We have three sets of homily notes to choose from.
Please click on the one required.

1. Michel de Verteuil Lectio Divina Year C

2. Kenneth Payne, What shall I say Year C

3. Thomas O'Loughlin, Liturgical Resources for Year C (Luke)

Michel de Verteuil
Lectio Divina
The Year of Luke
www.columba.ie

No Text available from Fr Michel 

Kenneth Payne
What shall I say?
www.columba.ie

Theme: The Lord's Passion and Death

Liturgical Text: 'Father, take this chalice from me.' 'Into your hands I commend my spirit.' (Gospel) 'Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friend.'

Homily Notes:
1. We listen to the passion and sufferings of Jesus, and we look upon the visual reminder of this, the cross, which we vener­ate. Jesus took all that on board for you and me, and for all humanity down the ages.

2. We may think of some of our own crosses:
- due to sin .,.
- due to our human condition: flu, unemployment, bereavement, handicaps, etc.
- due to being a follower of Christ: a nurse loosing her job be­cause she refused to take part in an abortion, Helder Camara's fight for justice in South America, etc.
- self-inflicted: voluntary penance, fasting, etc.

3. Christ takes all this on himself because of his love for each one of us, no matter who we are, and he in us continues his passion today.

4. Jesus did not abolish suffering and the cross, but he showed that it was a cloud which passes, and no longer has absolute power over us.

Story/Quote:
A. Death brings loveliness to life and whatever is truly alive must die. Only plastic flowers never die!

B. In 1932 I came to the conclusion that the Last Supper drama­tised and illustrated free giving. Even the body is given as food, as a mother gives it. Further, the whole story of the cru­cifixion seemed to illustrate free 'forgiving' on the under­standing that hate and evil have no independent existence but are merely the frustration-forms of love itself, distorted as protest, reproach and that kind of aggression which is Originally intended to compel attention. The last prayer, 'forgive them for they know not what they do seems to imply that forgiveness is not a condescension to an unworthy object, but a recognition (on somewhat Socratic lines) that evil is merely error, not to be met by retributive error. The whole of this story illustrates non-retaliation - even non-resistance ­to the very utmost limit. (Unknown source)

C. There was a very striking scene in the film about St Vincent de Paul. At that time the life of an unwed mother was impossi­ble. Children born out of wedlock were abandoned in the street. Some were picked up but most died of cold or hunger, or both. The saint had organised a circle of rich charitable ladies whose aim was to help the poor and the sick. The film shows the saint arriving at a meeting of this circle carrying a child. He tells the ladies that he has picked it up in the street and asks which one of those ladies wants to care for it. But all turn away in disgust: 'The fruit of sin!' Then the saint says: 'But this little child will die! Do you know that such and such a number of these children die every year in Paris alone?' One lady retorts: 'But that is quite natural. It is the punish­ment of sin!' Then the saint gets very angry. I do not know whether he bangs on the table but at any rate he shouts: 'No! If God wants someone to die for sin - he sends his Son.'

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Thomas O'Loughlin,
Liturgical Resources for the Year of Luke
www.Columba.ie

HOMILY NOTES

We have three sets of homily notes to choose from.
Please click on the one required.

1. Michel de Verteuil Lectio Divina Year C

2. Kenneth Payne, What shall I say Year C

3. Thomas O'Loughlin, Liturgical Resources for Year C (Luke)

Michel de Verteuil
Lectio Divina
The Year of Luke
www.columba.ie

 No text available from Fr Michel for this day

Kenneth Payne
What shall I say?
www.columba.ie

Theme: The Passover meal, but not all went well

Liturgical Text: 'I give you a new commandment: love one another just as I have loved you'. (Gospel Acclamation)

Homily Notes:
1. For the Jews it was the great annual festival. Newborn lambs were slaughtered in the Temple area, and each family took a new born lamb home to be cooked and partaken of in the rit­ual meal of the Passover, reminding them of their escape from Egypt. It coincided with a former pagan spring festival when unleavened bread was eaten.

