Observation - October 9th, 2024, Wednesday

I hear the buzz of machinery

small motors and micro-processors

whirling clicks and whips

alternating frequencies

below the rumble of a jet

descending to the east of me

there is bird chatter in the interim

my windows rattle as a truck rolls by

the scent of drying foliage creeps 

through my open window

with the green and yellow light

of the morning sun

filtered by October’s maple canopy

A Homily – The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Genesis 2:18-24

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 127(128)

Second Reading – Hebrews 2:9-11

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alternative Acclamation – 1 John 4:12

The Gospel According to Mark 10:2-16 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 This is not a cosmogonic myth of origins, it is a metaphor that argues for the primacy of the human race among the animals of the world, and that of man over woman.

 It is a poor argument

 The argument is won if and only if it is accepted that in the naming of the woman, by the man, the male asserts power over the female and becomes directive of her nature…to believe in this is to believe in a type of witchcraft.

 The writers of genesis would have you believe that this is the natural order of things. They also arrange the trope in a way that explains for them why children separate from their parents, but this second half of the treatment, while reasonably expressed, does not follow from the primary emphasis on naming, and the subjugation of women.

 The world is unjust but do not feat it; rather, hope for a better tomorrow. Believe that it is possible, live your life as if it were here and now.

  Do not fear God; there is no blessing in it.

 Fear is the mind killer, fear is the little death that leads to total obliteration. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to shame, shame leads to hatred and that is the dark side, the path to sin.

 Trust in God, have faith and confidence in God’s love, expressed through God’s word, speaking through the seed of it that God has planted in you.

 Remember God’s servant, Job. Remember that the Sun will warm and then burn, before it scorches the earth completely, though if we are in the correct relationship to it, the sun will power our cities, and feed our crops, life affirming and sustaining.

 Be mindful.

 The rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle who points out with certainty that death awaits us all, and that though death will come for us, we shall continue to exist in God, as all things do, in the divine eternality of being.

 If we take the example of Jesus presented for us to follow…if we take that to heart and face the uncertainty of death with the certain knowledge that the demise of the body is not the demise of the spirit, if we trust in that and God’s plan for our salvation we are born again.

 Know this!

 You cannot serve God with lies and deceptions, God’s spirit is the spirit of truth.

 We make God known to each other through the quality of the love we manifest toward one another and for all human beings, whom God, the creator of the universe, resides in…God resides in everyone

 God resides in everyone, but not everyone acts as if this is true. A person may believe that this is true, but it still requires faith to live a life of love and service, even more to love the stranger, and greater still to love the enemy in your midst.

 Understand this.

 The faithful do not require proof of God’s presence; through the performance of miracles or by the presentation of any other credentials, the faithful know that God is present, in all times and places, God is living in all people…this cannot be proven through the recitation of a creed.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today, it expresses the really good news that is hidden-in-plain-sight in Jesus’ teaching on the way. He tells us:

 What God has united, man must not divide.

 Let me be clear about this, because the foundation of Christian faith and hope rests here, and the greater truth is this:

 What God has united, man cannot divide, it is injurious to try. It is harmful to the self and dangerous to society. It is destructive of the person and of the whole, because it is the essence of sin.

 While the reading for today begins with a discussion concerning the practicalities of divorce, and human relationships. In actuality it is a discussion about our fundamental relationship with God, and with each other.

 We are created in unity, we are created in this way, united both with one another and with God. There is nothing we can do to tear that unity apart.

 In John’s Gospel we read that all things were created in and through God, exist in God, by the will of God, and that without God not one things comes into being or continues to exist.

 Our fundamental, ontological make up is relational, originating in the creator flowing out to us, and to each other in a great web of being.

 Our relationships with each other are essential elements of our being. Our relationships do not just include our family and friends. We are in relationship to every other person who is, ever was, or ever will be, even those we despise, even our enemies are a part of who we are.

 We cannot change this, not even the power of sin cannot alter this reality, because God joined us together in this way.

 Here is the truth.

 When I say this teaching presents the heart of Christian faith and hope, I am speaking of Jesus’ teaching on salvation…which clearly promotes the concept that the salvation of one is not possible without the salvation of the whole…because the part exits with the whole as the whole does in the part...and that is the way of it.

First Reading – Genesis 2:18-24

A Man and His Wife Become One Body

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.’ So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate suitable for man was found for him. So the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man.

 

The man exclaimed:

‘This at last is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh!

This is to be called woman, for this was taken from man.’

This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 127(128)

Peaceful life in the Lord

Alleluia. Alleluia.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord

  and walk in his ways.

The food you have worked for, you will eat:

  God’s blessing will bring you good things.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

  on the side of your house.

Your children will be like olive shoots,

  seated round your table.

See, this is how the man is blessed

  who fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion:

  may you see the wealth of Jerusalem

  all the days of your life.

May you see your children’s children.

