PRI Reflections on Scripture | Saturday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time

HOMILY - The 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Original Airdate: July 19, 2020 Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 | Romans 8:26-27 | Matthew 13:24-43 or 13:24-30 Opening Prayer Show favor, oh Lord, to your servants and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity, they may be ever watchful in keeping commands.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen. Closing Prayer Father, you are mysterious, and the beauty of your love for us is that you’ve always met us where we are. You’ve always dealt with us exactly in a way that would reach us.  You presented yourself at times in the Old Testament as someone harsh and demanding and willing to destroy those who don’t follow you, and at the same time, you revealed yourself in the New Testament as the most loving, forgiving, patient, kind, desiring nothing but our transformation.  Give us wisdom to discern the truth.  It’s fundamentally in all the stories, and most especially give us the hope that is our inheritance so that our heart will always be filled with joy and peace.  And we ask this through Jesus’ name. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Saturday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 20, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 12:14-21 The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope. Reflection This gospel carries with it the image of the final major conflict between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Pharisees see Jesus as a great threat to their system, and they're deciding they must kill him. Jesus realizes this, and he's not retaliating. He's not angry. He's not calling upon angels to go and destroy these people. No, he simply continues to do his work, to be with people, to heal them of their diseases and their shortcomings. He's a gentle, loving man. And it’s clear that from the very beginning of the revelations in the Old Testament, we see a prophet coming who is radically different than the prophets of the Old Testament. No fire and brimstone, no threats, no condemnation, just a loving, giving figure who represents who the father really is. Closing Prayer Father, you teach us in so many ways, often by a story like this, where we're just watching you respond to something that you should have this negative overflow of emotion. And yet there you are, back at doing just what you came to do. Keep us focused on what we came in this world to do. The thing you've asked us to do to heal, to help, to be there for one another. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 19, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 12:1-8 Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath." He said to the them, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.” Reflection The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was well known, and it's clear that the weakness of the system that was working there was all about rules and regulations. Obligations one must do something or be punished or excluded. And Jesus comes along with such a different message. He's not focused on law, but on love. And it's not then an obligation, but an invitation to freely give to others what they need. And through that giving, receive the most abundant feeling of well being. The temple didn't work. Jesus’ message works every time. Closing Prayer Father, we can easily create a relationship based on rules and regulations. And we don't have to have a temple to tell us how to do that. But we do have also is the ability to not have so many do's and don'ts in a relationship, but just have something more flexible, fluid and life giving, understanding, compassion, empathy. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Thursday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 18, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Reflection When Jesus says these words to his disciples, he's really reminding them about the fact that everything that God asks us to do is something that he promises he will do with us. And the work that we have is our part, and it is going to be enough. And as we do it, if we're not in a hurry, if we're not depending on our own skill and only our own talent, we'll find this mysterious thing that you can do when you're really working, and that is you rest while you work. It's a beautiful way of understanding God's presence in the work with us. Closing Prayer Jesus, you have promised us that as we work together with you to establish a kingdom of love and peace and oneness, that you are the major source of how it's going to happen, and we are with you in it. And it's your power that we mostly depend upon. So keep us out of that anxiety driven world where we feel like we are the one in charge, or we're the one that has to make it happen. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

PRI Reflections on Scripture | Wednesday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 17, 2026 === Gospel Matthew 11:25-27 At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” Reflection In a way, it's a scandal that all the learned men of the temple who studied scripture, who longed for a messiah. Most of them never, ever accepted Jesus. And you wonder why. And I think this is a passage that helps us understand that the message is almost too simple, too easy to understand. God loves you, and if you allow him to love you, you will learn to love one another. Closing Prayer Father, give us a childlike faith and openness to the wonder and the glory of what you're promising. And as we surrender to this great mystery, let us know that we are not the ones who make it happen. We are like children who are willing to have others help them. Bless us with this kind of humility. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]