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Showing posts with the label St. Paul

Homily for Pentecost Sunday, June 5, 2022, Year C

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Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) From time to time it is good for us to stand back and look at The Big Picture, so I want to begin by doing that as I share some thoughts with you on this Solemnity of Pentecost. In ancient times God approached us through the Jewish prophets and through their major leaders such as Abraham and Moses. It was through Moses that God gave us His Ten Commandments, commandments that allowed us not only to live as God intended us to live but to live with each other in peace and communion. Then in the fullness of time God came to us in His Word made flesh, in His only begotten Son who became man and thus brought the nearness of God into our very own humanity. “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ,” reports St. John in the Prologue to his gospel. After He lived among us, suffered and died for us, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, God came to us, and still does even now, in His Holy Spirit. From

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 17, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Successor of the Prince of the Apostles. Sovereign of the Vatican City State. Primate of Italy. Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province. Bishop of Rome. Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. Vicar of Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt as to who is being described by this impressive list of titles. The ambitions of James and John don’t even come close. Still, you’ve got to give them credit. Although by this point Jesus has already predicted his passion three times, the third coming immediately before today’s Gospel, James and John seem to be in a state of denial. All they can see is that Jesus is the Messiah, the real deal, destined for glory, and they want to be part of that, to be great by association. No time like the present, then, to jockey for position, to set themselves up to share the honors in a place of privilege. Jesus basically w

Reflection for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Fr. Charles Irvin Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69 Today’s readings prompt me to share some thoughts with you about choices, decisions, and commitments. Each and every day we consider choices presented to us, and then make our decisions. There comes a moment when our consideration ends and we raise a choice to the level of our wills, and thereby make it a freely chosen decision.   A decision can be of a short-term sort, or one intended to last over a long period of time, perhaps a lifetime decision carrying a permanent quality – a “forever” decision. Some of those permanent decisions are raised to the level of vows. They are given and placed in the hands of God; they are made and given in God’s presence, power, and love. Being human we all suffer from a weakness imbedded deep within us, namely the original sin depicted in the story of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Their resolve was weakened, their choices and decisions were corrupted, their willpower was c

Reflection for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Fr. Charles Irvin 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15 Once upon a time a cruel hunter killed a beautiful mother eagle. A chicken full of compassion took the eagle’s egg from its nest and put it with her own eggs. It was a bit uncomfortable because the eagle’s egg was considerably bigger. But that detail isn’t of any significance for us here. When the egg hatched the farmer named the baby eagle “Chickie” and treated her as he treated all baby chickens. As she was growing she just assumed that she was a chicken like the others. One day “Chickie” saw some birds flying high in the sky. How “Chickie” envied those birds in the sky! She so much wished she could fly like they did. Unfortunately, no one told her that she was an eagle and could fly high up into the heavens. Then one day a stranger came into the barnyard, caught sight of “Chicky” and instantly recognized what she was, an eaglet — not a chick. He took her out into a nearby field and began to make her hop from his

Homily for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 11, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) One of the members of my La Salette religious community is Father Joe, who just turned 87. We get together often for an afternoon of “tea and computer.” He tells me what, in his insatiable curiosity, he needs to know, and I look it up on my laptop. But the first thing is always a visit to NASA’s website, APOD, i.e. “Astronomy Picture of the Day.” Fr. Joe loves science. Not rarely we find something like this. “The Eight-Burst Nebula (pictured above)… originated in the outer layers of a star like our Sun… Neither the unusual shape of the surrounding cooler shell nor the structure and placements of the cool filamentary dust lanes… are well understood.” At which point Fr. Joe will say: “In other words, they haven’t got a clue!” We are meant to understand. That’s why we have a mind. Even children eventually come to realize that “because I’m the Mommy” isn’t a pr

Homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 4, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Have you ever known someone who “got religion”? In 1977 it was being reported that the famous publisher of a pornographic magazine had been converted through the efforts of Ruth Carter Stapleton, sister of President Carter. Many were skeptical, especially since the conversion resulted in no change to the publisher’s business or lifestyle. No one was surprised when he later said he was an atheist. Every year in Lent we see people returning to church, seriously intending to resume the practice of their Catholic faith. We rejoice to see them, we hope for the best, but we also know that in some cases the enthusiasm will fade. Of course, in many cases, the conversion is genuine. Still, for those who know the individuals in question, it is normal to take a wait-and-see attitude. That seems to be what happened to St. Paul, who was as it were put on a shelf for abo

Homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 27, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday's readings ) In today’s Responsorial Psalm we have the splendid verse: “At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.” This reminds me of a book I encountered as a high school seminarian. The title was But with the Dawn Rejoicing . It was the autobiography of a woman named Mary Ellen Kelly. In her teens she had begun to develop rheumatoid arthritis. By the age of 20 she was almost totally immobile. On a train she couldn’t use the sleeper car, but had to travel in the baggage car, strapped to a board. She had the use of only two fingers on one hand; it once took her over two hours to write a note just twenty-five words long. She had plenty of reason to feel sorry for herself, and indeed she did. In due time, however, she met Fr. Joseph Higgins, a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette. One day he “read her the riot act,” so to speak, and shocked her into

Homily for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 13, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) When a child asks you what an unfamiliar word or expression means, you may well find yourself beginning the explanation with, “Well, it’s something like...” You start with something the child already knows, in hopes of providing the appropriate insight. This is a natural and quite universal teaching method; recognizable images and interesting stories have always sparked understanding. It should not amaze us, therefore, that Jesus used this approach so often, thirty-two times that we know of, in three Gospels. Surprisingly, there are no parables in John, and only four of Jesus’ parables occur in all three of the other Gospels. Some of the parables have a moral, such as, “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart,” at the end of the parable of the unforgiving servant. In other cases the evangelist gives us th

Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, May 2, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) A couple of weeks ago we used the image of witnesses and concluded that we need to become “expert,” i.e. experienced, witnesses whose credibility is based on a genuine relationship with the Risen Lord. In today’s first reading we have Saul, recently returned to Jerusalem from his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, ready and eager to get out there and witness, to “speak out boldly.” And he does so, after finally gaining the trust of the other Jerusalem Christians. Then the former persecutor becomes the one persecuted, and the Christians spirit him away to his home town of Tarsus. What is wrong with this picture? Isn’t the witness supposed to stay and die for the faith? Running away doesn’t seem to fit. Actually it does. It’s called “witness protection.” Even before this, Saul had to escape from Damascus by being let down in a basket

Homily for Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) There, you said it. You all said it. You all repeated it, six times, in the Responsorial Psalm. “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” In the Passion, Jesus’ words are translated, “Why have you forsaken me?” It’s the same. Maybe some of you even thought: “I’ve been there, I know what it’s like.” It is really hard to take this in. Did Jesus, of all people, really despair on the cross? We know he is quoting Psalm 22, composed when a distressed psalmist was desperately begging for God’s help. In Luke’s Gospel, the crucified Jesus quotes a different Psalm, number 31, also composed in a time of trial and persecution, but the verse he recites is of a totally different kind: “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” But today’s Passion is Mark’s; and he and Matthew have none of the other “Seven Last Words,” just the one we have heard and recited, the blea

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday), March 14, 2021, Year B

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René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) It must surely have happened to you that someone gave you as a gift something you already had. You expressed your thanks and later you exchanged the item, or “re-gifted” it. Imagine, however, if someone did that on purpose, giving you a book or DVD or membership, knowing full well that you already had it. Or what about this? I go into your home and take something I have already given you; you think it is lost forever; then I give it back again—as a gift! What could be stranger? And yet, that is exactly the scenario described in today’s first reading. Because of the Chosen People’s infidelity, God allowed their Holy City to be destroyed and sent them into exile. Now he inspires a pagan king to let the exiles return home and rebuild Jerusalem. He gives back the gift he originally gave and took away. What was the difference between the original gift and the re

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, March 7, 2021, Year B

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René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) I am in charge here! I give the orders. Is that clear? Even if I really believed that, I would be well advised not to say it out loud. But let’s suppose I came into your home or place of work and said the same thing. It wouldn’t be long before somebody said, “And just who do you think you are?” In giving the Ten Commandments, God seems to have anticipated that very question. So he begins by stating, clearly and emphatically, just who he is: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.” And in case you missed it the first time, he says, three verses later, “I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God.” The commandments that follow are really, really important, but these statements of who God is are more important still. They are the foundation of all the rest. Why not kill? Because I say so, and I am the Lord your God,

"Hallowed Be..." Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America (Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25) Every time we recite the Lord’s Prayer, we say, "Hallowed be thy name". This is raised as a concern by Our Lady of La Salette, in two distinct contexts. First, she expresses her sadness at the abuse of her Son’s name. Later, she encourages the children to say at least an Our Father and a Hail Mary in their night and morning prayers. This is also her way of reminding us of the Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. Interestingly, the notion of “hallow” occurs in the next commandment: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Our Lady reminds us of this commandment as well. ‘Hallow’ and ‘holy’ are what linguists call cognate words. Like ‘strengthen’ and ‘strong,’ one is a verb and the other an adjective to express the same idea. In the Gospel, Jesus was angry that the Temple, his Father’s house, was being turned

The Son: Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America (Genesis 22:1-18; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10) At the conclusion of the dramatic story of what transpired on a mountain in the land of Moriah, Isaac’s life is spared, a substitute is found for the holocaust, and Abraham, who was willing to offer up his beloved son at God’s command, is rewarded for his unstinting faith. In Old Testament and New Testament times, the place where it was believed Abraham went to sacrifice his son continued to be venerated. The Temple of Jerusalem was built there. In our second reading, St. Paul alludes indirectly to another small mount within easy walking distance of the Temple. The evangelists call it Golgotha. And on an unnamed mountain, somewhere in Galilee, Jesus appeared in his glory, along with Moses and Elijah. These various elements all find a resonance at yet another mountain, in the French alps, called La Salette. In remembrance of the Passion of Jesus, the Beauti

A Reconciling Touch: Reflection for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S.  La Salette Missionaries of North America  (Leviticus 13:1-2 and 44-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45)  St. Paul may appear to be vain when he writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” But he was, in fact, a good model of discipleship, and all of us are called, likewise, to be imitators of Christ, doing everything for the glory of God. Very recently I met a woman who had a wooden sculpture, a gift from a missionary Sister. It was carved by a leper, who gave it to the Sister to acknowledge his special gratitude, because she was the only person who had ever touched him. She was an imitator of Christ as we see him in today’s Gospel. His touch produced more than the physical healing. It was surely unexpected, perhaps even shocking, and, therefore, a very powerful sign, an example to follow. It was a healing and reconciling touch. Normally we think of reconciliation as the restoration of a relationship between persons separated by som

Purpose in Life: A Reflection on the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America (Job 7:1-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39) “Woe to me,” writes St. Paul, “if I do not preach the Gospel.” He is not complaining, just stating the fact that this responsibility, laid on him without his being consulted, had become the all-consuming purpose of his existence. Jesus says something similar: “For this purpose I have come,” namely his preaching. Job takes us to the other extreme. His life has become a drudgery, and he finds no purpose in it. He expects that he will never know happiness again. The tears of Mary at La Salette, such a beautiful and powerful image, are troubling in a way. They can make us repent our sins; that is good. But some wonder how Mary, in heaven, can experience unhappiness. And yet she talks about the trouble her people’s infidelity have caused her personally: “How long a time I have suffered for you! … You pay no heed… You will never be able to recompense the pains

Homily for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 31, 2021, Year B

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Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) At the end of this Gospel passage it would appear that Jesus is now poised to embark on a great career. He is rapidly becoming a celebrity. There are lots and lots of famous people in the world, from the international to the local scene, in every field you can imagine. A few, commonly called “personalities,” may simply be “famous for being famous.” Most have caught people’s attention by doing something never (or rarely) done before (like medical miracles, sports records, technology, etc.), or by doing something in a totally new, interesting or exciting way (as in literature, music, and the arts in general). It also helps to be in the right place at the right time and to be noticed by the right people. But you still have to be the “right person” with the “right stuff.” Then you can make a big impression, and have people “astonished” and “amazed,” as we r

Homily for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 24, 2021, Year B

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Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Nineveh was the oldest and most populous city of the ancient Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are located on the east bank of the Tigris River opposite the modern city of Mosul in Iraq. The Ninevites were a great empire known for their ruthlessness. They were the sworn enemies of the Jews. Each despised the other and yet Jonah, a Jew, was sent by God to them. The Ninevites were going to end the Israelite civilization in a few years but it was to them that God sent Jonah. Jonah definitely did not want to go to them but God made sure that he did in spite of Jonah’s efforts to avoid the task to which God had called him. After the episode with the whale Jonah finally ended up on their shore. He went to them and they repented of their evil ways. They acted immediately on God’s word. Jonah was there only one day in what was to be a three day journey. That’s the key idea. On hearing God’s word proclaimed to them