Catholic 742: Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C. - Sunday, June 30, 2019

Photo by Christophe Maertens on Unsplash  

Homily Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C.  - Sunday, June 30, 2019

First reading. 1 Kings 19:16,19-21
Responsorial Psalm. Psalm 15:1-2,5,7-11. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Second reading. Galatians 5:1,13-18
Gospel. Luke 9:51-62

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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers, and reflections for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C.  - Sunday, June 30, 2019, by clicking this link here:   https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/13c-faith-hope-and-love-ep-164/s-UJvzg  (EPISODE: 164)
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(If anyone who has subscribed to the weekly email is getting double-copies each time, could you please contact me at paulwkelly8@gmail.com Thanks).

The Gospel this weekend shows various people coming up to Jesus and giving reasons why they cannot follow him immediately, but also how they intend to follow him as soon as possible.

I think the key to this gospel is the first words of the passage: "As the time drew near for Jesus to be taken up to heaven." In other words, there was no time left. There was an absolute urgency and immediacy to Jesus' last days. There was no time but the present and there was not a time for hesitations, excuses or delays.  It was now or never.  So, irrespective of whether the excuses given by people were good or whether they were weak, nothing must be allowed to stop the mission of Christ from being accomplished. So, one needs to get their priorities right. Jesus' gospel has an urgency that demands first priority.  And we must not let the many reasons that surround us, frustrate that plan. There may very well always be good reasons to put off until tomorrow (or later) what really needs to be done today. And of course.. tomorrow may never come….

There is a story told of an Olympic champion who lived in an Eastern Block nation during the time of the Cold War. … They wanted to defect to the West…. When they finally decided to do so… it was only by literally turning their back on their special car and their unique privileges and leaving immediately, without hesitation, carrying only what fitted into a had in the small suitcase they carried…. If they had tried to take anything more it would have alerted the authorities to their planned defection and the escape would have failed and ended tragically. If something is urgent and important hesitation or looking back could be catastrophic. Christ knew that.

This weekend's readings are about setting out on an urgent and very important journey….  Jesus has been up 'til this point, traveling about proclaiming the good news… Now he has resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem and his impending suffering and death. As he journeys,  various people come up to him and say: "I want to come with you." Jesus impresses upon them that he is not forcing anyone to come along with him. Rather, he is giving them absolute freedom. But, if they choose to follow him it will require total, complete and single-minded commitment. There can be no "ifs or buts," and no hesitation. To those who say "I will follow you anywhere, but first I have to do such and such," Jesus cuts them off and virtually says…. "forget it!  Go home. I am heading in this direction immediately. Come with me now or lose the moment. There is only now. No time for wavering" ….. The intensity and the urgency of Jesus' mission cannot be more strongly emphasized.

The first reading has a strikingly similar incident.  Elisha is chosen by the prophet Elijah to follow him as a disciple, symbolised by the beautiful image of the Prophet Elijah throwing his cloak over the young man as he walks by.  Elisha is obviously both honoured and frightened. He says, "first let me say goodbye to my parents." Elijah is affronted and says to him: "have I done anything to you? Am I forcing you to come with me? Go back and forget it."  This has the desired effect of shocking Elisha into realising that this offer is once-and-only.  (Elijah in his wisdom knew that Elisha, would probably have hesitated and not returned if he had looked back), and so Elisha went and followed Elijah immediately.

At various times we all find ourselves setting out on new journeys. Whether those journeys be physical, spiritual, vocational, or otherwise.  These journeys create some hesitations and fears. They involve moving out of comfort zones and into unfamiliar territory.  But we also know that we follow Jesus wherever he has led us in life,  without significant hesitation. God never has been one to lead us down the wrong paths, even if sometimes we have occasionally turned down some seemingly "dead-end streets" in some of our decisions and actions.  ………. but we are sure that ultimately we will be led by the Lord to our destination.

We trust in the shepherd who leads us all in the right paths…and who is always true to his name.

The gospel today also raises the really important question of the extent to which we are capable of fooling ourselves… and self-deceiving ourselves… it can be a very subtle but effective thing…. Jesus wants us to be honest and clear-sighted about our lives and our motives and priorities… it can be so easy to be self-indulgent, whilst glossing over this by making up all sorts of noble excuses and reasons…. Which really are not the truth of our decisions…

No wonder our Lord said in another scripture, "let your yes be yes, and your no be no, everything else comes from the evil one...."  how wise- anything other than a clear yes or no is often an excuse or a justification, or an alibi..... don't excuses and explanations so often cloud the original objective and value.

