rediscovered, Christ and the Media, Something Beautiful for God, and his multivolume autobiography, Chronicles of Wasted Time. The “wasted time” he wrote about were those wasted years before he knew Christ as his Savior. Muggeridge frequently spoke and wrote of “feeling like a stranger” in the world. In an interview a few years before his death, Muggeridge was asked if he would be willing to explain that feeling. His answer is worth repeating: “I’d very gladly do so, because I’ve thought about it often. In the war, when I was in North Africa, I heard some lieutenant colonel first use the phrase ‘displaced person.’ That phrase was very poignant to me, but it’s also a very good definition of a person who’s come to see that life is not about carnal things, or success, but is about eternity rather than time . . . I don’t really belong here, I’m simply staying here.” (Charles Swindoll, Maybe It’s Time to Laugh. Cited by Dicky Love in Parables, etc.) -- Have you made that discovery yet? There is no joy in half-hearted Faith. Many of us have just enough religion to make us miserable. But Christ wants to make our lives a miracle. Those early disciples had trouble believing, first for fear, and then for joy, but when they did believe, it turned their lives and their world upside down. The point is that Muggeridge experienced a radical change in his life after he came to the realization that Christ is real and that Christ is alive. But what he discovered much to his amazement was that his new life was so far superior to his old life that he in no way would ever turn back.

9) "What is the first name of the woman who cleans this building?" A nurse in training went to one of her classes one day. The professor announced that there would be a pop quiz. She breezed through the questions, until she came to the last question. The last question was this: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans this building?" She thought it must be some kind of a joke. Whoever heard of that kind of a question on a test? She had seen the cleaning woman. She could describe her physically, but why should she know her name? She handed in her test, leaving the last question unanswered. She asked the professor, "Are you going to count that last question on the final score?" "Absolutely," said the professor, "In your careers you are going to meet many people. Each one is significant. Each person deserves your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." ---Today’s Gospel reminds us that for the risen Lord, each of his apostles was important.   (From Buzz Stevens) 

10) “That’s It!” There is another beautiful love story. It concerns the love of Paul Tournier, one of the world's most beloved and respected Christian doctors, for his wife Nelly. In one of his books, Tournier describes how he and Nelly were able to talk about death after her first serious bout with coronary thrombosis while they were in Greece. She knew how gravely ill she was and that a second attack could leave her severely handicapped or could even be fatal. Their last month together was a time of intimate sharing. On the last day she said to him, "Perhaps it would have been better if I had died of my heart attack a month ago." Tournier responded, "And yet my Greek colleagues have done a good job. They saved your life. You are glad of that." "Yes, of course," she said, "if I can get back to Geneva and see my children and grandchildren." She was silent for a moment, and then added, "But if I had died, I should be in Heaven now, and I should be meeting your parents." Tournier was touched by this. He writes, "You see, she also married my expectation of Heaven!" He replied to her, "Well, when you arrive in Heaven, my parents will thank you for having been the wife that you have been for their son." It was to be Tournier's last words to her. A moment later she put her hand on her heart and exclaimed, "That's it!" He asked, "Are you sure?" She answered "Yes." And she was in Heaven. [Paul Tournier, A Listening Ear (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984).] -- The world simply cannot deal with that kind of expectation. Without the Easter Faith, not only death but life itself is ultimately meaningless. What value is there in love that ends beside a grave? Father Bobby Jose)

11) “They would not use the same rope that had been used by the ‘untouchables.’" Some years ago the papers were full of a story about the death of seventy-eight people in New Delhi, India. There had been a bus accident and, in the bus, had been two castes of Indians. A man tied a rope to a tree, and all eleven "untouchables" climbed out to safety. But seventy-eight Indians died because they would not use the same rope that had been used by the "untouchables." [George F. Regas, Kiss Yourself and Hug the World (Waco: Word Books, 1987).)] --- How outrageous are the claims of the Gospel! The Divine Creator of all that lives and moves and has its being came down to earth and suffered and died to say to us that no one on this earth is untouchable.

12)  “We will raise you up”: The priest (“poojary”) of a small Hindu congregation in a tribal area in India was being proselytized by some energetic Christian missionaries.  He listened for a while and then said to them: “Gentlemen, look.  I have a proposal that will settle this.  I have here a glass of nux vomica, a poison which I use to kill rats.  If you will drink this poison and remain alive as your God Jesus Christ promised, I will join your religion – and not only myself, but my entire Hindu congregation.  But if you won’t drink the poison, well, then, I can only conclude that you are false ministers of the Gospel you preach because you do not trust that your Lord would not let you perish.”  This created a problem for the missionaries.  They conferred with each other and said, “What on earth are we going to do?”  Finally, they arrived at a plan of action.  They came back, approached the Hindu priest and said, “Here is our   plan.  You drink the poison, and we’ll raise you from the dead by the power of Jesus!” --  Our Scripture for this third Sunday of Easter is about believers.  But it is also about doubting and wondering and trying to figure things out. 

13) Fresh fish is sold here: To sell fish, a fisherman painted a signboard reading, “Fresh Fish is Sold Here.” To disturb business, his foe said, “You don’t sell stale fish, do you? So, why write ‘fresh’?” Agreeing, the fisherman painted a new signboard with just: “Fish is Sold Here.” Once again, his foe suggested, “Obviously, you’re selling fish here, not there!” Nodding his agreement, the fisherman went back and returned with a new signboard “Fish is Sold.” Now, the foe appeared a third time and said, “Anybody with eyes will see that you’re selling fish, not meat! Wipe off the word ‘fish’! The gullible fisherman was so confused that he wanted to make still another signboard, forgetting that he was selling fish! -- If there is something one really believes in beyond doubt, then one must cling to that truth even if people offer advice, suggestions and even threats to change one’s beliefs. I’d imagine predicament of the fisherman in our story as they sought to comprehend Jesus’ life-death-Resurrection, and more importantly, to proclaim Him. Today’s readings help us to trace out their ‘Faith-journey’ from doubt to Faith, from dread to fearlessness. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

14) Same Sermon Repeated: It was his first Sunday in the parish, and the congregation were on full alert to form their initial judgment of their new parish priest. His homily was excellent. This was a great relief to all. The following Sunday the crowds had increased significantly, probably because the good news had gone around during the week. To the surprise of those who were there the previous Sunday, the priest proceeded to give the exact same sermon. They excused this in the belief that there were so many new-comers this morning, which was all very well until the next Sunday, the next Sunday, and, indeed, the following Sunday, the very same sermon! Two or three of the parishioners decided to approach him as diplomatically as possible, to talk to him about how they felt about what was happening. They were extremely diplomatic. “That’s a very good sermon, Father.” “Oh, thank you very much. I’m glad you found it helpful.” “We were just wondering, Father, if you realise that you have given the exact same sermon for the past five Sundays.” “Oh. Yes, I know that,” replied the priest. “Well, Father, without wishing to be offensive, but we have to have an answer for those who sent us in here, do you have any other sermons?” “Oh, of course, I have plenty of other sermons.” “Well Father, you will be going on to one of the other sermons, won’t you?” “Of course, I will,” replied the priest. “When will that be, Father?” “I promise you that I will move to the next sermon--- as soon as I see you doing something about the first one!”  -- If we don’t get the truth of Resurrection, what is the point of any further discussion? (Jack McArdle in And That’s the Gospel Truth! Quoted by Fr. Botelho).

15) Shattered dream or rebirth of a dream? There was a train driver who drove his train up and down the same line every day. There was this lovely little cottage set in a short distance from the track. Its white walls shone in the sun. In front of it grew the most gorgeous roses he had ever seen. It was like something one imagines exists only in picture postcards. He soon fell in love with it. One afternoon as he was passing he saw a little girl playing on the front lawn. She waved to him as the train swept past. He hooted the horn in response. The same thing happened next afternoon. Thus began an innocent and beautiful friendship between him and the child. Every afternoon she waved to him, and he hooted the horn in response. Sometimes the girl was joined by her mother, and they both waved. It made him very happy, and also made the monotonous journey seem short. Years passed. The child grew up. Only occasionally now was she there to wave to him. Nevertheless, the bond that had been forged over the years was still intact. Then he retired and went to live a distance away. But he could not get the cottage and his two friends out of his mind. So, one day he decided to visit them. When he got there, things were very different from what he had imagined. The walls of the cottage were not nearly as white as he had thought. The roses were not as beautiful as they seemed. But the biggest disappointment of all came when he met the woman and her daughter. They were polite to him when he told them who he was. They led him into a gloomy parlour where they chatted over tea. But he felt out of place. So, he left as soon as he could politely do so. He felt empty. His dream world had dissolved. The friendship which had given so much meaning to his life was shattered.-- Is our faith a dream world or the true reality?  (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). 

16) The Four-legged theologian: The sick man seized the doctor’s hand. “I’m so afraid to die. Do tell me doctor, what is waiting for me when I die? What will it be like on the other side?” “I don’t know.” answered the doctor. “You don’t know?” whispered the dying man. Without further reply the doctor opened the door into the corridor. A dog sprang in, jumped up to him and showed in every way his joy at seeing his master again. Then the doctor turned back to the sick man and said: “Did you see how the dog behaved? He has never been in this room before and does not know the people here. But he knew his master was on the other side of the door and so he leapt joyfully in as soon as the door opened. Now look: I don’t know anything exactly about what is waiting for us after death either, but it is enough for me to know that my master the Risen Lord is on the other side. So, when the door opens one day I shall go in with great joy.” (Pierre Lefevre from One Hundred Stories to Change Your Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho). 

17) The wounds of love: There was a man who was very attached to his father, who had been a labourer all his life. When the father died the son was grief-stricken. As he stood quietly gazing down into the coffin in which he was laid out, he was particularly struck by his father’s hands. Even small things can reveal the essence of a person’s life. Later he said: “I will never forget those magnificently weathered old hands. They told the story of a countryman’s life in the eloquent language of wrinkles, veins, old scars and new. My father’s hands always bore some fresh scratch or cut as adornment, the result of his latest tangle with a scrap of wire, a rusted pipe, a stubborn root. In death they did not disappoint even in that small and valuable particular.  It is not given to sons to know everything about their fathers, but I have those hands in my memory to supply evidence of the obligations he met, the sweat he gave, the honest deeds he performed. By looking at those hands you could read a better part of the old man’s heart.” -- Jesus said to the apostles: ‘Look at my hands and feet … Touch me and see for yourselves…’ He said the same thing to Thomas: ‘See my wounded hands and side. Cease doubting and believe.’ (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

 18) Near death experiences and afterlife: In the movie Resurrection, actress Ellen Burstyn stars as Edna Mae McCauley who suffers near-death. As a result of a car crash, Edna Mae apparently dies in a hospital emergency room. After a few moments of frantic effort, the medics succeed in reviving her. During that interval of apparent death, Edna Mae has a mysterious experience of an afterlife. She is transported through a tunnel of light where she meets family and friends who have already died. When she returns to consciousness, she remembers this peaceful experience very vividly, and she is blessed with the power of healing. -- The movie Resurrection reflects what researchers like Raymond Moody and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross have learned from people who have had similar near-death experiences. Such glimpses of an afterlife do not prove there is a resurrection after we die. They merely hint at its possibility.  (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

19) “I had lunch with Jesus”: There was once a little boy who always wanted to meet Jesus. One day he was walking home from Sunday school. As he went through the park, he noticed an old woman sitting on a park bench. She looked lonely and hungry, so he sat down and offered part of the chocolate bar he had been saving. She accepted it with a smile. He gave her more of the candy, and she shared a can of root beer with him. They sat together in a very friendly manner, eating and drinking and smiling at each other. When the boy got up to leave, he reached over the woman and gave her a big hug. He walked home smiling. His mother noticed his big smile and happiness on his face and asked, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” “I had lunch with Jesus. And she has a great smile,” he said. The old woman returned to the small apartment she shared with her sister. She too was smiling. Her sister asked her why she was so happy. “I just had lunch with Jesus. And he is a lot younger than I expected,” she said.
(John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho). L/21

Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No. 27) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com

Visit my website by clicking on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or  Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604 

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion [B] (March 28) 8-minute homily in 1-page 

Introduction: The Church celebrates this sixth Sunday of Lent as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. This is the time of year we stop to remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation. What we commemorate and relive during this week is not just Jesus’ dying and rising, but our own dying and rising in Jesus, which will result in our healing, reconciliation, and redemption.  Attentive participation in the Holy Week liturgy will deepen our relationship with God, increase our Faith,  and strengthen our lives as disciples of Jesus. Today’s liturgy combines contrasting moments, one of glory, the other of suffering:  the royal welcome of Jesus in Jerusalem, and the drama of the trial, culminating in crucifixion, death and burial for the Christ.

