24th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

In the gospel, Jesus is identified as the Messiah.  Even though His journey to Jerusalem will lead Him to suffering and death, and even though Peter tries to talk Him out of going there, Jesus refuses to turn back and resolves to go through with the Father’s plan.  Jesus can already see before Him the cross on Calvary, and yet He will not let Himself quit His messianic task.

To be a disciple of Jesus means that we can not allow ourselves to quit whenever some cross confronts us.  Instead we have to take up that cross and resolutely follow in the steps of Jesus.

Whether our cross is unfair treatment of others, loneliness or discouragement, or whether it is the loss of our health, our job or someone we love, if we are truly Christian, then we cannot allow ourselves to quit carrying the cross.

Instead, we have to believe that God is near to uphold us and is indeed our help.  We need to believe that with Him, we will not only survive, but we will also overcome and triumph.  We have the Lord’s promise that even though we may lose something—perhaps even our life—in the end we will save it, provided we are faithful and don’t give up.

This is the Christian message.  This is what we are called to believe.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Cassie

In today’s Gospel there is a deaf and dumb man brought to Jesus.  Our Lord puts His finger into the man’s ears and touches his tongue with spittle.  Immediately the man is able to hear and to speak.

This same touch of our divine Master’s hand continues to transform our lives today.  Our brothers and sisters are the people who bring us into the presence of Christ so that His power can operate on us.  The sacraments are extensions of Christ’s hands reaching out to touch and heal us.   Scripture is the extension of His words of encouragement to us.

By the touch of His hand Jesus opens our eyes to the needs of others.  He opens our ears to the cries of frustration from people victimized by inflation, to the cries of loneliness from teenagers hooked on drugs, or to the cries of hurt from people we have injured.  He has loosed our tongue so that we can speak boldly in defense of the unborn and the handicapped, of honesty in government and business, and chastity in entertainment.

By the touch of His hand Jesus opens our eyes, unstops our ears and loosens our tongues.  He changes our hearts so that we can be more sensitive to the needs of others.   Under His transforming power we become His instruments to accomplish the works described in today’s Responsorial Psalm: to secure justice for the oppressed, give food to the hungry and set captives free.

Jesus not only touches us with His hands but also uses our hands to touch others, to sustain the fatherless and the widow, protect the stranger and raise up those that are bowed down.

During Mass, thank God for making the prophetic version of Isaiah a reality in us.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

 

22nd sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

In todays Gospel Jesus teaches that true religion must first be an inward matter of the heart.  He warned against the tendency to become legalistic and hypocritical.  A legalistic person places all emphasis on performing the right actions in the right way, without regard for the inner spirit and reason for those actions.  A hypocrite is a person whose life has become insincere, whose external actions do not express what is inside.

Jesus’ point in this Gospel is that the person who is unclean before God is not the one with dirty hands but the one whose heart is full of hate.  He basically says that all external activity is empty and hypocritical unless it comes from the heart.  What use are all possible external practices if we are hollow within?

Jesus explains that it is not the appearance that counts before God, but reality; not the way someone presents himself, but what he really is.  Jesus always loved and praised what was genuine.

Our Lord tells us that evil comes from the heart.  Yet it may also have been allowed into the heart before hand.  Think about how much evil comes into our heart from malicious slander and nasty gossip if we take part in it.  Think about how many evil pictures can take root in our minds through videos, the internet, and television.  They can gradually poison our heart.  This is a new danger for our hearts in today’s world.

From our heart can come evil.  Yet, it is also true that from our heart comes everything good as well!  Things like loving thoughts and actions, those of understanding, kindness, and especially mercy.  These good gifts come into our heart as gifts from Jesus.  He gives them from His heart, which is always loving and true.  What is important is that we allow our heart to be filled with these gifts from the heart of Christ.

Jesus tells us that what makes us clean and pure is to make our heart like His.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell