Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time 2020: MT 8:23-27, Homily

Version 2

CLICK here to listen to today’s homily

Gospel MT 8:23-27

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
“Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”
He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

The Stations of the Cross in Atonement for Abuse and the Healing of All: By Rev. Paul Turner. Art by: Rev. Ronald Patrick Raab, CSC. Published by Liturgical Press.

Fwd Stations of the Cross - updated 2

 

I am humbled to be part of this project for the healing of sexual abuse in our Church. Paul Turner’s text is stunning. I offer images for all 14 Scriptural Stations of the Cross. I spent a couple of months during our COVID-19 shut down painting these images.

I offer some reflections and explanations of my art in the booklet. Here is my approach to this important and soulful text from Paul Turner: I pray that my fingers covered in paint may help redeem the abuse our children faced at the hands of my brothers.

From Liturgical Press: The Stations of the Cross in Atonement for Abuse and for the Healing of All invites a wounded Church to contemplate the Passion and death of Jesus through the experience of clerical abuse survivors. This one-of-a-kind resource is written and illustrated by priests to foster healing amidst the destruction committed by their brothers. Award-winning author and acclaimed liturgist Paul Turner pairs each of the fourteen scripture-based Stations with powerful quotes from survivors of clerical sexual abuse, and responds to each with profound confessional prayer. Thought-provoking paintings by author, counselor, and liturgist Ronald Patrick Raab, CSC, accompany each Station.

Here is a link to Liturgical Press in Collegeville, MN to pre-order. The booklet will be published mid-December, 2020. I pray that this version of the Stations of the Cross might be at the center of our Lenten prayer for 2021.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles 2020: MT 16: 13-19, Homily

IMG_1691

CLICK HERE to listen to today’s homily

Gospel MT 16:13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

bronze-statue-of-st-peter-enthroned

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020: MT 10:37-42, Reflection

8D5060CF-07F4-422C-AB4C-AC78DC68891A

CLICK HERE TO listen to today’s homily

Gospel

MT 10:37-42

Jesus said to his apostles:
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2020: MT 8: 5-17, Homily

IMG_1454

CLICK HERE to listen to today’s homily

Gospel MT 8:5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”
He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion said in reply,
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;
and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes;
and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the Kingdom
will be driven out into the outer darkness,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
And Jesus said to the centurion,
“You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”
And at that very hour his servant was healed.

Jesus entered the house of Peter,
and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
He touched her hand, the fever left her,
and she rose and waited on him.

When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:

He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.

 

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2020: MT 8:1-4, Homily

Unknown

CLICK here to listen to today’s reflection

Gospel MT 8:1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I will do it.  Be made clean.”
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,
but go show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020: Bulletin Cover, Column, Prayers of the Faithful

8D5060CF-07F4-422C-AB4C-AC78DC68891A

Dear Believers in the Christ,

God desires us. This simple sentence is so often ignored and even may be unfamiliar to many Christians. Many people have been educated to think that God has an iron fist, waiting to smite his people. I think many of us were told that in the second grade to make us sit up straight in our school desks or not to bully the weak on the playground. Actually, I think some people were told that just so a teacher or parent could maintain control.

From where ever our reluctance to believe God’s love came from, we do in fact belong at the center of his mercy and forgiveness. This is why Jesus was born into our world, for us to know first hand that we are not condemned. The Incarnation makes every human being and all flesh holy. Jesus aches for us to finally come to him with all the brokenness, pain and anxiety within us. He holds our hands when we are ill and sits with us when we are living in shame. Jesus desires us. His Father taught him well.

In Matthew 10: 37-42, Jesus tells us that any human relationship on earth cannot get in the way of his presence in our souls. He even says that we can’t love our mothers or fathers more than God. I wonder if he is going too far. His message is strong. However, it takes a direct message to cut through our earthly pride and what we think are solid plans. We are pretty stubborn when it comes to our hearts. It is difficult to see that God loves us when our lives do not turn out the way we think they should. In this case, Jesus says to the weary in order to find me, you must take up your cross and follow me.

To top it all off, Jesus says to us that we even need to lose our lives in order to find our lives. What he means is that our pride is an obstacle to real life. We must learn to surrender to such a mystery that is Jesus. His life within us is vital and real. It can topple walls of pride, addiction and hatred. We are born again in baptism and our second birth is not something we think about very often. However, from this second birth comes all the courage, strength and love we need. We are given the Holy Spirit to direct and guide our lives and futures. God within us teaches us how to surrender our pride and dismiss the notion that we live for only ourselves.

Jesus is trying to make this easy on us, but we seldom understand that he even desires the lonely, the anxious, the abandoned and the condemned. Jesus says that when we offer a drink of water to a little one, we will be given a ticket to heaven. When we get out of our own way and realize the dignity of another person’s life, we then are on the road to believing that God desires not only us, but also all people.

When we finally come to believe that God desires us, we understand that God heals our hearts and our wounds, our tears and our fears. This power of God will also help us get over our fear that other people are threats to us. God created all of humanity and wants us to live in unity and peace. We remain fearful of people who are different from ourselves because we have yet to believe that God desires all people.

God give you peace,

Fr. Ron Raab, CSC, Pastor

 

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us pray for our Church leaders. That they will speak out for the dignity of all people and become examples of hope for us all.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to sustain the rich values of family life. Let every family live in God’s fidelity and reconciliation.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us live in humble awareness of our own need for God, and learn to take up our cross of hope, especially when we are most afraid.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to speak up with prophetic voices for the benefit of people who are oppressed by society, and who struggle to make ends meet.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to witness hope among the discouraged because of joblessness and uncertainty about the future in these days of COVID-19.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us set our grief in the hands of God and bear witness to the peace of heaven. We pray for our dead, and in this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

 

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2020: MT 7:21-29, Homily

IMG_1616

CLICK HERE to listen to today’s homily

Gospel MT 7:21-29

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’

“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist 2020: LK 1: 57-66, 80, Homily

IMG_1539 2

CLICK HERE to listen to today’s homily

Gospel LK 1:57-66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
“No. He will be called John.”
But they answered her,
“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?”
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2020: MT 7:6, 12-14, Homily

IMG_1515

CLICK HERE to listen to today’s reflection

Gospel MT 7:6, 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.

“Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few.”