{"id":1177,"date":"2013-08-25T09:48:28","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T13:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1177"},"modified":"2013-08-25T09:48:28","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T13:48:28","slug":"21st-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/21st-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

21st<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/a>
\nIsaiah 66:18-21
\nHebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
\nLuke 13:22-30
\nAugust 25, 2013<\/p>\n

Isaiah speaks the message of the Lord that he will invite people of every language to see his glory.\u00a0 He speaks of how ALL will be an offering to the Lord.\u00a0 The Lord goes so far as to say He will even call some of the people from other nations to be priests and Levites.<\/p>\n

To the Israelites, this would seem astonishing.\u00a0 They saw themselves as a chosen people and indeed they were.\u00a0 They also saw themselves as an exclusive people but the Lord didn\u2019t.\u00a0 To them, it might be astonishing that Gentiles could be part of God\u2019s people.\u00a0 Even more astonishing is for them to serve as priests and Levites for that was a heredity duty.<\/p>\n

The Israelites were indeed a chosen people but salvation would be made open to all.<\/p>\n

A few hundred years later, at the time of Jesus, the question of salvation was still open.\u00a0 We hear a person ask Jesus \u201cLord, will only a few people be saved?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

An honest question, one that we might all like to know the answer to.\u00a0 If only a few will be saved, then we know it is not easy.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us\u00a0that not all are strong enough.\u00a0 He teaches that the path is not easy, that we must enter through the narrow gate.<\/p>\n

This idea of the narrow gate signifies that we cannot do whatever we want and still get into Heaven.\u00a0 There are rules that must be followed.<\/p>\n

So how many will be saved?\u00a0 Are some destined not to be saved?\u00a0 We should desire that ALL <\/i><\/b>be saved.\u00a0 But will all be saved?<\/p>\n

In the words of consecration for the wine, we hear words that beg this question.\u00a0 Referring to the Blood of Christ, we hear the words \u201cwhich will be poured out for you and for many.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

We used to say \u201cfor all\u201d.\u00a0 Does this mean that we used to belief that all will be <\/i>saved but now we believe that only many will be saved?<\/p>\n

Our theology has not changed.\u00a0 In fact, in the official Latin text, the words here did not change.\u00a0 It has always been \u2018for many\u2019.<\/p>\n

Why the distinction?<\/p>\n

Salvation is possible for all.\u00a0 Jesus wants everyone to be saved but Jesus knows not all will accept the gift.<\/p>\n

What must we do to accept the gift?\u00a0 We must enter through the narrow gate.\u00a0 We must live as Jesus calls us to live.\u00a0 Not everyone will.\u00a0 God knows we are not perfect but we must try.\u00a0 As long as we try, when we fail, God forgives us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t enough just to show up in church.\u00a0 People tell Jesus that they ate and drank in his company but He tells them he does not know them.<\/p>\n

Salvation is a gift open to all.\u00a0 Are we willing to live in a way that accepts the gift?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Isaiah 66:18-21 Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 Luke 13:22-30 August 25, 2013 Isaiah speaks the message of the Lord that he will invite people of every language to see his glory.\u00a0 He speaks of how ALL will be an offering to the Lord.\u00a0 The Lord goes so far as to say He …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-iZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1178,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions\/1178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}