Sunday Homily, September 1, 2019, 22nd Ordinary Time
Welcome Back, Mr. Luke, and thanks for bringing John & Karen, your super grandparents
Readings:
Sirach 3, 17-18, 20, 28-29, Conduct your affairs with humility.
Psalm 68, God, in your goodness you have made a home for the poor.
Hebrews 12, 18-19, 22-24, You have approached Mt. Zion
Luke 14, 1, 7-14, When you hold a banquet, invite the poor
And likewise to you, Dear Dee, welcome back.
Homily:
A story that touched me a few weeks ago, following the mass shooting in El Paso, was the story of Antonio Basco. His companion of many years was killed in that attack. Neither of them having family in the area, he was feeling really alone in planning the funeral.
Antonio invited the anybody who could to join him at the visitation and remembrance, thinking maybe a few well-wishers in El Paso would join him. What happened?
Our super candle lighting team in action.
Thousands showed up—yes, thousands!—and some came from hundreds of miles away. People heard the story. In their mercy they saw the pain of Antonio’s personal tragedy: he was surviving the loss of his long-time companion.
Their hearts went out to him, and they showed up to be with him in his loss and grief. Many others, who heard of the story, also felt mercy for his suffering and were with him in Spirit, in their hearts.
Watch out, Luke, you will get put to work bringing up our gifts.
From today’s readings, Mount Sinai is where Moses received the law from God – the ten “thou shalt not’s” for a people with a short memory. Those words and warnings scared me as a young person hearing them in catechism class and the special preparation for First Communion and First Confession—the stakes went up for us kids with the pressure of the exaggerated importance of those really big events—1st communion, 1st confession. (We definitely didn’t get M & M’s for our penance in First Confession.)
The Communion Team, Connie, Denni, Brent, Mike, and Cheryl.
Rather than the ‘thou shalt not’s’ from Moses on Mount Sinai, it’s ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’ from Jesus. Jesus spoke Good News—that we were never separated from God by Adam’s sinfulness or our own.
God is always with us, all of us. We always have access to God’s Spirit, all of us. The Spirit of God is within us, and is present in all our relationships, all of us. In his words, and in how he lived his life, Jesus brought the Good News.
Mike & Mike, our local sportscasters?
How do you acknowledge God’s Spirit—within you, and in every connection you have with others? How do you acknowledge the Good News of Jesus and live it?
Our reps to the local Open Window organization, a group hoping to update the Catholic Church, for example permitting women to be priests.