Scripture lessons summarized: Today's first reading, the third of Isaiah's four Servant Songs, like the other three, foreshadows Jesus' own life and mission. The Refrain for  today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 22),”My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?” plunges us into the heart of Christ’s Passion. The Second Reading, taken from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, is an ancient Christian hymn representing a very early Christian understanding of who Jesus is, and of how his mission saves us from sin and death. The first part of today’s Gospel describes the royal reception Jesus received from his admirers, who paraded with him for a distance of two miles:  from the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem.   In the second part of today’s Gospel, we listen to/participate in a reading of the Passion of Christ according to Mark.  We are challenged to examine our own lives in the light of some of the characters in the Passion story – like Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed Jesus, Herod who ridiculed Jesus, Pilate who acted against his conscience as he condemned Jesus to death on the cross, and the leaders of the people who preserved their position by getting rid of Jesus.

 Life messages: We need to answer 5 questions today: 1) Does Jesus weep over my sinful soul as he wept over Jerusalem at the beginning of his Palm Sunday procession? 2) Am I a barren fig tree?  God expects me to produce fruits of holiness, purity, justice, humility, obedience, charity, and forgiveness.  Do I? Or worse, do I continue to produce bitter fruits of impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, jealousy and selfishness? 3) Will Jesus need to cleanse my heart with his whip?  Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit that I have become by my addiction to uncharitable, unjust and impure thoughts words and deeds; nor does Jesus  praise my business mentality or calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God, my Heavenly Father.  4) Do I welcome Jesus into my heart?  Am I ready to surrender my life to him during this Holy Week and welcome him into all areas of my life as my Lord and Savior? Let us remember that we are all sinners who have crucified Jesus by our sins, but we are still  able to turn to Jesus again to ask for pardon and mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is through the Passion of Jesus we receive forgiveness: “through his wounds we are healed.” (Is 53:5).  5) Are we like the humble donkey that carried Jesus, bringing Jesus’ universal love, unconditional forgiveness, and sacrificial service to our families, places of work and communities by the way we live our lives?

PALM SUNDAY (March 28 ):  Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mk 11:1-10 (Procession); Mk 14:1--15:47 (Holy Mass)

Homily starter anecdotes: #1: Reminder of Maccabean victory celebration: A key element of understanding the connection between the Palm Sunday reception given to Jesus and Good Friday is to recognize that the actions, words, and symbols of Palm Sunday indicated a religious and political Messiah who would save the Jews from foreign rule and regain for them religious and political freedom. The occasion of this reception was carefully chosen by the Lord God, through Jesus’ disciples, to coincide with the Passover feast which celebrated the Jewish liberation from Egyptian rule and slavery. The palms used in the procession and the slogan used (“Hosanna!” meaning “Save us, God!”) were probably used by Judas Maccabaeus and his men December 14, 164 BC, when  when they purified the Temple from the  pagan Greek desecration begun on that same date in 167 BC by  order of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and in the June 3,  141 BC victory parade to the Temple after  Simon Maccabaeus, last of the  family, had retaken and cleared the Citadel in Jerusalem. In 1 Mc13:51, we read: “On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.” It was natural, then, that the Romans saw the crowds of people carrying palm branches and giving a royal reception to a very popular, miracle-working rabbi, Jesus, as a potential threat to their power and a banner for revolution. Hence, the governor Pilate and his counselors were justified in their concern. They interpreted people’s slogan “Hosanna!” as “Save us” from Roman occupation! Besides, the Jewish rabbis  had been teaching that the final redemption of the Jews would take place with the Messiah’s arrival. With 1½ to 2 million Jews in and around the city for the Passover, the situation was highly volatile, and Jesus’ ride on a donkey, as prophesied by Zechariah, seemed to have all the signs of producing great trouble and revolt. So the Romans informally made allies of some of the Temple priesthood (largely Sadducees), who were planning to arrest Jesus (the suspected center for the trouble), because these priests were the people most closely allied to Rome, and they would lose their power and income in the case of a popular uprising. This collusion between Pilate and the High Priest Caiaphas and their supporters is exactly what we see in the Passion accounts describing the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. Given the political, religious  and social context, this is hardly surprising. Keeping that in the back of our minds helps us to make sense of certain parts of the action that will follow. (Fr. Murray from Jerusalem). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

# 2: Are you a donkey with a Christian name only, or one carrying Christ? An interesting as well as challenging old fable tells of the colt that carried Jesus on Palm Sunday.  The colt thought that the reception was organized to honor him.  “I am a unique donkey!” this excited animal might have thought.   When he asked his mother if he could walk down the same street alone the next day and be honored again, his mother said, “No, you are nothing without Him who was riding you."  Five days later, the colt saw a huge crowd of people in the street.  It was Good Friday, and the soldiers were taking Jesus to Calvary.  The colt could not resist the temptation of another royal reception.  Ignoring the warning of his mother, he ran to the street, but he had to flee for his life as soldiers chased him and people stoned him.  Thus, the colt finally learned the lesson that he was only a poor donkey without Jesus to ride on him.  As we enter Holy Week, today’s readings challenge us to examine our lives to see whether we carry Jesus within us and bear witness to Him through our living or are Christians in name only. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

# 3: Zachariah foresaw it. Jesus fulfilled it: The Greek author Plutarch describes how Kings are supposed to enter a city. He tells about one Roman general, Aemilius Paulus, who won a decisive victory over the Macedonians. When Aemilius returned to Rome, his triumphal procession lasted three days. The first day was dedicated to displaying all the artwork that Aemilius and his army had plundered. The second day was devoted to all the weapons of the Macedonians they had captured. The third day began with the rest of the plunder borne by 250 oxen, whose horns were covered in gold. This included more than 17,000 pounds of gold coins. Then came the captured and humiliated king of Macedonia and his extended family. Finally, Aemilius himself entered Rome, riding in a magnificent chariot. Aemilius wore a purple robe, interwoven with gold. He carried his laurels in his right hand. He was accompanied by a large choir singing hymns, praising the military accomplishments of the great Aemilius. (http://www.sigurdgrindheim.com/sermons/king.html ) That, my friends, is how a King enters a city. But the King of Kings? He entered riding on a lowly donkey. Zechariah envisioned the King of Kings, the Messiah, coming not on a great stallion, but riding on a humble donkey. Zechariah foresaw it. Jesus fulfilled it. (http://www.tosapres.com/sermons.php?sermon=96). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

Introduction: The Church celebrates this Sixth Sunday in Lent as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday.  It is on Palm Sunday that we enter Holy Week, welcoming Jesus into our lives and asking Him to allow us a share in His suffering, death and Resurrection. This is the time of the year when we stop to remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation. The Holy Week liturgies present us with the actual events of the dying and rising of Jesus.  These liturgies enable us to experience in our lives here and now what Jesus went through then.  In other words, what we commemorate and relive during this week is not just Jesus’ dying and rising, but our own lifetime of dying and rising in Him, which result in our healing, reconciliation, and redemption.  Just as Jesus did, we, too, must lay down our lives freely by actively participating in the Holy Week liturgies.  In doing so, we are allowing Jesus to forgive us our sins, heal the wounds in us caused by our sins and the sins of others, and transform us more completely into the image and likeness of God.  In this way, we will be able to live more fully the Divine life we received at Baptism.  Attentive participation in the Holy Week liturgies will also deepen our relationship with God, increase our Faith,  and strengthen our lives as disciples of Jesus.  But let us remember that Holy Week can become "holy” for us only if we actively and consciously take part in the liturgies of this week.  During this week of the Passion -- passionate suffering, passionate grace, passionate love, and passionate forgiving – each of us is called to remember the Christ of Calvary and then to embrace and lighten the burden of the Christ Whose passion continues to be experienced in the hungry, the poor, the sick, the homeless, the aged, the lonely, and the outcast.  Today’s liturgy combines two moments seen in  contrast: one of glory,  with other of suffering -- the welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem with the drama of His trial which ends in His  condemnation, crucifixion, and death. Let us rejoice and sing as Jesus comes into our life today. Let us also weep and mourn as His death confronts us with our sin. The African-American song asks the question, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they nailed Him to a tree?" The answer is yes, a definite yes. Yes, we were there in the crowd on both days, shouting, “Hosanna!” and later “Crucify Him!”

First reading, Isaiah 50:4-7, explained: In the middle section of the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapters 40-55, there are four short passages which scholars have called the Songs of the Suffering Servant.  Today's first reading is the third Servant Song. These four songs are about a mysterious figure whose suffering brings about a benefit for the people.  In the original author's mind, the servant was probably a figure for the people of Israel, or for a faithful remnant within the people. The Songs portrayed the antithesis of Israel’s messianic expectations, because Israel expected a triumphant Messiah while the prophet foresaw a “suffering servant” Messiah. Jesus saw aspects of his own life and mission foreshadowed in the Servant Songs, and the Church refers to them in this time of solemn meditation on the climax of Jesus' life. These songs foretell Jesus’ conscious and active choice to remain faithful to his saving mission no matter what the cost: “I have not ... turned back” and “I gave my back to those who beat me.” The kingship of Jesus was to mean suffering and humiliation, not just publicity and grandeur. In today’s Responsorial Psalm, (Ps 22), the Psalmist puts his trust in Yahweh for deliverance and salvation.  The context of this day's worship also conveys Jesus’ confidence in God’s protection in the midst of His trial and crucifixion. The passage encourages us to be companions of Jesus in suffering by offering our own sufferings in union with the redemptive sufferings of Christ, so that we may become collaborators in that suffering. The passage also challenges us to accept what we cannot change, so that we may endure the difficulty for as long as it is necessary, just as Christ did.

Second Reading, Philippians 2:6-11 explained: This section of  Paul’s Letter to the Philippians is an ancient Christian hymn representing a very early Christian understanding of Who Jesus IS  and how his mission saves us from sin and death.  It is a message that Paul received from those who had been converted to Christ.  “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though He sas in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 3:5-8). Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion clarifies this contrast: kingship of splendor/fame versus kingship of service to others.  God showed that the greatness of Kingship consists of love that is willing to pour itself out for others. Because Jesus accepted human condition even to death by crucifixion, “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11). Christians reading this passage today are joining the first people who ever pondered the meaning of Jesus' life and mission.  We're singing their song and reciting their creed during this special time of the year when we remember the most important things Our Lord did. God humbled himself for us! Jesus’ triumph was his self-giving on the cross to open for us the road to the Father. All we can do in response is to bow our heads in awe, and present our loving, contrite hearts to God, begging for mercy. God wants our  heart to be humbled, contrite, and truly repentant because only is that condition is it open,  and so able, to receive His Mercy and His Love. 

Today’s Gospel summarized: In the second part of today’s Gospel, we listen to the Passion of Christ according to Mark.  We are challenged to examine our own lives in the light of some of the characters in the story like Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed Jesus, Pilate who acted against his conscience, Herod who ridiculed Jesus, and the leaders of the people who preserved their position by getting rid of Jesus.  

Exegetical notes on part I of today’s Gospel: 1) Jesus rides on a lowly donkey:  In those days, kings used to travel in such processions on horseback during wartime but preferred to ride a donkey in times of peace. Since the sign of a king was humility, the customary mount for a king in procession in Israel  was a donkey.  I Kgs 1:38-41 describes how Prince Solomon used his father David’s royal donkey for the ceremonial procession on the day of his coronation.  Jesus entered the Holy City as a King of peace, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah.  The Gospel specifically mentions that the colt Jesus selected for the procession was one that   had not been ridden before, reminding us of a stipulation given in I Samuel 6:7-8 (“Now, then, take and prepare a new cart, and two milch cows upon which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart …” concerning the animals that  were to transport the Ark of the Covenant.  

2) The mode of reception given: Jesus was given the royal reception usually reserved for a King or military commander.  I Mc 13:51ff describes such a reception given to the Jewish military leader Simon Maccabaeus in 141 BC.   A similar celebration occurred December 14, 164 BC, when another military general, Judas Maccabaeus, after  he and his men had defeated three Greek armies, purified the Temple (desecrated on 167 BC by order of Antiochus IV Epiphanes) built a new altar, and reconsecrated the Temple to the Lord God. On that day they first offered sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts, “with songs, harps, fluted, and uymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, Who had given then success”  (1 Mc 4: 52-55). 

3) The slogans used: The participants sang the “Hallel” Psalm (Psalm 118), and shouted the words of Psalms 25 and 26.  The Greek word “hosiana” originally meant "save us now" (II Sm 14:4).  The people sang the entire Psalm 118 on the Feast of the Tabernacles when they marched seven times around the Altar of the Burnt Offering.  On Palm Sunday, however, the people used the prayer “Hosanna” as a slogan of greeting.  It meant “God save the King of Israel,” or  “Save us, O God!”

4) The symbolic meaning of the Palm Sunday procession: Nearly 25,000 lambs were sacrificed during the feast of the "Pass Over," but the lamb which was to be sacrificed by the High Priest was taken to the Temple in a procession four days before the main feast day.  On Palm Sunday, Jesus, the true Paschal Lamb, was also taken to the Temple in a large procession.

5) Reaction of Jesus:  Before the beginning of the procession, Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Lk 19:41-42), and when the procession was over, He cleansed the Temple (Lk 19:45-46).  On the following day, He cursed a barren fig tree. 

Life Message: On Palm Sunday, we need to ask ourselves the following six questions, and examine our conscience: 

1) Does Jesus weep over me?  There is a Jewish saying, “Heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner and sheds tears over a non-repentant, hardhearted one."   Are we ready to imitate the prodigal son and return to God, our loving Father, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this last week of Lent and participate fully in the joy of Christ’s Resurrection?

2) Am I a barren fig tree?  God expects me to produce fruits of holiness, purity, justice, humility, obedience, charity, and forgiveness.  Do I??  Or, worse, do I continue to produce bitter fruits of impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness? 

3) Will Jesus need to cleanse my heart with His whip? Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit that I have become by my addiction to uncharitable, unjust and impure thoughts words and deeds; nor does Jesus  praise my business mentality or calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God, my Heavenly Father. 

4) Do I welcome Jesus into my heart?  Am I ready to surrender my life to Him during this Holy Week and welcome Him into all areas of my life as my Lord and Savior, singing “Hosanna”?  Today, we receive palm branches at the Divine Liturgy.  Let us take them to our homes and put them in a place where we can always see them.  Let the palms remind us that Christ is the King of our families, that Christ is the King of our hearts, and that Christ is the only true answer to our quest for happiness and meaning in our lives.  And if we do proclaim Christ as our King, let us try to make time for Him in our daily life; let us be reminded that He is the One with Whom we will be spending eternity.  Let us be reminded further that our careers, our education, our finances, our homes, all of the basic material needs in our lives are only temporary.  Let us prioritize and place Christ the King as the primary concern in our lives.  It is only when we have done this that we will find true peace and happiness in our confused and complex world. 

5) Are we ready to become like the humble donkey that carried Jesus?   As we "carry Jesus" to the world, we may  receive the same welcome that Jesus received on Palm Sunday, but we may also meet the same opposition, crosses, and trials later.  Like the donkey, we are called upon to carry Christ to a world that does not know Him.  Let us always remember that a Christian without Christ is a contradiction in terms.  Such a one betrays the Christian message.  Hence, let us become transparent Christians during this Holy Week, enabling others to see in us Jesus’ universal love, unconditional forgiveness, and sacrificial service.

6) Can we face these questions on Palm Sunday? Are we willing to follow Jesus, not just to Church but in our daily life?  Are we willing to entrust ourselves to Him even when the future is frightening or confusing, believing God has a plan? Are we willing to serve Him until that day when His plan for us on earth is fulfilled? These are the questions of Palm Sunday.  Let us take a fresh look at this familiar event.  It could change us forever, because the Passion of Jesus shows us that, though  we are sinners who have crucified Jesus, we are  able,  by His gift,  to turn back to Jesus again and ask for his mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is through the Passion of Jesus we receive forgiveness: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was  bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed.” (Is 53:5)

Jokes of the Week: 1) Little Johnny was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from Church with his mother.  His father returned from Church holding a palm branch.  The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, Dad?" His father explained, "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor Him; so we got palm branches today."  "Aw, shucks,” grumbled Little Johnny.  "The one Sunday I can't go to Church, and Jesus shows up!"

2) The king on a donkey! Some of you heard my story about the husband and the wife who had quarreled. It had been a pitched battle of wills, each digging heels in to preserve the position each had vehemently taken. Emotions had run high. As they were driving to attend a family wedding in a distant city, both were nursing hurt feelings in defensive silence. The angry tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife. But, then the silence was broken. Pointing to a donkey standing in a pasture out beside the road, the husband sarcastically asked, “Relative of yours?” The wife quickly replied, “By marriage!” 

WEBSITES ON HOLY WEEK RESOURCES 

1)   http://www.textweek.com/holyweek.htm 2) http://catholicfaitheducation.blogspot.com/2009/04/resources-for-holy-week-and-easter.html   3)  http://www.churchyear.net/holyweek.html,  4) http://www.liturgy.co.nz/churchyear/palmsunday.html   

2) Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant: Catholic online video: https://youtu.be/SoujG6h7UGI 

 3)  Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org/   &  https://lectiotube.com/   

4) 

 Catholic online video:  https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066 

Holy Week videos: Holy Week parish mission: https://youtu.be/OlpTFUqOkj0

Various clips from different movies: https://youtu.be/rdyJO-_aAv8 

https://youtu.be/SoujG6h7UGI 

25 Additional anecdotes: 

Anecdote 1) Two processions: “Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30 … One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth, his message was about the kingdom of God, and his followers came from the peasant class …On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea and Samaria, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Jesus’s procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire. The two processions embody the central conflict of the week that led to Jesus’ crucifixion. As Mark tells the story in 11:1-11, Jesus’ procession is a prearranged ‘counter-procession.’  The meaning of the demonstration is clear, for it uses symbolism from the prophet Zechariah in the Jewish Bible. According to Zechariah, a king would be coming to Jerusalem (Zion), ‘humble, and riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ (9:9). Jesus’s procession deliberately countered what was happening on the other side of the city. Pilate’s procession embodied the power, glory, and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus’ procession embodied an alternative vision, the Kingdom of God. The king, riding on a donkey, will banish war from the land—no more chariots, warhorses, or bows. Commanding peace to the nations, Jesus will be a king of peace. Pilate’s military procession was a demonstration of both Roman imperial power and Roman imperial theology -- worshipping the emperor as  god. It was the standard practice of the Roman governors of Judea to be in Jerusalem for the Jewish festivals … to be in the city in case there was trouble … The mission of the troops with Pilate was to reinforce the Roman garrison permanently stationed in the Fortress Antonia, overlooking the Jewish Temple and its courts. No wonder, the Roman governor realized how the peasant procession was a threat to his government and, hence, its leader should be exterminated.” (Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

2) Welcome to the triumph and the tragedy of the Holy Week: On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army, at the Appomattox Court House, Appomattox, Virginia. This surrender ended the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. State against state, brother against brother, it was a conflict that literally tore the nation apart. Five days later, on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, America’s most revered president, Abraham Lincoln, was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theatre. It was Lincoln who wrote the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery in the U.S. forever. It was Lincoln who wrote and gave The Gettysburg Address. Lincoln hated war, but he was drawn into this one because he believed it was the only way to save the nation. On Palm Sunday, the war ended. Triumph. On Good Friday, Abraham Lincoln became the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Tragedy. -- Welcome to Holy Week. Welcome to the triumph and the tragedy of the six days preceding Easter. (Surrender location corrected by Fr. Richard W. Frank, richardwfrank1@yahoo.com) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

3) The cross and the crucifix down through the centuries: Until the fifth century AD, the early Christians generally avoided representing the Cross with the body of Jesus; in fact even bare crosses were rarely depicted until the fourth century AD. As J. H. Miller (op. cit.) explained, there were many reasons for the Church’s reluctance to openly represent the cross as its symbol. For many Jews and Gentiles, the cross underscored the seemingly irreconcilable contradiction of Christian belief, viz. that a crucified man could also be God. As various early heresies attacked either the divinity or humanity of Christ, the symbol of the cross, which seemed to exacerbate the conflict, was avoided, Not until the fourth century (during the reign of Constantine) did the cross begin to appear everywhere in public places as the pre-eminent symbol of Christianity. Despite the frequency of its representation in Christian art and architecture, the cross remains an ambivalent symbol. In its crossbeams meet death and life, sin and salvation, conquest and victory, immanence and transcendence. The cross represents both the basest aspects of the human condition and the most sublime reflection of divinity. As Karl Rahner once explained, “the cross of the Lord is the revelation of what sin really is. The cross of Christ mercilessly reveals what the world hides from itself: that it, as it were, devours the Son of God in the insane blindness of its sin -- a sin  in which Godless hate is truly set on fire upon contact with the love of God” (The Content of Faith, Crossroad Press, New York: 1992). 12:32). -- As the dual revelation of the sinfulness of humanity and the love of God, the cross is unparalleled. ( Sanchez Files). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

3)"What did the Christian's God do then? On Marco Polo's celebrated trip to the Orient, he was taken before the great and fearsome ruler, Genghis Khan. Now what was Marco Polo supposed to do before this mighty pagan conqueror? One false move could cost him his life. He decided to tell the story of Jesus as it is recorded in the Gospels. It is said that when Marco Polo related the events of Holy Week, describing Jesus' betrayal, His trial, scourging, and crucifixion, Genghis Khan became more and more agitated, more engrossed in the story, and more tense. When Marco Polo pronounced the words, "Then Jesus bowed his head and yielded up His spirit," Genghis Khan could no longer contain himself. He interrupted, bellowing, "What did the Christian's God do then? Did He send thousands of angels from Heaven to smite and destroy those who killed his Son?" -- What did the Christian's God do then? He watched His beloved Son die, that's what the Christian's God did then. For that was the way God chose for Jesus to ascend the throne of His Kingdom and to establish His Lordship for all time. Not at all the way we would expect God to demonstrate His might and power, but that's the way it was, and that is how we know what our God is like. In practical terms, that means that this suffering King who rules in love comes to lay His claim on our life. Our entire life is subject to His Lordship, not just a portion of it. To have Christ for our King means that we must rely on Him for everything, most of all the forgiveness of sins. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

4) “Either give up Christ or give up your jobs.” Constantine the Great was the first Christian Roman emperor. His father Constantius I who succeeded Diocletian as emperor in 305 AD, was a pagan with a soft heart for Christians. It is said that when he ascended the throne, he discovered that many Christians held important jobs in the government and in the court.  So he issued an executive order to all those Christians: “Either give up Christ or give up your jobs.” The great majority of Christians gave up their jobs rather than disown Christ. Only a few cowards gave up their religion rather than lose their jobs. The emperor was pleased with the majority who showed the courage of their convictions and gave their jobs back to them while he dismissed those who were willing to give up their allegiance to Christ to keep their jobs, saying to them,  "If you will not be true to your God you will not be true to me either.”  -- Today we join the Palm Sunday crowd in spirit to declare our loyalty to Christ and our fidelity to His teachings by actively participating in the Palm Sunday liturgy. As we carry the palm to our homes, we are declaring our choice to accept Jesus as the King and ruler of our lives and our families. Let us express our gratitude to Jesus for redeeming us by His suffering and death. We do so best by  our active participation in the Holy Week liturgy and our reconciliation with God and His Church, as we repent of our sins and receive God's pardon and forgiveness from Jesus through his Church.  Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.  

5) Passion Sunday and the shadow of the cross: The Bishop of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during the early part of the last century was a great evangelizer who tried to reach out to unbelievers, scoffers, and cynics.  He liked to tell the story of a young man who would stand outside the cathedral and shout derogatory slogans at the people entering to worship.  He would call them fools and other insulting names.  The people tried to ignore him but it was difficult. One day the parish priest went outside to confront the young man, much to the distress of the parishioners.  The young man ranted and raved against everything the priest told him.  Finally, the priest addressed the young scoffer, saying, “Look, let’s get this over with once and for all.  I’m going to dare you to do something and I bet you can’t do it.”  And of course the young man shot back, “I can do anything you propose, you white-robed wimp!” “Fine,” said the priest.  “All I ask you to do is to come into the sanctuary with me.  I want you to stare at the figure of Christ on His cross, and I want you to scream at the very top of your lungs, as loudly as you can. ‘Christ died on the cross for me, and I don’t care one bit.” So the young man went into the sanctuary, and looking at the figure, screamed as loudly as he could, “Christ died on the cross for me, and I don’t care one bit.”  The priest said, “Very good.  Now do it again.”  And again the young man screamed, with a little more hesitancy, “Christ died on the cross for me, and I don’t care one bit.”  “You’re almost done now,” said the priest.  “One more time.” The young man raised his fist, kept looking at the crucifix, but the words wouldn’t come.  He just could not look at the face of Christ and say those words any more. The real punch line came when, after he told the story, the bishop said, “I was that young man.  That young man, that defiant young man was I.  I thought I didn’t need God but found out that I did.” (World Stories for Preachers and Teachers by William J. Bausch). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021. 

