Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • March 15, 2024 5 MORE THAN FUNERAL DIRECTORS We are Professional Remembrance Planners Explore the many unique ways to honor and celebrate lives. Call or visit Bradford O’Keefe today. BRADFORD-O’KEEFE FUNERAL HOMES Professional. Compassionate. Dignified. 228-374-5650 • Bradfordokeefe.com In thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother, and St. Jude, for prayers answered. BAB Opening Remark -- Image In the hand, a grain of wheat is a tiny, insignificant thing with no usefulness or value. But when planted, it will grow and be used for making bread. “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24). In using this metaphor of the grain of wheat in today’s Gospel, Jesus is referring to His death and to our life. Let’s look at three things: 1. Death to Life: Tertullian, a prolific Christian author (155- 240 AD), wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The witness of those who chose to die rather than deny their faith has often caused new resolve and, thereby, new life in the hearts of others. When you and I bury our personal demands and submit our will to the Lord, we experience the abundant life Christ wants us to have. If our agenda is not in line with God’s and we continually fight against dying to self -- new life will not be experienced. 2. By spending our life, we keep it: Jesus often spoke of this principle. “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it” (Mark 8: 35). Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Mother Angelica, and the Church’s magnanimous list of saints and servants show how much the world owes to people who unselfishly spent their time and talent by giving themselves to God and others. Although you and I do not have sway over a world stage, surely there is something we can do to glorify God and enhance the lives of those in our circle of influence and beyond. Someone wrote to me recently that she felt compelled to serve the poor and asked for suggestions. I gladly replied. Ask the Holy Spirit to move your heart to desire greater ways to serve. 3. Greatness comes by service: Many of us serve ourselves first and ignore the hierarchy of priorities necessary to grow in holiness. These are God, family, job, and self. Reversing this priority order upsets the balance of God’s plans for our life. Our self-serving appetite is never satisfied -- the more we have, the more we want. It puts us on a cycle of failure in personal satisfaction, contentment, and relationships with others. Jesus came into the world with a new view of life. We look at glory as conquest, the acquisition of power, and the right to rule. Jesus demonstrated glory as a Cross. He taught that only by death comes life, that only by spending life do we attain it, and that greatness comes only by serving others. Christ’s paradox is a truth for us to not rationalize but accept and emulate. New Covenant: In today’s first reading, Jeremiah speaks of an old and new covenant. The old covenant carried the force of tradition because it was a pact that recognized the divine election of the Jewish people God brought out of slavery in Egypt. But, through rebellion and refusal to surrender their ways to God’s ways, the chosen people broke that covenant. The New Covenant, on the other hand, will endure forever. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you” (Luke 22:20b). It is ‘New’ because it is based on a loving relationship between God and His people rather than an external obligation on tablets of stone. A conscience well-formed by Scripture, Tradition, and the teaching magisterium of the Church guides us in ways to live that New Covenant. Reconciliation: Today’s Psalm finds David “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) at the lowest point in his life. Because of lust in his heart, David committed the sins of murder and adultery. When confronted by the prophet, Nathan, David immediately reacted with deep remorse. He first acknowledged his sinfulness and then asked for God’s forgiveness. Proper steps each of us should take immediately, through the sacrament of reconciliation, when we have sinned. It is a dying to self to receive the rising to new life in Christ Jesus. The Psalm response expresses the longing in David’s broken heart. “Create a clean heart in me, O God.” It acknowledges our offenses and begs for God to wipe them away, forgive the sin, and create a new heart free of the desire to sin. David recognizes the loss of joy and the danger to his salvation and pleads for these to be restored so he can worthily teach others God’s ways through the witness of his life. How great a goal is that? Encouragement: The Book of Hebrews shows the superiority of Christianity over the Old Covenant. The New Law perfects and fulfills the Old Law. Since Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice are superior to those of the Levitical priests, the Christian must put to death old ways of rebellion and persevere in faith. The strength of our faith and trust in God during suffering is a call to self-denial -- a rising from death to new life. Be Glorified: Jesus had a way of turning our ideas upside down. He replaced a dream of Messianic triumph with the reality of a Cross and turned failure and defeat into hope and victory. No wonder the Jewish leaders didn’t understand Him. The tragedy is that they refused to try. As we near the close of Lent, we can wipe the slate of our sins clean and enter Holy Week with a new resolve to live intentionally as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Deacon Ralph Torrelli lives in Hattiesburg and is assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. Visit his website: www.homilypearls.com . 1st Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm: 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15 2nd Reading: Hebrews 5:7-9 Gospel: John 12:20-33 5th Sunday of Lent Self-denial Deacon Torrell i Sunday Scripture Commentaries Pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, to the diaconate, and to the religious life, especially in the Diocese of Biloxi