Let us never underestimate the power of self-deception… it is a barrier and an obstacle to the generous challenge of self-forgetting service, demanded by the gospel of Jesus…

The more we accept that we can tend to fall into self-justification to mask self-indulgence or water down Christ's message, the more we will be open to Jesus' call to follow him and place our priorities at his service; and meanwhile staying ever-vigilant and wary  of the trap of self-serving justifications and excuses.

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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly

MISSION 2000 – PRAYING SCRIPTURE IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. YEAR c. BY MARK LINK S.J.

A BOOK OF GRACE-FILLED DAYS. BY ALICE CAMILLE.

SHARING THE WORD THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ.

Photo by Christophe Maertens on Unsplash:  Photo by Christophe Maertens on Unsplash

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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 my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love,  A time of Christian worship and reflection"  - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989,  by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
 [{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]

Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By  E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).

{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011,  Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski 
Featuring the….Gloria, The Creed, The Kyrie, The Mass parts, Psalms:   http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/  ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/  

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn:   Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly.

For more details please visit http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au/
Contact us at paulwkelly68@gmail.com
Production by Kelly Enterprises Resources. 

May God bless and keep you.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C.
(Sunday, June 30, 2019)

(EPISODE: 164 )

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 justice sustain you}}

My friends in Christ, to worthily celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us first acknowledge our sins. 
Lord Jesus, you came to reconcile us to the Father and to one another: Lord, have mercy//You heal the wounds of our sin and division: Christ, have mercy// You intercede for us with the Father: 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

1. We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.

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Sundays Ordinary III

Euch Prayer Three

Communion side.  pwk:  LH
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{Thank you for giving generously of  your time and prayer.}

Go in peace. (glorifying the Lord by your life)

Catholic 741: The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year C - Sunday, June 23, 2019

Homily The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year C - Sunday, June 23, 2019    

Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash  

First Reading: Genesis 14:18-20

Psalm 109:1-4. "You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek."
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Gospel Acclamation: John 6:51-52
Gospel: Luke 9:11-17
++++++++Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers, and reflections for The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year C - Sunday, June 23, 2019, by clicking this link here:  - https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-body-and-blood-of-christ-c-2019/s-Rqwrk  (EPISODE: 163)    
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This is such a beautiful feast day, the Body and Blood of Christ…. Or "Corpus Christi", as it is also known…..

The Eucharist is so central to our church and to our faith…..

A priest I worked with, once described regular Eucharist as like the piers on a bridge….  The Length of the bridge represents the journey of our daily and weekly lives….   The upward support pylons of the bridge are what support the length of the bridge….   to keep the whole thing standing.

Similar to the image of a bridge, we need regular Eucharist as our weekly, (for many people a daily), support, along the whole length of our life-journey; lest the whole thing "caves in," under the weight of the world. ….

It is so fitting to be celebrating this feast, a couple of weekends after many young people in our parish have celebrated their first Holy communion and (around this time) many parishes around the country and the world are doing so at this time too…..   

Once confirmation and communion are received, the children have now been fully initiated into the life of the church…  and the action that completes their full initiation is that they receive Holy Communion…  

And, by receiving Holy Communion they are truly are ONE with Jesus, united with God, and united with all of us,  .. We are truly "in communion" of heart, mind, and soul with God and one-another….. 

I love to tell First communion candidates that "First Holy Communion is a truly very special moment. ....There is only one thing better than first holy communion, and that is "second holy communion," and there is only one thing better than second holy communion and that is "third"….. and so on…….   This sacrament makes the best sense when it is the beginning of a pattern for one's weekly life….    (And most certainly may it NOT be the first and last time one ever comes to communion…and also, may it not be the first and the rarest of times that one occasionally comes to communion). Eucharist is participating in the fullness of our membership as a disciple of Jesus.

God comes to us in a 'touchable' (tangible) form and that is a gift of priceless value that we need to cherish by participating in regularly….

I remember when I was only about five or six….  In Church at Canberra…  (and by the way, my earliest memories of the church was not in a 'church'…   in Canberra in the seventies, they had virtually no churches…  and there were many new areas and growing areas…  so we had masses at the local school assembly hall.. which was transformed into a church for the Sunday Masses …   God was present in the midst of the church, literally the 'ecclesia' - "the People of God" gathered by God… 

The only permanent piece of furniture at that time was a tabernacle built into a wall and kept safely locked to store the blessed sacrament. 