6) In the footsteps of Jesus, the donkey rider: There is a biography of a man who was one of the most learned people of his generation. He had two PhDs – one in philosophy, another in theology. Further, he was a world-class musician, and concert halls around the world were sold out when he went on tour. Then, to the surprise of everyone, he decided he wanted to go to a medical college to earn yet another doctoral degree in medicine. As soon as he had his medical degree, he left the comfortable surroundings of Western Europe and went into the jungles of Africa. There he cleared away part of the jungle and began building a clinic and a hospital. Once these were built, he started providing medical care to the young and old of Africa. Many years later, Dr. Albert Schweitzer won the Nobel Peace Prize for his ministry of healing in the jungles of Africa. When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, he shared with that distinguished crowd in Stockholm the reason he had built a hospital in Africa. The reason was summed up, he stated in the first words he always said to his native patients as they awakened from an operation. He would say: "The reason that you have no more pain is because the Lord Jesus told the good doctor and his wife to come to the banks of Ogooue River and help you. If you owe thanks to anyone, you owe it to the Lord Jesus." He accepted the challenge to be a humble servant of Jesus Christ. --And this is our challenge - this is your challenge - this is my challenge in this Holy Week! When we look beyond our own needs to the needs of others, we  will be walking  the road to becoming a humble servant of Jesus Christ. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

7) “Welcome home Mr. President.” A number of years ago, Newsweek magazine carried the story of the memorial service held for Hubert Humphrey, former Vice-President of the United States. Hundreds of people came from all over the world to say good-bye to their old friend and colleague. But one person who came was shunned and ignored by virtually everyone there. Nobody would look at him much less speak to him. That person was former President Richard Nixon. Not long before, he had gone through the shame and infamy of Watergate. He was back in Washington for the first time since his resignation from the presidency. Then a very special thing happened, perhaps the only thing that could have made a difference and broken the ice. President Jimmy Carter, who was in the White House at that time, came into the room. Before he was seated, he saw Nixon over against the wall, all by himself. He went over to [him] as though he were greeting a family member, stuck out his hand to the former president, and smiled broadly. To the surprise of everyone there, the two of them embraced each other, and Carter said, "Welcome home, Mr. President! Welcome home!" Commenting on that, Newsweek magazine asserted, "If there was a turning point in Nixon's long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion." -- The turning point for us is Palm Sunday. It is our moment of triumph. It was a triumph because God, Jesus, decided to ignore our miserable state and act on our behalf. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

8)  Hosanna leading to the cross: Some years ago, a book was written by a noted American historian entitled When the Cheering Stopped. It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following World War I.  When that war was over, Wilson, the 28th president of the United States was an international hero.  There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought, and the world had been made safe for democracy.  On his first visit to Paris after the war, Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs.  He was actually more popular than France’s own heroes.  The same thing was true in England and Italy.  The cheering lasted about a year.  Then it gradually began to stop.  At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition in the United States Senate, and his League of Nations was not ratified.  Under the strain of it all, the President’s health began to break.  In the next election his party was defeated.  So it was that Woodrow Wilson, a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man. --  It’s a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar.  The ultimate reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be frustration and defeat.  It happened that way to Jesus.  When He emerged on the public scene, He was an overnight sensation.  On Palm Sunday, leafy palm branches were spread before Him and there were shouts of "Hosanna."  But before it was all over, a tidal wave of manipulated opposition had welled up that brought Jesus to the cross. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

9) Christ-less donkey arrested and handcuffed on a Palm Sunday: The light turns green, but the man doesn’t notice that the light has changed.  The woman behind him begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move!  The man doesn't move!  The woman is going ballistic, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel.  When the light turns yellow, the woman begins blowing her car’s horn and screaming curses at the man.  Finally, the man looks up, sees the yellow light, and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns red.  While she is still ranting, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the barrel of a gun held by a very serious looking policeman.  The policeman tells her to pull her car to the side, shut off the engine, come out and stand facing the car, while keeping both hands on the car roof.  She is quickly cuffed, and hustled into the patrol car.  The woman is too bewildered to ask any questions, and she is driven to the police station, where she is fingerprinted, photographed, searched, booked, and locked up in a cell.  After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell, and opens the door.  The policeman hands her the bag containing her things, and says, "I'm sorry for this mistake, but you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, and cursing at the car in front of you.  I noticed the "Choose Christ" license plate holder, and the "Follow Me To Sunday School" bumper sticker, and Palm Sunday palm leaves inside the back windshield.  So naturally I assumed you had stolen the car because such a nice Christian, who courageously displays Christian symbols in her car, would never act as you did." Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

10) A donkey at Kentucky Derby? Church tradition tells us (though none of the Gospels report it), that this wasn't Jesus' first donkey ride. Matthew's text doesn't detail how Joseph traveled with Mary to Egypt and back to Nazareth again. Nor does Luke's Gospel describe how Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem. But all of us have in our heads the picture of a pregnant Mary perched on the back of a sturdy donkey. Our mind's eye puts her back on that beast for the escape to Egypt and the homeward trek to Nazareth after Herod had died. Church tradition has long suggested that in honor of the donkey's humble service to Jesus, the animal was rewarded with a permanent "sign of the cross," for most donkeys do show a distinctive black cross pattern across their sturdy shoulders. -- Despite this lip service from Church tradition, the donkey still remains far beyond the pale of glory. Little girls don't dream of riding across summer fields on a little donkey. The Kentucky Derby doesn't blow the herald horn for a herd of dinky donkeys to race around the track. And everyone from Shakespeare to Pinocchio knows that fools and dolts are depicted as donkeys. Of course, the donkey's other common name says it all: a donkey is just an . . . well, you know what that word is. Yet if the mission of the Church is to carry Christ into the world, then each of us is called to be a donkey. There's no particular glory in being a donkey. There are only long trails, steep roads, heavy loads, and little or no recognition for a completed job. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

11) An angry Christ: A Catholic priest in Dayton, Ohio defied his archbishop by denying Communion to worshipers who did not observe a dress code. For several years he had denied the Sacraments to anyone who came to Church in "shorts, bare midriffs, tank tops, jeans, and sweatshirts." Finally, the Archbishop retired the 73-year old priest for defying his authority. The priest said: "I do not hate the Archbishop. I have only pity for him, since he will have to face an angry Christ in judgment." (Christian Century, January 24, 1990, page 73). -- Whatever we may think of the good priest's sartorial preferences, we must be  shocked awake by his words: "an angry Christ." Yes, according to the Gospel record, Christ did get angry. And He got angry over something a whole lot more important than a dress code. In fact, it might be argued that the attitude expressed by the good father in Dayton was precisely the sort of attitude that made Jesus really angry-putting roadblocks in front of people who wished to come to Him. The first place where it says He got angry was when He was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath. (Mark 3:5) In another place, anger is not mentioned, but implied. That was when He came to the Temple on the Monday of Passion Week. There, His passion burst forth against the moneychangers in the Temple. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

12) A parade of humility: A pastor was once asked to speak at a banquet for a charitable organization. After the meeting, the program chairman handed the pastor a check. "Oh, I don't want this," the pastor said. "I appreciate the honor of being asked to speak. Keep the check and apply it to something special.” The program chairman asked, "Well, do you mind if we put it in our special fund?" "Of course not!" the pastor replied. "Could you please tell me what your special fund is for?" The chairman answered, "It's so we can get a better speaker for next year."  -- Life is full of humbling experiences. But, when we look at Jesus' parade through the Holy City, we sense that it was an act of humility. He did not choose to ride into the city upon a stallion, but a donkey. He was not coming in the might and power of a conquering king, but as a humble servant. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

13) "The Hero's Quest." Some of you will remember the name of Joseph Campbell. Campbell taught in relative obscurity for many years until Bill Moyers discovered him, did a series on public television about Campbell's ideas about mythology and comparative religions, and thus elevated him into celebrity, most of it posthumous since Campbell died shortly after that television series. What caught Moyers' attention was Campbell's book entitled, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Incidentally, it also caught George Lucas's attention and was the inspiration for his film, Star Wars. The thesis of that book is that the same story appears over and over again in all the world's literature, including the Bible. He called that story, "The Hero's Quest." He said that the plot is always the same. A hero must make a solitary journey, sometimes to climb a mountain to get the prize, sometimes to go to the cave to slay the dragon, sometimes to journey the gates of the forbidden city. The hero is the person who faces hostile powers, enters the struggle, prepared to give his or her life, and then comes out of it a new person, with a new life. -- Those stories are everywhere. They are a part of every culture. In Greece, we see it as the Golden Fleece. In Britain, it is the Arthurian legends and the Holy Grail. And in the Bible, it is the story of Abraham leaving Ur of Chaldees, the most civilized part of the world in those days, and journeying through many "dangers, toils, and snares" to a promised land. Or it is Moses, leaving the comfort and security of shepherding in Midian to go to Egypt and confront Pharaoh. Or it is David, leaving the simple life of a shepherd boy and going out to meet the giant Goliath. But unparalleled in history is Jesus’ leaving the safety of Galilee and heading for Jerusalem to accomplish His mission of redeeming mankind by His suffering, death and Resurrection. That is the story of Palm Sunday. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

14)  "Sir, I just know I love Jesus." In a Sociology of Religion class at the University of Virginia, the professor asked the students in the first class to tell about their religious background and commitments. One young woman named Barb said she was a Christian. The professor asked, "What tradition of the Christian faith do you identify with? The northern European or English pietism or another?" The student did not understand his question. Finally she said, "Sir, I don't know exactly what you mean; I just know I love Jesus." Right there in a classroom, Jesus was declared to be King and perhaps attracted more followers. One of my favorite golfers on the pro tour is Tom Lehman. He often says, "I think of myself as a Christian who plays golf, not as a golfer who is a Christian." -- What about you? Are you first a Christian and then secondarily a banker or a teacher or a salesperson or a Republican or a white person or a husband or a mother? Is the word "Christian" your most important adjective? When you declare, "Jesus is Lord!" have you revealed the essential you? This Jesus is still marching down the streets of the world, calling people to decision. Jesus is the unidentified King who has no crown to wear or kingdom to command...until one person at a time declares by Faith, "Jesus is Lord for me. He will reign in my life." Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

15) The myth of redemptive violence:  "In a period when attendance at Christian Sunday schools is dwindling, the myth of redemptive violence has won children's voluntary acquiescence to a regimen of religious indoctrination more extensive and effective than any in the history of religions. Estimates vary widely, but the average child is reported to log roughly 36,000 hours of television by age 18, viewing some 15,000 murders. What church or synagogue can even remotely keep pace with the myth of redemptive violence in hours spent teaching children or the quality of presentation? (Think of the typical "children's sermon" - how bland by comparison!)" With that kind of insight as a background, perhaps we should EXPECT what happened to Jesus in the Holy Week. ("The Myth of Redemptive Violence” http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/exploratory/articles/wink99.doc ). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

16) After the shouts of Hosanna we should walk to Golgotha: Bishop Kenneth Carder (Tennessee) wrote: "The Church of today has become an institution in which even belief in God is optional or peripheral. Marketing techniques for a multiple option institution have replaced response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the means of membership enlistment. The basic appeal is to self-defined needs rather than a call to radical discipleship. The Church’s mission, all too often, is to meet its members’ perceived needs rather than to serve God's need for a redeemed, reconciled, and healed world." -- Our concept of consumerism has crept into the Church. To recruit persons and to be marketable we think that we need to be able to say: "Look what our Church can offer you." In this atmosphere of a sorority rush party, talk of discipleship is muted. Discipleship means knowing Who Jesus Christ is and following the Revelation made known to us in His teaching, death, Resurrection, and presence. Commitment means that, after the shouts of Hosanna, we walk to Golgotha carrying His cross of suffering. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

17) And Superman ducked! Jesus rides upon a donkey fulfilling an ancient prophecy, but clearly in total control. He knows what will happen to Him in Jerusalem. Still He rides on. He does not seek to avoid the task to which He has been called. It reminds me of a routine comedian David Brenner used to do about Superman in the movies. Go back with me in your minds. Picture this scene. Superman is confronting one of the bad guys. The bad guy would fire at Superman with a gun. Superman would smirk and throw his chest out. The bullets would bounce harmlessly away. But did you ever notice what happened next? Brenner said, "And then when the guy ran out of bullets, he would throw the gun at Superman. And Superman ducked." He ducked! I'll bet you never thought about that before. Bullets bounced off of him, but when a gun was thrown at him, Superman ducked. -- Perhaps that amusing insight will serve to remind us that Jesus did not have to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He could have ducked His mission. But still He rode on. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

18) King for a day: Once upon a time, before television, there was radio.  One of the most popular daytime radio programs in those days was called Queen for a Day.  Each day four or five women from the studio audience would tell the host what they would like to do if they could be "Queen for a Day."  Then, on the basis of applause, one woman was chosen, and insofar as they were able, the sponsors fulfilled her wildest desires.  She was given a number of valuable prizes and for one day she reigned as "Queen."  -- That sounds like what happened to Jesus, doesn’t it?  Jesus was crowned "King for a Day" on that first Palm Sunday. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

