Homily Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, July 14, 2019
stock photo ID: 1083278969. BOLOGNA, ITALY - APRIL 18, 2018: The icon of Parable of the Good Samaritan in church Chiesa di San Pietro by Giovanni Paolo Bardini. – Image. Shutterstock. Used under license.
First Reading. Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Responsorial Psalm. Ps 18:8-11. R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
Second Reading. Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel Acclamation. cf John 6:63, 68
Gospel. Luke 10:25-37
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, July 14, 2019 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/15c-faith-hope-and-love-ep-166/s-A0a5G (EPISODE: 166)
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Homily FIFTEENTH Sunday of the Year C
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 very, very practical, down-to-earth and tangible! The word of God is not something distant and theoretical and ponderous, but it is alive and active and it is living in our hearts and minds and on our lips and actions. Jesus is not some distant figure, he is God made flesh who shows us what God the Father I like and how God treats sinners and how God loves us. In the Gospel, Jesus reinforces this by telling the famous and wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan. We show we love God and have his word by how we show love to our neighbour, anyone in need, and how we respect ourselves and the gift of life and responsibility we have been given.
Imagine a newly married couple sitting down to their first dinner together after returning from their honeymoon… imagine if the husband said to his new wife….. "I just want to get something clear with you? I hope you don't mind! What is the absolute minimum I need to do to fulfil my obligations to you as your spouse? – I don't want to be seen by you or anyone else as shirking my responsibilities so, could you tell me what the absolute least things I need to do to satisfy requirements? "
Could you imagine such a question?? It is outrageous… It is crazy… If that foolish man got to start dinner, let along finish it, that would be a miracle.
Of course this would be an awful and immature and terribly unloving attitude.
The answer to such a question… (if it even needs answering) would be twofold… … It is about LOVE… not about duty. It is also not about grudgingly doing the bare-minimum… This, without doubt, is about love and friendship, about companionship and two people loving, living and working together united in heart and mind….. How much do you need to give???? …whatever it takes… everything you've got… we are not in this together for just a dedication capped at "30% "and nor are we in this for merely 50/50, (whilst keeping score all the way!!??) – its 100% each.
As crazy as this extreme example is, that is really what the lawyer is asking of Jesus in today's Gospel… and we too are can be guilty of insanely asking similar things of Our Lord- whenever we try to ration out our commitments and responsibility to Our Lord (who is our everything!).
Isn't the lawyer in the gospel asking a similarly ill-calculated question of Jesus? He is looking for a clear and definite pathway to Heaven, and so he asks: 'What must I do?' When Jesus tells him that the answer is Compassion and love, the lawyer again asks for a definition: "What are the limits of this? "
Jesus tells him that his Way is not lived by merely following rules, not rationing-out our efforts -- and nor is the Gospel kept by staying within strict and limited boundaries…….. Rather, the Gospel is lived by responding to life wherever and whenever you find it; with the Love and compassion of God abiding in us… The love which is made up of God's very essence… serving, self-sacrificing love to others and to all……. .
Eternal life is the free, generous, unrestrained, authentic gift of true, compassionate, self-forgetting love for others.
Living in a loving relationship with God means loving and caring for all that God has created; and going beyond the limits, the reservations, the fears, the restrictions and responding freely, lovingly and passionately, (come what may, and irrespective of the personal cost), to the situations and people life throws up at us.
The law of God, the word of God is not some distant thing written in stone, but a living, breathing, flexible and loving law,… as the first reading tells us…… "the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and 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, and what is compassionate, and what is responding to real need, irrespective of popular opinion.