2. Jesus celebrated this feast with his apostles and some of the women, including his mother, Mary, who would have lit the lamps at the beginning of the meal.

3. However, things did not go too well-
- two of the apostles, James and John, quarrelled regarding who was the most important: they thought of 'cabinet posts for the boys';
- Judas, the most honoured, the treasurer, was given the 'sop', and left to betray his Master;
- Peter was reprimanded, and later denied all knowledge of Jesus;
- Mary, as the mother, would have lit the lamps at the begin­ning of meal, no doubt sensing that it was the last time she would do this.

4. Thus it was not all neat and tidy, but in many ways, a human mess. It is a reminder that we are all weak and fragile, but are called nevertheless to come close to the Lord, through his Real Presence in the Eucharist, through serving one another, and through spreading his Word.

Story/Quote:
A. A man offered to pay a sum of money to his twelve year old daughter if she mowed the lawn. The girl went at the task with great zest and by evening the whole lawn had been beautifully mown - well, everything except a large patch of grass in one comer. When the man said he couldn't pay the sum agreed upon because the whole lawn hadn't been mown, the girl said she was ready to forego the money, but would not cut the grass in the patch.

Curious to find out why, he checked the uncut patch. There, right in the centre of the patch, sat a large toad. The girl had been too tender-hearted to run over it with the lawn-mower. Where there is love, there is disorder.
Perfect order would make the world a graveyard.

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Thomas O'Loughlin,
Liturgical Resources for the Year of Luke
www.Columba.ie

HOMILY NOTES

Preaching the homily on this evening is probably the most difficult piece of communication in the entire year. The reason is simple: there are so many memories and so many events being recalled: the Last Supper, the command to love and serve one another, the night of the arrest, institution of the Eucharist, the Passover meal, Christ's intercession as High Priest, and on The Missal directs that 'the homily should explain the principal mysteries which are commemorated in this Mass: the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the priesthood, and Crist's commandment of brotherly love' (p. 149). This, however, hardly takes account of attention spans, and invites a 15 minute lecture (i.e. 5 minutes to each topic). This idea should not be dismissed; there are some teachers who can communicate effectively in the homily setting, but unless you are a proven performer on the podium, another strategy is probably wiser. So what follows are some basic points about the Last Supper, and some options for communication.

1. Background notes.
(1) Today's keynote is that Jesus gathered his people for a meal- something he did often, enjoyed, and was criticised for (cf Mt 1:19). This was an intimate affair of his own people, hence the added horror about Judas one senses in v. 2. A meal has a grammar all its own.
(1) It is around one table (which means we are ruly equal in his sight and 'friends' - there is no 'top-table' and then places for the rest.
 
(2) There is a sharing of food. This had been transformed in Jesus' table ritual to being a central moment in his whole vision for the Father's new people: a single loaf was broken and anyone who had a share in it was accepting a place among that new people. Uniquely, Jesus asked his table companions to share one cup over which he said a blessing. This established them, through an intimate ritual, as sharing in a common vision and destiny. (This basic table ritual of Jesus, from which our Eucharist derives, was not a Passover ritual - hence we celebrate Eucharist weekly not annually - and this is probably why John omits an 'institution narrative' from his account of the meal on the night of betrayal).

(3) At any common meal there is an element of showing one's desire to be of service and to offer of one's best: one way of doing this in Jesus' time was to offer the service of foot-washing. Jesus's action transforms this into making service the basis of community; and this action was so strikiong that it became a part of many Christian liturgies - now only surviving vestigially.

2. Strategy A - deeds not words
Instead of a homily, finding some way to express in actions that are more than tokens, this basic meal grammar and this new vision of sharing and service is the challenge for today. Perhaps it means having the awkwardness of much foot-washing, of people milling around the table (it was for this reason that the tables were taken from the back walls in the 1960s!), a very slow fraction and all the complications with sharing one cup. But all this might make it a ritual that impresses the common memory within the group, and so reconstitutes the gathering as who they are.

