Catechism
Links[1]
CCC 2581-2584: Prophets and conversion of heart
CCC 436: Christ as prophet
CCC 162: Perseverance in faith
CCC 268, 273, 1508: Power is made perfect in weakness
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| “Jesus at the Brow of the Hill in Nazareth” by James Tissot, 1886-96 |
Readings
and Commentary:[4]
Reading
1: Ezekiel 2:2-5
As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into
me
and set me on my feet,
and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have revolted against
me to this very day.
Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD
GOD!
And whether they heed or resist—for they are a
rebellious house—
they shall know that a prophet has been among
them.
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Commentary
on Ez 2:2-5
The introduction to the prophet in the first
chapter of the book of Ezekiel describes the heavenly vision in which the
prophet is engaged. In the beginning of the second chapter, God issues his call
to Ezekiel, sending him to call the Israelites back to faithfulness from which
they had rebelled. The implication is clear: the prophet is to expect
resistance, but God’s support will identify him as coming from the Lord God.
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Responsorial
Psalm: Psalm
123:1-2, 2, 3-4
R. (2cd) Our eyes are fixed on the
Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven —
As the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for
his mercy.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for
his mercy.
Have pity on us, O LORD, have pity on us,
for we are more than sated with contempt;
our souls are more than sated
with the mockery of the arrogant,
with the contempt of the proud.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for
his mercy.
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Commentary
on Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
Psalm 123 is an individual lament. In these
strophes we hear the prayer of the psalmist who expresses faith in God’s power.
Using the image of the vulnerable servant, the song pleads to God for salvation
from those who have the power to harm them.
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Reading
II: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Brothers and sisters:
That I, Paul, might not become too elated,
because of the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel
of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that
it might leave me,
but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient
for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness."
I will rather boast most gladly of my
weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with
me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses,
insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
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Commentary
on 2
Cor 12:7-10
As part of his defense of his own apostolate,
St. Paul describes, in rather convoluted terms, an out-of-body experience in
which Christ revealed the mission he was to undertake. Rather than helping him,
these revelations brought persecution, “a thorn in the flesh.” The
Apostle uses his Christ-like response to physical and rhetorical challenges by
saying that, through his weakness and humility, he is given the power of the
Holy Spirit to carry on the Lord’s work.
“The passage also shows us what attitude we
should take to our own weakness: 'We have to glory.' St Alphonsus says, 'in the
knowledge of our own weakness in order to acquire the strength of Jesus Christ,
which is holy humility,' without 'giving in to lack of confidence, as the devil
wants, and falling into more serious sins' ('Treasury of Preaching Material',
II, 6).” [5]
CCC: 2 Cor 12:9 268, 273, 1508
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Gospel: Mark 6:1-6
Jesus departed from there and came to his native
place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the
synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, "Where did this man get all
this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and
Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in
his native place
and among his own kin and in his own
house."
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed
there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying
his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
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Commentary
on Mk 6:1-6
This passage is St. Mark’s account
of the Lord returning to his home town. As is his custom, he goes to speak in
the synagogue and amazes the people he grew up with. The Lord encounters
intense skepticism, born out of the fact that the people knew him before he
took up his mission. In St. Luke's version (Luke 4:28ff),
reference is made to the feeling that Jesus, in assuming the role of the
Messiah, had blasphemed. The resulting attempt on his life is omitted in St.
Mark's Gospel, but we still see the Lord’s response to their lack of faith.
Non-canonical documents of the early Church Fathers (c. 400) refer to the relationships
of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. See The
History of Joseph the Carpenter.
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Homily:
There have been numerous stories written about
people returning to their home towns, sometimes as successes and sometimes as
failures. In almost all of those stories, the person returning finds the people
have changed or seem to have changed. Attitudes toward that individual are
different, or so it seems. It is something like going back to the playground
you knew as a child, and seeing the “big slide” you remember being quite small.
Ultimately there is truth to the old saying: “you can’t go home.” What you knew
and how you knew it will not be the same.
