~~~SisterSea~~~

Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 126 Second Reading: Philippians 3:4-14 Gospel: John 12:1-8 If Paul were alive today, he might have said something like this:   You think you have reason to be confident in your humanity.   Well, if anyone does, I do.   I am a cradle Catholic, was baptized when I was as a baby, had the best Catholic education, and became a priest and then part of the Vatican hierarchy.   I worked diligently for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and weeded out those who disagreed with official Church doctrine.   As to following Canon Law, I am blameless. But whatever brownie points ─ no pun intended─ all this might appear to give, it is worthless and can even be counted as a deficit, in light of what Jesus is calling me to do and to be.   Any humanity that I have comes through the work of God in me through faith in Jesus.   If I want to share in the h...

Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-9 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8 Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 Lent, as we know, is a season of reconciliation and repentance.   Today’s readings not only speak to us of these things but also of how God is with us to help us achieve reconciliation and repentance.   We think of the sacrament of reconciliation as the confession of our sins and an act of penance that is assigned to us by our priest/confessor.   Yet it should also be so much more than that. In the Jewish “Day of Atonement” or Yom Kippur prayers, they proclaim that Teshuva , Tefila and Tzedaka will remove any negative decree. These three concepts are commonly translated as repentance, prayer and charity.   The word repentance comes from the Latin word poenitire which means “make sorry”, however, there is a different Hebrew word for “make sorry,” not Teshuva . Teshuva is commonly understood as the act of turn...