Scripture Commentator William Barclay gives profound insights into this parable:
First Reading. Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Responsorial Psalm. Ps 18:8-11. R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
Second Reading. Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel Acclamation. cf John 6:63, 68
Gospel. Luke 10:25-37
++++
Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, July 14, 2019 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/15c-faith-hope-and-love-ep-166/s-A0a5G (EPISODE: 166)
+++++
Homily FIFTEENTH Sunday of the Year C
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 very, very practical, down-to-earth and tangible! The word of God is not something distant and theoretical and ponderous, but it is alive and active and it is living in our hearts and minds and on our lips and actions. Jesus is not some distant figure, he is God made flesh who shows us what God the Father I like and how God treats sinners and how God loves us. In the Gospel, Jesus reinforces this by telling the famous and wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan. We show we love God and have his word by how we show love to our neighbour, anyone in need, and how we respect ourselves and the gift of life and responsibility we have been given.
Imagine a newly married couple sitting down to their first dinner together after returning from their honeymoon… imagine if the husband said to his new wife….. "I just want to get something clear with you? I hope you don't mind! What is the absolute minimum I need to do to fulfil my obligations to you as your spouse? – I don't want to be seen by you or anyone else as shirking my responsibilities so, could you tell me what the absolute least things I need to do to satisfy requirements? "
Could you imagine such a question?? It is outrageous… It is crazy… If that foolish man got to start dinner, let along finish it, that would be a miracle.
Of course this would be an awful and immature and terribly unloving attitude.
The answer to such a question… (if it even needs answering) would be twofold… … It is about LOVE… not about duty. It is also not about grudgingly doing the bare-minimum… This, without doubt, is about love and friendship, about companionship and two people loving, living and working together united in heart and mind….. How much do you need to give???? …whatever it takes… everything you've got… we are not in this together for just a dedication capped at "30% "and nor are we in this for merely 50/50, (whilst keeping score all the way!!??) – its 100% each.
As crazy as this extreme example is, that is really what the lawyer is asking of Jesus in today's Gospel… and we too are can be guilty of insanely asking similar things of Our Lord- whenever we try to ration out our commitments and responsibility to Our Lord (who is our everything!).
Isn't the lawyer in the gospel asking a similarly ill-calculated question of Jesus? He is looking for a clear and definite pathway to Heaven, and so he asks: 'What must I do?' When Jesus tells him that the answer is Compassion and love, the lawyer again asks for a definition: "What are the limits of this? "
Jesus tells him that his Way is not lived by merely following rules, not rationing-out our efforts -- and nor is the Gospel kept by staying within strict and limited boundaries…….. Rather, the Gospel is lived by responding to life wherever and whenever you find it; with the Love and compassion of God abiding in us… The love which is made up of God's very essence… serving, self-sacrificing love to others and to all……. .
Living in a loving relationship with God means loving and caring for all that God has created; and going beyond the limits, the reservations, the fears, the restrictions and responding freely, lovingly and passionately, (come what may, and irrespective of the personal cost), to the situations and people life throws up at us.
The law of God, the word of God is not some distant thing written in stone, but a living, breathing, flexible and loving law,… as the first reading tells us…… "the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and 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, and what is compassionate, and what is responding to real need, irrespective of popular opinion.
Scripture Commentator William Barclay gives profound insights into this parable:
"The first listeners to Our Lord's parable, in First Century Palestine, would have been utterly shocked and thrown-off-balance by the unexpected results of the story. The hero in this parable is not the one the listeners expected. The hero turns out to be the one who is usually despised by Jesus' listeners. How can the "good guy "be the Samaritan?? They would have gasped in astonishment.
And worse…. The expected "good guys "- the priest and the levite, turned out to be not responding the way that Jesus was teaching God's disciples to respond.
Interestingly, the traveler who gets attacked has been very foolish and even reckless. The road to Jericho was notorious for robbers, as it was steep and winding. People who travelled that road travelled in groups and were taking their lives into their hands if they dared to travel alone and with valuables. So Our Lord is saying, even if people have been foolish and have contributed to the situation they have found themselves in, Gospel compassion responds to their need and doesn't moralize. Compassion and love responds to real need, it does not stop to work out blame and fault. Nor does compassion stop to work out whether people deserve a loving response when their own foolishness may have played a part in their situation.
