Fr. Bob's Corner

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. Pius XII declared this feast a dogma of the church in 1950. This was a very difficult time for millions and millions of people around the world. World War II was over, but the devastation and tragedy it left behind burdened peoples hearts. Mary symbolized the hope of the Resurrection which is God’s gift to all of us. Pius XII was doing his best to remind us that the lamb of God had conquered all hopelessness, even though sin and death ominously threatened the light of faith. He said at the time, "Finally, it is our hope that belief in Mary’s bodily Assumption into heaven will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and render it more effective."

Today, as in all past centuries, human hearts are burdened by the darkness of suffering, human greed, waywardness, war, and despair. Nothing ever changes, it seems. Yet, in the midst of darkness our faith can make all the difference in the world.

In today’s Gospel we hear these comforting words of hope and joy from Mary: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God…..and has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.”

And to those disheartened by greed, war, poverty, etc., Mary proclaims: “He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

And lest we think only Mary can rejoice in God’s victory, Luke reminds us that these words are the promises God made to Abraham and his descendents forever – this means us, the body of Christ, who hear the call to hope in action.

Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis preached a homily at a special Mass for Haitians on Thursday, January 14, 2010. Here is an excerpt that inspires hope, courage, and a Christian response:

“Jesus waits for us today as he waited for the leper in today’s Gospel whom he was so willing to heal. He waits for us in our disbelief and sadness and touches our hearts with his love that we might have the courage to reach out to our brothers and sisters — for when the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer. He waits for us in the Eucharist and desires to feed us that we might be strengthened for the journey no matter what the task. He invites us to act as disciples helping in any way possible that in us people will see the face of Christ.

Today he waits for the people of Haiti that he might carry them in their mourning and loss. Without Christ there is no hope and without Christ there is only loss and no redemption. Today Jesus embraces the people of Haiti and invites us to do the same — through our prayer and charity and any way possible!”  Archbishop Robert J. Carlson – Archbishop of St. Louis.

Each advent is like the dawn of a new morning. It is a time of hope, expectation, and mystery. The morning dawn is a great symbol for the light of God’s Kingdom. It begins almost invisibly  amidst the darkness of the night sky. On crystal clear nights it also happens amidst the glorious twinkling of a thousand stars that inspire the human heart. Advent is a time to be inspired in time by the past, present, and future. May the days of advent be a blessing to us all, helping us to remember all that is good and loving in our lives. May they be days that teach us to wait in prayer as we journey through the darkness and the light – the good and the bad. And, may they be days that inspire hope in our hearts, trust in the Lord, and God’s loving ways. This advent may our hearts be united in joyful hope, as we pray: Lord Jesus, Come in Glory – Come Lord Jesus, Come in glory! Link to my homily thoughts for this Sunday.

This Sunday we read Mark’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus on a mountain top. It is about a God who literally comes down the mountain to be with us – the mystery of the incarnation. I have posted a few thoughts I will share in this Sunday’s homily on my homily site: Fr. Bob’s Homilies

There is something very disconcerting for those of us in religious leadership positions when we read about John the Baptist that scrubby character who called the people not to the synagogues or temple, but out into the wilderness. John was certainly not a presentable figure in elite civil and religious circles, yet it was his honor to announce the Messiah and to baptize him. In some says Jesus is very much like him. Just before he begins his three year ministry he too goes to the wilderness, and when he returns he begins to denounce the hypocritical practices of many of the religious leaders, as he proclaims the Good News>

When I read the Gospel, I am often startled by Jesus’ bluntness and criticism of religious leaders, and of course, it causes a certain discomfort to me, and I suspect many others who are in church leadership. And when I try to dismiss my discomfort as over sensitivity, I am reminded  by church history that power often corrupts and makes mistakes. John Paul II knew this well, I think, and that is why he asked forgiveness on behalf of the church in the year 2000.

Lent is a time of discernment for all of us, especially those in religious leadership. Let us pray for one another during this penitential season, and ask the Lord to help us all to live by God’s ways and God’s will.

(My homilies will no longer be found on this site.) A few months ago I opened a free WordPress site to archive my homilies. It was an easy way of putting all my homilies in one place so that they would be easy to find and categorize. I started categorizing them according to the liturgical year: Ordinary Time, Advent, Lent, Easter, Christmas etc. etc.. The categorization  is still a little rough and not quite completed, but I’m working on it when I have time.

I began posting my homilies to both sites Fr. Bob’s Corner and Fr. Bob’s Homilies, but soon discovered that Google frowned on this type of thing. When Google crawls through the web it soon discovers that identical content is being posted to two separate sites or URL’s. When it finds such a thing, it does not want to index it for Google search. (Some were doing this to get more search returns, and one would find a proliferation of their identical posts when you did a Google search.)

I have removed all homilies from Fr. Bob’s Corner frbobscorner. com, so that they will be indexed at Fr. Bob’s Homilies, and people can find them. To read my homilies, just go to the tab at the top of this page named, homilies, and it will take you to them. You can also link to http://frmac.wordpress.com, as well, and bookmark for easy access next time you want to visit.

Technology is changing and developing so fast that it is hard to keep up with it. Google has done the right thing, but I didn’t know about it, or realize that some were scamming their indexing system. I inadvertently discovered what was going on out on the world wide web while searching Google for something else. Glad I found out. Live and Learn!

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause any of you. Thanks for your patience, as I stumble through the practice of learning to blog.