Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B. - Sunday, June 27, 2021 (EPISODE: 307)

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B.  - Sunday, June 27, 2021
(EPISODE:307)

Readings for Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B. 

FIRST READING: Wis 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24
Ps 30: 2+4, 5-6, 11-12a+13b. "I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me."
SECOND READING: 2 Cor 8: 7, 9, 13-15
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. 2 Tim 1: 10). Alleluia, alleluia! Our Saviour Jesus Christ has done away with death. And brought us life through his gospel.
GOSPEL: Mark 5: 21-43

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. ID: 82393198 - Raising of Jairus' Daughter
By Zvonimir Atletic.
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Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B.  - Sunday, June 27, 2021, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ordinary-13b-episode-307/s-aWzR33hFYGl   (EPISODE: 307)
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* (Prologue:  Fr Paul Kelly)

Again this weekend, the Scriptures are truly beautiful and give us a deep insight into the love of God and God's utter commitment to us, his cherished sons and daughters.

Saddle, death is an all too clear reality in the world and in the lives of all of us.  

But The Lord is at pains to point out that death was not on God's original plan.   God's continuing plan is to make us forever his beloved children and to be faithful to them in this life and into eternal life.   God wants us to be always in his care. 

Added to this, God's reaction to death is virtually the same as ours ..    Sadness….  A deep feeling of loss, an overwhelming  compassion for those who are affected,  a depth of love and feeling for us, so deep and so great that one will never, ever witness anything greater.    

Loss leads to our beloved God always reaching out to help ….    And being in there with us in the midst of it.

God has the last word in all things -  this is very reassuring.   Especially when not everything makes sense in our narrow vision of the world.   We, individual humans, have a limited life span and we don't get to see the whole picture. So it is deeply reassuring to know that God who sees all of it, promises that what cannot be set right in this life - will most certainly be set right in the next.    But this God of justice is also quick to point out that there is no excuse for not doing everything possible to make things better and right in this life, and not to overlook injustices and wrongs with the excuse that "it will be all right in heaven."   Our Lord was constantly at work alleviating injustice, suffering, and desolation in this life, (right in there with people) and he also set about including the excluded, calling out double standards, forgiving those stuck in past wrongs, and all the time showing true compassion, love and generosity to everyone he met.  He calls us to follow in his loving footsteps.    

Jesus wants to bring life into every situation, and the promise of hope and life into even the direst of situations.  /.  He is the resurrection and the life.

In contrast, many of the treasures of this life, are in limited supply…   the amount of money and other earthly goods are limited, and unjustly they are not distributed evenly amongst all who are in need.   But, God's storehouse of true and lasting treasures, love, self-giving, compassion, mercy, sharing….  And so on…    there is no limit to this…    God's supplies are excessive and more than sufficient.  He invites us to join him in this different way of thinking, which leads to a different way of acting.
 

For example…  Jesus could have said, now that I have healed the lady who touched me.  my powers have been drained and that's all for today…   but no ./.  He didn't even know she was going to be inspired by faith to take this chance to touch him and be healed.   He congratulated her though for doing this in faith.  Then he continued on his way .. he was heading to the house of the official to heal this man's daughter and he would do this even after this surprise healing.   God's storehouses are overflowing…  we do not need to compete with each other for God's love, God's mercy or God's grace and faithfulness.  It is there in abundance for all. There is enough for all; even in times of the unexpected occurring.

We sometimes find unexpected requests and interruptions to be a trial and a peripheral annoyance, but Jesus included and responded as if this is rightly all part of life's expectations.  The unexpected was to be expected. And of course, it is. The unplanned and the unscheduled is actually a regular vast horizon of God's gracious possibilities and are to be eagerly responded to.   This requires us to change our thinking as well as our expectations.   

Our Lord says, after raising the girl from the dead.  Give her something to eat.  She is not just revived from the dead, she is fully alive and in need of nourishment like anyone else. 
These actions all show us that God wants us to fully engage in life and reach out to others in their needs.   The God of the resurrection is constantly at work turning disaster into life-giving possibilities and will, at the last, call each of us to get up and walk.

