What am I to tell them?

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Today’s first reading continues the story of Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Horeb. God has commanded Moses to return to the “scene of the crime,” – his own taking of a life and Pharaoh’s attempted infanticide. Moses asks a reasonable question, “When I go to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” (Ex 3:13). At this point God gave Moses His own personal name: “I AM WHO AM.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: I AM sent me to you.” (v.14). Continue reading →

Two Sowings

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  One should note that this parable of the “Weeds among the Wheat” is explained in Mt 13, outside our gospel, but closely placed:

36 Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Continue reading →

Achieving the End

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It was pointed out to me this morning that I had not posted my Sunday homily,,, so here it is.

Just recently we held a mini-course about the people, events and issues of the Protestant Reformations of the 16th century.  Among the Reformers there was a far greater emphasis placed on Scripture and preaching upon that Word. John Calvin’s typical Sunday homily seems to have been about 2 hours.  John Knox’s homilies often had intermissions. Hard to imagine, eh? Continue reading →

The Burning Bush

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In the first reading for today we continue with the story of Moses who “was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.” (Ex 3:1) Meanwhile “A long time passed, during which the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their bondage and cried out, and from their bondage their cry for help went up to God.” (Ex 2:23) And God called Moses to be the herald of God’s help to the people. Continue reading →

Weeds Among the Wheat

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This parable is unique to Matthew and unlike the other evangelists who also tell a pericope of the “Sower and the Seed,” Matthew’s use and placement of this unique parable seems to serve as a reinforcement of the themes of on-going conversion “in the world” that place where anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit (Mt 13:22). Continue reading →

Lifting up the lowly

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In today’s first reading we continue the story of the infant Moses. Pharaoh’s first tactic to enslave the Israelites did not diminish their numbers. The follow-on tactic was to demand that the Hebrew midwives kill all Hebrew male babies (but not female babies, Ex 1:17) as they are born. Ironically, Pharaoh sees no threat from Israelite females, yet it is females (the midwives) who are the very ones who begin Pharaoh’s undoing. The midwives’ vocation from God is to preserve and protect life. Pharaoh demands that they deny their vocation and kill. In the Bible’s first act of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance for the sake of justice, the midwives refuse to obey Pharaoh’s deathly command. They lie to the authorities, breaking the law for the sake of justice and life. They explain to Pharaoh that the Hebrew women just give birth too quickly before we can arrive (v.19). It is in this time frame that Moses is born. Continue reading →

Why do people not believe

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. As we covered in the previous post we have moved from the missionary commissioning of the Twelve with the warning that things will not always go well for them. This is part of the message in Matthew 10 and 11. While Matthew 12 is not part of the Sunday cycle of readings, it is covered extensively in the weekday readings – as we covered previously. Continue reading →

From guest to enemy

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The first readings all week are taken from the Book of Exodus and follow Moses from his birth to the encounter with the burning bush and then leaping ahead to Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Israelites go which leads to a description of the Passover meal and its preparations. Today’s first reading picks up the story from the end of Genesis. The Israelites had achieved most-favored immigrant status in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians had welcomed the Hebrew foreigners from Canaan because they were family to Joseph who, even as a non-Egyptian, had risen to second-in-command next to Pharaoh Continue reading →

What is a homily?

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Today’s “Word of Day” from our friends at Merriam Webster is “homily.” You’re thinking, “well of course he is going to mention this – it’s right up his wheelhouse.” Interesting expression that: wheelhouse. The word “wheelhouse” has gone from a nautical term, to a baseball term, to a term that describes a person’s area of expertise. Continue reading →

In the flow of Sunday Gospels

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle A. In the flow of the Sunday gospels since the 11th Sunday there was a strong theme of mission. In those five gospel readings we have witnessed Jesus commissioning the Twelve, encouraging them to proclaim the message of Good News from the rooftops, while warning them that all this will come at a cost. On the 13th Sunday gospel Jesus makes clear they will face opposition and pushback from all quarters of life, including their families – and they may well have to choose between family and Jesus. In the course of those three gospels, in a previous post I noted that Mt 10:9-25 was not a Sunday reading but it only emphasizes the opposition, trials, and suffering that they may well face on this mission. Continue reading →