A Homily – The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Exodus 16:2-4,12-15

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 77(78):3-4,23-25,54

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:17,20-24

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:6

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 4:4

The Gospel According to John 6:24-35 ©

 

(NJB)              

 

Listen!

God did not feed the Israelites in the desert, they gathered its natural fodder, and called it a miracle. This mana in the desert was received as a miracle, and consumed in a spirit of thanksgiving, but it was not a supernatural event.

Insisting that the myths of our ancestors represent a historical record of fundamental truths does not make them so. Our insistence does not turn allegories into actualities, or even present these metaphors as something suitable for modern theology, or philosophical exploration…we must handle them with care.

God, the creator of the universe, never intervened in the lives of people in the ways that are recorded in the Book of Exodus, or the Psalms; God is not a magician, or a miracle maker. The creator made us and the entire universe in a state of radical freedom, free from all forms of divine coercions; God does not reach into the world to change the fate of nations.

Consider the wisdom of the apostle who encourages us to enter into the life of God and be renewed. Share in the divine providence, in God’s abundance; cast off your old ways of greed, envy, fear and despair. Share abundantly and without reservation, even in times of scarcity.

Live as Jesus lived, he showed us the way to lead a truthful life, and dedicate yourself to the good of all God’s children…which means everyone.

If we live merely to eat, we are no different than the beasts of field and forest, following our noses and the hunger in our bellies, ruled by thirst and the vicissitudes of desire.

We can be more than that, we were made to be more than that, to look beyond ourselves, to be drawn out of ourselves, to see in our neighbors another-self and the divine spark that unites us spiritually.

We may be transcendent by following the way.

Consider the Gospel reading for today.

God is the author of all life, not each and every instance of pro-generation, but of the entirety of life’s potential fulfilled in each and every case. We do not come into life by believing in it, we come into life through the crucible of birth.

We were made not just for life in this world, but for life everlasting. We do not acquire everlasting life through the power of our belief, or any power of our own, but through grace, which we are endowed…it is a gift that comes directly from the divine.

Jesus calls us to have faith in this proposition, and by our faith to free ourselves from our present fears. In this way we are able to love one another, to care for our sisters and brothers, even the stranger among us; a just society is not possible without it.

Know this.

Jesus does not call on us to believe in his name, the title that were given him after his death, or the supernatural powers that were attributed to him in the generations that followed.

Jesus calls on us to believe in God’s plan for creation, to believe that the world is good, and that justice and mercy are possible to the extent that we act in accordance with those beliefs…this faith is the bread of life.

First Reading – Exodus 16:2-4,12-15

The Lord Sends Manna from Heaven

The whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’

  Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not.

  ‘I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’

  And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That,’ said Moses to them, ‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 77(78):3-4,23-25,54

Our fathers have told us of the might of the Lord and the marvellous deeds he has done.

Alleluia.

Listen, my people, to my teaching;

  open your ears to the words of my mouth.

I shall open my mouth in explanation,

  I shall tell of the secrets of the past.

All that we have heard and know –

  all that our fathers told us –

  we shall not hide it from their descendants,

but will tell to a new generation

  the praise of the Lord, and his power,

  and the wonders that he worked.

He set up a covenant with Jacob,

  he gave a law to Israel;

he commanded our ancestors to pass it on to their children,

  so that the next generation would know it,

  the children yet to be born.

They shall rise up and tell the story to their children,

  so that they put their trust in God,

so that they do not forget the works of God,

  so that they keep his commandments;

so that they do not become like their fathers,

  rebellious and troublesome,

a generation of fickle hearts,

  of souls unfaithful to God.

The sons of Ephraim, the bowmen,

  fled when it came to battle;

they did not keep their covenant with God,

  they refused to follow his law.

They forgot his deeds

  and the wonders he had shown them.

In front of their ancestors he had worked his wonders,

  in the land of Egypt, in the plains of Tanis.

He divided the sea and led them across,

  he held back the waters as if in a bag.

He led them in a cloud by day;

  and through the night, in the light of fire.

He split the rock in the desert

  and gave them water as if from bottomless depths.

He brought forth streams from the rock

  and made the waters flow down in rivers.

Still they insisted on sinning against him,

  they stirred up the wrath of the Most High in the desert.

They put God to the test in their hearts,

  asking for food, their desire.

They spoke out against God, saying

  “Can God lay a table in the wilderness?”