  Peace be on Israel.

Amen.

Alleluia.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 2:9-11

The One who Sanctifies is the Brother of Those who Are Sanctified

We see in Jesus one who was for a short while made lower than the angels and is now crowned with glory and splendour because he submitted to death; by God’s grace he had to experience death for all mankind.

  As it was his purpose to bring a great many of his sons into glory, it was appropriate that God, for whom everything exists and through whom everything exists, should make perfect, through suffering, the leader who would take them to their salvation. For the one who sanctifies, and the ones who are sanctified, are of the same stock; that is why he openly calls them brothers.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord:

consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 1 John 4:12

Alleluia, alleluia!

As long as we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 10:2-16 ©

What God has United, Man Must Not Divide

Some Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, ‘Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife?’

They were testing him. He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’

‘Moses allowed us’ they said ‘to draw up a writ of dismissal and so to divorce.’

Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so unteachable that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’ Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, ‘The man who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’

People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples turned them away, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ Then he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.

 

A Homily – The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

A Homily – The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Numbers 11:25-29

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 18(19):8,10,12-14

Second Reading – James 5:1-6

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

The Gospel According to Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 ©       

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Prophecy is not concerned with the divination of portents, clairaudience, clairvoyance or clairsentience; prophecy is not prescience.

 Prophecy is concerned with seeing the truth in the present moment and speaking it out loud; the prophet is concerned with matters of justice, the inclusion of the marginalized, the restoration of the disenfranchised, the return outcast and the exile. Prophecy calls us to fulfill the promise of the good, to be agents of providence, ensuring its fair distribution to everyone.

 The advent of a true prophet is rare, though the potential to be a prophet exists in all of us.

 Know this:

 God is the creator of all that is, of the entire universe and all of us who live within it.

 Consider the teaching of James, the brother of Jesus and bishop of Jerusalem; remember the wisdom of Ecclesiastes and know that everything is vanity. For the rich and the poor alike, everything ends in corruption; the earth and the moon, the sun and the stars, everything fades away before becoming a new creation.

 Be mindful.

 The fire awaits us all, not the fire of destruction but the fire of refinement; when we pass through it, corruption shall never take hold again and we will shine.

 Understand this!

 You cannot lie and serve God at one and the same time.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today, it comes from a period when the church was experiencing a significant amount of division among its leadership and members. The authors of Mark’s gospel, wrote it at least fifty years after Jesus died, about twenty years after Paul wrote his letters, at least ten years after Jerusalem and its temple had been destroyed by the Roman’s, its population dispersed and the last of Jesus’ disciples died.

 At this point in time the Church was in a precarious state. It was seen by most observers to be a minor sect of Judaism undergoing a lawful persecution by the traditional leadership of Jewish synagogues throughout the Empire.

 However, in reality the Church it had spread well past the ideology of Judaism and the Pharisaic movement within Judaism which had nurtured it. By this time the Christian movement had spread across North Africa, into the Italian peninsula, northward to Gaul, and eastward throughout Anatolia and Asia Minor.

 The Church was just as much gentile as it was Jewish, and it was thoroughly cosmopolitan. There were many who believed in their personal authority to teach in Jesus’ name, even though they were not connected to the Church through the mode of Apostolic succession; this was the lay of the land.

 The message from Today’s reading is not that the “heirs” of the church should have run down those whom they do not see as having a legitimate claim to teach in the name of Jesus, and to obstruct them, but to make common cause with them, advancing together in the way.

 

First Reading – Numbers 11:25-29

If Only the Whole People of the Lord were Prophets!

The Lord came down in the Cloud. He spoke with Moses, but took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied, but not again.

  Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit came down on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrolled among the rest. These began to prophesy in the camp. The young man ran to tell this to Moses, ‘Look,’ he said, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Then said Joshua the son of Nun, who had served Moses from his youth, ‘My Lord Moses, stop them!’ Moses answered him, ‘Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 18(19):8,10,12-14

Praise of God the Creator

Blessed Are You, Lord, in the Vault of Heaven.

Alleluia, alleluia!

The skies tell the story of the glory of God,

  the firmament proclaims the work of his hands;

day pours out the news to day,

  night passes to night the knowledge.

Not a speech, not a word,

  not a voice goes unheard.

Their sound is spread throughout the earth,

  their message to all the corners of the world.

At the ends of the earth he has set up

  a dwelling place for the sun.

Like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

  it rejoices like an athlete at the race to be run.

It appears at the edge of the sky,

  runs its course to the sky’s furthest edge.

Nothing can hide from its heat.

Amen.

Blessed Are You, Lord, in the Vault of Heaven.

Alleluia, alleluia!

 

Second Reading – James 5:1-6

The Lord Hears the Cries of Those You Have Cheated

An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord: consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 ©

Do Not Stop Anyone from Working a Miracle in My Name

John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.

 

‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.

 

‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out.’