Jesus finds the same situation in the Gospel
story today. He goes home and, as it was his custom when he was still living
with his parents, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. When he got up and
took part in the service, the people who had known him since he was a boy
rejected what he had to say, not because they were not amazed, certainly they
must have been, but rather because it was Joseph’s son Jesus, who was teaching
from the scriptures. They knew him from boyhood, and while he was no doubt a
model son and well respected by everyone, they probably had thought him a bit
too good, perhaps even strange. Would we not think the same of a child who grew
up with us, but never did anything wrong, never got into serious trouble, was
always kind and thoughtful?
Here was this boy, now telling them what God was
saying in scriptures. Matthew says:
“They said, ‘Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and
Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?’”
(As a side note; there is an ancient document
from the around the fourth century called “The History of
Joseph the Carpenter” In that
document the following mention is made regarding Jesus’ extended family:
“There was a man whose name was Joseph, sprung
from a family of Bethlehem, a town of Judah, and the city of King David. This
same man, being well furnished with wisdom and learning, was made a priest in
the temple of the Lord. He was, besides, skillful in his trade, which was that
of a carpenter; and after the manner of all men, he married a wife. Moreover,
he begot for himself sons and daughters, four sons, namely, and two daughters.
Now these are their names— Judas, Justus, James, and Simon. The names of the
two daughters were Assia and Lydia. At length the wife of righteous Joseph, a
woman intent on the divine glory in all her works, departed this life. But
Joseph, that righteous man, my father after the flesh, and the spouse of my
mother Mary, went away with his sons to his trade, practicing the art of a
carpenter.”)
It was then that Jesus must have had that
sinking feeling, saying to himself: “you can’t go home.”
We each are challenged by this same set of circumstances.
Our Bishop, Earl Boyea, has called upon each of us through his pastoral letter “Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord” issued six
years ago. It is a strategic map to help
us combat the toll being taken by the systematic attack on traditional
Christian values being waged by secular society. He calls on us to
revitalize our church, reaching out to others in the New Evangelization.
While we may think of this as a call to reach
out to the unchurched, or those who are not of the Catholic faith, he makes it
clear that the first demographic we must reach out to are those of us still in
active communion with the faith community.
How can we give water to the thirsty when our own bucket is empty?
Fr. Bill and his leadership team (the pastoral staff
and advisory councils) have been working hard to give us the tools to build up
our spiritual strength, fill our buckets if you will. A First Good Step was a series of small group faith sharing
meetings focused on our Creed that began two years ago. We began a series that
will start again in a few short months in program called Alpha for
Catholics. It is another opportunity for
us to fill our spiritual tool box; making us stronger Christians in a world
increasingly hostile to what we stand for.
In that step, we reach out to those who have
fallen away or who are “marginally” Catholic (or not Catholic at all but
interested). With this Gospel story from St. Matthew staring us squarely in the
face, we must ask: who among us do not have friends, family members or
coworkers who fall into these categories? These are the ones we are called to
reach out to first. And the Gospel shows us how!
Jesus does not “buttonhole” the unbelievers. He
uses his words and actions as examples. He does not criticize people. He
challenges their actions and calls them to a higher standard through his own
behavior.
So what are we called to do? We are called
become “better Catholics.”
- We are asked first, not to hide who we are and what we believe.
- We must show it. When talk of politics comes up at the office or at school or with friends, we should be pointing the threats to religious freedom and the erosion of values we see.
- When talk gets crude or bigoted we should be polite but firm, saying that we do not appreciate that kind of talk or humor or attitudes that demean others.
- We should be the first to help those in difficulty and demonstrate our adherence to the Great Commandment: “Love one another.”
And if we don’t feel comfortable taking these
actions we must ask why. Is it because we don’t know how to say what needs to
be said, or is it because we ourselves lack the courage? We can educate
ourselves to remedy the first and pray fervently to be given the second.
The Lord shows us what it is like to go home, to
take a message to the people who know us best. He shows us the difficulty we
will face. Our Bishop bids us to follow his example. We must now look inside
and find there the courage and will to follow the Lord’s example and our
Church’s call.
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2]
The picture used is “Jesus
at the Brow of the Hill in Nazareth” by James Tissot, 1886-96.
[4]
The readings are taken from
the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which
were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL).
This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5]
The Navarre Bible:
“Letters of St. Paul”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p.342.
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