I remember as a six-year-old being in awe and wonder about the Mass.  Even then I KNEW that Jesus came to us in a real way during the Mass..  and made his home in our hearts…., though I got a little confused about HOW this happened, as I was too young to receive communion at this time…  ….  I somewhat confusedly thought that Jesus was released into our hearts when they went to open the tabernacle at communion time…  As a child, I thought that that Jesus was in there locked away and at communion time they would go and unlock the tabernacle and Jesus would fly out and fill our hearts…  Well.. I didn't connect that the host given and the chalice given to people was Jesus truly coming into our hearts..  in a real way..  as real nourishment…  Isn't it wonderful how the child's mind works…    

It is wonderful that God knows that we are physical beings who need tangible ways of connecting to God who is bigger than we can see or touch…. So, Our Lord gives us the gift and mystery of his Body and Blood.  Real food and real drink for our spiritual journey and our connection to Christ. 

The other thing I remember as a little child was the words of the priest…  "the Lord be with you…  and we would say,  (at that time and also with you"  now of course we say..  "and with your Spirit"…. Then the priest would say, as we still do….  "Lift up your hearts…"  

…….and I, as a six-year-old would strain to lift up my chest as high as I could…  I wanted to really "lift up my heart" to the lord …SOOO  high……!!!   

Even as adults…  we want to lift up our hearts and lives to the Lord…  we have so much to be grateful for…  including our families, and friends and fellow parish members,..…  who, by their lives and their example, have done what saint Paul has so beautifully written in this weekend's Second reading…   "We hand on what we, in turn, have had handed on to us … the message of Jesus".. The gift of Holy Communion….  And the proclamation of our membership as God's sons and daughters…..    

May the blessings of the sacrament fill our hearts and lives… so that WHAT we profess with our lips will be proclaimed by the loving ways we live our daily lives…..   "We become what we eat"…  As we take in the Body and Blood of Christ, we become more and more the Body of Christ ….  A real sacrament and sign of God's constant care and presence amongst us….always…

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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly

Image: Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
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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 my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love,  A time of Christian worship and reflection"  - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989,  by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
 [{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]

Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By  E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).

{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011,  Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski 
Featuring the….Gloria, The Creed, The Kyrie, The Mass parts, Psalms:   http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/  ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/  

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn:   Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly.

For more details please visit http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au/
Contact us at paulwkelly68@gmail.com
Production by Kelly Enterprises Resources. 

May God bless and keep you.


The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year C
(Sunday, June 23, 2019)

(EPISODE: 163 )

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or// The Lord be with You)
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Coming together as Gods family, let us call to mind our sins. 
option two on the cards// Have mercy on us, O Lord.// For we have sinned against you.// Show us, O Lord, your mercy. And grant us your salvation.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation

Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.

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Eucharist I

Eucharistic Prayer II

Communion side.  pwk:  RH
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Go in peace. 

Catholic 740: Feast of The Most Holy Trinity Sunday. Year C. - Sunday, June 16, 2019

Homily The Most Holy Trinity Sunday. Year C. - Sunday, June 16, 2019

Image; Shutterstock Licensed Photograph; photo ID: 467095817. Troitsky Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russia-circa July 2016: holy icon -

THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalm: Ps 8:4-9. "O Lord our God how wonderful your name in all the earth"
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Gospel Acclamation: cf Revelation 1:8
Gospel: John 16:12-15

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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers, and reflections for the The Most Holy Trinity Sunday. Year C. - Sunday, June 16, 2019, by clicking this link here:   https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/trinity-sunday-c-faith-hope-and-love-ep162/s-Ys6aJ   (EPISODE: 162)
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This weekend, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity is a celebration of the very inner nature of God.  This inner nature of God is such a profound mystery that we will never fully be able to express it, but it is so very helpful to comprehend it, as far as humanly possible.

It is the mystery that there is ONE God…  and only one God…  and that God, in his own divine nature, is three persons, equal in majesty….   One in nature, (as God), but three distinct persons within this one nature…  Father, Son and Holy Spirit…

This Means…  God's very nature and essence are about community, diversity, unity, and sharing.  God is, by nature, generous, loving, giving, sharing and so much more…..

So much has been written about the Trinity…  as a means of explaining its meaning to us, as believers….   Some very insightful Spiritual writers have captured some very profound ideas about God – the Trinity of persons…..

For example….   Within God there is a perfect ease when it comes to the concepts of authority……."….Christ willingly submitted to the Father, without a word of protest. It is precisely that willingness that we are called to imitate in submitting ourselves to God the Father's authority. …..(So)….Jesus…  who is one with the Father….  Is also perfectly comfortable to subordinate himself to the Father….  And the Father, in return, gives his son, all authority and power………  .Within the Holy Trinity we see that the notion of subordination does not carry with it the notion of inferiority. [i]…..     In return, the Heavenly Father gives back this obedience from the Son, as a profound re-gift ….   So, there is a hierarchy, without domination and without any form of indignity,……. This reminds us that in life, there can be equality of dignity but still distinct roles and ranks….   But that this never means inequality of dignity or lack of importance……   especially where there is mutual respect and cooperation and unity of purpose….. 