 

A Homily – The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

A Homily – The Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Wisdom 2:12,17-20

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 53(54):3-6,8

Second Reading – James 3:16-4:3

Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Thessalonians 2:14

The Gospel According to Mark 9:30-37 ©

 

(NJB)              

 

Listen!

 This reading is presented as a prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus. Though in reality, both Paul and the Gospel writers patterned much of their depiction of him on this image of the blameless man.

 Know this:

 It is good to be upright and moral, to walk humbly, to love justice and be merciful; it is good to live this way. Some find the good life easy to fulfill, even in the midst of tragedy and violence persecutions, in justice and moral depravity, some will remain committed to these beliefs and principles…to this way of life. Others find the just life hard, and will concoct excuses for their sinful ways, blaming others, offering justifications and deflections for the choices they made...some will even believe them.

 Be mindful!

 God loves the just person and the sinner both. God, the creator of the universe, God has a plan for each of them. God’s love is boundless and redounds to the benefit of all…every saint is a sinner and all sinners shall be sainted.

 Remember this:

 When you are in distress, God is with you. The eternal source of all that is, it is to God that we all return. We, together with our family and friends, the alien and the adversary, we are all on the same journey, returning to the divine—where there is no enmity. 

 Consider the wisdom of the apostle James, the brother of the Jesus. James tells us that we will know if the teaching is sound insofar as fosters peace, kindness, and thoughtfulness among in the community wherein it is taught. If the teaching promotes compassion and good works among the people, it is doing the work of God. Its soundness will be evinced not merely in the beauty of the spoken word, and the zeal for the mission of the Church, but in the fruit which our actions bear.

 Be mindful of the divisions which emerge within the Church, every breach of unity among the people represents a deviation from the way.

 Heal broken relationships with love and patience; do not petition God to solve the problems before you, rather pray for forgiveness, and be prepared to forgive those with whom and by whom you have been alienated.

 This is the way, and we all in it together. We are all moving inexorably toward God, the divine source of all being, no-one is barred from the way.

 Understand this!

 All people are created in the divine image, we carry a seed of the logos within us; all people have been chosen by God to receive the sanctifying spirit. This is the good news, the really good news as proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth, as Christians we are called upon to trust in this reality and share our faith in it by word and deed.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today; in it we see an unadulterated presentation of the way, as Jesus preached it, as he lived it and taught it.

 Jesus understood that his disciples struggled, as all people do, with social order and pride of place. They were obsessed with hierarchies, and privilege. He was repeatedly reminded them that leadership meant service, that we are closest to God when we are engaged in loving service.

 There is no place for pride, or arrogance in office, when you are walking in the way. There is no mystery here, it is simply the truth. The injunction that Jesus places on his disciples goes beyond the acceptance of children, it is includes all people, because we are all the children of God. Jesus commands his followers to treat everyone as if they were in the presence of God, because they are, the real presence of the divine resides in all of us. It is on account of this fundamental reality that we are to approach our service with one another in the spirit of humility, telling us over and over again, that the first must be last and the last must be first.

 Know this!

 Women cannot be relegated to the back of the Church; there are no outcasts in the God’s garden, even the leper is welcomed with a kiss. Through the way that Jesus lived his life, he showed us that everyone has to be treated with the same regard, cherished as children of God; from the lowest born to the highest rank, enemy and friend alike.

 This is the way.

First Reading – Wisdom 2:12,17-20

The Wicked Prepare to Ambush the Just Man

The godless say to themselves:

‘Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.

‘Let us see if what he says is true, let us observe what kind of end he himself will have.

If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.

Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his endurance to the proof.

Let us condemn him to a shameful death since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 53(54):3-6,8

A Plea for Help

Before the feast of the Passover Jesus knew that his hour had come. He had always loved those who were his, and now he showed the full extent of his love.

Alleluia, alleluia!

God, by your name, save me.

  In your power, God, judge me.

God, listen to my prayer

  and turn your ear to the words of my mouth.

The proud have risen up against me,

  the strong seek to take my life.

  They do not keep God in their hearts.

But God helps me,

  and the Lord lifts up my soul.

Willingly I will sacrifice to you

  and proclaim your name, O God,

  proclaim your good name.

It has rescued me from all my troubles,

  and my eyes look down on my enemies.

Amen.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – James 3:16-4:3

The Wisdom that Comes from Above Makes for Peace

Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done; whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it also makes for peace, and is kindly and considerate; it is full of compassion and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it. Peacemakers, when they work for peace, sow the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness.

  Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you haven’t got it; so you are prepared to kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. Why you don’t have what you want is because you don’t pray for it; when you do pray and don’t get it, it is because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own desires.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;

anyone who follows me will have the light of life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – 2 Thessalonians 2:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Through the Good News God called us

to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 9:30-37 ©

Anyone Who Welcomes One of these Little Children in My Name Welcomes Me

Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.

They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

 

A Homily – The Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)