Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. -Year C - Sunday, 20 July 2025 (EPISODE: 539)

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. -Year C -  Sunday, 20 July 2025 (EPISODE: 539)

Readings for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.- Year C
FIRST READING: Genesis 18:1-10a
Psalm 15:2-3a, 3b-4, 5. "The just will live in the presence of the Lord"
SECOND READING: Colossians 1:24-28
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Luke 8:15). Alleluia, alleluia! Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart. And yield a harvest through perseverance.
GOSPEL: Luke 10:38-42

Image Credit: Paul Evangelion (2025)
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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, 20 July 2025 - by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ep-539/s-CYSRdLpSInr   - (EPISODE: 539)
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16C - Prologue: 

Both the first reading and the gospel this weekend speak of the true meaning of hospitality and graciousness, and for a Christian these are always symbols of openness and a welcoming attitude, an open heart, an open ear, and an open mind to God and God's word, an openness to God's different ways. 

In the first reading, Abraham and Sarah give hospitality to three mysterious visitors. This was what was expected of all people towards travellers in the culture of the time.

But there is something even more special here. Somehow, Abraham knows that these three visitors are not just any old travellers, but are actually angels representing the very presence of God. I love this scene from the Bible.

If anyone were to make a movie of this scene from the Bible, I reckon the three strangers would say very little, but would just nod and cooperate and graciously accept the hospitality of Abraham. It would be a delightful and very mysterious scene. I'd love to see that acted out in a movie.

Actually, there is a 1966 movie called "The Bible" which features a scene depicting this, and one reviewer of the movie describes this scene of the three angels visiting Abraham as one of the best scenes in the movie, and bemoans that more scenes like that are not featured. (https://youtu.be/ao5VegZ4JD8?t=7565) - It really is very special if you ever get to see that movie again, probably because it's such a key incident, so ordinary but so holy. The hospitality of Abraham, which is nothing less than was expected of all hosts of his time, nevertheless is a symbol and example of graciousness, openness and compassion that is expected of all who follow God, and all who are open to people in this way are one in heart with God himself.

[FHL] pwk 

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16c homily 

It's a beautiful passage about Mary and Martha and their hospitality, but it's also a very misunderstood passage. It can be quite confusing. It may be helpful to keep in mind that Jesus is very good friends with both Mary and Martha.

He's not rebuking Martha, but he is gently teaching her that although he deeply appreciates and values her hospitality and welcome, and the meal she's rushing to prepare, in the end these important actions are only a foretaste and a symbol of the true hospitality and welcome that comes from sitting at the feet of our Lord and listening attentively to him, learning from him, becoming a disciple of Christ, and being utterly open and responsive to God's word and God's teaching. This is true hospitality, and this is what Mary is doing, and it's not to be taken from her. Unlike other interpretations of this gospel, Jesus is not preferring action to contemplation.

He's not rejecting Martha's ways and accepting only Mary's ways. Jesus is not contrasting a strictly contemplative life with an active life. Both are necessary.

We venerate Martha as a saint as well as Mary. The one thing necessary is to listen to Jesus and to ponder his words deeply so that our actions reflect his teachings and values. Without his values and his spirit and his good news, our activity could be misguided or even harmful or misplaced.

We need, and our homes need, and our world needs, the saving message, values, and spirit of Jesus that directs our priorities. We need, first and foremost, to listen and be open to his message so that we can then put values into action with clarity. Both contemplation and action are needed in the life of all Christians.

Both need to be firmly based on an openness and responsiveness to Jesus' teachings and values so that we might take up his values and priorities and accordingly act on them. As we've already said, action without contemplation could be fruitless and quite misguided, a waste of effort, and contemplation without action could be just self-indulgence. Both are needed in their own order, with first priority given to sitting at Christ's feet and listening to him, being open to him, and learning from him.

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References:

Homily  Fr. Paul W. Kelly

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed.
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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Year C  -(Sunday, 20 July 2025)  (EPISODE: 539 )
3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
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May Our Lord's care, comfort you. Welcome, everyone. We gather to take time to reflect upon the meaning of God's word for our everyday lives, on this Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Brothers and sisters, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Lord's supper, let us recall our sins and acknowledge them in silence.
Lord Jesus, you were lifted up to draw all people to yourself: Lord, have mercy.

You shouldered the cross to bear our suffering and sinfulness: Christ, have mercy.

You open for your people the way from death into life: Lord, have mercy.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free.
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Psalm 15:2-3a, 3b-4, 5. "The just will live in the presence of the Lord"

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Luke 8:15). ). Alleluia, alleluia! Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart. And yield a harvest through perseverance
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PREFACE: Ordinary 1
Eucharistic Prayer 2
(theme variation: theme 2 )

(post version: v2-long)

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{17. Thanks everyone, and have a grace-filled and compassion-filled week.}

2. Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.

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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email:  paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to the weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by visting here:

https://surfersparadiseparish.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=85b9ddd594b242276d423bfe9&id=002282d9e0  

Details relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:

"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993). (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass in Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria,  Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - In memory of William John Kelly (1942-2017) - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

"Quiet Time."  Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.

"Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly.  Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer.  Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly. 

Microphones: - Shure Motiv MV5 Digital Condenser. And (2024+) Rode Nt-1 + AI-1 Sound Mixer.

Editing equipment:    -- MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software v10.49 (NCH Software).

NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 17.63 (NCH Software)

Sound Processing:  iZotope RX 10 Audio Editor (Izotope Inc.)

Text transcription as per the recorded podcast version is transcribed by TurboScribe.ai

{excellent and accurate transcription from voice to text}

[Production -  KER -  2025]
May God bless and keep you.
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Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, July 13, 2025 (EPISODE- 538)

Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, July 13, 2025 (EPISODE- 538)

Readings for Sunday, July 13, 2025 - Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C
FIRST READING: Deut 30:10-14
Ps 18:8-11  - "The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart."
SECOND READING: Col 1:15-20
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 10:25-37). Alleluia, alleluia! Your words, Lord, are spirit and life. You have the words of everlasting life.
GOSPEL: Luke 10:25-37

Image Credit: https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/8KFrTYO4Zp8IlhnawO6I/the-good-samaritan?ru=Paul-Evangelion
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Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, July 13, 2025, by clicking this link here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ep-538  (EPISODE- 538)
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Prologue

The readings this weekend are really beautiful. Each of them has a similar thread running through them. What we believe in, the Word of God, and how we live this Word, is extremely important.

Living this Word, must be practical, down-to-earth, touchable. The Word of God is not something distant or theoretical or ponderous, but it's alive and active and it's living in our hearts and minds and on our lips. 

God is not some distant figure. He's God made flesh, who shows us exactly what God the Father is really like, and how God treats sinners, and how God loves us infinitely. In the Gospel, Jesus reinforces this by telling that famous and wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan. We show love for God and have His Word in our hearts to the extent that we show love to our neighbour, that is, anyone in need, and how we respect ourselves and the gift of life and responsibility we've been given.

[FHL]. Pk. 

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HOMILY 

Imagine a newly married couple sitting down to their first dinner together after they've returned from their honeymoon. Just imagine that new husband said to his new wife, "I just want to get one thing clear with you as your spouse. I don't want to be seen to be shirking my responsibilities, so could you just tell me what is the absolute least thing that I can do to satisfy the requirement of being a good husband?" Could you imagine such a question? It's outrageous and it's rightly crazy.

Of course, this would be awful. It would be immature and shocking, and an unloving attitude. The answer to such a question, if it even needs answering, is twofold.

One, this is about love, not merely the letter of the law or doing one's duty. This is not about grudging doing of the bare minimum. This is about love, friendship, companionship between two people who are living, loving and working together, united in heart and mind.

How much does one need to give? The answer is whatever it takes! Everything you've got. We're not just in this together for a capped 30% minimum, nor are we here for merely 50-50 whilst keeping the score all the way.

It's actually 100% by both of the parties. So as crazy as this extreme example is, the lawyer is asking Jesus something very similar in today's gospel. And although we can scoff at such a preposterous scenario, we too can be guilty of asking insanely similar things of our Lord.

For whenever we try to ration our commitments out, our responsibilities to our Lord, to the very minimum, and this Lord is everything to us, then if we do that, we're asking the same crazy question as the ill-considered groom in my theoretical example above. The lawyer in the gospel is looking for a clear and definite pathway to heaven, and so he asks, what must I do? When Jesus tells him the answer is compassion and love, the lawyer again asks for a definition. What are the limits of this? Jesus tells him that the way of Christ is not lived by merely following the rules, not satisfying the meagre rationing out of our efforts, nor is the gospel kept by staying merely within the strict and limited boundaries, the absolute minimums.

Rather, the gospel is lived by responding to life with love, with God's love, wherever and whenever we find it, with that love and compassion of God abiding in us. This is the love that is God's very essence, serving, self-sacrificing love, generosity to others and to all. Our Lord's answer immediately alerts the lawyer to how ridiculous the question is that he's asking, and the lawyer becomes sheepish and embarrassed and tries to justify his question with a clarification about, well, who is my neighbour then? But this is again an attempt to limit one's commitment, and Jesus is not going to let him slip away with things that easily.

Eternal life is a free, generous, unrestrained, authentic gift of true, compassionate, self-forgetting love for others, giving what is needed, giving all we have and giving it freely with love and compassion and not grudging duty. Living in a loving relationship with God means loving and caring for all that God has created and going beyond the minimums, the reservations, the fears, the restrictions, and instead responding freely, lovingly, passionately, come what may, and irrespective of the personal cost to the situations and people that life throws up at us. The law of God, the word of God, is not some distant thing we're told.

It's not written in stone, but it's living, it's breathing, it's flexible, it's a loving law, as the first reading tells us. The word of God is very near to you. It's in your mouth.

