Daily HOMILY for July 19, 2016: Tuesday of the 16th Week of Ordinary Time

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Tuesday 16^th Week OT

Marriottsville Retreat

July 19, 2016

BROTHER & SISTERS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Scene in today’s Gospel has certain sharpness to it

Ø  First sight, may seem like Jesus putting off or putting down blood family – his mother and those who are described as his “brothers and sisters”

Ø  We know that Greek word used here can mean that “brothers and sisters” may have been cousins or maybe even stepbrothers & stepsisters 2 Jesus

Ø  One theory has it that Joseph widowed when he took Mary his wife & had children by 1^st marriage

Ø  So, this wording remains a bit uncertain

Ø  Be that as it may, Jesus’ intent here is not to put down his family whomever that family includes

ELEVATION NOT PUTDOWN ++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Rather than put anybody down, Jesus is elevating his followers, his disciples

Ø  He says, “Those who do the will of my heavenly Father are my brother and sister and mother”

Ø  The effect of Jesus’ statement is that we can be as close to him as his own blood family!

Ø  So, if we, as believers or disciples, are like family to Jesus, then the traditional role of blood family members can help us to understand what our role or calling is to be

FAMILY MEMBERS & WORD OF GOD +++++++++++++

Ø  For example, disciples are to be like mothers through receiving Jesus into our hearts in faith and then bringing him into the world by our words and actions

Ø  We are to be like fathers by giving life to others and not by injuring life whether of the unborn child, the person who is emotionally vulnerable, or has special needs

Ø  And we are to be like brothers and sisters when we care for the neighbor next door or the Hispanic immigrant who’s come here in need

Ø  The additional applications are your to make

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

Ø  So, it’s all of us who are his disciples that Jesus really elevates

Ø  He calls us family and we can learn something about our calling simply from the roles of family members

Ø  The question for us is where might we be lacking?

Daily HOMILY for July 18, 2016: Monday of the 16th Week of Ordinary Time

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Monday 16^th Week OT

Marriottsville Retreat

July 18, 2016

HOW ABOUT A SIGN! +++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  We may scoff at folks who ask J for a sign, when before them stands the magnificent creator God,

Ø  But how natural and human a picture it is

Ø  When we’re bumbling through our days, unsure if we’re headed the right direction or torn by tough decisions …

Ø  A signal would really help immensely

Ø  “C’mon, God,” we want to cry out, “Give me a clue that you’re with me!”

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  But maybe the problem isn’t lack of signs, but our lack of attention

Ø  Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote:

Ø  These things, these things were here and but the beholder wanting

Ø  Which two when they once meet,

Ø  The heart rears wings bold and bolder

Ø  & hurls 4 him, half hurles earth 4 him, off his feet

EXPLANATION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  The poet sees the beauty of the sky with its passing clouds and the blue hills were things already there before Hopkins paused to notice them

Ø  So a beholder was wanting — was lacking

Ø  But when the scene and its beholder, meet, the heart “leaps up,” as w/ wings carrying it upward w/ wild, beating emotion …

Ø  & it “hurls for him, O half hurls earth for him off under his feet”

Ø  Or, as we would say today, the beauty of the scene nearly knocks him off his feet

APPLICATION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  How’s God breathing thru you retreat this week?

Ø  It may be the prisms of dew tangled in long grass, sparkling like a jeweled sleeve

Ø  Remembering a friend who rearranged a packed schedule to be present to you

Ø  Or words leaping off a page, from a lectionary, spoken this week bringing hope, joy or beauty

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

Ø  We are people so unaware of our goodness that if we saw, we’d need sunglasses to shade the dazzle

Ø  It is easy and understandable to ask for a sign

Ø  & it’s imp 2 stop & notice what’s been given!

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