[katoliko] Sunday Gospel and Homily (Second Sunday of Lent – Year B) for March 4, 2012 [3 Attachments]

[Ambrosio Antioquia]

 

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Sunday Gospel and Homily for March 4, 2012

Second Sunday of Lent – Year B

Lectionary: 26

 

First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 – from Old Testament – THE LAW (Pentateuch)

 

A reading from the Book of Genesis.

 

God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am!" he replied.

 

 

 

"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,

And go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust

on a height that I will point out to you."

 

Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."

 

 

 

“Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.

Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.”

 

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

 

 

 

"Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am!" he answered.

"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.

"Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God,..”

 

But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am!" he answered. "Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

 

 

 

"I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not

Withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly

And make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky…”

 

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing- all this because you obeyed my command."

 

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

 

Responsorial Psalm:                                                                          Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

 

R/.  I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.  R/.

O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.  R/.

My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.  R/.

Second Reading: Romans 8:31b-34 – from New Testament – (Paul’s Letters)

 

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans.

 

Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

 

Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who acquits us, who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died-or, rather, was raised- who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

 

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

 

Gospel Reading: Mark 9:2-10 – from Four Gospels (Year B)

                            

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit.

 

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark. Glory to you, O Lord.

 

 

 

“Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white,

Such as no fuller on earth could bleach them….”

 

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

 

As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

 

The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Reflection:

 

 

 

“The Transfiguration – This is my Son, my beloved”

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit

From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

 

I invited my three closest apostles to come with me to the mountain to pray. It was there that I was transfigured.

The divinity in me became stronger than my humanity and they were able to have a real vision of things never seen before and to hear the voice of my Father telling them and all creation to listen to me.

My human appearance could not hide the divinity within, my light was shining brightly and they received an interior consolation far greater than anything that can be imagined. They were in the presence of their God, they did not know what to say, they simply enjoyed the moment.

I am the Lord your God, clothed in majesty and glory. I descended to the world and assumed the humble appearance of a man. Being the Supreme Word that created the heavens and the earth, everything seen and unseen, I came to teach with authority the knowledge for salvation.

Salvation can only be found in me, the way, the truth and the life. My Father has testified about Himself through creation. I spoke and everything was made. The Holy Spirit has been always sustaining the created universe for the glory of the Holy Trinity. God is with you.

During the transfiguration, the voice of my Father was heard inviting all creation to listen to me.

Listen to me and you will also be transfigured by my light. The concealed divinity that my apostles saw, is the gift that I give to everyone who listens to my word, it is the seed that will transform your wretched bodies into divine beings, children of the Most High.

Listen to me and desire my word constantly. Desire my light, desire to be filled with my divinity, let my light begin transfiguring you, so that you may rejoice being holy in my will.

 

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

 

Homily:

 

“He Is Praying for Me”

Homily by Fr. Munachi E. Ezeogu CSSP

 

What difference would it make to you if you could see and hear our Lord Jesus Christ praying for you? Will you be encouraged to know that God knows all about your problems, that you are not facing the challenges of life alone? Will your problems immediately begin to melt away since you know that God’s own Son is on your side? Will that vision inspire you to take the bold step of faith you have been afraid to take, knowing that with Christ on your side you are safe? This is how one pioneer missionary to America, Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843), answers the question for himself, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.” Yet we do not need to hear with our physical ears Christ praying for us. We can hear it with our ears of faith. For “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

 

As Christians we are accustomed to thinking of Christ as our judge. In today’s second reading from Romans, Paul, still maintaining the courtroom image tells us to see Christ not just as our judge but as our defense attorney. Imagine Christ standing up at God’s judgment throne and marshaling his arguments, point by point, why you should acquitted! Could God say no to Christ? Who else in heaven or earth could take a stand against Christ and have any chance of success? With these powerful images Paul assures the persecuted Christians of Rome that, in life or in death, they are completely safe and secure and have absolutely nothing to fear. “If God is for us,” he asks, “who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). The answer is clear: no one.

 

Paul wants to assure the struggling Christians of Rome of the infinite love of God for them. You know, when one is besieged by trials and difficulties on every side, it is easy to doubt if God is really there for us. To reassure them that, yes, God is still with them in their suffering, Paul makes allusion to the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac. He does this to make two points. First is that people of God should not be surprised if they are visited with undeserved suffering because even God’s only Son also went through a suffering and death that he did not deserve. The second point is to underline God’s infinite love. “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:32).

 

In the persecutions, Christians were arrested, charged to court, tried, found guilty of treason or impiety, and then put to death. Paul is telling them that the charges brought against them are phony and the judgments passed against them null and void, since the only judgment that really counts is God’s own judgment. “Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?” (Romans 8:33-34). Then he makes the startling statement that Christ is at God’s right hand interceding for us. “It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34).

 

This statement is startling because according to the ancient creed of Christians, the Apostle’s Creed, Christ has died, Christ was raised, He ascended and seated at God’s right hand, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” Paul changes the fourth item. Instead of Christ judging us he has Christ interceding for us. Christ is not just a neutral observer recording and judging our actions and failures. He is on our side, supporting us by his grace, to make sure that we do not fall at all.

 

With this new understanding of Christ who is not a disinterested judge but a committed advocate on our side, Paul concludes by asking a series of questions, which we will do well to answer for ourselves today:

 

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:35, 37).

 

Homily by Fr. Munachi E. Ezeogu CSSP

 

Note:

If we want to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves, let us feed our minds what do Catholic teach and believe. No matter how precious and true our faith is, if we do not learn and tell others about it, they will not know about it and they will not embrace it. But how can we be ready to defend the truth of our faith, you may ask? You can’t give what you don’t have. We must make effort to know our faith more by knowing the basic documents of our faith, the Catechism teachings of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Bible.

 

It was St Jerome who said: “Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.”

 

Prepared by:

 

 

 

Ambrosio (Bong) Antioquia

Legion of Mary

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

St. Joachim Catholic Church

Hayward, CA. 94541-5809, USA

antio...@yahoo.com

 

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Attachment(s) from Ambrosio Antioquia

3 of 3 File(s)

Sunday Gospel and Homily for 03-04-12 - Second Sunday of Lent – Year B.pdf

Liturgy of the Word - Liturgical Year B (Gospel of Mark) - 03-04-12 - 2nd Sunday of Lent - Year B.pdf

2 - St. Mark - 16 Chapters - 03-04-12 - Second Sunday of Lent - Year B.pdf

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