It's in your heart for your observance. With this parable, Jesus shows us that God's love doesn't care one jot about what others think of a person. God's love does what is right, what is compassionate, what is just.

God responds to real needs, irrespective of popular opinions. The scripture commentator William Barclay gives profound insights into this parable. He writes, The first listeners to our Lord's parable in 1st century Palestine would have been utterly shocked and quite thrown off balance by the unexpected results of the story Jesus told.

The hero in Jesus' parable is not the one the listeners expect. The hero turns out to be the one who is usually despised by Jesus' listeners. How could the good guy in this story be the Samaritan? They would have gasped in astonishment and some disgust.

The priest and the Levite turn out to be not responding the way Jesus was teaching God's disciples to respond. Utterly shocking again. Interestingly, the traveller who gets attacked has been very foolish, possibly even reckless.

The road to Jericho was notorious for robbers. It was a steep and winding and narrow path, descending rather quickly. People who travelled that road always travelled in groups, and even then, they were taking their lives in their hands.

They certainly would be risking death if they dared travel alone and with valuables. So, our Lord is saying, even if people have been foolish and have contributed in some way to the situations, they've found themselves in, gospel compassion responds to their needs and doesn't moralise. Compassion doesn't encourage us to stop and not help until we try and apportion blame or fault.

A true friend and disciple of Christ doesn't respond to real and urgent needs by first going, hmm, does this person deserve help? Have they brought this on themselves? If so, then I don't need to help them. Not at all. Not ever.

Compassion, God's compassion, does not stop to work out whether people deserve a loving response when their own folly may have played a big or small part in their situation. That's quite irrelevant to compassion and its response. The parable Jesus tells does not suggest that the priest did not care about the poor person who's been robbed and left for dead.

It may have been that the priest was very concerned for the victim in his mind, however it's clear that he puts his religious and legal duties ahead of the human and physical needs urgent at that of this robbery victim. Neither of them seem to even go off to get help, they just walk on their way. The Samaritan alone was prepared to help in a practical way.

If we ever think that urgently rushing to the aid of someone in serious need is ever forbidden by God's laws or teachings, then we've definitely read these teachings very wrongly. We must help any person of any nationality, any creed, any value system. Anyone who's actually in need is our neighbour.

Our help must be as wide as the love of God and that is to say as wide as something that can't be measured. The help we give must be practical and not consist only of feeling sorry for someone when practical action is what's really needed. No doubt the priest and the Levite felt a pang or two of pity for the wounded man, but in the end they did nothing to help him, which our Lord makes clear is not acceptable.

In order for the fullness of compassion it must flow out into deeds. What Jesus said to that scribe, he says to us today, go and do the same.

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References:

Fr Paul W. Kelly

**William Barclay - THE DAILY STUDY BIBLE SERIES. REVISED EDITION. THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. THE WESTMINSTER PRESS. PHILADELPHIA. 1975

Image Credit: https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/8KFrTYO4Zp8IlhnawO6I/the-good-samaritan?ru=Paul-Evangelion
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Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C (Sunday, July 13, 2025)
(EPISODE- 538)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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{{May Our Lord's Fidelity strenghten you.}}

My brothers and sisters, we have gathered to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, - so let us pause and reflect upon our sins, so as to rejoice in Gods loving mercy.

Lord Jesus, you healed the sick: Lord, have mercy

Lord Jesus, you forgave sinners: Christ, have mercy

Lord Jesus, you give us yourself to heal us and bring us strength: Lord, have mercy.

May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Ps 69:13+16, 29-30, 32-33, 35ab+36. "The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart."

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Luke 10:25-37). Alleluia, alleluia! Your words, Lord, are spirit and life. You have the words of everlasting life.

Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
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PREFACE: Sundays Ordinary IV
Eucharistic Prayer II
Communion side. pwk: LH
(theme variation: (welcome 4) Good evening/morning. A special Gold Coast welcome to everyone, especially visitors to this part of the world. We hope your stay is enjoyable and blessed. Our Presider tonight/today is Fr…………………………. Please stand as we sing our entrance hymn. +v26)

(pre+post variation: v1-long)
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{Thank you for giving generously of your time and prayer.}

Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.

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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email:  paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to the weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by visting here:

https://surfersparadiseparish.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=85b9ddd594b242276d423bfe9&id=002282d9e0  

Details relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:

"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993). (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass in Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria,  Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - In memory of William John Kelly (1942-2017) - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

"Quiet Time."  Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.

"Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly.  Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer.  Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly. 

Microphones: - Shure Motiv MV5 Digital Condenser. And (2024+) Rode Nt-1 + AI-1 Sound Mixer.

Editing equipment:    -- MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software v10.49 (NCH Software).

NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 17.63 (NCH Software)

Sound Processing:  iZotope RX 10 Audio Editor (Izotope Inc.)

Text transcription as per recorded podcast version is transcribed by TurboScribe.ai

{excellent and accurate transcription from voice to text}

[Production -  KER -  2025]
May God bless and keep you.
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