19) The humble king versus proud kings: The dictator Sulla during the time of the Roman republic invented the "proscription", by which he would just announce whom he wanted dead. This would be read out in public places and he then would reward anyone who would kill that particular person. Caligula abandoned himself to cruelty and lust. He declared himself to be a god and would often go through the streets of Rome dressed as Bacchus, Venus, or Apollo. The Romans were compelled to worship him, and he made the wealthiest citizens his priests. Having exhausted Rome and Italy, in AD. 39 Caligula led a large army across the Alps for the purpose of plundering Gaul, where the richest citizens were put to death and their property confiscated.  -- The crowd that cheered Jesus was familiar with such cruelties of the Kings and Emperors. Contrary to their experience, they found a new procession where the king was adorned with humility. (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

20) "Help! Help!" There is an old story about a preacher who was having problems and decided to leave the ministry. But he ran into trouble finding another job. Finally, in desperation, he took a job at the local zoo. The gorilla had died, and since it had been the children's favorite animal, the zoo officials decided to put someone in a gorilla costume until a real replacement could be found. To the minister's surprise, he liked the job. He enjoyed ministering to children as the donkey on Palm Sunday carried Jesus. He got lots of attention and could eat all he wanted. There was no stress: there were no deadlines, complaints or committees. And he could take a nap anytime he wanted. One day he was feeling particularly frisky. So he began swinging on the trapeze. Higher and higher he went. But suddenly he lost his grip, flipped a couple of times, and landed in the next cage. Stunned and dazed, he looked up and saw a ferocious lion. In his panic he forgot he was supposed to be a gorilla and yelled, "Help! Help!" That ferocious lion turned in his direction and said, "0h, shut up, man, I'm a minister too." -- Unlike these gorilla and lion ministers, all of us are supposed to be donkey ministers by becoming donkey-givers like the man Jesus met long ago, who loaned his donkey to Jesus to ride as He entered Jerusalem for the last time. We become donkey-givers when we give something that promotes Jesus and His Kingdom. Five hundred years from now as we delight in the glory of God's Kingdom, we will not even remember how much money we earned on earth or how big our houses were or whether we had much status or popularity. But we will celebrate forever every single donkey we gave to the Master in the form of little things we have done for others in Jesus’ name for God’s glory. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

21) Speaking Donkey: Ever wonder why the donkey is the only animal in the Bible that speaks? Karl Barth at his 80th birthday party offered this testimony: "In the Bible there's talk of a donkey, or to be quite correct, an ass. It was allowed to carry Jesus to Jerusalem. If I have achieved anything in this life, then I did so as a relative of the ass who at that time was going his way carrying an important burden. The disciples had said to its owner: 'The Master has need of it.' And so, it seems to have pleased God to have used me at this time. Apparently,  I was permitted to be the ass which was allowed to carry as best I could a better theology, a little piece" [as quoted by John Robert McFarland's Preacher's Workshop in "The Illustration is the Point," The Christian Ministry, (January-February, 1988), 21.]  Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

22) “The Traveler”: Richard Matheson wrote a science-fiction story called "The Traveler." It's about a scientist called Paul Jairus, who is part of a research time that has developed an energy screen to permit people to travel back into time. The first trip is scheduled to take place a few days before Christmas and Jairus has been picked to make the trip. He decided to go back in time to the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. Jairus is a non-believer and anticipates finding the crucifixion different from the way the Bible describes it. When the historic moment comes, Jairus steps into the energy screen and soon finds himself soaring back into time -100 years, 1000 years, 2000 years. The energy screen touches down on target and Calvary is swarming with people, everybody's attention is focused on three men nailed to crosses about 100 feet away. Immediately Jairus asks the Command Centre for permission to move closer to the crosses, they grant it, but tell him to stay inside the energy screen. Jairus moves closer and as he does, his eyes come to rest on Jesus. Suddenly something remarkable begins to happen, Jairus feels drawn to Jesus, as a tiny piece of metal is drawn to a magnet. He is deeply moved by the love radiating from Jesus, it's something he'd never experienced before. Then contrary to all his expectations, events on Calvary begin to unfold exactly as the Gospel described them. Jairus is visibly shaken. -- The Command Centre realizes this and fears he's becoming emotionally involved. They tell him to prepare for immediate return to the 20th century. Jairus protests, but to no avail. The trip back goes smoothly. When Jairus steps from the energy screen, it's clear he's a changed man. (Mark Link). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

 23) Victory of St. Polycarp: In Christian art, the martyrs are almost always shown holding palm branches as symbols of victory over temptation and suffering. These martyrs are our older brothers and sisters in the Faith -- God wants us to learn from and be encouraged by them. Take the example of St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. • In the year 155, Polycarp was condemned to death for refusing to give idolatrous worship to the Roman Emperor. As he was a well-known Christian leader, even though he was already in his 80s, his execution was made into a large public spectacle. • He was burned to death in the city stadium. • Normally, criminals executed that way were actually fastened to the pile of wood, so that they wouldn't climb out of the fire. • But not Polycarp. • He told his guards: "He who gives me strength to endure the fire will also grant me to stay on the pyre unflinching even without your making sure of it with nails." • According to eye witnesses, his last words were a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to God for giving him the honor of sharing Christ's cup of suffering. • Those same eye witnesses tell us that when the fire was lit, • a great flame blazed up, • but instead of burning Polycarp right away, • it surrounded him like a fiery force field; • his face was serene and his body glowed like gold being refined in a furnace. • As he peacefully breathed his last, the onlookers perceived a fragrant smell, as if incense were being offered. -- This is the paradox of Palm Sunday, which God wants us all to experience: that Christ's limitless love • can strengthen us to resist even the greatest temptations, • and fill us with interior peace and joy even amidst the flames of suffering that torment us here on earth. (E- Priest) . Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

24) Helplessness of a terminal cancer patient: The renowned spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, shares how he once went to a hospital to visit a man dying of cancer. The man was still relatively young and had been a very hardworking and generative person. He was the father of a family and provided well for them. He was the chief executive officer in a large company and took good care of both the company and his employees. Moreover, he was involved in many other organizations, including his Church, and, because of his leadership abilities, was often the one in charge. But now, this once-so-active man, this person who was so used to being in control of things, was lying on a hospital bed, dying, unable to take care of even his most basic needs. As Nouwen approached the bed, the man took his hand. It’s significant to note the particular frustration he expressed: “Father, you have to help me! I’m dying, and I am trying to make peace with that, but there is something else too: You know me, I have always been in charge—I took care of my family. I took care of the company. I took care of the Church. I took care of things! Now I am lying here, on this bed and I can’t even take care of myself. I can’t even go to the bathroom! Dying is one thing, but this is another! I’m helpless! I can’t do anything anymore!”  Despite his exceptional pastoral skills, Nouwen, like any of us in a similar situation, was left rather helpless in the face of this man’s plea. The man was undergoing an agonizing passivity. He was now a patient. He had once been active, the one in charge; and now, like Jesus in the hours leading up to his death, he was reduced being a patient, one who is ministered to by others. Nouwen, for his part, tried to help the man see the connection between what he was undergoing and what Jesus endured in his passion, especially how this time of helplessness, diminishment, and passivity is meant to be a time where we can give something deeper to those around us. (Quoted by Fr. Ron Rolheiser). --  Among other things, Nouwen read the Passion narratives of the Gospels aloud to him because what this man was enduring parallels very clearly what Jesus endured in the hours leading up to his death, a time we Christians entitle, “the Passion of Jesus.” What exactly was the Passion of Jesus? Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021.

25) Obediently accepting death on a cross: Andy lived in Jersey City. His father worked for the great meat-packing firm of Swift and Company. Andy’s dad used every opportunity to educate his son along practical lines. One day when the boy was about ten, he took him on a tour of the Swift packinghouses in Newark to show him how they killed animals for the meat-markets. Swift called these places their “abattoirs.” The French word abattoir sounds a little less gross, but it means the same as the English “slaughter-house.” What the butchers did there was a necessary but bloody business, not always easy for a visitor to stomach. Andy noticed in particular the way in which the different types of animals reacted to impending death. The beef cattle and calves struggled and bellowed with fear. Pigs squealed and squirmed and tried to escape. But the sheep were different. They simply stood there meek and silent, offering no resistance to their slayers. When Andy grew up, he became a priest. He never forgot the way he had seen sheep behave in the face of death, and he often pointed out in his Holy Week sermons how appropriately the Christ who died for us is called “the Lamb.” The Jews of Bible times knew very well how sheep acted under these circumstances. Sheep and goats were their main livestock. Isaiah spoke out of experience when he foretold in vision how the Messiah would die: “Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.” (Is 53:7) --  Today as we enter upon Passion Week, let us bear in mind this symbol of Christ as a lamb, and during the narrative of His passion and death see how well it was fulfilled. (Father Robert F. McNamara). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/) 2021. L/21

“Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 22) by Fr. Tony (akadavil@gmail.com) 

Visit my website by clicking on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or  Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website- http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604 

(Another synopsis): Palm Sunday of the Lord’s passion

Significance of the Holy Week: 1) A week of remembrance and appreciation

2) A week of thanksgiving 

3) A week of repentance and reconciliation

4) A week to keep Christ’s New Commandment of Agape love

5) A week to deepen our Faith and strengthen our relationship with God. 

Significance of Palm Sunday: 1) A day to remember two contrasting moments of Christ’s triumph and tragedy.

Anecdote: American president Abraham Lincoln had his moment of triumph and tragedy 156 years ago in 1865. Palm Sunday in 1865 marked the end of the Civil war. The General of the Confederate Army surrendered to the General of the Union Army. It was the greatest moment of triumph for the American president Abraham Lincoln. But he was assassinated five days later, on  Good Friday, the greatest tragedy for the president and the nation.

Today’s Scripture readings: In the first reading Jesus Christ is presented as the “suffering Servant” of Isaiah’s prophecy. In the second reading from the Philippians, Jesus’ saving mission is highlighted. In the first part of today’s Gospel reading, we have the details of Jesus’ triumphant reception to the city of Jerusalem given. We are told that Jesus’ followers welcomed him, riding on a donkey as king and savior. We also told how Jesus wept over Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem and cursed a barren fig tree. But in the second part of the Passion reading from the Gospel we reflect on Jesus’ unjust trial, humiliating and cruel torture and crucifixion. 

Life messages: Questions we should ask: 1) Does Jesus weep over the sinful situation of our souls?

2)  Am I a barren fig tree?

3) Will Jesus need to cleanse my heart with his whip? 

4)  Do I welcome Jesus into my heart as our personal Savior and God?

5) Are we ready to carry Jesus like donkey on Palm Sunday to our homes and workplaces, conveying his love, mercy, compassion and spirit of forgiveness to others?

LENT III Sunday [B] (March 7) Eight-minute homily on one page-L/21

Introduction: Today’s readings from Holy Scripture teach us that Lent is the ideal time to clean out the Temple of our own hearts and to offer to God proper Divine worship by obeying the Ten Commandments. They also teach us that our New Covenant with God demands that we should keep our parish Church holy and our Divine worship vibrant by our active participation in the liturgy with hearts cleansed by repentance, and holy by allowing the Holy Spirit to control our hearts and lives.

Scripture lessons summarized: Today’s first reading teaches us that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our religious and spiritual life. Instead of restricting our freedom, the Commandments really help us to love and respect our God and our neighbors.  The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 19) depicts the Mosaic Law’s life-enhancing attributes: it refreshes the soul and rejoices the heart; it is pure and true, more precious than gold.  The second reading reminds us that we must appreciate the Divine “foolishness” of the crucified Christ and obey His commandment of love as our expression of Divine worship.  Today’s Gospel gives us the dramatic account of Jesus' cleansing the Temple of its merchants and moneychangers, followed by a prediction of his death and Resurrection. The synoptic Gospels place the "cleansing of the Temple" immediately after Jesus' triumphant arrival in Jerusalem on the back of a colt on Palm Sunday, while John places it at the beginning of his Gospel. Jesus cleansed the Temple which King Herod began to renovate in 20 BC. The abuses which kindled the prophetic indignation of Jesus were the conversion of God’s Temple into a “noisy marketplace” by the animal merchants and into a “hideout of thieves” by the moneychangers with their grossly unjust business practices – sacrilege in God’s Holy Place. Jesus' reaction to this commercialized Faith was fierce.  Since no weapons were allowed inside the Temple, Jesus had to construct his own weapon, a whip of cords to drive out the merchants and moneychangers from the Court of the Gentiles. 

Life messages: 1) We need to avoid a calculating mentality in Divine worship:  Our relationship with God must be that of a child to his parent, one of mutual love, respect and a desire for the family’s good, with no thought of personal loss or gain.  We are not supposed to think of God as a vending machine into which we put our sacrifices and good deeds to get back His blessings. 