Washing Feet
The most effective homily on the command to love one another - the phrase 'brotherly love' is dated - is to perform the ceremony of washing of feet properly. No ceremony is more likely to get cut down, tokenised, or abandoned altogether than this; but if this ceremony - ritual at its most real - is not really done, then preaching about Christ's example is mere words. Do the ceremony well, which means men and women, young and old (and will probably involve more than twelve people if different strands and groups in the community are represented), take off the chasuble (cf Jn 13:4), have the awkwardness of donning a towel (cf Jn 13:4), then get down, have the splashing water, and the rest of it.The shock and the communicative power of thid ritualis immense. Yes it is all very embarrasing - it is meant to be

3. A place at table
The central Eucharistic symbols are one loaf, one cup, and one table. Being at table with Jesus is a key theme in the gospels: he eats at table with those whom others shun, he uses table metaphors to make his points, he teaches while he sits at table. In most church building the table is not gathered around: it is observed. People do not expenence being· at the table, they have to imagine it - yet the rationale of sacraments is that we experience an earthly reality (being at table) and relate to a heavelily reality (we are sharers in the divine banquet). So the experience of actually gathering around the table is something that is most worthwhile. Instead of looking at one person at a table 'over here' - invite the people to stand around the table and on this special night, not just to look at the table or be 'virtually' at it, but actual share a single table. It is interesting to note that the oldest western eucharistic prayer, what we call Eucharistic Prayer which should be used tonight, contains the phrase 'Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum et omnium circumstantium', which literally means: 'Recall, Lord, [the prayers] of your servants (male) and your servants (female) and of all those who are standing around ... ' This part of the prayer - meaningless in practical terms for more than a millennium - reminds us of a time in the church in Rome when around the table alongside the celebrant stood many women and men. The official translation we use today is a little more reticent: 'Remember, Lord your people '" Remember all of us gathered here before you.'

We constantly use the image of the table, the one table, and gathering at the table: give it sacramental expression by actually gathering people around at the table tonight.

A real fraction
The basic symbolism of the Eucharist is that there is one body, one loaf, and one cup ('The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf' -1 Cor 10:16-17). This was, for most of the first millennium, the most obvious, and a time consuming part of the liturgy was the actual breaking up of a single large loaf by the deacons and the drinking from a single large chalice. When the emphasis in eucharistic theology shifted from sharing in the Lord's meal to what is there in the species which you could receive as a wondrous visitation from God - a process that began with Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636) - we began to think of the sacrifice of the Mass as one activity, and receiving communion as a separate activity. Now, 'receiving communion' was 'an extra'and reservation became a primary part of our theology. Reservation was made simpler when unleavened bread was used (introduced in the late ninth century)/ and the only loaf that was needed was one big enough for the priest - any other person could be accommodated with smaller individual loaves. Since the Second Vatican Council these trends have been balanced in the west by a greater emphasis on the Eucharist as the action of the whole People of God/ in contrast to the notion of a priest saying Mass with a congregation. However/ we still/ on the whole/ use precut round individual mini-loaves: these do not reflect a rich theology of the Eucharist tuned into the basic symbolism of which we read in the scriptures. A similar shift took place with the cup: when communion became infrequent/ and then communion under one species became the norm for Catholics/ the cup had only to be big enough for one. So tonight why not get the large breads used in many religious communities/ so that each person get a broken part/ a fraction/ and thus part-takes of a loaf with others. Then use only one large chalice. In this way a basic theology of the Eucharist is imparted under the original sacramental signs. This takes time/ but we are celebrating a mystery/ not running a religious /fast-food/ joint!

3. Strategy B - a reflection on what we are doing
The liturgy is so full this evening that the homily can be a pause for little reflection by inviting those celebrating with you to imagine a series of meals.

Some of the best times in life are marked by assembling with those you are related to by family/ friendships/ or common inter­ests: the wedding meal/ the birthday party/ the meal of the team/ the class reunion/ the Christmas dinner. We all know them/ we all have our likes and dislikes about them/ but we would not be without them.

