scribes had lost their way and given into worldly things. Like the prophets before him, Jesus is calling out the establishment and serving notice the end is near for them if they do not repent and listen to the good news. The old law is about to be replaced and the one sacrifice for all and for all time is about to be replaced and the new temple is present. The Israelites had once again failed the covenant with God and now a new covenant was being started but only after cleansing the old temple. Ironically the old law and temple was replaced by the caretakers of it by 
killing Jesus. Jesus replaced the old law and presented a new code or way of love or living in the love of God. He stressed that the commandments were only two, Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. In those two commandments are summed up all the law and the prophets. No longer was humanity to be burdened. The codes and laws and prescriptions of the scribes and pharisees are to be gone. Yet, even now humanity sometimes gets carried away with law and regulation. From such we need to be vigilant and remember. Jesus is our savior and has died and risen for us. He did that we might be free to love, unconstrained to find our way to Him. We must avoid placing anything that is an obstacle to God.
Homily April 29, 2018- the 5th Sunday of Easter
St. Paul was a Pharisee who was totally committed to the ruling group. His devoutness and devotedness set him apart in wanting to quickly rid Israel of what he saw as a new and dangerous cult called Christians. To him, they are going against the law and prophet and teaching a new way, teaching a resurrection, and even replacing the Torah. To him, 
they were trying to replace everything. As a result he took action by getting “warrants” to arrest these Christians and set out for Damascus. It was on that road where he met Jesus, and he was never the same again. His encounter on the way totally life changing. It is then that he learns and believes in Jesus and becomes an avid follower. Yet, in our first reading, we see the difficulty he has of being accepted. Ultimately, he was and of course took Christ’s teaching and went far and wide and spread the seeds or shoots of the vine where ever he went. .
Today that vine of our third reading remains and the fruit it bears depends on the care that we ourselves have given it. This means we must work at it. What it produce requires our attention. Christ calls every day, we respond with our attention and prayer. It’s as 
easy as lifting our heart or mind and doing the right thing. We are called to make those choices every day.The start of a healthy vine and a Christian is with their self. our personal relationship with God and our relationships and interactions with others determines the health of the vine and our worthiness as part of it. We all know the challenges of the relationships and are called to be Christ like in our daily life.
Homily April 8, 2018- the 2nd Sunday of Easter
As we look at the readings today, we’re looking at a series of snapshots taken after Jesus resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. Throughout the readings will take place at various times after the resurrection starting with the evening of Easter following evening one week later. Luke painted a picture of love and unity and no dissension among the followers of Jesus. The idea of the community selling all their possessions and placing them in the hands of the apostles and then distributing them according to need obviously seems to be a bit exaggerated. If we look around us at the various churches, monasteries and religious orders, that is not really a possible practice in the church or in the world as we take realistic look at it today. Even in religious communities, all have different needs and that in itself can create problems.
In the Gospel today, Jesus appears to his disciples, and Thomas is not present. When the apostles tell him Jesus had appeared to them, he does not believe. Even in his unbelief, the apostles did not turn him away but kept him with them until a week later Jesus appeared again. When Thomas saw Jesus, he believed. 
It was a lesson for all of us for all time that we must believe even in what at times we cannot see. It is also a lesson of acceptance. The apostles did not exclude or drive away Thomas because of his doubt. Today we must learn to accept those seeking Jesus and not turn away anyone seeking out God and a place in his church. Jesus and his Spirit live in the Church and in each of us. More than ever that means we should be as he is.
Meditation March 25, 2018 Palm Sunday
After reading the passion, we can see the cruelty and evil that is in the world come out. Even today we see harsh and even cruel punishment. Torture and even death still today are used to intimidate and control. Christ came with a message opposite to humanity’s dark side so to speak, preaching God’s love and mercy and forgiveness. His message 
endured, but the battle rages on between good and evil. So often the question is asked “why is there evil in the world?” yet do we ever ask what we do to prevent it. As we enter our holy days, let us remember that yes the Lord suffered, and died. Also that he was 
Human and divine. Yet his death and resurrection remain a mystery that will be revealed at our own death and rising. Today, I urge you to focus on the reading of the passion the you have previously heard and below is the link to the reading itself.
Homily, March 4, 2018- the 3rd Sunday of Lent
It always seemed strange to me that Jesus got angry and attacked the sellers and money people in the temple and overturned tables and started a stampede of animals out of the temple. The account today is from John and places the incident at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The other three writers place it in Holy Week. Ultimately, Jesus is confronting the loss of faithfulness and the lack of true worship from the temple. The priests and
Homily February 25, 2018- the 2nd Sunday of Lent
If we look at the middle east today, the countries there are constructs of those conflicts and the shifting sands of tribalism that was current in biblical times, even today the circle of life for these people began is family and the village and tribe. Outside of that all are strangers and looked at suspiciously. In the Bible, recall Israel as a tribe spent time in Egypt and in Babylon(Iraq today), subservient to others. The outlook on life was different 
and certainly even human sacrifice was not unheard of. We must not think that humanity just arrived at the 21st century and reached a measure of civility. Evil was in the world then as it is here now. While the story of Abraham and Isaac is a revelation of faith and trust and God’s care, it is also a reminder of what our ancestors were and what we have become. That hatred and murder and brutality are still in our world makes the point that much needs to be done to bring about a true revelation of God’s will for humanity to be one in his love.