The story does not suggest that the Priest was a bad guy. Nor does it suggest that the priest did not care about the poor person who had been beaten. It may have been that the Priest was very concerned for the victim. However, it is clear that he put his religious and legal duties ahead of the human and physical needs of a robbery victim. If the priest touched an injured person, he would have been ritually unclean and unable to perform his duties at the temple. So, he put his "ceremonial duties ahead of charity. " "The Temple and its liturgy meant more to him than the pain of a person. "***
"The Levite appears to have moved a little closer to the victim but still does not help. In those days, robbers often used decoys pretending to be injured to lure helpers to come nearer, whereby they would be ambushed and attacked. "The Levite was a man whose motto was, "Safety first. "He would take no risks to help anyone else even if he felt he should.
"Then there was the Samaritan. The listeners would obviously expect that with his arrival the villain had arrived. He may not have been racially a Samaritan at all. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans and yet this man seems to have been a kind of commercial traveller who was a regular visitor to the inn. The name "Samaritan "was sometimes used to describe a man who was a heretic or a person who did not keep the letter of the ceremonial law. Perhaps this man was a Samaritan in the sense of being one whom all orthodox good people despised.
We note two things about him.
(i) His credit was good! Clearly the innkeeper was prepared to trust him. He may have been theologically unsound, but he was an honest man.
(ii) He alone was prepared to help. He may have been considered a heretic but he alone showed the love of God in his heart. … In the end we will be judged not by the creed we hold but by the life we live.
And so, the Lord teaches us that we must help a person even when they may have been foolish and ill-advised, or even brought their trouble on themselves, as the traveller had done.
We must help any person…. of any nation or any creed, colour or nationality or value-system…. Anyone who is actually in need is our neighbour. Our help must be as wide as the love of God, which is beyond measure….
We must not put rules and ceremonials ahead of people and their plight. The law of God is living and active. The ceremonials of religion express and contain the values of God's Kingdom and ought not be used in opposition to the human condition.
The help we give must be practical and not consist merely in feeling sorry. No doubt the priest and the Levite felt a pang of pity for the wounded man, but in the end they did nothing to help.
In order for the fullness of compassion to exist, it must flow into deeds.
What Jesus said to the scribe, he says to us-- "Go and do the same. " "**
++++++++++
References:
**William Barclay - THE DAILY STUDY BIBLE SERIES. REVISED EDITION. THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. THE WESTMINSTER PRESS. PHILADELPHIA. 1975
Fr Paul W. Kelly, additional expansion and reflection comments included within the commentary of Barclay.
PICTURE: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bologna-italy-april-18-2018-icon-1083278969?src=kd_Fg0SYj6DDV25G4wgDFQ-1-1&studio=1
stock photo ID: 1083278969. BOLOGNA, ITALY - APRIL 18, 2018: The icon of Parable of the Good Samaritan in church Chiesa di San Pietro by Giovanni Paolo Bardini. – Image. Shutterstock. Used under license.
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.auTo contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.comTo 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/tracksYou 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.comProduction by Kelly Enterprises Resources.
May God bless and keep you.
Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C
(Sunday, July 14, 2019)
(EPISODE: 166 )
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
+++++++++++++
{{May Our Lord's courage, uphold you.}}
Our Gods love and mercy knows no bounds, and so let us recall our sins so as to worthily celebrate this Holy Sacrifice.
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.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sundays Ordinary V
Eucharistic Prayer II
Communion side. pwk: LH
++++
{Thanks everyone, and have a grace-filled and compassion-filled week.}
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
And worse…. The expected "good guys "- the priest and the levite, turned out to be not responding the way that Jesus was teaching God's disciples to respond.
Interestingly, the traveler who gets attacked has been very foolish and even reckless. The road to Jericho was notorious for robbers, as it was steep and winding. People who travelled that road travelled in groups and were taking their lives into their hands if they dared to travel alone and with valuables. So Our Lord is saying, even if people have been foolish and have contributed to the situation they have found themselves in, Gospel compassion responds to their need and doesn't moralize. Compassion and love responds to real need, it does not stop to work out blame and fault. Nor does compassion stop to work out whether people deserve a loving response when their own foolishness may have played a part in their situation.
The story does not suggest that the Priest was a bad guy. Nor does it suggest that the priest did not care about the poor person who had been beaten. It may have been that the Priest was very concerned for the victim. However, it is clear that he put his religious and legal duties ahead of the human and physical needs of a robbery victim. If the priest touched an injured person, he would have been ritually unclean and unable to perform his duties at the temple. So, he put his "ceremonial duties ahead of charity. " "The Temple and its liturgy meant more to him than the pain of a person. "***
"The Levite appears to have moved a little closer to the victim but still does not help. In those days, robbers often used decoys pretending to be injured to lure helpers to come nearer, whereby they would be ambushed and attacked. "The Levite was a man whose motto was, "Safety first. "He would take no risks to help anyone else even if he felt he should.
"Then there was the Samaritan. The listeners would obviously expect that with his arrival the villain had arrived. He may not have been racially a Samaritan at all. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans and yet this man seems to have been a kind of commercial traveller who was a regular visitor to the inn. The name "Samaritan "was sometimes used to describe a man who was a heretic or a person who did not keep the letter of the ceremonial law. Perhaps this man was a Samaritan in the sense of being one whom all orthodox good people despised.
We note two things about him.
(i) His credit was good! Clearly the innkeeper was prepared to trust him. He may have been theologically unsound, but he was an honest man.
(ii) He alone was prepared to help. He may have been considered a heretic but he alone showed the love of God in his heart. … In the end we will be judged not by the creed we hold but by the life we live.
And so, the Lord teaches us that we must help a person even when they may have been foolish and ill-advised, or even brought their trouble on themselves, as the traveller had done.
We must help any person…. of any nation or any creed, colour or nationality or value-system…. Anyone who is actually in need is our neighbour. Our help must be as wide as the love of God, which is beyond measure….
We must not put rules and ceremonials ahead of people and their plight. The law of God is living and active. The ceremonials of religion express and contain the values of God's Kingdom and ought not be used in opposition to the human condition.
The help we give must be practical and not consist merely in feeling sorry. No doubt the priest and the Levite felt a pang of pity for the wounded man, but in the end they did nothing to help.
In order for the fullness of compassion to exist, it must flow into deeds.
What Jesus said to the scribe, he says to us-- "Go and do the same. " "**
++++++++++
References:
**William Barclay - THE DAILY STUDY BIBLE SERIES. REVISED EDITION. THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. THE WESTMINSTER PRESS. PHILADELPHIA. 1975
Fr Paul W. Kelly, additional expansion and reflection comments included within the commentary of Barclay.
PICTURE: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bologna-italy-april-18-2018-icon-1083278969?src=kd_Fg0SYj6DDV25G4wgDFQ-1-1&studio=1
stock photo ID: 1083278969. BOLOGNA, ITALY - APRIL 18, 2018: The icon of Parable of the Good Samaritan in church Chiesa di San Pietro by Giovanni Paolo Bardini. – Image. Shutterstock. Used under license.
+++
Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.auTo contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.comTo 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/tracksYou 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.comProduction by Kelly Enterprises Resources.
May God bless and keep you.
Fifteenth Sunday, Ordinary Time. Year C
(Sunday, July 14, 2019)
(EPISODE: 166 )
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
+++++++++++++
{{May Our Lord's courage, uphold you.}}
Our Gods love and mercy knows no bounds, and so let us recall our sins so as to worthily celebrate this Holy Sacrifice.
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.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sundays Ordinary V
Eucharistic Prayer II
Communion side. pwk: LH
++++
{Thanks everyone, and have a grace-filled and compassion-filled week.}
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
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