Such need for gatherings is embedded deep within us as human beings. Such meals are part of every culture. They are times of celebrating the present/ they remind us of our bonds to one another/ they proclaim our identity and the group to which we belong.

Such meals are part of virtually every religion - chances to tell the sacred stories and re-establish links. So it was for the Jews for centuries before Christ and the Passover meal. They gathered in houses in cities like Jerusalem, in little villages in the countryside. The houses of merchants, the houses of people who grew vines, others who cared for sheep, others who tilled the ground, others who were fishermen. Sometimes they did it when Israel was free, sometimes they did it when they were con­trolled by foreigners who did not share or understand their reli­gion or meals like the Passover. They did it when in captivity in Babylon, 'there they wept,' but they kept up the practice of the meal. By the time of Jesus, there were Jews living across the Mediterranean world from Persia, to Egypt, to Rome, to Spain ­and one of the things that bound them was that in each house they gathered for this meal. Later across Europe, and later still in Russia, and now across the globe they gather for this meal. They gathered for it in times of persecution by us, Christians, in ghet­tos, and in camps - but gathering for this meal was essential to identity.
 
Gathering for this meal as transformed by Jesus is part of Christian identity. It was for this meal, the Eucharist, that Christians in Corinth gathered. Later, Christians would gather for it in houses across the Mediterranean; sometimes in good times, sometimes in bad times as when they met in the catacombs. Later, they would gather for it in churches and chapels and great cathedrals. Sometimes they almost forgot it was a meal at all, and used names like 'Mass' which ignored that its key element was thanksgiving (' eucharist'). But they kept gathering.

So here we are tonight - another gathering for this meal. It brings us together as a group with a common identity as those made children of the Father, and brothers and sisters to one an­other. It gathers a lot of memories from all the times this meal has been celebrated back to the time of Jesus and long before that again. Being here is also a declaration that we want to keep faith and state again that we trust in God's mercy and will endeavour afresh to be disciples.

4. Strategy C - A short reflection
Most of today's liturgy is in the upper register of ceremony: the bells of the Gloria, thuribles that have been dug out of cup­boards, the splendour of the final procession, and the choir dusting-off snippets from the Missa de Angelis. So perhaps the homily should adopt a reflective tone, a quieter time to just let the sense of what is being celebrated sink in. For centuries the Jewish people had gathered for a meal to recall their deliverance. Jesus and the disciples were part of that tradition. For nearly two millennia, we have continued to gather in memory of the new act of deliverance by Christ. The mystery is that this meal is not just, going through the motions,'a piece of historical drama; but rather as parts of the risen and ever-living Christ we are sharing now in his supper, sharing now in his thanksgiving to the Father. We are seeking to mingle our lives with Christ; he is sharing his divine life with us. The reflection could conclude by slowly reading the central portion of this evening's preface: 'He is the true and eternal priest ... we are washed clean'.

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We have three sets of homily notes to choose from.
Please click on the one required.

1. Michel de Verteuil Lectio Divina Year C

2. Kenneth Payne, What shall I say Year C

3. Thomas O'Loughlin, Liturgical Resources for Year C (Luke)

Michel de Verteuil
Lectio Divina
The Year of Luke
www.columba.ie

Gospel reading: John 8:1-11
vs.1  Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
vs.2  At daybreak, he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.
vs.3  The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody,
vs.4  they said to Jesus, “Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, vs.5  and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?”
vs.6  They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
vs.7  As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, “If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
vs.8  Then he bent down and wrote on the ground again.
vs.9  When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there.
vs.10 He looked up and said, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
vs.11 “No one, sir,”  she replied. “Neither do I condemn you,”  said Jesus. “Go your away, and do not sin any more.”