The Trinity reminds us that God is by nature generous, and giving and sharing…….  "God created us so that the joy God has in God's very self might be ours too. God does not simply think about Himself or talk to Himself. God is filled with joy and love, within Himself! He celebrates with infinite and eternal intensity the beauty of this internal nature as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we've been created to join the party! [ii]

God as Trinity tells us that God's nature is love…. And a will to include us…  share with us … and save us,…….  "It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, "Let us make humanity". It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, "Let us save humanity". [iii]

"The Blessed Trinity is the mystery of mysteries, before which even the (Angels of heaven) cover their faces, singing with astonished wonder their thrice-repeated song…'Holy, Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts.'"[iv]

Because God is Trinity, God is by nature and essence a perfect community of sharing and union and love…  This inner nature of community means that God is, by definition, generous, and cannot help but to allow God's loving sharing, generosity to flow out into creation of the universe and of creating the world, and humans and all the creatures in it….  And God's nature as a community in perfect union, cannot help but flow out into inviting his beloved people to share in this life forever too… 

In the early church, there were various heresies about the nature and meaning of God … and who Jesus really was…..   One of the heresies was that of modalism… which suggested Jesus was not a distinct person but just God wearing a different face….  But really this clearly is unsatisfactory.. and was rejected utterly by the church… because the distinction of the different persons within God is very clear in the gospel … and also, very clear, is the assertion that although the Son is distinct from the Father and the Spirit is distinct from the two others… there is a profound unity at the same time… and hence the mystery of the Three-in-one God that we profess….   Because the heresy of Modalism asserts that there is only one person in the Godhead, it makes nonsense of passages which show Jesus talking to his Father (e.g., John 17), or declaring he is going to be with the Father (John 14:12, 28, 16:10) One role of a person cannot go to be with another role of that person, or say that the two of them will send the Holy Spirit while they remain in heaven (John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:13–15; Acts 2:32–33).[v]

And so, we celebrate today and always, that Our God's inner nature, motivation and essence is that of a perfect communion of persons, sharing the one nature as God, and lovingly inviting us his disciples to share in this life…. and to echo in our own lives and actions, the profound generosity, community, inclusion, love, respect, diversity, distinction, authority and mutuality, that God's nature inspires.

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REFERENCES:
FR. PAUL W. KELLY
MISSION 2000  – PRAYING SCRIPTURE IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. YEAR

Shutterstock Licensed Photograph; photo ID: 467095817. Troitsky Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russia-circa July, 2016: holy icon - Image

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[i] (Author: R.C. Sproul,  Source: The Intimate Marriage, p. 45).
[ii] (Author: Sam Storms (paraphrashed). Source: One Thing)

[iii] (Author: J.C. Ryle, Source: Commentary: Matthew 3.).

[iv] (Matthias Joseph Scheeben  http://archive.catholic.com/library/God_in_Three_Persons.asp)
[v] http://archive.catholic.com/library/God_in_Three_Persons.asp

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

To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love,  A time of Christian worship and reflection"  - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989,  by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
 [{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]

Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By  E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).

{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011,  Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski 
Featuring the….Gloria, The Creed, The Kyrie, The Mass parts, Psalms:   http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/  ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/ 

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn:   Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly.

For more details please visit http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au/
Contact us at paulwkelly68@gmail.com
Production by Kelly Enterprises Resources.

May God bless and keep you.


The Most Holy Trinity Sunday. Year C.
(Sunday, June 16, 2019)

(EPISODE: 162 )

The Lord be with you.
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Brothers and sisters, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Lord,s supper, let us recall our sins and acknowledge them in silence. 
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault,* through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation

When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord until you come again.

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Trinity

Various Needs and Occasions  . IV

Communion side.  pwk:  LH
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Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.

Catholic 738: Pentecost Sunday. Year C - Sunday, June 9, 2019

Homily Pentecost Sunday. Year C - Sunday, June 9, 2019

Image; stock photo ID: 783792871. Bayeux, France - February 12, 2013: Stained Glass window depicting Pentecost, in Bayeux Cathedral, Calvados, France. - Image

Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers, and reflections for the Pentecost Sunday. Year C - Sunday, June 9, 2019, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/pentecost-2019-year-c-with-year-a-readings/s-gptGq  (EPISODE: 161)
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(Readings of the Day are used, utilizing options offered from Year A)

First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Psalm: Ps 103:1. 24. 29-31. 34. "Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth."
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3-7. 12-13
Gospel: John 20:19-23
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The Holy Spirit makes us disciples, able to be the Warm breath of human kindness at times of terrible coldness and need.....

