Daily HOMILY for August 16, 2019: Friday 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Friday 19^thWeek in Ordinary Time

Washington Retreat House 

August 16, 2019 

TS ELIOT ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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 trust and communion with G

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

JOSHUA’S REALIZATION +++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Joshua tries to help the Israelites realize they have been preserved by God’s love

Ø  Time and again God proved worthy of their trust

Ø  God delivered us and, “Gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

Ø  We must be still and reflect on the deliverance and we must be still moving into new levels of trust

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

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

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 trust, communion & 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 15, 2019: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cycle C

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Assumption of the BVM (Thursday)

Washington Retreat House 

August 15, 2019 

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 the 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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Daily HOMILY for August 14, 2019: Wednesday 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Wednesday 19^thWeek in Ordinary Time

Washington Retreat House 

August 14, 2019 

MOSES & JESUS LEADERS PAR EXCELLENCE  ++++++++

Ø  Moses died on far side of the Jordan, but God remains w/ his people for whole of their journey

Ø  Similarly Jesus is always with his followers, even if only two or three are gathered in his name

Ø  Passing of Moses a most moving scene in the Bible

Ø  It has pathos, because the great Liberator glimpses beautiful Promised Land, but not reach it himself

Ø  Touching too, Moses cares to the end

Ø  Even though his burial place is unknown, Moses died as he lived, in a face to face contact with God

Ø  No prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses

HOW A COMMUNITY THRIVES ++++++++++++++++++

Ø  It wasn’t always easy for Moses. Dt. shows God’s people as a community where evil & virtue, death & life, loss & hope exist side by side

Ø  A proud perfectionist can’t be at home w/i this people, nor can a person without ideals and hopes

Ø  A community thrives when goodness and virtue of idealists challenges the selfishness of the others

Ø  Individually & collectively we combine good & bad

Ø  We need each other, so that each is motivated to accept responsibility to promote common good

Ø  No one can belong to J independently of others 

Ø  True, some problems can be settled quickly between the individuals concerned; others are more difficult and require someone outside the immediate circle to intervene in the cause of peace

Ø  Judgment in the church is given in a community way, not on the word of a single person but on that of “two or three witnesses” 

Ø  Jesus also wants us to pray within the communion of the church, otherwise even our best moments can degenerate into mere individualism

Ø  In contrast, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them”

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

Ø  President Truman had a card on his desk in the White House declaring in bold capitals “THE BUCK STOPS HERE!”

Ø  This message would it fit nowadays on the kitchen fridge, with simple words to rouse our conscience to be of help and especially by accepting our responsibility to care for the common good

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Daily HOMILY for August 13, 2019: Tuesday 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Tuesday 19^th Week in Ordinary Time

Washington Retreat House 

August 13, 2018 

BE LIKE CHILDREN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  In Gospel passage, J gives us a lesson that is something like a coin; it has two sides to it

Ø  1^sthe calls us to become like little children

Ø  Here not saying we should be childish or pretend that we have a pre-adult innocence or naiveté

Ø  Means become like little child in being humble

Ø  Letting go of pretense we know things we don’t know or see selves completely self-sufficient

Ø  We think we are independent even of God

Ø  What Jesus means by “become as children”

TREAT ALL AS SIGNIFICANT +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  The flip side of coin is we’re to treat children & those like children — little, the last, the least, and the lost — as significant

Ø  Js’ point = God values each person equally

Ø  In K of G we’re to discount no one and to treat no one as insignificant

Ø  Instead, we’re to value & reach out in special ways to “children” of world, be little by virtue of age or virtue, or significance in eyes of the world

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

Ø  So, a lesson about 

(1)  Who we are to be like – like little children – and

(2)  What we are to do – treat especially the “children” of this world as significant

Ø  To do so is to be living as a member of God’s kingdom

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