General Comments
 There are three people in today's passage:
•  the woman;
•  the group called "scribes and Pharisees";
•  Jesus.
As always, in your meditation you must let yourself enter the story from the viewpoint of one of the three.
•The woman was guilty of a sexual sin, but her story evokes any experience of having done something shameful in a moment of great vulnerability.
•The scribes and Pharisees are typical of powerful people who have no feeling for the weak. There are several things about them that might touch you: that they have singled out this one sin for condemnation; that they are using the woman to score points against Jesus; or that they use pious phrases to mask their cruelty - all types of behaviour that are easily recognizable.
•This picture of Jesus is one of the most touching in the gospels; look at his action of bending down and writing on the ground. It suggests tremendous inner strength which, in a non-violent way, unmasks the hypocrisy of the accusers.

Scripture reflection
"Those who live in constant terror of their own sins are powerless to accomplish anything in the world."      Berdyaev
Lord, there was a time when the feeling of guilt had us paralyzed.
We felt condemned by voices within us:
•  sermons we had heard in our childhood threatening us with hell fire;
•  teachers who told us we had to be perfect.
We felt as if we were standing in full view of our accusers
and they were condemning us as deserving of death.
We thank you, Lord, that you sent us, at that moment,
a wise and kind person, who stayed with us, saying nothing,
just being there like Jesus bent down and writing on the ground,
until, very gradually, as the weeks went by,
the harsh accusing voices were silenced, one by one,
beginning from the most deeply rooted,
and eventually we were standing there knowing you were looking at us,
and telling us that we were now free to go out and lead a good and creative life.

"All condemnation is of the devil. We condemn others
only because we shun condemning ourselves."   St Seraphim of Sarov
Lord, we who are community leaders in the Church or the country
often have to point out people's faults.
Help us to do so without condemning them.
But that is not easy; we have to listen to our innermost selves,
waiting patiently until every scribe and Pharisee within us has walked away
because only then do we have the right to look at another and say, "Go, and sin no more."

Lord, just as in the time of Jesus, society pronounces its harshest judgments
on those who are caught committing sexual sins, especially if they are women.
Authorities will always single them out and make them stand in full view of everybody,
insisting that in the name of religion they must condemn such persons to death by stoning.
We pray, Lord, that your Church will be like Jesus,
pointing out the hypocrisy of the accusers,
and protecting the dignity of those who have sinned.

"One form of gentleness we should practice is towards ourselves.
It is reasonable to be displeased and sorry when we commit faults,
but not fretful or spiteful to ourselves."       St Francis de Sales
Lord, teach us to look at ourselves with respect and compassion,
as Jesus looked at the woman taken in adultery
when he was left alone with her and she remained standing before him.

Lord, send us leaders like Jesus,
who will stand with the weak and the vulnerable against their oppressors,
not aggressively, but calmly, so that the oppressors walk away of their own accord,
and the weak find the space to create a good life for themselves.

Lord, we remember a time when we were using a Bible passage to condemn someone,
and quite suddenly the passage came alive for us,
and we saw that we were condemning the other for what we were guilty of ourselves,
so that we let the stone fall from our hands and went our way.

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Kenneth Payne
What shall I say?
www.columba.ie

Theme: Almsgiving: an act of penance and of help to our neighbour

Liturgical Text: 'You give us a spirit of loving reverence for you, Father, and of willing service to our neighbour.' (Preface 1 of Lent)

Homily Notes:
1. Almsgiving is the main witness to our love of others. The Jews, who regarded prosperity as a sign of God's favour, nevertheless regarded almsgiving as an essential practice of their religion.
 
2. Today we hardly need reminding of the needs of those around us and the importance of sharing what we have. A man's true wealth consists not in what he keeps, but in what he gives away. Money can be an enemy, a master, or a friend to share and bring beauty into the lives of others.

3. What are we hanging on to at this moment and why?

Story/Quote:
A. You never really possess things.
You merely hold them for a while
If you are unable to give them away you are held by them.
Whatever you treasure
Must be held in the hollow of your hand
As water is held
Clutch at it
And its is gone.
Appropriate it to yourself
And you soil it.
Set it free
And it is forever yours.

