Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. -Year B - Sunday, 8 September 2024 (EPISODE:495)
Readings for Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.- Year B
FIRST READING: Isa 35:4-7a
Ps 146:6c-7, 8-9a, 9b-10. "Praise the Lord, my soul!"
SECOND READING: Jas 2:1-5
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Matt 4:23). Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom. And healed all who were sick.
GOSPEL: Mark 7:31-37
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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B - Sunday, 8 September 2024 - by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-23rd-sunday-ordinary-time-year-b-episode-495/s-HCS6APx3x7L
(EPISODE:495)
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PROLOGUE:
In the early years of the church, it would have been a real change of mindset for Christians when they gathered as one group. The rich and the very poor, master and the slave, would have to sit down as equals in God's house. The name we use is Christian, and being followers of Christ requires that long, slow journey of changed attitudes and actions and a forming of new mind with God's grace. (FHL).
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Thank goodness for the letter of Saint James. It's a wonderful practical instruction that remains very relevant today, as it did back in the time of its original writing. Faith and discipleship have very practical implications.
Following Jesus means a radical transformation of attitude, behaviour and vision. We're called to be people who can see beyond appearances. People who don't settle on worldly standards of value but are trained by our loving God to see the world as God sees it, and to see the true value of people and of things around us with the standards of Christ's gospel.
The gospel investigates the heart of the person, not the outward appearances, and that goes to the true spirit of the law and not just the letter, which values the "doing" more than the mere "saying." This is why Jesus calls us to constantly pray, to spend our time meditating on the scriptures and pondering their meaning. This is why we're called to gather in community and not try and go it alone, to be supported and challenged by the teachings of the faith community as it journeys towards the fullness of Jesus' kingdom.
Our Lord, while healing the man in today's gospel, says to him, "be opened," and he says to each one of us too, "be opened." Be opened to my new way of seeing things in the world. Be opened to listening and hearing God's ways in your lives.
We could spend a long time reflecting on the implications of the message in today's letter from St. James. With its resounding clarity, do not make distinctions, do not judge by outward appearances. The ordinary worldly standard of judging by wealth or status is not applicable in God's kingdom.
In fact, if any preference is to be given, it's to the poor, the needy, the outcast, the widow, the orphan, the sinner, the one who's most struggling. In the gospel, the description of the physical journey taken by Jesus is very interesting. It's a long, long journey.
Geographically, it's a bit odd. It's a bit like saying, comparative to local geography here, that Jesus travelled by foot from the equivalent of surface paradise in southeast Queensland, heading for Brisbane, but via Canungra and Tamborine Mountain. That was not in any sense a shortcut, quite the opposite.
It's the long way around, the long, long way around. This journey in Jesus' own homeland was purposeful, slow, and isolated in many areas. It's fairly clear that Jesus was taking the slow, steady journey to go out of his way to meet people who were often forgotten on the edges of the geography of the area.
And also, it was a slow journey to take lots of quality time to be alone with his disciples at some length, to slowly but surely teach them and to reveal to them his radical and true vision of the kingdom of God, which was very different from what they expected from previous experiences and values. In the early years of the church, it would have been a real change of mindset for Christians when they gathered together as one group, because they met in church, the rich and the very poor. Even more interesting, the master and the slave would have to sit down as equals in God's house.
We too can fall into the trap of making distinctions, being partial or biased, or having favouritism. The name we use is Christian, and being followers of Christ requires that long, slow journey of changed attitudes and actions, and a forming of new mind with God's grace, where Christ's thinking and values replace our old earthly values. In many ways, it's a lifelong journey, and along the way we might stumble, or we may occasionally fall back into attitudes and behaviours that are not the ways of Jesus, and are really nothing more than the ways of the world around us.
So we have to be vigilant, we have to be on our guard against these traps, these contradictions, these hypocrisies, that can arise even in the most well-meaning of disciple of Christ. Any contradictions of our own behaviour as Christians are things which non-Christians, even though they may not share our beliefs, are very quick to notice and point out. Non-Christians often claim that any perceived inconsistency in our behaviour, as compared with the message of the Gospel, is a real barrier to our credibility.
St James in the second reading would agree with that. There are so many ways, big and small, where we can often unwittingly, without realising, contradict the radical message of Jesus. St James says that partiality, favouritism and self-interest have nothing to do with the Gospel.
It's also a slow and subtle start of a form of cronyism and favouritism and corruption that, in secular societies as well as in religious communities, is absolutely poisonous. Any sense of entitlement or partiality can derail a community. It would certainly move it further away from the Gospel of Christ.
We must be on our guard against it, and it's an easy mistake to fall into. We can all be tempted to trade in the message and vision of Jesus, and swap it for a pale, watered-down, self-serving imitation of Christianity. Jesus invites us, be opened, be open to my ways, be opened to my values and vision.
Our Lord offers to heal us of any spiritual barriers that prevent us from seeing and hearing the truth of our own values and motives, and the truth of how close we are to Jesus' values; or how far we are from Christ's values. So, our Lord gives the man back his hearing. God still achieves that today in ways that go beyond that particular example of healing.
God invites and allows people to be open and truly hear him, to truly perceive. But God knows that the more faithfully one listens to God's unique voice within our hearts, where the Spirit of God lives, the better one hears what's happening outside us. We too add to the chorus of voices saying, "he does all things well."
As always, Our Lord manages to transform the most trying of situations, passing through the bitter valley and in its wake, making it a place of springs.
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References:
Homily – & Prologue - Fr Paul W. Kelly
William Barclay – the Daily Study Bible, on James 2, and Mark's Gospel. THE WESTMINSTER PRESS, Philadelphia. Revised Edition. 1976
Image Credit- Shutterstock Licensed. Stock AI-generated image ID: 2422767643 - Outdoor photo of Jesus heals the blind man, Important information: This content was generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. AI-generated image Contributor: Shutterstock AI Generator.
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Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B -(Sunday, 8 September 2024) (EPISODE: 495 )
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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{{Shalom (peace)}} welcome everyone, we gather - Reflect upon the Holy Scriptures and the values of the Lord. On this Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Coming together as brothers and sisters in Christ, let us prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries by recalling our sins and remembering Christ's greater mercy.
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
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
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Ps 146:6c-7, 8-9a, 9b-10. "Praise the Lord, my soul!"
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (cf. Matt 4:23). ). Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom. And healed all who were sick.
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PREFACE: ordinary 3
Eucharistic Prayer 2
(theme variation: theme 1 )
(post version: v1-short)
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{11. I pray that you have a wonderful and grace-filled week.}
1. Go forth; the Mass is ended.
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
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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.)
Voice to text transcription by TurboScribe.ai (edited by P.Kelly)
[Production - KER - 2024]
May God bless and keep you.
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