He struck the rock, and the waters poured out,

  and the streams were full to overflowing;

“But can he give us bread?

  Can he give meat to his people?”

The Lord heard all this, and he flared up in anger.

  Fire blazed against Jacob,

  his wrath rose up against Israel.

All this, because they had no faith in God,

  they had no trust in his saving power.

He commanded the clouds nevertheless,

  and opened the doors of the heavens.

Manna rained down for them to eat:

  he gave them the bread of heaven.

Men ate the food of angels;

  he gave them provisions in abundance.

In heaven he stirred up the east wind,

  he brought the south wind, by his power:

he rained meat on them as if it were dust,

  winged birds, like the sands of the sea,

to fall in the middle of their camp,

  all around their tents.

They ate and were full to bursting,

  and so he gave them their desire.

In the middle of their enjoyment,

  when the food was still in their mouths,

the wrath of God rose up against them,

  and slew the healthiest among them,

  and laid low the flower of Israel.

All this – and still they sinned,

  still they had no faith in his wonders.

He made their days vanish in a breath,

  their years in a headlong rush.

Whenever he was killing them, they sought him,

  repented and came back to him at dawn:

they remembered that God is their helper,

  that God, the Most High, is their saviour;

but their speech to him was only flattery:

  they lied to him with their tongues,

their hearts were dishonest towards him,

  they did not keep his covenant.

But the Lord is merciful:

  he forgives sin, he does not destroy.

Always he turned aside his anger,

  held back from unleashing all his wrath.

He remembered that they were flesh –

  a breath, that goes and does not return.

Alleluia!

They remembered that God was their helper and their redeemer.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:17,20-24

Put Aside Your Old Self and Put on the New

I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:6

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord; No one can come to the Father except through me.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 4:4

Alleluia, alleluia!

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 6:24-35 ©

It is My Father Who Gives You the Bread from Heaven; I Am the Bread of Life

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’

Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.

Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life,

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’

Jesus answered:

‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.’

 

A Homily – The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn – Author, Nobel Laureate, Hero

I will say without equivocation that Alexander Solzhenitsyn is the greatest Russian author of all time, even greater than the great Dostoyevsky, surpassing by orders of magnitude the likes of Tolstoy; he is perhaps the greatest author of all time…and this is no trifling estimation.

I first encountered his classic novella, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich when I was in my late teens, just a little book that could be read in an afternoon, but it was heavy and it was deep.

I read it slowly, forming every word in my mouth, pushing them out with my breath…quietly, nearly silently. I read it aloud to facilitate my understanding.

In my early twenties I was still heavily involved with reading other authors in the Russian cannon. It took some time for me to get to Solzhenitsyn’s other writing, like the Gulag Archipelago for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but when I came to it, I found it life changing.

Solzhenitsyn said the Archipelago was more of an exercise in journalism than literature; he was surprised by how well it was received, though he should not have been. Its principal achievement was the personalization of the gulag experience which he was able to do because he himself had been a victim of it.

He put a human face on the collected suffering imposed by the Soviet state on all of its citizens by exposing to the world the systematic injustice of the gulag system, and the threat of it which hung over everyone (and still does today).

Solzhenitsyn was born in Russia, in 1918, just after the Bolshevik Revolution. He served in the Russian Army during World War II. In 1944 he was decorated for valor in combat and Awarded the Order of the Red Star, but in 1945 he was arrested for saying derogatory things about the government in private correspondence. These were statements that he did not publish but were merely shared between himself and a friend.

He spent eight years in the gulags after his conviction.

Surviving World War II and the Russian gulags are themselves heroic feats, feats for which any person is deserving of recognition. His status as a Nobel Laureate is another thing that marks him as a person of significance. But…what makes Solzhenitsyn a hero to me is his insight into human nature and his profound ability to communicate that insight through the poetry of prose.

In my early thirties I read more of his books: October 1914 and The First Circle. I was awed by the way in which he could present the myriad forces: societal, intellectual, spiritual and emotional that vector-in on the complex matrix of concerns that comprises the motivations and shapes the intentions of individual persons.

Solzhenitsyn was able to portray the movement of those currents and shifting vectors in the matrix, in a way that made the lives of his characters…even the most ordinary, crackle with a dynamism that transforms them into living spirits, even the most heinous and cruel appear as worthy subjects of our compassion. He was able to accomplish such feats because he was adept at humanizing the characters in his novels, allowing his readers to expand their own view of the world…to include his own; in doing so his readers are made into better persons for having read him.

