Offered by Dcn. George Kelly

 

                                Homily Cycle I OLPH School Mass [3/12/2021]

 

In our Collect [Opening Prayer] Msgr. Sacks prayed: “Pour out your grace into our hearts O Lord … and [we will] obey by Your own gift the heavenly teaching You gave us ….”  In our first reading from Hosea, we were told return to the Lord doesn’t mean we have left Him, but we need to put Him first.

 

St. Mark in his Gospel relates the Scribes asking Jesus “What commandment is first?”  They then commend Him for His deep and insightful answer.  Israelites had 613 commandments/laws Jesus synthesizes them into two: Love God [Deuteronomy 6:5] & Love of neighbor [Leviticus 19:18]

 

Thomas Merton offers us an important distinction between liking/loving.

Liking is an emotional thing.  Loving is an act of the will.  Merton said Jesus doesn’t ask the impossible we are not called to like everybody, but to love everybody.  Really if we love God withour whole heart, soul, mind and all our strength, we will love our neighbor.

 

Pope John Paul I told the story about Michelangelo, one day he was in his studio standing next to a big amorphous piece of marble with his hammer and chisel getting ready to create a masterpiece.  Just then a friend of his walked through his studio and commented that how talented Michelangelo was to be able to carve a statue from that big chuck of marble. 

 

Michelangelo said, “No, it isn’t that at all, the statue is already in the marble all I do is draw it out.”  Pope John Paul I said that was the perfect analogy for Christians, each person we meet has good in them, put there by God, and it is our job to draw that good out.  That is what we are called to do, find the good in each person we meet.

 

Our entrance hymn all during Lent has been “Change our hearts this time, Your Word says it can be ….”  That is what Lent is all about reviewing our priorities, what we do and why we do those things.  We are in the middle of Lent what can we do:

1.    “pray” the Sign of the Cross

2.    say an Our Father who has no one to pray for them

 

Some day in heaven you will meet them and they will thank you for your prayers.  If you do those two things your Lent will help you become a better person.

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.

May God Be Praised!