2) Let us remember that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit:  St. Paul reminds us that we are God’s temples, body and soul, because the Spirit of God dwells in us.  Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, or jealousy. Let us be cleansed by asking God’s forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  3) Let us love our parish Church as our “Father’s house” and use it: Let us make our Church, our “Heavenly Father’s house” a holier place by our active participation in the liturgy, by offering our time and talents in the various ministries and by our financial support for its maintenance and development. 

LENT III [B] (March 7) Ex 20:1-17; I Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25 

Homily starter anecdotes# 1: Righteous anger, good anger, healthy anger: Abraham Lincoln was angry at slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. was angry at racial discrimination, Mahatma Gandhi was angry at the racial discrimination against the “untouchables” by the “high castes” in India … righteous anger. Nelson Mandela was angry at apartheid in South Africa. That was righteous anger. When we see a bully beating up on a young kid, when we see a thief stealing an old woman’s purse, when we see a group of girls being catty and mean to another girl at recess, when a husband beats up his wife -- the list goes on and on. The Lord God has wired us in such a way that most healthy human beings are angry inside when we see evil and injustice being done to someone. “Anyone can be angry. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, with the right purpose … that is not easy.” (Aristotle). Today’s Gospel pictures the righteous and  healthy  anger of Jesus, seeing the desecration of a holy place. (Pastor Edward F. Markquart; online).

#2: “Never argue with him when he's drunk!" A man was driving without his seatbelt when he spotted a patrol car right behind him.  He grabbed for the belt and put it on.  But it was too late, and the red lights began to flash.
"You weren't wearing your seatbelt," said the officer. "Yes, I was," said the man, "and if you don't believe me, ask my wife." "So how ABOUT it, ma'am?" asked the cop. "Officer," she said, "I've been married to this man for forty years, and there's one thing I've learned: Never argue with him when he's drunk!  Just give him a ticket for not wearing the seat belt.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t bother to argue with the unjust merchants and moneychangers who have converted the Temple of Jerusalem into a noisy “marketplace” and a “hideout of thieves.”  Instead, he frightens them with his angry order and chases them away, holding a whip in his hands. 

# 3: Nitroglycerine and salad bar: Someone has compared anger to nitroglycerine. Nitroglycerine is an unstable liquid which, in paste form, constitutes dynamite. However, nitroglycerine in very small amounts is what is given to heart patients to keep their hearts beating. The little molecule that dilates blood vessels wherever they are in the body is nitric oxide. It is the active ingredient in nitroglycerine, which is a widely used as a little pill for the treatment of heart pain (angina). When the heart arteries are constricted, the heart becomes starved for blood and a crushing chest pain results. Put a nitro pill under the tongue and “ah, relief!” as the nitric oxide relaxes the arteries and allows the blood to flow again. Anger, of itself, is not sinful. The sin is in getting angry over the wrong things.  We get angry when someone cuts us off in traffic, or when someone takes credit for something we've done at the office. We get angry at the kids when they are too noisy and at our spouses when they don't meet our expectations. Sometimes we get angry when we're simply tired and cranky. We don't even need anything to set us off.  The media reported sometime back on a fight that broke out in a nursing home.  The Spring Haven Retirement Community in Florida found their peace disrupted over a nasty incident at the salad bar. Mealtime turned ugly when an 86-year-old man complained to another gentleman about picking through the lettuce. Name-calling soon gave way to punching and the police was summoned.  Those in the way paid a price. One resident was bitten in his attempt to stop the fight, another knocked down. While no one was seriously injured, one of the men was expelled from the home.(www.PalmBeachPost.com) You and I get angry over all kinds of things, some of them exceedingly silly. Sinful human beings exploit religion just as they exploit everything else and for the same reasons--wealth, power, prestige.   Jesus got angry when he saw people exploiting religion for their own gain. That's a little different from getting miffed over a salad bar. 

Introduction: The central theme of today’s readings is the challenge to keep our Covenant agreement with Jesus Christ, just as the Israelites tried to keep the agreements of the Old Testament Covenant with Yahweh by promising to obey the Ten Commandments.  We become people of the New Covenant by loving others as Jesus did, by keeping our parish Church holy and fully dedicated to Divine worship, and by keeping our hearts cleansed, just, holy, and pure because they are

temples of the Holy Spirit.  Today’s first reading teaches us that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our religious and spiritual life, just as they formed a rule of life for the Israelites because of their Covenant with Yahweh at Mount Sinai.  The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 19) depicts the Mosaic Law’s life-enhancing attributes: it refreshes the soul and rejoices the heart; it is pure and true, more precious than gold.  In the second reading, Paul reminds us that we must live and preach the Divine “folly” of the crucified Christ and the spirit of the cross, especially during the Lenten season.  The message of the cross is God’s wisdom and power and, “foolish” as it may seem, that message is greater than the Law, greater than the Temple, greater than worldly wisdom or human strength.  Today’s Gospel gives the dramatic account of Jesus' cleansing the Temple of its merchants and moneychangers, followed by a prediction of his death and Resurrection.  

First reading, Exodus 20:1-17 explained: On the first Sunday of Lent, we reflected on the Covenant that God made with the world through Noah after destroying all living things on the land with the flood.  Last Sunday our meditation was on the Covenant promises God made to Abraham and his descendants.  On this third Sunday of Lent we consider the third Covenant God made with His chosen people through Moses at Mount Sinai.  In that Covenant, God, Who had liberated His people from slavery in Egypt, promised to make the Jews His own people, to lead them to the Promised Land, and to protect them from their enemies.  The people, in return, agreed to obey the Ten Commandments and other laws given by Yahweh through Moses.  The Ten Commandments form a list of directives or instructions for living out our Covenant relationship.  In other words, it is the Constitution of the people of God because the Ten Commandments were part of a Covenant which God entered into with a specific group of people: the Israelites. The Covenant offered these people a society genuinely free, secure, mutually respectful and trustworthy, superior to neighboring societies, and more humane than anything the earth had yet seen.  The Ten Commandments are based on two basic principles, namely, the principle of reverence and the principle of respect. The first four commandments demand from us reverence for God, reverence for His Holy Name, reverence for His Holy Day (Sabbath), and reverence for our father and mother.  The remaining commandments ask us to respect life, to respect the bodies of other persons, to respect their marriage bonds,  to respect their property,  to respect the good name of people everywhere,  and our own words about them  in a court of law, and to respect our neighbor’s wife and his property.  Jesus summarized all the commandments into two: love of God and love of neighbor and later clarified the latter further: “Love others as I have loved you.”

Second Reading, 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 explained: Since today's Gospel portrays Jesus as causing a scandal by his prophetic cleansing of the Temple, Paul says that Jesus’ cross is a scandal, or “stumbling block,” to the Jews and “foolishness” to Gentiles.  A crucified Christ did not fit into the Jewish concept of a triumphant political Messiah.  In the same manner, the idea of a suffering God Who was crucified but rose again did not appeal to the intelligentsia of Corinth who considered it an  affront to their dualistic tendency to write off the body as valueless!  Hence, the Apostle simply reminds the Corinthian community of something they already know: “The ‘foolishness’ of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the ‘weakness’ of God is stronger than human strength.”  Though Jesus expected His disciples to adhere to the Ten Commandments, it quickly became evident to them that such adherence was simply "entry-level" Faith.  After His death and Resurrection, they discovered it was essential to follow Jesus himself rather than a series of laws.  The only way to live a fulfilled life was to imitate Jesus' dying and rising, whether it scandalized others or not. Hence, this second reading reminds us that we must appreciate and live out in various ways the Divine “foolishness” of the crucified Christ and obey His commandment of love as expression of our Divine worship.  

Gospel exegesis: 1) Time of the incident: While the turning of water into wine was the first sign of Jesus' ministry, according to John, the first public act of his ministry is to cleanse the Temple. (In John, the Temple scene makes a claim for Jesus’ authority at the beginning of his ministry, while  in the Synoptics, it occurs near the end.) The authority Jesus used was ultimately based on his identity as  the Son of the Only God  Who dwells in that Temple.  As such, Jesus had the authority to disrupt the Temple’s unholy activities. Passover was a major Jewish festival.  Pilgrims from all over Palestine and beyond would come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast and to pay their annual Temple tax.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Mt 21:12-17; Mk 11:15-19; Lk 19:45-48), report only one participation  in the Passover feast in Jesus’ public life, and that was just before his arrest, emphasizing the time when Jesus cleansed the Temple.  The synoptic Gospels place the "cleansing of the Temple" immediately after Jesus' triumphant arrival in Jerusalem on the back of the colt of an ass.  For Matthew, Mark, and Luke the powerful scene in the Temple demonstrates Jesus at the height of his power and popularity.  His conflict with the religious establishment in Jerusalem, the religious capital, provided fuel for the fires of indignation and alarm set among the Sadducees and Pharisees.  John, however, puts the incident at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry because John is not interested in telling us when Jesus cleansed the Temple, but rather in showing this cleansing as an act prophesied of the Messiah.  John considers the raising of Lazarus, and not the Temple-cleansing, as the precipitating event for Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion (John 11-12). 

2) The Temple Jesus cleansed: The Temple in Jerusalem was the symbol of Jewish religion and the only center for Israel’s common worship and sacrifices.  Weekly Sabbath prayers and the teaching of the Law were conducted in local synagogues. King Solomon built the first Temple on Mount Moriah in 966 BC to replace the tabernacle that had been Israel's portable place of worship; I Kgs 5, gives a detailed description of that Temple’s solemn blessing.  That Temple area covered some 35 acres. After 379 years, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed that Temple in 587 BC and took all the healthy Jews as slaves.  On their return from exile, after some 70 years of Babylonian exile, the Jews rebuilt the Temple in 515 BC under the leadership of Zerubbabel (who was of the House of David). Next, that rebuilt Temple was damaged, plundered, and desecrated by Greek conqueror Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BC, and stripped of everything of value. That Temple was  cleansed and restored by Judas Maccabaeus in 164 B.C. But it was plundered and damaged again, first by Roman generals Pompey in 63 BC and  then by Crassus in 54 BC. King Herod the Great began to renovate it in 20 BC. Since Herod's Temple was constructed over the foundation of the temple built under Zerubbabel in 515 BC (though greatly expanded), it is known by Jews today as the Second Temple. Jesus did his controversial cleansing of this Temple, in the outer courtyard. This courtyard was called the Court of the Gentiles, because Gentiles were allowed to enter in it  for prayer to the Most High, if they wished to do so.  

3) The abuses which infuriated Jesus: a) The merchants selling animals and the money changers had converted the Court of the Gentiles into a noisy market making it impossible for the Gentiles to worship Yahweh.  i) The merchants sold the animals and birds for sacrifice at unjust and exorbitant prices (18 to 20 times the regular price outside the Temple).  ii) The animal-inspectors, bribed by the merchants, disqualified even the healthy animals brought by poor shepherds and farmers for sacrifice.  This was an unjust extortion at the expense of poor and humble pilgrims, who were practically blackmailed into buying animals and birds from the Temple booths.  Jesus considered this a glaring social injustice aggravated by the fact that it was perpetrated in the name of religion. b) The Temple authorities, by sharing the profit made by  the merchants and moneychangers, converted it into a “hideout of thieves” (Mark 11:17;  Luke  19:45). Roman coins, bearing the images of pagan gods and the emperor for whom godhead was claimed, were forbidden as offering in the Temple.  The moneychangers, who exchanged the Temple coin (Galilean shekel) with Roman coins, demanded 1/6 of the value of the coin as their commission, even from the poor people who had to pay one and a half days of their daily wage as their annual Temple tax.  What especially enraged Jesus was not that a fee was being charged, but that the amount being charged to the poor was exorbitant and, hence, unjust.  What was happening was a great social injustice done in the name of religion.  In fact, the moneychangers were street-level representatives of a corrupt Temple banking system which had become an instrument of injustice, fleecing the poor to benefit the powerful.  By chasing the moneychangers and merchants from the Temple, Jesus was questioning the validity of the entire sacrificial system itself -- of Israel's ability to atone for its sins, be forgiven and stand in right relationship with God. “Jesus’ symbolic attack on the Temple would (in His culture) have had a meaning not unlike that of the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Centre—symbolically attacking a building that was widely seen as the “nerve center” of an entire network of political, economic and religious power. In addition to its key religious functions, the Temple had also taken on political and economic roles in Judaea. Apparently, its Treasury was used by many wealthy Jewish people as the ‘central bank of Jerusalem,’ where they stored their wealth, considering it safe from theft or pillaging.” (Dr. Murray Watson).

