Homily Starters 1

Provide these Homily Starters to priests and deacons in your parish so that they can incorporate information about CRS Rice Bowl and the featured countries into their homilies during Lent. Homily Starters can also be used for small group reflections, or placed in your parishs bulletin or school newsletter throughout Lent. These Homily Starters were written by Fr. Christopher Trenta from the Diocese of Cleveland. Fr. Christopher is a CRS Global Fellow and the associate pastor at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Wooster, OH. First Sunday of Lent: February 17, 2013
(Deuteronomy 26:4-10; romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13)

Second Sunday of Lent: February 24, 2013

(Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; PhiLiPPians 3:17-4:1 or3:20-4:1; Luke 9:28-36)

The Scriptures this week call us to consider the right return we owe to God, who embodies generosity and responds to our needs. In the first reading from Deuteronomy (26:4-10) we are reminded of the offering of first fruits from the soil of Israel, the land God gave to his people as an inheritance. In the Gospel, Jesus instructs the devil that the right worship of God is through loving service of God alone. How can we learn to give right praise to God without responding to the people He sends into our lives? Catholic Relief Services agricultural programs help families thrive again. With CRS help, Moussa Ouedraogo, a farmer in Burkina Faso, was able to have greater food security for himself, his wife and their seven children. He is now able to expand the family income, work more efficiently, send his children to school and build a new house. CRS works with families and communities like Moussas in ways that guard and even reignite a sense of the inherent dignity within people. This is one way CRS is faithful to the Churchs call to love the poor in the name of all Catholics in the United States. It is this fruit of love that God seeks of the laborers in His Kingdom. As we turn away from sin, our hearts should find greater capacity to love. May we recognize the gifts we have received and generously share the fruits of what God has given to us.

Our present sufferings are not Gods final word to us. It very much fits with our understanding of God Who Is Love that He gives us signs of grace to encourage us in hope for the promised life to come with Christ. Abraham voiced a sincere sorrow in having no children of his own just moments before God took him outside to gaze upon the stars that would number his descendants. Then He sealed the covenant with a powerful manifestation of His divine presence. Anticipating the suffering on the Cross necessary for the redemption of humankind, God reveals the glory of His chosen Son to His chosen disciples through the Transfiguration of Christ. This glimpse of Gods plan gives the disciples an experience that will carry them through the dark days following Christs passion and death and embolden them after the resurrection to proclaim the Good News of the risen Lord. The disciples show themselves to be friends of the Cross by proclaiming Christs suffering and by challenging us to unite our own sufferings with those of Jesus, that we might all be transformed through the power of the Cross and the resurrection. Gods sign to us is love. It is in love that CRS manifests the Gospel message giving witness to the transformative power of love both for the recipient and for the giver. The transformative presence of love brings with it a renewed sense of community and a discovery of our place within it. Ana Correia of East Timor discovered a greater sense of herself and her community through loving, life-affirming participation at the Kilbur Domin tuberculosis clinic supported by Catholic Relief Services. In learning to serve in love, Ana Correia found herself and her community quietly transforming in ways that bring the Gospel to life. This transformation, experienced here and in so many other places where CRS works, is a living sign to us of the cherished inheritance to come for those who remain faithful in love.

2012 Catholic Relief Services. All Rights Reserved.

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CRS Rice Bowl.org

Photo by Laura Sheahen/CRS

Homily Starters 2
Third Sunday of Lent: March 3, 2013
(exoDus 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9)

My grandchildren came to live with us two years ago when their father passed away and their mother left the village to find work. My husband and I are getting older and it is hard for us to care for the children. In words that reverberate through the centuries of human experience, Rosa Maria Rametsis statement seems a current expression of Gods words to Moses on Mt. Horeb: I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt, and have heard their cry of complaint against the slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. No true father can ignore the suffering of his children. He responds with love and all the power he is able to muster. Our Heavenly Father acts no differently with us. Seeing us in slavery to sin and caught in the snare of death, God acts to set us free through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. We, as Christians, having experienced the healing effects of Gods love, are called in a particular way to share His love. We are called, not only to look out for our own families, but to be on the lookout for the poorest families in the world, helping them as God knows we are able. Helping the poor doesnt simply mean doing things for them. It means helping them activate the resources within themselves and their communities to transform their own lives. We recognize education as a fundamental right of human beings because its impact on the quality of a persons life is so readily apparent. Further, through education, we come to learn of our responsibility to give back in our world, through loving service to others. Catholic Relief Services commitment to education echoes this understanding. To be educated, one must educate. We see this principle at work in this weeks story of Rosa Maria Rametsi from Lesotho. Through a CRS- supported Early Childhood Development Center, her youngest grandchildren not only experience a great learning environment, but they also share the first fruits of their learning with the other children in their neighborhood. In this simple story, it is easy to see how the Living Word of God has taken root in these childrens lives.
Photo by Kim Pozniak/CRS 2012 Catholic Relief Services. All Rights Reserved. US12132

CRS Rice Bowl.org

Homily Starters 3
Fourth Sunday of Lent: March 10, 2013
(Joshua 5:9a, 10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32)

Fifth Sunday of Lent: March 17, 2013

(isaiah 43:16-21; PhiLiPPians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11)

The joy a person experiences when a burden has been lifted from him is unmistakable, and unforgettable. Catholic Relief Services Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) have helped hundreds of women and men experience the joy of new possibilities. They are a tangible sign of hope where little seemed possible before. In forming SILC groups and by teaching women like Ilsa Dolores Gomez this way of working together, CRS promotes an awareness of the dignity of the human person through the work that they do. Much like the Israelites who experienced the scourging effects of their slavery and the difficult transition to the new life of freedom as Gods children, Ilsa Dolores and others like her can easily relate to Gods word: Today, I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you. From that day forward, Israel was living off of the fruits of the Promised Land, restored to a dignity that had long eluded them. They became the New Creation and found life again. Ilsa Dolores Gomez and the Prodigal Son share in the mystery of life made possible by the generous love of God, His people and CRS.

One of the most transformative things CRS can do in our name is to provide or improve a clean water source to a village or family, as they did for Ismael and his small village in Pakistan. The story of the new water pump in Ismaels village echoes hundreds of others wherever CRS helps make clean water more accessible. Initially, CRS partners teach families how to work together to care for the pump, but that skill quickly translates much further into the life of the village. New possibilities of life and community participation emerge with the transformation of the work routines associated with retrieving and using water. This occurs when a generous love brings people together and a life-giving resource changes their lives. Something new is happening, indeed! And we see this every day wherever CRS works in our name. In the desert, I make a way, in the wastelands, rivers...for I put waters in the deserted rivers in the wastelands for my chosen people. We who have begun to drink from the Lords kindness strain forward with St. Paul and all who follow him by recognizing the needs of others and responding with the fruits of Gods generous love for us: with intelligence, with concern for the poor, with an understanding that our love today can bring others new life and protect and pass on a cherished part of Gods creation. Looking to our common needs rather than judging appearances, we find the freedom to act with prudence in the love of Christ making friends a family, one village at a time.

2012 Catholic Relief Services. All Rights Reserved.

US12132

CRS Rice Bowl.org

Photo by Sara A. Fajardo/CRS