Daily HOMILY for August 18, 2018: Saturday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

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Saturday 19^thWeek in Ordinary Time

RCCBS August 18, 2018

USUAL CHILDLIKE QUALITIES +++++++++++++++++++

Ø  What can Jesus mean when he says that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children?

Ø  Most commentators think of innocence, humility, simplicity, & vulnerability as typical of children

Ø  Surely these are the qualities Jesus expects to find in his followers

Ø  Conversely, the guilty, proud, the ostentatious, and self-righteous people scarcely reflect the values of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven 

ANOTHER QUALITY: ADAPTABILITY ++++++++++++++

Ø  Consider one other disposition typically part of a child’s makeup, namely, adaptability

Ø  As children, we adapt to the customs, style, setting, and attitudes of our home life 

Ø  If our parents go shoeless in the house, we find that normal behavior and imitate it

Ø  If R parents insist R family eat meals together, we initially take that to be the norm for every family

Ø  Children are unconsciously formed by the values in which they live

Ø  When, like children, we submit to the values of God’s Kingdom & think of them as normal, we, too, belong to the Kingdom

Ø  Are not our protestations formations from another culture?

Ø  Can they not be changed?

Ø  When you’re offered a carrot, you’ll drop the turnip

Ø  Both may be good for you, but one tastes better and so it is with choosing the values of G’s K

CHOOSING THE KINGDOM +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Criteria 4 family life is what parents do & demand

Ø  Criteria 4 the Kingdom = what J does & demands

Ø  Formed by environment of the Kingdom, we find the peace & security of having G as R Creator, Jesus as our guide & Spirit sustaining us

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Yes, Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these “adaptable” children

Ø  And it belongs to us when we adapt to the same style of living

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Daily HOMILY for August 17, 2018: Friday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

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Friday 19^thWeek in Ordinary Time

RCCBS August 17, 2018

(Choose longer reading of Ezekiel) 

TS ELIOT #1 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Remember reading poems of T.S. Eliot in college

Ø  Most of us have read something he wrote

Ø  In one poem, Eliot writes this:

Ø  “The Old ought to be explorers

Ø  Here and there does not matter

Ø  We must be still and still moving

Ø  Into another intensity

Ø  For another union, a deeper communion”

A DEEPER JOURNEY +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Eliot’s point isn’t just about senior citizens

Ø  About each of us–as get older each year, each day

Ø  We’re 2B moving into deeper communion with G

Ø  And it’s this deeper communion w/ G that lies behind each Scripture reading today

EZEKIEL’S REALIZATION ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Ezekiel tries to help the Israelites realize they were nothing before God loved them. 

Ø  They were as rubbish thrown by the wayside to fend for themselves. No relationship; no union

Ø  But God has picked them up, cleansed them, and drawn them to himself in intimate union

Ø  They have become precious in his sight

Ø  Yet, captivated by this beauty now, they have turned from God and are left to their own designs 

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  J in Gospel calls 4 a similar intimate union of love

Ø  It is the faithfulness in marriage 2 one’s spouse, or a life of celibacy to 1’s commitment to G

Ø  Call: 2B faithful 2 G & each other as G’s been 2 us

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  For it is out of such faithfulness — either of God to us or we to each other — that constitutes the joy of living

Ø  This, of course, is what Eucharist is all about: God’s providing for us the bread of angels

Ø  And in our eating we commune w/ G, deepening of that comm & strength 2 live out of that

Ø  Yes, Eliot named it well it is, “Moving into another intensity, for another union, a deeper communion”

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Daily HOMILY for August 16, 2018: Thursday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

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Thursday 19^thWeek in Ordinary Time
RCCSB August 16, 2018 (Choice A/C)

WHEN SOMEONE’S SINNED ++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Today Jesus talks about what to do when, as he says, someone has sinned against us

Ø  Js’ words can be applied to situations when someone’s wronged us personally or doing something wrong or sinful not involving us

6 RULES TO USE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  From all that Jesus says, I see six brief, quick rules

1.    TAKE THE INITIATIVE:  Make an effort 2 bring about healing bet you & the person or person & G

2.    TREAT THE PERSON WITH RESPECT:  Work at the issue in a private, personal, 1-on-1 way.  Only if that fails, consult someone else for wisdom

3.    DON’T SHAME OR EMBARRASS:  That will do no good for anyone

4.    DON’T PLAY WIN/LOSE OR RIGHT/WRONG:  Don’t try 2 make other person lose or feel wrong

5.    DO ALL THIS PRAYERFULLY:  Let it emerge from praying about it & seeking God’s guidance.  This is why Jesus’ direction here is connected with some teaching about prayer

6.    BE SURE YOUR MOTIVATION IS CLEAR & PURE:  Do it simply for reconciliation of other person w/ God or w/ yourself. Do it 4 good of the other

Ø  Maybe there are additional or other ways of saying all of this

Ø  But these are some quick rules for actually doing what Jesus is teaching today

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Speaking of need to pardon, St. John Chrysostom says, “Let us not then thrust the sword into ourselves by being vengeful.”

Ø  Forgiveness saves everyone concerned

Ø  It transforms relationships

Ø  We forgive 4 R sake, as well as for sake of others

Ø  We forgive to create the kind of world we want to live in

Ø  It’s really up to us

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Daily HOMILY for August 15, 2018: Solemnity of the Assumption

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Solemnity of the Assumption

RCCBS August 15, 2018 (Wednesday)

THE OLD GUIDE++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  There is a story about a man and his young son who went on a camping trip to the mountains

Ø  They hired an experienced old guide, a Native American, who led them into areas that they would never have found on their own  

Ø  He was always pointing out beautiful little sights that most hikers would have missed

Ø  The young son was fascinated by the guide’s ability to see so much in the surroundings.  

Ø  One day he said to this Native American, “I’ll bet that you can see God out there”

Ø  The old guide smiled and replied, “Son, as life goes on it’s getting hard for me to see anything but God out there”

MARY SAW GOD +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  That wise, old guide helps us to appreciate why we are honoring Mary today

Ø  Mary saw God everywhere in her life, especially in her bringing this special child into the world

Ø  She didn’t really understand this, but she still saw the greatness and mystery of God at work

1^STREADING +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  In reading from Revelation, writer has a vision of a woman and a child being saved from a dragon

Ø  Passage refers to Mary & Jesus  

Ø  Vision sees God as stronger & winning out over forces of evil and death

Ø  Tells us that what we sometimes see as great and strong – symbolized in the dragon – may not be so in God’s eye

Ø  In Gospel, Mary sees things in same way

Ø  G’s ways often R the reverse of R ways, ~ as lifting up the lowly & filling hungry & present 2 humble

Ø  So Mary sees G & forces of life and goodness as winning out over the forces of death and evil

CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Like old guide in forest, Mary sees G everywhere

Ø  She sees not as we sometimes do, but as G sees

Ø  It’s what makes her holy, holiest of all of us

Ø  Thus she came to fullness of life w/ G, to resurrection at her last breath and was assumed

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