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11th Sunday |
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Dear Preachers:
Jesus sees the “troubled and abandoned” crowds and he has a concern. He must have help to address their needs, So he calls together the Twelve – his first official disciples. He shares his vision with them; he invites them to see what he sees. They accept his invitation to follow him and to see with his eyes. But that doesn’t mean they would have gotten together socially – joined a bowling club together or had each other over for a 4th of July barbecue. We know that from the list and brief descriptions Matthew gives of the first disciples.
Simon and Andrew were brothers. They probably got along, but what did their families think of their dropping their fishing nets to go off with the itinerant preacher? Not all families share our ideals. The woman I described said that her parents thought she could make more money working for a bank, or a brokerage house: after all, she has the skills necessary to lead a team and raise two million dollars.
James and John were also brothers. Mark says Jesus gave them the nickname, “sons of thunder”—Boanerges. It doesn’t take much imagination to deduce how they got that name! Then there was Matthew himself, a tax-collector, a traitor to the cause of Israel because he collected taxes for the Romans. Simon was of the Zealot party. Zealots were super-nationalists, burning with zeal for the liberation of Israel. Some were terrorists against the Romans. I wonder what it would be like to invite the tax collector and the Zealot over for tea!
There are moments in the gospel when the apostles’ diverging personalities flared and Jesus had to reign them in. How did he do that? By continually keeping their vision clear; reminding them of the purpose for which he invited them and by urging them not to follow their own interests and priorities. He said that if they wanted to follow him they would have to make personal sacrifices, put aside their differences and focus instead on the needs of others. “Pick up your cross daily.”
Jesus brings this unlikely group together; he and his vision are the binding elements that keep them from fragmenting. Little by little he helps them look out at the world around them – with his eyes. He knows who they are; how different they are. And even though he is not finished with them yet; even though they may feel inadequate to the task, without degrees in Philosophy and Theology, not religious experts – he sends them out. They have been learning to see with his eyes and to notice and tend to those who are sick, those considered unclean, the lepers of society; the dead in body or spirit; those possessed of other spirits, who are “not themselves,” because they are crazed and distracted. Those Jesus sends are to invite the very ones Jesus would have invited, so that they too will learn and receive what the disciples learned and received from Jesus.
Many of us here in church today probably aren’t part of the same social circles. We certainly aren’t all family members. Probably there are some here we’d wish would just go to another church! We are here, not because we are naturally drawn to each other, but because we were baptized. The same water was poured over us and the same words said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We have been called out, named the way the Twelve are named for us today. And like them, we too are sent. We are like that woman who works for the homeless. As she said, “Each of us has to look around us.” In some way, where we live, work, recreate and go to school, we are called to see with Jesus’ eyes, and act accordingly.
No one can tell us exactly where and when we are to respond to Jesus’ call. We will just have to look out and see and hear the way Jesus did. And through our baptism, that is what we are being prompted and empowered to do. Today we pray for each of us: “Help us see what you want of us, help us not settle on being just occasional Christians, but “full time Christians.” Give us sensitive sight, your eyes, for the world. We pray too for those recently baptized, that our example will help them have vision and sensitivity to those who need them.”
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061426.cfm
Galilee was neither a religious nor an intellectual center; it did not wield political power. According to biblical literature it appears to have been outside the mainstream of Israeli life....
the Galilean Jews were regarded with patronizing contempt by the “pure-minded” Jews of Jerusalem. [As a mixed race, a person from ] Galilee was a sign of impurity and a cause for rejection. The Pharisees looked down upon “the people of the land” because they were ignorant of the law. The Sadducees looked down upon them because they were somewhat lax in matters of religious attendance and familiarity with the rules of temple worship....
Yet throughout all this the Galileans maintained a refreshing originality in Judaism. It was a combination of the commonsense, grass-roots wisdom of practical experience, their more open and personal relations with foreigners and their relative distance from Jerusalem. Their hospitable and fertile land gave them a warmer, more optimistic outlook on life than the Judean Jew had....
The Galilean faith in the god of the [ancestors] was thus more personal purer, simpler and more spontaneous. It was not encumbered or suffocated by the religious scrupulosities of the Jewish intelligentsia.
---Vigilio Elizondo in, GALILEAN JOURNEY: THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN PROMISE. (New York, Orbis Books, 1983) pages 54-5)
“I bore you up on eagle’s wings: —Exodus 19:4
The Israelites have escaped from the slavery of Egypt thanks to the Lord. Why did God do this? After all, the Israelites were mere slaves, the least of these. God acted out of love creating a sacred relationship. We will see that the Israelites do not always honor this relationship by failing to act in ways that testify to God’s compassion to others beyond their own. Whenever the Church becomes more attentive to her own well-being than to her mission to be Christ in the world, she fails to honor God.
What is this mission to be Christ to the world? In his book, A New Way to be Church: Parish Renewal from the Outside In, Jack Jezreel, founder of JustFaith, writes, “How can we possibly follow Jesus and not find ourselves in the company of our sisters and brothers who are hungry, homeless, and hopeless?. . .If our churches are not forming or trying to form real-life saints committed to the abandoned and downtrodden, then what are they doing?” (21-22). Jezreel believes “that every facet of Catholic life in most parishes is being shortchanged” because, as he writes, “the vision of God’s love and justice and Jesus' proclamation of the reign of God and the life journey of compassion and integrity outlined in Catholic social teaching and the Gospels are central, critical ingredients of our mission, our self-identity, and our vision” (21). In most parishes, we have more ministries inside the walls of the church than those that go out beyond those walls.
We must look at our parishes, and ourselves, and ask, “How much of the life of my parish is done outside its ‘walls’? What am I doing to be Christ in the world? The Vatican II document on the laity makes it clear that Christian social action is the laity’s pre-eminent work and goes so far to say that “the demands of justice must first of all be satisfied; what is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift in charity” (8). Clearly, for the laity, this call to mission to be Christ to the world must be instilled as the way of Jesus and as the way to life with God. God bore us up on eagle’s wings so we can spread God’s love to others.
To join in this work of mission to the world at Cathedral, contact: socialconcern@hnojnc.org
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home. From today’s Gospel reading:
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.....Jesus sent out the twelve after instructing them thus... “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Reflection:
Many of us here in church today probably aren’t part of the same social circles. We are here, not because we are naturally drawn to each other, but because we were baptized. We have been called and named--- the way the Twelve were called and named for us in today’s gospel. And like them, we too are sent. Through our baptism we are being prompted and empowered to see with Jesus’ eyes and respond to the needs of those around us--- where we live, work, recreate, go to school and in the world.
So, we ask ourselves:
· Can I name a specific way in which I have been called to follow and serve in Jesus’ name? · What do I need to do to respond better to my call to be a Christian in the world?
POSTCARDS TO DEATH-ROW INMATES
“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out.” ---Pope Francis
Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.
Please write to: Michael Braxton #0043529 (On death row since 11/21/1997 Jimmie Lawrence #0597164 (12/11/1007) John Williams #0599379 (3/5/1998)
Central Prison, PO Box 247, Phoenix MD 21131 (While the prison is in Raleigh mail for inmates is processed at this address)
For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the Catholic Mobilizing Network: http://catholicsmobilizing.org
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