Jesus got whip-cracking mad: Jesus' reaction to this commercialized Faith was fierce.  Since no weapons were allowed inside the Temple, Jesus had to construct his own: a whip of cords.  He then wrought havoc on those who were committing abuses.  He pushed people and animals out of the way, overturning the money-changers’ tables, and so spilling their coins  coins.  With over a hundred thousand pilgrims in the city to make their sacrifices at the Temple, it seems likely that there would have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sheep and cattle.  Considering the crowd and the damage, it is one of the unsung miracles of Jesus' ministry that he was not set upon and killed by a mob of outraged businessmen and Temple police!  Because of his righteous zeal, Jesus inspired people with respect for his actions.  His words bit into the consciences of those who were taking advantage of the system.  John adds an additional note that Jesus’ disciples remembered Psalm 69:9 (“Zeal for Your house consumes me”), as a justification for Jesus' rage. Filled with zeal for the house of God, that special place where humans and God meet, Jesus challenged religious practice that was simply external.  Jesus, answering the call of a higher Authority, obeyed, regardless of the consequences. 

The Temple in Jerusalem replaced by Jesus, the Temple:  The Johannine account, in which Jesus quotes Zec 14:21, "Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace," seems at first glance to support the interpretation of the event as a cleansing. However, the greater emphasis here is not so much on the cleansing of the Temple, as on the replacement of the Temple.  The Temple in Jerusalem was the place where God made His Name or Glory to dwell.  With Jesus’ coming on the scene, the Temple was no longer important in Jewish life as John tells the story.  The Temple had ceased to have a function.  Jesus' promise of a new Temple suggested that God's glory would be manifested, not in a building, but in a Person.  By the end of the first Christian century, whenever Christians heard the word Temple, they no longer thought of the destroyed stone and mortar edifice which Solomon had originally constructed and Herod had rebuilt, but of the risen Jesus: the Temple which had been destroyed and raised up again in three days.  Jesus had replaced and superseded everything the Temple had formerly symbolized.  By his prophetic actions in the Temple, Jesus made it clear that the God Who gave the Law on Sinai could not be bought by sacrifice or bribe.  Jesus is the Temple in Whom His followers come into contact with God.  Our Faith is Person-centered, and we are dealing with a relationship.  The cleansing of the Temple by Jesus conveys to us the message that our parish Church should be the source of strength for our spiritual life and the proper venue for its public expression.  

The Sadducees’ challenge: Jesus threw the mechanics of Temple worship into chaos, disrupting the Temple system during one of the most significant feasts of the year, so that neither sacrifices nor tithes could be offered that day.  No wonder the Jews who were gathered at the Temple asked for a sign to warrant his actions!  The Sadducees responsible for the Temple’s ongoing life demanded some sort of an explanation (but, surprisingly, no reparation), for the holy mess Jesus had made.  That is why they demanded "signs" which might legitimize Jesus' disruptive actions.  Jesus' response only promised more destruction, with an infinitely greater cost.  The Sadducees took this talk of Temple-destroying literally and were properly horrified.  John’s account once again jumps forward in time, giving as the reference behind Jesus' reply, his future death and Resurrection.  Both interpretations are shocking.  Suggesting that God would allow the Temple, the most holy site in Judaism, to be reduced to rubble was nothing less than blasphemy. 

Life messages: 1) We need to avoid a calculating mentality in Divine worship:  Our relationship with God must be that of a child to his parent, one of mutual love, respect and a desire for the family’s good, with no thought of personal loss or gain.  Hence, fulfilling our Sunday obligation only out of fear of mortal sin and consequent eternal punishment (a loss), is a non-Christian approach.  In the same way, obeying the commandments and doing acts of charity merely as prerequisites for Heavenly reward (a gain), are acts driven by a profit motive, of which Jesus would not approve.  Hence, let us ask these questions during this third week of Lent:  Can leading worship become simply a business for the clergy for which they are paid?  Do the laity sometimes think that they are "paying" the minister to do the worship for them -- thinking, "we pay them to do this for us"?  Do we think of God as a vending machine into which we put our sacrifices and good deeds to get back His blessings?  Do we use our acts of obedience to the Ten Commandments as bargaining chips with God?  The theologian Karl Rahner put it this way: "The number one cause of atheism is Christians.  Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles are what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable."

2) We need to remember that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit:  St. Paul reminds us that we are God’s temples, body and soul, because the Spirit of God dwells in us.  Hence, we have no right to desecrate God’s temple by impurity and injustice.  We are expected to cleanse our hearts of pride, hatred, jealousy, and all evil thoughts, desires, and plans.  Reminiscent of what Jesus did in cleansing the Temple, we, as 21st century disciples, must, with His grace, cleanse ourselves of attitudes and behaviors that prevent us from seeing and responding to hurt wherever we find it.  Let us welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives during Lent by repentance and the renewal of our lives.  We will drive out the wild animals that do not belong in the holy temple of our body by making a whip of cords out of our fasting, penance and almsgiving during Lent, and by going to Confession to receive God’s loving forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

3) We need to love our parish Church and use it: Our Church is the place where we come together as a community to love and praise God.  It is the holy place where we gather strength to support one another in the task of living the Gospel.  It is the place where we come privately to enter into intimate conversation with God.  In this building many prodigal sons and daughters have met the merciful Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and have been welcomed back to our community.  In this building, tears have been shed by those in pain and grief.  Let’s look around our Church this morning and treasure it.  When we pass our Church, we might take the time to make a brief visit.  Let us make our Church even more of a holy place by adding our prayers and songs to parish worship and offering our time and talents in the various ministries. 

4) Do we deserve the presence of Jesus with his whip in our contemporary world?  a) Cases of reported child abuse have risen from under one million cases annually to nearly three million.  b) Cohabitation statistics are up six-fold. Contrary to popular belief, "trial marriage" -- living together followed by marriage -- is a statistical predictor of later divorce.  c) The divorce rate has doubled, and happiness in surviving marriages has slightly declined.  d) In 1960, five percent of babies were born to unwed parents.  Today, more than 27 percent of all children are raised by single parents.  In 1960, one out of 10 children lived with only one parent, whereas today, three of 10 is the average. e) Abortions continue almost unchecked and people continue to agitate for an extension of time in a pregnancy during which an abortion  will still be legal.

JOKES OF THE WEEK

# 1: Devouring monstrous “zeal” in the Church: There is a funny story about the childhood days of the former American president, Theodore Roosevelt.  Little Teddy Roosevelt had a problem.  When he was a child his mother, Mitty, found that he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside it alone.  He was terrified, as she discovered, of something called "The Zeal."  It crouched in dark corners ready to pounce upon him.  And when she asked him what zeal might be, he said that he couldn't exactly describe it, but he thought it might be something like an alligator or a dragon, and he had heard the pastor read about it from the Bible one day.  So, using a concordance, Mitty read him those passages containing the word zeal until suddenly he stopped her and, very excited, said, "That’s it!"  The line was from the Book of John, Chapter 2, verse 17, and it was the King James version- "And his disciples remembered that it was written ‘the zeal of Thine House hath eaten me up." 

2) Commercials in the Church: A little girl was taken to the Church for the first time. As she was leaving with her parents, the pastor asked how she had liked the Mass.  “I liked the music,” she replied, “but the commercial was too long.” (Liguorian, March, 2006).

3) “I don’t smoke during Lent.”  The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “So you are a priest? Then you can go.” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety and so tried to reciprocate by offering the robber his packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “No, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.” 

4)

USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK

1. Catholic news & views:  10 http://www.catholicculture.org/

2. Catholic resources: http://www.catholic.org/sitemap.php?four

3. Jesus Cleansing the Temple (video clip from movie): https://youtu.be/boNIL1owRAI/ 

4. https://youtu.be/geferlpn_5A (video clip from movie)

5. Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant: https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066

6. 7) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs:  https://lectiotube.com/  

18- Additional anecdotes

1) Beware of whip-lashing Jesus in April while you file your tax returns!  A man was having trouble sleeping because of frightening dreams of an angry Jesus chasing him with a whip in his hands.  He knew in his heart it was his conscience that was keeping him awake.  He'd been less than honest in filing his tax return, and it was getting to him.  So he sent a check to the IRS with the following note: "Dear Sirs, in filing my 2016 tax return, I did not report all my income.  Therefore, I am enclosing my check for $100.00.  P. S. If my conscience still troubles me with those dreams of whip-wielding Jesus, I'll send you the rest."  Guess what happened next!  Today’s Gospel challenges us to examine ourselves to see if Jesus will have to take a whip when he comes to our hearts – the temple of the Holy Spirit  - in Holy Communion.  

2) “You're never gonna go to school with white boys."  One of the angriest young men picked out by  the American spotlight over the past five decades was the black activist of the sixties, Stokely Carmichael. Remember Stokely, with his rhetoric of hate and rebellion? Why was he so angry? There were reasons. Let me give you an example.  A school was being desegregated and Stokely Carmichael took his six-year-old niece to the school to begin kindergarten. Six years old. Remember that. The cops in that southern town weren't about to let the school be integrated. One cop grabbed Stokely's niece, put the girl on the ground, put his boot on her neck, stuck his gun in her ear, and said, "This is the last time I'm gonna tell ya. You're never gonna go to school with white boys."  Carmichael took his niece home in shock. Naturally, she was a frightened mess. At that moment Stokely Carmichael vowed that he would never let a boot hold down the neck of another black person again. He would kill the person wearing the boot rather than let it happen. [Larry King, The King, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1988).] There are times when it is right to get angry. Jesus was angry when he drove the money-changers out of the Temple. Christ's example tells me there are times when a Christian ought to get angry.  

3) "Mother Who Abandoned Son Wins Half of His $300,000 Estate." Did you read about a Connecticut Supreme Court case in which the court reluctantly ruled that a Suzanne Benson is entitled to half the estate of her dead son? If the newspapers are correct, this mother abandoned her two-year-old son 13 years ago. Recently the son was killed in a car/bicycle collision. His dad's insurance company awarded $300,000 to the son's estate. Mrs. Benson showed up after all this time to claim half the money.  Under Connecticut law, if Mrs. Benson had officially terminated her parental responsibility, she could not have profited from the money. Abandonment of a baby, however, does not constitute formal parental termination. ["Mother Who Abandoned Son Wins Half of His $300,000 Estate," The Knoxville News Sentinel (May 10, 1989), Section A, P. 7.] So she collected $150,000.  That violates my sense of justice, doesn't it yours? It's not fair. It's not right. But listen. There are far worse injustices taking place in our world than that one isolated case. We all know it's true. There are racial injustices, religious injustices, economic injustices. In today’s Gospel Jesus reacts forcefully against religious injustice. 

4) "In his note there was a very naughty word." Paul Harvey tells about a robber in Oceanside, California wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying a gun who strode into a branch bank. He selected a teller who appeared fiftyish, soft, kindly, an easy mark. He handed her a note demanding money or her life. The woman reached for the cash drawer. Then she looked again at the note and her eyes flashed, her lips clenched. She pulled the entire cash drawer out, but instead of giving him money, she clobbered the robber over the head with the drawer. And again and again. She was scolding him. Money was flying everywhere and she was beating him and shouting shame on him and bouncing blows off his helmet "until the young man turned and ran. Police caught him in nearby shrubbery. Then they asked the woman teller how come she was about to give him money at gunpoint and then, suddenly, instead, became enraged? She said, ‘In his note there was a very naughty word.’"  (Paul Harvey’s For What It's Worth"). Different people get upset at different things. Jesus shouted, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's House a marketplace!" Jesus got their attention. Sometimes we need to get angry. Anger can lead to creative and constructive solutions. However, Jesus' anger is not the focus of this story. 

5) The court had to let Sweeney go free. There is a most interesting story from American history about a man named George Wythe (pronounced with), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and perhaps one of the period's most noted legal minds. In 1776, George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Pendleton began the task of reworking and updating the laws of the state of Virginia. The task took most of their time for three years. It was really an extraordinary piece of work. However, there was at least one flaw – a flaw that would one day haunt the family and friends of George Wythe.  In 1806, Wythe suffered for almost 2 weeks from what almost certainly was arsenic poisoning and finally died. It is also reasonably certain that Wythe's grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, had added the arsenic to his elder's coffee. However, the only person who saw Sweeney commit this act was Lydia Broadnax, Wythe's devoted mulatto housekeeper; and negroes and mulattoes were forbidden under Virginia law to testify in court against whites – a law that George Wythe had chosen to let stand during his revision process. So, despite fairly certain knowledge that Sweeney had murdered Wythe, the court had to let Sweeney go free. [Brother C. Edward, FSC. "The Law That Failed," American History Illustrated (Jan., 1973), pp. 38-45.] I suppose we might consider that a case of poetic justice. If George Wythe had recognized the rights of African Americans, his killer would not have gone free. Justice does not always work out that neatly, of course, but we should tremble when we reflect that God is a just God. For eventually justice does prevail. There is a time when Christians ought to get angry about some of the inequities and injustices in our world. As Melvin Wheatley once said, "There are situations in life in which the absence of anger would be the essence of evil." There is a time for anger. 

6) "Somebody ought to do something about that." A man named Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o'clock news. Hundreds of people had died in an airliner crash in Washington, D.C. because the plane's wings iced up, making it too heavy to fly. Haslim decided to make sure it didn't happen again. Haslim came up with a brilliant, but rather simple solution. Everyone who has studied science knows that opposite charges attract and like charges repel. Haslim used that principle to come up with the ultimate wing deicer. He wrapped a thin sheet of rubber around an airplane wing, with wire ribbons carrying electrical current underneath. When he threw the switch on, the positive wires jumped away from each other, as did the negatives, breaking the ice that had frozen to the layer of rubber above them.  "It's like snapping a hall carpet," drawls Haslim, "and watching the dust fly." His invention can pulverize ice an inch thick on the surface of a wing. Yet it uses no more power than a single landing light, and costs less than an airplane tire. "It's so simple, lightweight, and cheap, it's nauseating," says Haslim. It may be that over the next several years, hundreds of lives will be saved because Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o'clock news. (Success, October, 1990).  Is there something making you angry? Is there some evil in the world that a voice within you keeps saying, "Somebody ought to do something about that." That is what Jesus did, as described in today’s Gospel, by cleansing the Temple. 

7) One-man army: Two men stood in front of a taxicab arguing about who had the right to the cab. While they argued, the wife of one of the men stood and watched. After they had argued for a few of minutes, one man became calm, opened the door for his opponent, and returned to his wife.  Curious, his wife asked him why he'd suddenly allowed the other man to take the cab. He explained, "You see dear, he needed the cab more than we did; he was late for his martial arts class. He's the teacher!" Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had no such fear in confronting the animal merchants, the moneychangers and the Temple police in the Temple of Jerusalem in his cleansing of the Temple operation with prophetic courage. [The Pastor's Story File (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), January 1996.]

8) Herman Kahn and nuclear war: Herman Kahn who founded the Hudson Institute, a private center for research on national security and public policy, had been working on a paper on nuclear warfare, which he was to deliver at the Pentagon on July 8, 1983, when he died very suddenly on July 7. For 23 years he had been repeating the same theme: that nuclear war was not only a possibility but a probability, insisting that a nuclear war would not mean the annihilation of civilization. He believed in "degrees of awfulness," and prescribed arms control, negotiated disarmament, and a strong military deterrent to nuclear war. Kahn’s critics insisted that he minimized the dangers of nuclear war and played into the hands of the militarists calling for more powerful weapons systems. Some claimed that his thinking, writing, and speeches merely supported the system when he ought to have been challenging it. Jesus could never be accused of such a sell-out in the scheme of things prevailing in the Temple. He shook the building - and the system - right down to the very foundations of both. Why wouldn’t the priests and the other leaders be upset with him and begin to consider how they might get rid of this Jesus?

9) The Temple Jesus cleansed: It had a series of ascending courtyards. Your first entry was into the outer courtyard ... the place that was called the Court of the Gentiles. You could be admitted there ... because anybody could be admitted there. But if you were a Gentile ... which virtually all of you are ... you could not go beyond there. For it was "death" for a Gentile to penetrate further. Next came the Court of the Women, entered by the arch that they called the Beautiful Gate. Any Israelite could go there. This was followed by the Court of the Israelites, entered by Nicanor's Gate (a gate of Corinthian bronze which required 20 men to open and shut). It was in this court that the men of Israel assembled for Temple services. Lastly, came the Court of the Priests, into which only the priests might enter. There could be found the great altar of the burnt-offering ... the lesser altar of the incense-offering ... the seven-branched lamp stand ... and the table of the shew bread. It was at the back of the Court of the Priests that the Holy of Holies stood, accessible only to the High Priest, and that only once a year. To enter the Holy of Holies was to approach the very throne of God, which is why legend has it that more than one High Priest attached a rope to his ankle before passing through the veil, thus ensuring that (should he be struck dead by the power of God while praying), his colleagues would be able to pull him out without endangering themselves. So when Jesus went into the Temple for purposes of "cleansing," where did he go? Not to the Holy of Holies. Not to the Court of the Priests. Not to the Court of the Israelites. Not even to the Court of the Women. Jesus went into the outer court ... the Court of the Gentiles. 

10) Jesus and the IRS: The voice on the other end of the line identified its owner as a representative of the Internal Revenue Service. The caller asked, "Did John Jones give $10,000 to your Church last year?" The pastor thought for a moment, and then carefully replied, "He will!" If there is anything that strikes terror into the hardiest of hearts it is the dread acronym: IRS. "The Infernal Revenue Service." Er, I mean, the Internal Revenue Service. Someone has said, "You may not agree with every department in the government, but you really have to hand it to the IRS." Another cynic has said, "Death and taxes may always be with us, but at least death doesn't get any worse." Arthur Godfrey once said, "I feel honored to pay taxes in America. The thing is, I could probably feel just as honored for about half the price." Benjamin Franklin said, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." The one we will have to confront but once; the other, like Gospel on Jesus’ cleansing the Temple of Jerusalem, comes around once a year, frightening us about what would happen if Jesus had to come to our hearts with a whip in his hands. 

 11)  The Ten Commandments Indicator: On 3rd February 1959, 10,000 meters above the Atlantic, Captain Lynch took a last look at the flight panel of the Boeing 707. The co-pilot was studying a map. Captain Lynch decided to stretch his legs, thinking that the worst was over. Shortly after leaving Paris they had run into a 120-kph headwind. But by now they had climbed above the storm. The captain made his way down the aisle. Just then the Captain felt the right-wing tip and he was thrown against the seats on the right-hand side. At the same moment all the lights in the plane went out. Next, he found himself lying on the floor. But then he realized it was the ceiling he was on. The Boeing was on its back. He began to make his way back to the cockpit. He decided to try to hold the plane at 2,000 meters. The co-pilot had been knocked unconscious. He came to again and he and the captain managed to bring the Boeing to the horizontal. A few more seconds and the plane would have crashed. The whole incident lasted four minutes. What caused it? While the co-pilot was studying the map, he did not notice the blue light on the indicator panel warning that the automatic pilot had stopped working. God has given us an indicator panel to guide us through life. That indicator panel is the Commandments. The Commandments are a gift from God to help us enjoy life by not getting lost along the way. (Author Unknown; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

12) Living the Law: Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a Church in Boston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his house to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the bus driver had mistakenly given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, “You’d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.” Then he thought, “Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a ‘gift from God’ and keep quiet.” When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the quarter to the driver and said, “Here, you gave me too much change.” The driver with a smile, replied, “Aren’t you the new preacher in town?” “Yes,” he replied. “Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see you at Church next Sunday.” When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on and said, “Oh God I almost sold your Son for a quarter.” Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read! As someone has said, “We need Christians to make Christians.” (J. Valladares in Your Words Are Spirit and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

13) Knowing the Law: One of President Reagan’s favorite stories involves a farmer and a lawyer whose cars collided. The farmer took a look at the lawyer, then reached in the back of his car and took out a bottle of whiskey. “Here, you look pretty shook up,” “Take a nip of this; it’ll steady your nerves.” After taking five or six gulps, the lawyer suggested the farmer have a drink himself. “Not me,” declared the farmer. “I’m waiting for the traffic police.” (Christopher Notes; quoted by Fr. Botelho).

14) Picasso's Bad Shepherd: The famous modern artist Pablo Picasso was born into a Catholic family in 1881.But he rejected his Catholic upbringing in his early 20s, mostly because he saw religious morals as an obstacle to the hedonistic fashions of his age. Picasso never publicly returned to the Church, although a priest was present at the artist's funeral. Throughout his life, he associated himself with various secular movements, one of them being Communism, a violently anti-Christian ideology. Soon after Picasso became a Communist, he made an interesting sculpture called "Man with Sheep." It was a conscious re-interpretation of a famous and beloved image in Christian art, one we are all familiar with because it is taken directly from the Gospels - the Good Shepherd. In traditional sculptures and paintings of the good shepherd, a tranquil lamb curls gently around the shepherd's shoulders. This is how shepherds used to teach rambunctious and foolish lambs that would run off on their own and leave the flock. The shepherd would break one of the lamb's legs, so that it couldn't run off into danger, and then carry the wounded lamb for weeks, until it healed. By that time, the lamb would have learned that the shepherd is good and trustworthy, and so it would never again stray away from the shepherd into danger. Picasso's "Man with Sheep" is a complete contrast. In this bronze sculpture, the shepherd is a stark, distorted man with the bulging eyes and a fierce expression. He clasps the sheep in one arm, while the animal twists its head away, open-mouthed and protesting, resisting with all its might. Picasso's figure seems like a butcher bringing a lamb to the slaughter. That's what happens when we try to understand suffering without Christ - it just doesn't make sense. But with Christ, all our crosses bring salvation, wisdom, and deeper intimacy with God. (E-Priest) 

15) No Smoking: Modern life is becoming more and more cluttered with No- signs. No smoking is spreading like a rash out of control. No Trespassing is growing abundantly all over the land, and there is a fair yield of No Fishing and No Shooting in the remoter scenic regions. No Dumping is to be found here too, but it does well in all types of terrain. The back-packing hiker will not have to venture far before encountering his first No Camping. The Don'ts (sometimes called the Do Nots) are another member of the same family. Don't Walk on the Grass is a favorite in city parks. Don't Cycle on the Pavements thrives on asphalt or Cement. We are familiar with the Don'ts from childhood. They were the first prohibitions we were taught to recognize, almost from infancy. Don't Cry, Don't Wake the Baby, Don't Cross the Road, Don't Talk to Strangers were mother's favourites. School was a whole world of them. Teacher had a whole bagful, graded for every occasion. Some were simple admonitions like Don't be Late or Don't be Long. Others were more menacing like Don't be Smart or Don't be so Stupid. When we emerged from the school system as young adults, we were ready to face the world and its Don'ts. Since then, life has fluctuated from an official reprimand Don't Rock the boat to a wifely pat, Don't Worry. When Moses came down from the smoke-wrapped Mt Sinai, he brought with him two tablets of stone, on which were carved the Ten Commandments and eight  of them were Thou Shalt Nots. Since then, the Ten Commandments have formed the basis of every legal system in the civilised world. The Don'ts of the Decalogue have evolved into a charter of human rights. Christ drove the money-makers out of the Temple with "Don't turn my Father's house into a den of thieves." (Biblical IE)

16) Jesus the meek lamb and ferocious lion: C. S. Lewis illustrated the contrasting qualities of Jesus in his character Aslan, the Lion. In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, two children, Lucy and Edmund, come to a grassy area. The field covers an area almost as far as the eye can see in greenery, except for one small white spot. The children can't figure out what the white spot is from a distance, so they hike down to it and discover that it's a lamb. This white woolly creature is not just any lamb but a lamb that can cook breakfast and have a conversation with them. The children want to know how to get to the land of Aslan. While the lamb is giving them directions a marvelous thing happens: "His snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself towering above them and scattering light from his mane" (C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as found in "What's it going to take?" a sermon by Rev. John H. Pavelko). Lewis graphically illustrates one of the great truths of our Faith: Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world is also the Lion of Judah. In Christ we find both the meekness of the lamb and the ferocity of the lion. Jesus could be both the strong and gentle man who welcomed children and the angry man who swung a powerful whip to clear the Temple.

17) Divine gift and gracious guidance of a loving God: In his 1965 novel about Israel through the ages, The Source, Michener chronicled the development of an ancient people who shifted their allegiance to a new god “partly because his demands upon them were severe and partly because they had grown somewhat contemptuous of their local gods precisely because they were not demanding.” (James A. Michener, The Source, Random House, Inc., New York: 1965). In the readings selected for the Third Lenten Sunday, the Scriptures invite the gathered assembly to consider some of God’s demands, albeit from a different frame of reference than Michener’s. Whereas the god featured in The Source appears to be the product of human reasoning and imagination and is portrayed as an ever evolving and maturing concept in the minds of believers, the God of the Hebrew and Christian Covenants is the transcendent Creator of all, Who, through Personal revelation chooses to be known immanently and intimately by humankind. For this reason, the demands of the Law, as featured in the first reading and the demands for authentic worship as featured in the Gospel are to be understood, not as orders that burden, and entrench humanity in a maze of moral gridlock, but as a Divine gift and gracious guidance. (Sanchez Files). L/21

18) Prefer positive peace (Martin Luther King Jr.)

“Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 19) by Fr. Tony (akadavil@gmail.com)

Visit my website by clicking on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies  under CBCI or  Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020)  Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604 

Picture 1: Rembrandt (1625), Christ driving the money changers from the Temple.