HOMILY • The 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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]

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

Original Post Date: July 16, 2024 === Gospel  Matthew 11:20-24 Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the nether world. For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” Reflection We know that Jesus is divine. We forget sometimes that he is also human, and as a human being, he can feel and be frustrated as any of us would be. When something that we're working on, something we believe in, so much is not working, it's not convincing people that they need to pay attention to Jesus as the representative of God. And because he can do these marvelous, wonderful deeds, they still won't accept him. And so his condemnation of them is more of a frustration with them wanting them to realize how important it is that they do receive his message. Closing Prayer Father, when we live in an illusion and someone points out that illusion, it's not unusual for us to be absolutely angry and resistant. And that just shows that there is a part of all humanity that has a difficult time shifting its emphasis in its focus. Give us patience with each other. Help us to know that God will continue to work with us, but he'll warn us over and over again that if we don't change, we won't find the life that he's made for us. 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 | Monday of the 15th Week of Ordinary Time

Original Post Date: July 15, 2024 === Gospel Matthew 10:34-11:1 Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous  will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple– amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns. Reflection Two things strike me about this gospel passage. One, is we see Jesus in a way, frustrated. We see his humanity, his deep desire that people receive the truth, that he longs to give them. And he's constantly met with rejection. So he makes it clear to his disciples that this process of establishing a kingdom of peace is not going to be a peaceful process. There'll be tension. There'll be division. There'll be violence. But he reminds them that there's something in this whole thing that Jesus is trying to teach us about receiving something. You have to receive the message of God as it is presented in the person, Jesus. You have to allow that presence to enter into you and change you and transform you, and make you strong against those who would be against you. So Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples understood. This is not going to be a simple case of going in and doing miracles, everybody believes and then it's over. No, it'll take centuries. We're still in the process trying to figure out truth versus illusion. Closing Prayer Father, fill us with hope when things are difficult and divided and separated. Keep us in tune with your promise that what you have set out to do, you will accomplish, and we will live in the kingdom of God. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]