14th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

In todays Gospel, Jesus speaks to His own town’s people, but they lack faith to listen to Him seriously.  They find Him too much for them, causing Jesus to say: “no prophet is without honor except
in his own house.”

Who are the prophets today? It is still the Lord Jesus Himself, the word Incarnate through His presence in the readings of Scripture.  He still speaks to us through the good news of the Gospel.  Through His presence in the sacraments He still touches us with His power and healing.

Jesus also speaks to us through such people as Bishop Desmond TuTu and Saint Teresa of Calcutta who speak to us about racism and care of the poor. He uses Charismatic people to inspire us to do noble deeds, even heroic deeds at times.

We should not be surprised at the people God picks to be His prophets.  Some of them we will like, others we will dislike. The important thing is to be sensitive to the message the Lord speaks through them about injustice and oppression, or about poverty and hunger.

We need to think about how we are responding to God’s prophets in our world. Sometimes we are stubborn of heart.  God sends prophets to us to speak about matters of supreme importance and we are too immersed in superfluous matters.  Prophets come asking ultimate questions about life and death, but we are too hung up on trivial questions.

No wonder there is so little peace, justice and happiness in our society. We shut our ears to what God is saying to us through His prophets.  No wonder Jesus can work no miracles through us. We find Him and His prophets too much for us. We lack faith.  May Jesus open our hearts to hear what His prophets are saying to us — sometimes to provoke and rebuke us, at other times to inspire and encourage us.  May He also increase our faith so that we can respond to His prophetic message and allow Him to work His miracles through us.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

13th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

Today’s readings deal with the topic of death.  In Wisdom we are told: “God did not make death; He does not rejoice in the distraction of the living.  For He fashioned all things that they might exist.  He formed them to be imperishable.

In today’s Gospel story we hear that Jairus’ daughter is dead.  Undaunted by this report, Jesus goes and takes her hand and says: “Little girl, get up.”  She stands up immediately.

On the one hand, we note that these readings do not deny the destroying power of death.  But on the other hand, they also declare that in the end death will be defeated by life.

Implicit in these readings is a hint of the day of our own resurrection, when we too will get up from the sleep of death and our imperishable nature will be fully revealed.  Then will the saying of today’s Psalm 30 be true.  “Our mourning will be changed into dancing and we will forever give thanks to the Lord.”

Nevertheless, the thought of death still arouses a lot of dread in us and depresses us.  We need to think about how we deal with death personally.  Some of us try to escape death, at least for the moment.  We delude ourselves into thinking that we can defeat death, at least temporarily, by distracting ourselves with drugs, sex or excitement.

Some try to accept death philosophically.  They claim that death is not opposed to life, but is  essential for its growth and maturity.  The specter of death can make us live with greater urgency and intensity.

Then there are some of us who are able to face death with faith in Jesus Christ.  Ultimately it is our faith in the resurrection of the body that enables us to defeat death decisively.  Ours is a faith which allows us to read the gospel story about Jairus’ daughter not as a remembrance of a past historical happening, but as a proclamation and promise of our own rising from the dead by the hand of Jesus.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Cassie

Today’s readings remind us that although we have learned to harness some of the forces of nature with modern science and technology, it seems there will always be some forces beyond our control and subject only to the control of God Himself.

Our readings are a sober reminder of this.  The Old Testament reading from Job and the Gospel reading from Mark are bracketed together by  the word “who”.  The setting of both readings is that of a storm.  In Job we read: “Who shut the sea within doors?  Who set limits to it?”

The Gospel scene is also set in a storm.  After Jesus is awakened, he quiets the storm and His disciples ask: “Who can this be that the wind and the waves obey  Him?”

The who question in both readings is one of those larger—than—life questions like “who am I?” and “were am I going?”  The who question compels us to confront the existential questions of “who is Jesus?” and “who is God?”

To answer these questions we have to go back to the creation story of Genesis.  According to ancient mythical stories of the near East, creation resulted when God subdued the forces of chaotic waters and set bounds to them.

Behind the miracle story is an awareness that only God has power to order and sustain creation.  The disciples final question shows that they recognize that Jesus here does what the Old Testament knew God alone could do.  God’s power is now at work in Jesus.  Artists have often used the image of a boat to symbolize the Church.  Since the parish and the individual families of the parish are the Church in miniature, the boat is also an apt symbol for us.  Many times the storms of life cause us to cry out in fear for God’s help.

Sometimes the storm arises from a severe alcohol or drug problem or because of some overwhelming economic or health problem.  We feel that our boat is at the breaking point and that we are going under.  But if we have faith in the Lords’ power to control these forces in our lives, we can ride out the storm and reach the shore.

At other times a storm may arise because of a feeling of discouragement or depression, or because we feel unappreciated or lonely.  However, if our faith in the Lord’s presence is strong enough, we can make it through the storm and regain our equilibrium.  Who controls our destiny?   Jesus does, if we only let Him steady our hands and steer our ship.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell