Sunday, July 26, 2015: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We acknowledge by faith that God provides for us.  He did so by the word of the prophet Elisha, and He did so through Jesus Christ, who fed a large crowd that came to Him, who depended on Him for food when large amounts of food for all of them wasn't readily available.

Jesus Christ continues to feed His people who come to Him by faith, in the Eucharist.  Not only are we fed individually for our spiritual lives in this sacred meal, but we are brought together so closely in one faith in the one God who has drawn us together in His Son and by the power of the Spirit.

July 19, 2015: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

After a long line of shepherds who didn't faithfully fulfill their duty, God sends a Good Shepherd, that His people may dwell securely in the land--note that two verses from the first reading from Jeremiah are displayed at the beginning of the movie The Nativity Story.  This Shepherd is Jesus Christ, whose heart is filled with compassion for the needs of His people, as in the story in the Gospel reading when He sees the crowd of people.  As St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, He even gives His life that we can be brought into God's peace as His one people.

July 12, 2015: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the midst of His own ministry, Jesus Christ sends out His disciples on a mission, well before the Great Commission.  They go with only a few things, as they are relying on His power, even over demons.  He sends them, just as God called Amos from his agriculturally-oriented work to be a prophet, which he mentions in rebutting Amaziah's repulsion.

We share in this mission of proclaiming repentance that the disciples performed, a turning from our ways to God's ways, because of the marvelous work of salvation God has chosen to work in us, as St. Paul writes of so eloquently in the 2nd reading.

July 5, 2015: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The role of a prophet is to speak the words of God to the people He intends as the recipients.  As people of faith, we are all prophets, called by God to speak His words, even as we keep our hearts open to the words God speaks to us.

The primary focus of our work is not to achieve a positive, enthusiastic response from the people.  We must speak the words of God even when the intended recepients resist, as is to be expected because of the hardness of people's hearts.  Our call is to be obedient, in faith, to the task God gives us, relying on His graces to strengthen us.  So no matter how others respond, God's word speaks, and His power will be manifest even in the struggles we face.

June 28, 2015: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God does not want death for us, as the reading from Wisdom so eloquently states.  He created us to have life.  But sin got in the way, and with it came evil and death.

Jesus Christ came to show that God has the power over death and all ills, reversing their power over us.  So we are no longer afraid.  We must just have faith to believe in the God who comes to rescue us, who gave of His riches, that we might be filled with grace and life anew.