"God breathed on us the first the day he created us. Genesis tells us that the Lord put his lips to ours and breathed in us and gave us his spirit of life. And so we became human beings. And John tells us that on the day of Pentecost, the risen Lord breathed on us a second time and gave us new life in The Spirit. Courage replaced caution and a fire was lit in our hearts that has scattered the darkness of fear forever. Those first disciples became new creations and so we are. 

The new life of the Spirit has been given to us so as to call us to a heroic life, —- to be instruments of God's peace and mercy in a beautiful but broken world."

 The Gospel today, from Saint John, tells us about the coming of the Holy Spirit.  It is clear again that these early followers were hiding behind closed doors, feeling very, very fearful.  And they were not imaging the danger.  They were right to expect that they would be persecuted and harmed for being followers of Christ. The coming of the Holy Spirit takes their fears away.  Interestingly the Spirit does not take the danger away, but it gives us disciples boldness to do what is right and not be frightened into backing down.

At the heart of our Christian life, fear is taken away, peace and forgiveness are given. In turn, we as instruments and living vessels of Gods Spirit,  - we too can dispel the fears of others and proclaim peace and forgiveness that are given to us in Jesus.

Our gifts are different, each person has different gifts.  We need all the gifts that each person has so that we can continue the work of Christ in our world.  How different our world looks when we begin to recognize that each person brings his or her own gifts and that we need those gifts to live in the fullness of Jesus Christ.

We KNOW the Spirit is at work in our lives especially when the love and sacrifice we show is clearly coming from a loving hand far bigger than our own lives and our own finite motives and actions

When we do actions that are loving and unselfish, we are deeply aware that there is a power and a loving presence at work in us that is bigger than just ourselves.  ….Transcending our limitations … and not explainable only by our own actions… but bigger, ……. And "of which are freely cooperating part…."

It is God's Holy Spirit at work in and through us.  At work in the world.   A power of unselfish, sacrificing love and service. Unconditional love. That is at the heart of creation.

As the readings this weekend tell us, we become beloved sons and daughters of God, and heirs to God's kingdom. We have been given the freedom of the children of God.  But, this freedom is given to us in order that we too can live as Christ did, being all about service, sacrifice, and self-forgetting love.

"If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious…………//  … What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit." (Galatians 5:16-26)

The Gospel this weekend also reminds us that the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the lives of the church will always work to remind us of all that Christ did and said, and keep us close to Christ and his values. The Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of Truth." All who live by the Spirit, strive to live authentic, honest, integrated lives built on truth.

Finally…  just an interesting insight -- …  we often read this text about how (after the Spirit descended) people of different languages and cultures could all hear and understand….. but what is interesting is…   the people were not speaking the same language… they were still speaking in the language of those different cultures…..  but even so… they could understand….  This is a reminder that the Spirit brings not uniformity, but diversity and variety…. But we are all ONE that diversity because the common language we speak is the language of God… and that is LOVE…..

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REFERENCES:

FR. PAUL W. KELLY

Also quoting from the St Mary's College daily diary entry on the Holy Spirit

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MISSION 2000  – PRAYING SCRIPTURE IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. YEAR B. BY MARK LINK S.J.

SHARING THE WORD THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ.

MONASTERY OF CHRIST IN THE DESERT. ABBOT'S HOMILY.

Image; stock photo ID: 783792871. Bayeux, France - February 12, 2013: Stained Glass window depicting Pentecost, in Bayeux Cathedral, Calvados, France. - Image

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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
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"Faith, Hope and Love,  A time of Christian worship and reflection"  - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989,  by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
 [{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]

Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By  E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).

{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011,  Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski 
Featuring the….Gloria, The Creed, The Kyrie, The Mass parts, Psalms:   http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/  ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/ 

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn:   Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly.

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May God bless and keep you.


Pentecost Sunday. Year C
(Sunday, June 9, 2019)

(EPISODE: 161 )

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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As one family in Christ, let us prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries by calling to mind our sins.
Lord Jesus, you are mighty God and Prince of peace. Lord have mercy//  You are Son of God and the Son of Mary. Christ have mercy// You are Word made flesh, the splendour of the Father. 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

We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.

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Pentecost

Eucharistic Prayer III

Communion side.  pwk:  RH
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Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.