Christ came into just such a world and in his one life had the call to bring God’s word to 
humanity. He knew what lay ahead of him and that his death was inevitable. Yet he knew God’s grace was a living and growing thing that would evolve and spread as time went on. Today’s gospel was meant certainly for his apostles, but his assurance also. None of us starts out on a task without first preparing and assuring our self of making progress. That is what Christ did and he began a way, a path, a journey for all to follow to his Father. Many in the world today follow Christ, yet we see that there certainly are those who don’t. Hatred, violence, mistrust, poverty or just being 
helpless all lead to the ills and evil we see today.
Our faith calls us to look around and to reach out. We need be careful of exhibiting the comfort and triumphalism of the Scribes and pharisees who thought all was well and that they had all the answers. The only one with all the answers is God and he has bestowed them as he has seen fit and revealing them as he determined we were ready for them. More than anything, this is what we see in our readings today.
Homily February 18, 2018- the 1st Sunday of Lent
Over the years we have learned that living in the middle east, the culture was tribal and family centered. A person’s home town was like an anchor or stake that centered or protected a person in a world where a single or unattached person was seen to be in danger. We see today in the gospel and from the last few weeks, that Jesus has left Nazareth. He has encountered John the Baptist(and been baptized, but not in Mark’s gospel) and now we see Mark say the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert. In Mark, there is kind of urgency for Jesus to get to the desert. It is as if in those forty days, Jesus was communing and preparing with a different
family. Spiritually he was preparing his ministry, being attended by the angels and in his new family meeting Satan and what that entailed. Perhaps, his first encounter with Satan away from the protection of his earthly family. But with his time of preparation done and John having been arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and began to preach: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
As we ponder that today, I would like to say we all have busy schedules and not a whole lot of time for lent. But most of you have smart phone and tablets or computers and email. I would suggest for lent that you can get the daily Mass readings for lent in an email every day simply by signing up at the catholic bishops site on-line. It is free and you can read it where ever you read your email. In this way you can receive a thought each day as Easter approaches. The link is below.
Homily January 28, 2018-the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I want to take a look at what St Paul’s letter said this morning. It seems that in many ways he seems to criticize everybody. He says being single means that a person is free to be concerned about things of the Lord. Married people, he says, are concerned about their spouse and things of the world. Yet in the very beginning of Genesis, we see God say
it is not good for a person to be alone. In fact, Christ made marriage a Sacrament because it is the very normal and spiritual way that most are called to follow Christ to salvation. It is a partnership of love centered in Christ. Certainly married couples have troubles and all the problems of the world, but you know single people have problems too. Being single does give more time, but being alone, childless is not always the gift he makes it seem. Further he seems to imply that married people are less spiritual than single people. It is just not true, as there are multitudes of holy and 
spiritual married people. For some reason, the church through the centuries has focused on the single people, the religious, the clerics. But let’s be honest, the church is made up of all the baptized. Sanctity and sainthood comes for all who live their lives in the faith and love of Jesus Christ.
So, to sum up, I would say we should realize that the married person, and the single person(whether lay, religious or clergy) reflect God’s love in different ways and different paths. Yet, truly, God has made each of us individually and calls us each individually, except those who are married, he has said that then two have become one flesh.
Homily, January 21, 2018 -The 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel from Mark gives a slightly different account of Jesus’ call of his disciples. First we see that John the Baptist has been arrested, and also that Jesus has started his ministry. This means that the disciples had an awareness of him and possibly that is why they answered his invitation so readily. God’s call did not always come easy in Israel’s history. Many of the prophets only reluctantly answered God’s call. A prime example was Jonah in our first reading. But we see that in the end God got his way even with the 
reluctant. Jesus was preaching that it was time to repent and believe the good news. He had a message and it was new. But first a person must repent, turn around, change and hear the good news. Hearing the good news means attaching oneself to Jesus. That was the ultimate turn around, made first by Jesus’ disciples and passed on even to us today. Jesus’ call was to a way of life, to a lifestyle, to living together in a community he came to call a church. It entails a whole new way of 
life and worship, that Jesus began by fulfilling God’s plan that included even his dieing and his resurrection. The good question today is can we with all the interruptions and daily problems still commit ourselves fully to Christ as the First disciples, who left their Father and their boats and followed Jesus. Surely sometimes it is easy, but at other time it is difficult and challenging. But we must remember always we have Jesus and the Strength of his Cross to get us through whatever we face.
Homily, December 10, 2017 the 2nd Sunday of Advent
This week we jump from the end of Mark’s gospel to the beginning. The idea of “waiting” is still present, but we are introduced to John the Baptist. His message is to repent and prepare. He baptises as a sign of forgiveness. In doing so, he adds a new word to our Advent as we repent and prepare. That word is change. It is a word that most don’t like to hear or do. Mostly, we are all set in our ways and pretty much satisfied with whom we are. In the comfort we feel, sometimes we forget that we can hurt others by what we do or say. It is easy to say repent and get ready for 
Christ’s coming, but do we really step back and take a close honest look at who we are. Jesus came at a time there was turmoil and disillusionment in the Jewish community. Many had wandered off from the teaching of the prophets, the priest, the temple and yearned for communing with God. John was an intriguing figure and they accepted him as a prophet or even maybe the promised Messiah. He was the attraction of his time drawing people from everywhere. 
His message was clear, repent, change, and wait for the one to come. I have always wondered why we use John in the desert preparing the people for Jesus’ ministry in preparing for Christmas. Yet, the liturgical year uses his message of repent and change at the beginning every year to prepare ourselves by calling on us in our season of wait to repent and change. Christ is certainly coming, first symbolically at Christmas, but also most assuredly to each of us in the future either near or far.
Homily for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time from Sts Francis and Clare Parish
From the Parish of Sts Francis and Clare, at the web site https://stsfrancisandclare.com you also can see past homilies and much more.
CACINA 
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