A Homily – The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading - 2 Kings 4:42-44

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 144(145):10-11,15-18

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:1-6

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alternative Acclamation – Luke 7:16

The Gospel According to John 6:1-15 ©

                        

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 It is wise to trust in the providence of God, knowing that it does not manifest itself as miraculous or supernatural activity; we are the agents of the divine, God’s providence comes through us. Those one-hundred men experienced this when the bread was distributed and none of them took more than one hundredth of what had been given, each of them took less than a fifth of a loaf…and there was some left over.

 Know this.

 God, the creator of the universe, God is not a king.

 God is present in all times and all places, even in the deepest recesses of the human heart, but God does not intervene directly in human events. God’s influence over us is indirect; God shows us the way and it is for us to take it. It is up to us to act on God’s behalf in relation to our sisters and brothers, to care for our mother’s and father’s as God would have us do. God’s power does not interfere with our freedom in any way.

 Contemplate the vast power of God, in whom and through whom the entire universe exists; contemplate the way of justice, love and humility, keep to it, and share it with the stranger, the alien and even your adversary.

 The apostle calls us to selflessness and to love, to recognize this truth: Gods spirit animates all things. God is God of all beings; the whole of what is came into being through the divine, exists in the divine, and without the divine would cease to be, because God’s spirit animates all things.

 As children of God we each share in the same grace that was manifested by Jesus of Nazareth. We each receive an equal share of God’s love, which is a love without measure, infinite and eternal. We each reflect that grace for one another according to our own willingness and our individual capacities which fluctuate in direct proportion to our desires and ambitions for ourselves and our families.

 Be mindful of doctrine and its pitfalls.

 Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret to eternal life, as if this were the purpose of the gospel, as if believing in the proposition that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving the gift, as if the gift had not already been given to all of God’s children.

 Peter wants us to believe access to Jesus, to the truth and the reality of life everlasting, is parceled out by God through the church, allowing some to come to it while refusing others.

 This scheme is not true.

 Jesus preached the good news, and the good news is this:

 God loves you and you are saved. You are not saved for anything you have done, you did not earn it, you are saved because God loves you and God love’s everyone.

 The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you…if you do x, y, and z.

 God has already forgiven you, you are already saved. God has prepared you and everyone for eternal life, this is the good news…the really good news.

 Believe it!

 Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now and start living as if it were true.

 We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the “Holy One of God;” we are called to act on the principles of Jesus’ faith, to be charitable and of service to each other.

 Remember.

 At least half a century had passed from the time of Jesus’ death to the time that Luke’s Gospel was written. By this time Palestine (Judea and Samaria) were completely under Roman rule, Jerusalem had been ruined, its temple destroyed, and the population killed or in bondage, scattered across the Empire in the second great Diaspora.

There were no witnesses to the events Luke describes, the story is a fabrication, pure myth, it never happened. Nevertheless, it became part of the tradition and was handed down as evidence that Jesus had both great compassion and great power.

 The raising of the dead man at Nain asserts the notion that widow should not be left alone, with no husband or son to protect her. This is a metaphor not a miracle, suggesting that the mission of the church is to protect the widow and keep her in life. This reversal of social norms and the common way of life is the miracle. The widow has entered the church, and the family of God will prevent the widow from being forces out into the margins of society.

 It is not that the widow’s son died, and returned to life; it is that Jesus appointed the church to care for the widow in place of her dead son. This is what puts Jesus directly in the tradition of the prophets, not the miracle making, the wonder working, the acts of power and the magic. It is his work as an advocate for justice in the community, his compassion and humility that mark him as the prophet that he was.

 Consider the gospel reading for today; this reading from John is piece of pure propaganda and a gross misrepresentation of Jesus’ ministry.

 The gospel writers took a story from the common tradition and embellished it, transforming a story that was suggestive of a miracle, the feeding of the multitudes, into an explicit work of magic.

 In other versions of this story the miracle of faith which led to the feeding of the people could be read as having come from the people themselves, because they were following the way that Jesus was leading them in, they shared what they had and each received a portion of what was put on the common table. The people, seeing how little food there was to be passed around, contributed to the stores of foodstuffs they each had in their possession; those without enough taking what they needed, and those with extra giving what they had in the spirit of communitarianism and hospitality that was a hallmark of the nascent church.

