(Listen to this homily here).
I would like to do some show and tell this morning. Those readings were kind of long, weren’t
they? They were a bit confusing as
well...
Someone tell me what this is…A chalice. Yep. Do you
know whose chalice this is? Jesus’. I suppose, but this is my chalice! First is the chalice which my parents
gave me as an ordination gift. On
the bottom they had a lovely prayer inscribed, “Ben, you will always be in our
prayers even when we are with God in heaven.” They also put my favorite Scripture verses on it. I’m going to spin this around and see
what you notice [symbols for the four evangelists]. Some of you also saw this, so see if you can remember.
Does anyone know what this is
[holding a pall]? This is what
stops flies from getting into the chalice during Mass! It is called a pall. And what is on it [the four symbols]?
Finally, what are on my
chasuble? See these four
patches? Are these Boy Scout
patches? [Again, they are the four
symbols].
What are these symbols? They
are for the Gospel writers.
Wow, good memory! Good
work. We heard about these images
in the first reading—a man, lion, ox and eagle. Matthew is represented by the man, Mark by the lion, Luke by
the ox and John by the eagle. Now
I don’t want to get into the reasons behind why these symbols are matched with
each animal, but to make a simple point.
God has given us the Bible to help
us in life. He shows us we need to
love God, love our neighbor, help those in need and lead others to Jesus. I use these symbols to remind myself
how important the Bible is and what we are all about.
We have a hand—do you have
something to conclude? Why are they matched with each animal? Well I think I used up my homily time,
so that’s a good question we can talk about later in class.
May we all remember how important
the Bible is for us to grow in our love of God and neighbor and as we seek to
serve and help make disciples.
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