B. A 7-year-old girl wrote this letter to me: 'Dear Father, When we went to London to see a ballet, I saw a cardboard open­topped box. It looked dirty. Mummy said that it was some­body's home. Then a man came along and threw an empty can in the box. Then mummy said, 'And people are treating it like a rubbish dump.' I felt very sad. I wish I could do some­thing to help. What should I do?'

C. It would cost 1% of global income to eradicate poverty worldwide. Poverty is the leading cause of premature death and ill health across the planet and the gaps between rich and poor are widening, not closing, the World Health Organ­isation (WHO) warned. In one of the most outspoken reports it has produced, the WHO says that more than one-fifth of the 5.6 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, al­most a third of the world's children are undernourished and half the global population lacks access to essential drugs.

D. Headline in a newspaper in 2004: '170 million starve while 1 billion are overweight.'

E. The game of dominoes is different from most other games: the winner ends up with nothing!

F. Alms: a 4 pronged fork: - to home and family;
- to parish, church;
- to poor in our own country;
-and to poor in the Third World.

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Thomas O'Loughlin,
Liturgical Resources for the Year of Luke
www.Columba.ie

HOMILY NOTES

1. The gospel does not invite a narrative, a story, or a single 'message'; rather it demands we reflect on some very common attitudes. The homily could point out some or all of the following 'points'. However, beware of 'watering down' this text as has happened so frequently: it is deeply disturbing of many attitudes common among Christians and non­Christians alike.

2. This is a text that many over the entire history of Christianity have wanted to disappear - quite literally - in that they chose not to copy it in their copies of the gospels. Moreover, when it was included in the gospel text - it is now part of the standard Greek text and has been present in the Latin text since the beginning - it was the incident that preachers and writers commented upon least frequently, at least in the period be­fore AD 1000, and it has only become popular with preachers in the last century or so. The reasons for these objections and hesitancies are usually quite openly stated in the traditions:
first, it is socially disruptive as a husband must have leverage over his wife's sexuality - and even if there is no stoning, then there must be some threat and warning;
second, what husband could find Christianity an acceptable religion when this gives a wife such licence - there must be a price for adultery or it brings the 'gospel' into disrepute;
and thirdly this seems to present Jesus as 'soft on sin' or on the need for penitence - this hesitation has been to the fore in recent centuries.

3. This text therefore raises the whole issue of what is Christianity about: is it a social control system or the Way to the Father who is forgiveness?

4. This text presents a male-centred universe: it is a wife who is accused, it is men who pass judgement, and it is men to see their rights/ property misused. The copyists, writers, and preachers who ignored the text or were hesitant about it, all viewed the text from the standpoint of men and the control of society. It reminds us that Christianity emerged in a male­centred world and has in many ways colluded in that world. Just recall that no man could be stoned for adultery. This is a worldview we see challenged by Jesus - in him there is no male or female (cf Gal 4:4) - yet as our history of hesitance over this text shows, this is a part of Jesus' proclamation that most preachers (men) have been most unwilling to take on board.

5. We have to acknowledge that men and women are not treated equally in the tradition of Christianity.

6. One writer, St Ambrose (c. 339-397), did tackle the text but his concern was with the question of the death penalty: if only one without sin can throw the first stone, then can we inflict the death penalty? He recognised, even then, that the call for the death penalty arose from desires for revenge rather than for rehabilitation. This is still a major issue today where many Christians still support the notion of an eye for an eye and do not see that the Christian vision of morality is based on love, forgiveness, and helping people to start anew rather than on retribution and retaliation. So the text challenges us to see if we really believe in the call to repentance and renewal of Jesus, or whether that is something we only want for ourselves and those with us.
 
6. There is no mention in the gospel of the notion of penitential reparation - she is not told to do penance but to sin no more. This silence has troubled many Catholic theologians down the centuries, especially since the Council of Trent. Do we reduce the new life that God offers us into a system of 'paying back' and clearing bills: this reduces reconciliation to a set of laundry lists and bills, and makes the divine mercy into a banking system of tabs and repayments.