 The authors of John’s Gospel were not content with that; they could not resist the temptation to embellish and give the credit to Jesus’ supernatural powers for engineering a miraculous event. This editorial move undercuts the teaching of Jesus. The way he preached is a living way; it does not ask us to have faith in magic powers, but to trust in our neighbors and their basic commitment to principles of justice and compassion.

First Reading - 2 Kings 4:42-44

They Will Eat, and Have Some Left Over

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing Elisha, the man of God, bread from the first-fruits, twenty barley loaves and fresh grain in the ear.’ ‘Give it to the people to eat’, Elisha said. But his servant replied, ‘How can I serve this to a hundred men?’ ‘Give it to the people to eat’ he insisted ‘for the Lord says this, “They will eat and have some left over.”’ He served them; they ate and had some left over, as the Lord had said.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 144(145):10-11,15-18

The Greatness and Goodness of God

I will bless you day after day and tell of your wonderful deeds, O Lord.

Alleluia!

I will praise you to the heights, O God, my king –

  I will bless your name for ever and for all time.

I will bless you, O God, day after day –

  I will praise your name for ever and all time.

The Lord is great, to him all praise is due –

  he is great beyond measuring.

Generation will pass to generation the praise of your deeds,

  and tell the wonders you have done.

They will tell of your overwhelming power,

  and pass on the tale of your greatness.

They will cry out the story of your great kindness,

  they will celebrate your judgements.

The Lord takes pity, his heart is merciful,

  he is patient and endlessly kind.

The Lord is gentle to all –

  he shows his kindness to all his creation.

Let all your creatures proclaim you, O Lord,

  let your chosen ones bless you.

Let them tell of the glory of your reign,

  let them speak of your power –

so that the children of men may know what you can do,

  see the glory of your kingdom and its greatness.

Your kingdom stands firm for all ages,

  your rule lasts for ever and ever.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,

  the Lord is holy in all his deeds.

The Lord supports all who are falling,

  the Lord lifts up all who are oppressed.

All look to you for help,

  and you give them their food in due season.

In your goodness you open your hand,

  and give every creature its fill.

The Lord is just in all his ways,

  the Lord is kind in all that he does.

The Lord is near to those who call on him,

  to all those who call on him in truth.

For those that honour him,

  he does what they ask,

  he hears all their prayers,

  and he keeps them safe.

The Lord keeps safe all who love him,

  but he dooms all the wicked to destruction.

My mouth shall tell the praises of the Lord.

Let all flesh bless his holy name,

  for ever and ever.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:1-6

One Body, One Spirit, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God

I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life; you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Luke 7:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 6:1-15 ©

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.

Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.

 

A Homily – The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

A Homily – The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Jeremiah 23:1-6

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22(23)

Second Reading – Ephesians 2:13-18

Gospel Acclamation – John 10:27

The Gospel According to Mark 6:30-34 ©

           

(NJB)

 

Listen!

If you have taken a position as a teacher of the way, then it is incumbent on you to portray your desires for yourself, for your friends and family, for your tribe or nation, as the will of God.

Remember…you are a servant of the people.

God has a plan for the salvation of everyone, though it’s realization is not of this world; do not look for the resolution here, God will not intervene on your behalf, not for any reason, not in this life…this is not to say that God does not love us, will not show us compassion and have mercy on us. God will, God loves us, but that mystery of our salvation will unfold beyond the worlds of time and space; have no fear.

Know this.

God is not a king and not a kingmaker, we are the kingmakers of the world, human beings following human machinations. It is we who crown kings, and it is kings who place the people in bondage. Therefore serve God freely, wisely, be honest and work with integrity; do this at all times.

Pay no attention to promises about the future of this world, our salvation takes place in eternity.

God, the creator of the universe, God is shepherd to us all,  and if we walk in the way of God, we will serve as shepherd to our sisters and brothers.

Be mindful.

Our time in this world is not the end of all things; it is transitory. If we are hungry, we are hungry only for a time; if we thirst, it is but for a moment. Our loneliness and sorrow, our anguish and despair, whatever it is that we experience as a lack this too will come to an end. When we cross the threshold into eternity we shall be transformed, and the good that fills us will find its fullness in everyone.

Trust in God and find peace therein.