God never acts in half measures.
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(Homily:  Fr Peter Dillon).
In today's Gospel Jesus has returned to the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, he is on home ground and as usual, large crowds have gathered around him, yet one person, an important person, comes forward. Jairus is a Jewish official, the supervisor of activities in the Temple. Yet in spite of his influence and his religious status, he shows great humility and falls at the feet of Jesus and begs him to save a life; the life of his 12-year-old daughter. He is a desperate man and he craves the help of the one person who can save his daughter. This is a great act of humility for this influential man, but as we all know, desperation can drive us to do things that might otherwise make us uncomfortable. Oddly, Jesus says nothing and promises nothing. He simply follows him to his house. He lets his actions speak for him.

Death, sickness, anguish and a series of human miseries are brought to our consideration by today's readings. We find light in them to understand all these limitations of our nature. Wisdom explains the origin and nature of death to us. 'Death was not God's doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living. To be - for this he created all. Death, we are told, is the result of that primeval disobedient choice of our first parents. But even though we die, death is not an annihilation. God formed us to be imperishable, he made us in the image of his own nature. There is life after death and furthermore a moment will come when death, the last of the enemies, will be destroyed.
 
It is important for us to remember that the Gospels are not simply stories of parts of Jesus life, but they are meant to be instructions about how we are to live. He gives his followers, which of course, includes us, examples of how we might approach similar incidents in our lives.

This gospel, along with many other strong examples, tell us of a man who had a fierce kinship with those who suffer, who does not disappoint those who look to him for help. Like Jairus, there are many who suffer on behalf of their loved ones and who feel powerless when they are confronted by the pain of those they love.
It is only when Jesus arrived at the house of Jairus, that he speaks his first words: "do not be afraid; only have faith". He ignores the words of the messengers who inform him that the little girl has died. In fact he rebukes them and tells them to leave. His serene hope contrasts sharply with the despair of those around him, after which he tells them the little girl is only sleeping and he tells her to rise.

What are we to make of this story, and what did the early Christians make of it? They too suffered many illnesses resulting in death. For Mark and his readers this story is the manifestation of the power of the risen Lord to dominate death itself. The nature of death at the time was such a mystery and in the absence of understanding, many strange explanations and myths surfaced. This chapter indicated that faith in Jesus can transform life and can offer victory over death. It is a sleep from which he can and will awaken them, not in this world, but in the world to come. Those watching and listening came to understand that when the world offered no hope, the power of God can prevail over sickness and even death itself. 

In that way he shows that he has come to take upon himself our sickness and death. In the midst of our sufferings, which are sometimes even more acute because we fail to understand them, we should remember our Lord's compassion. Even if we do not know the reason for them, he does, and ultimately we should find our consolation in him.
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References:

Homily – fr peter Dillon

Prologue - Fr Paul W. Kelly

Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. ID: 82393198 - Raising of Jairus' Daughter   By Zvonimir Atletic.


Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B.   (Sunday, June 27, 2021)  (EPISODE:  307)
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 Mercy renew you. }} welcome everyone, we gather -  Listen to God's Word and contemplate the sacraments. 

my brothers and sisters, to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us call to mind our sins.

Lord Jesus, you have revealed yourself as the way to the Father: Lord, have mercy//You have poured out on your people the Spirit of truth: Christ, have mercy//You are the Good Shepherd, leading us to eternal 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
1. We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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Ps 30: 2+4, 5-6, 11-12a+13b. "I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me."

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. 2 Tim 1: 10). Alleluia, alleluia! Our Saviour Jesus Christ has done away with death. And brought us life through his gospel.
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PREFACE: Sundays VIII
EP I
(theme variation: 3 )

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{May God's grace strengthen your faith hope and love, and may the Lord' love surprise you, even in the trials and challenges of this week. }

Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.

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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 our 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 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 - 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 (Bill) 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.

[ Production -  KER -  2021]

May God bless and keep you.
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