It is not only because God loves you that God guides you; it is for God’s own sake that God blesses you. God made us, to be in relationship with us, for that is our greatest good. It is our greatest good, and God’s most exalted state.

Remember.

The power of sin and death are temporary, it is only God that endures forever, and we are the children of God, God dwells within us, and we within God who endures forever.

If God has set a table before you, share it with the world, turn enemies into friends and those who hate you into your beloved.

Here is the teaching of the apostle who says:

As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever; we are one in the Word of God, the divine Logos; who provides in the divine-self the reason and rationale for the entire creation. All things and beings come to be in and through God’s Word, God’s spirit infuses everything, without which there would be nothing at all

It is our task to teach this, as followers of the way.

Understand this.

The sheep do not choose the shepherd, but rather, it is the shepherd who chooses the sheep.

Christians look to Jesus and find in his teaching the shepherdship of the divine. God is the only shepherd, and there is just the one sheepfold, the world itself, and whether it make sense to us or not, it is to the divine shepherd that we all belong.

Hearken to the voice of the shepherd, and do not trouble yourself with how the shepherd speaks to you, in what language, in what text, through your sister or your brother, to your neighbors or the stranger. The shepherd is speaking to them to, and we all listen as we are able (or willing).

Everyone that is, everyone without exception, follows in the way of God, there is no other way. Do not trouble yourself if you do not understand the journey another person is on, God is guiding them, as God is guiding you. Their salvation is in God’s hands, not yours.

If you resist, God will be patient with you; God will wait for you, as God waits for everyone. For God is love, and love is patient, and love is kind. God is diligent and God is wise; God will not lose a single one of us. Neither will any one of us lose God, God is with is, in all times and places; there is no place where God is not.

Consider the gospel reading for today, it is a call to humility directed toward those who seek to be teachers of the faith: be humble, be steadfast. There will be many who hear the word, and show no interest in it. There will be other times when those who hear will hunger for it, crowds will gather, lives will be disrupted, the social order may go haywire. These moments must be handled with great care. Therefore be patient, be loving, be kind.

Lead the people in a spirit of humility; listen to them, they will tell you what they need, if you listen carefully they will inform you of what you need as well. A good teacher learns more from their students in a single hour of instruction, than their students learn from them.

If you should find yourself in the position of a pastor or priest, of a teacher of the faith, then be humble, be responsive, listen and learn, this is the way that fosters justice in the world.

 

First Reading – Jeremiah 23:1-6

I Will Gather Together the Remnant of My Flock and Raise Up Shepherds for Them

‘Doom for the shepherds who allow the flock of my pasture to be destroyed and scattered – it is the Lord who speaks! This, therefore, is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds in charge of my people: You have let my flock be scattered and go wandering and have not taken care of them.

  Right, I will take care of you for your misdeeds – it is the Lord who speaks! But the remnant of my flock I myself will gather from all the countries where I have dispersed them, and will bring them back to their pastures: they shall be fruitful and increase in numbers. I will raise up shepherds to look after them and pasture them; no fear, no terror for them any more; not one shall be lost – it is the Lord who speaks!

‘See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I will raise a virtuous Branch for David, who will reign as true king and be wise, practising honesty and integrity in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved and Israel dwell in confidence.

And this is the name he will be called:

The-Lord-our-integrity.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22(23)

The Good Shepherd

The Prophets Foretold that the Saviour Would Be Born of the Virgin Mary.

Alleluia!

The Lord is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.

He has taken me to green pastures,

  he has led me to still waters;

  he has healed my spirit.

He has led me along right paths

  for his own name’s sake.

Even if I walk in the valley of the shadow of death,

  I shall fear no evil, for you are with me:

  your rod and your staff give me comfort.

You have set a table before me

  in the sight of my enemies.

You have anointed my head with oil,

 and my cup overflows.

Truly goodness and kindness will follow me

  all the days of my life.

For long years I shall live

  in the house of the Lord.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 2:13-18

Christ Jesus is the Peace Between Us

In Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far apart from us have been brought very close, by the blood of Christ. For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law. This was to create one single New Man in himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace through the cross, to unite them both in a single Body and reconcile them with God: in his own person he killed the hostility. Later he came to bring the good news of peace, peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near at hand. Through him, both of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 10:27

Alleluia, alleluia!

The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice, says the Lord, I know them and they follow me.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 6:30-34 ©

They Were Like Sheep Without a Shepherd

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length

 

A Homily – The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)