{"id":1848,"date":"2016-06-26T13:55:37","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T17:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1848"},"modified":"2016-06-26T13:55:37","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T17:55:37","slug":"final-sunday-homily-at-immaculate-13th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/final-sunday-homily-at-immaculate-13th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Sunday Homily at Immaculate (13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)"},"content":{"rendered":"

13th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
\n1 Kings 19:16b: 19-21
\nPsalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
\nGalatians 5:1, 13-18
\nLuke 9:51-52
\nJune 26, 2016<\/p>\n

Elijah was a great prophet serving in a time when the kings and many people were turning from the Lord.\u00a0 Through many challenges Elijah kept doing what God asked of him.<\/p>\n

While Elijah was a good prophet, he was never meant to be a prophet forever.\u00a0 He was human just like us so his time on Earth was limited.<\/p>\n

God knew this and God always had a plan for what would come next after Elijah.\u00a0 It was God\u2019s plan that Elisha should be Elijah\u2019s successor and so God directed Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor.<\/p>\n

Elisha accepted the call but not without first wanting to say goodbye to his family.<\/p>\n

Turning to the gospel, one person told Jesus, \u201cI will follow you wherever you go<\/em>\u201d to which Jesus tells him that \u201cthe Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head<\/em>\u201d signifying that it is not easy to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n

We hear others who say they are ready to follow Jesus but they want to do other things first.\u00a0 Now, in any good discernment about God\u2019s will we need to consider two things.\u00a0 First, what is God\u2019s will and, secondly, when<\/em> does God want us to do it.\u00a0 When God says now, He means now.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where I am at now.\u00a0 God has told me to go to St. Michael\u2019s.\u00a0 This has not been easy for me.\u00a0 It was not in my plan to do this but I cannot emphasize enough how much I believe this is what God wants me to do.<\/p>\n

God has given each of us the freedom to say no.\u00a0 I could have said no but didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I believe the best use of my freedom is to do what God asks of me.\u00a0 If I desire to take my refuge in the Lord, then I need to go where He leads me.<\/p>\n

Many people here have told me they wish I wasn\u2019t leaving and I appreciate that.\u00a0 I imagine there are some who are happy I am leaving.\u00a0 There were those who disagreed with Jesus.\u00a0 James and John asked Jesus if they should \u201ccall down fire from heaven to consume<\/em>\u201d those who didn\u2019t welcome Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus rebuked James and John for suggesting such a thing.\u00a0 Each person is free to choose their own path, knowing there can be consequences to our choices.<\/p>\n

I would imagine there are some people who wish I was staying just because they don\u2019t like change.\u00a0 You know what you have with me.\u00a0 A new priest comes as an unknown.<\/p>\n

I would also imagine that these people felt the same way when I arrived four years ago.\u00a0 Over the four years, you have come to know me.<\/p>\n

I suspect there are people who can accept that God is calling me to another parish but then wonder \u2018what about Immaculate.\u2019<\/p>\n

Again, God has a plan.\u00a0 I truly believe God would not call me to another parish without first already knowing who would succeed me.\u00a0 Just like Elisha succeeded Elijah, Fr. Chumo will succeed me.\u00a0 As I leave on Tuesday, he will arrive the same day.<\/p>\n

Will Fr. Chumo be exactly like me?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t supposed to be.\u00a0 He is supposed to be who God calls him to be.\u00a0 He won\u2019t do things exactly<\/em><\/strong> the way I did.\u00a0 He isn\u2019t supposed.\u00a0 We are One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church<\/em>, so we do a lot the same in each church but we are unique individuals.<\/p>\n

As I leave, I want to ask something of you.\u00a0 When I arrived you were very welcoming to me.\u00a0 Please do the same for Fr. Chumo.<\/p>\n

If you want to show appreciation for what I have done here I believe the best way you can show such appreciation after I leave is to keep coming here for Mass and that you keep giving to Immaculate with your time, talent, and treasure<\/em>.\u00a0 What I have done here has never been to get you to like me.\u00a0 It has been to lead you to Christ.<\/p>\n

The last four years have not been about me.\u00a0 It\u2019s about Jesus.\u00a0 When I leave on Tuesday, Jesus will still be here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C 1 Kings 19:16b: 19-21 Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11 Galatians 5:1, 13-18 Luke 9:51-52 June 26, 2016 Elijah was a great prophet serving in a time when the kings and many people were turning from the Lord.\u00a0 Through many challenges Elijah kept doing what God asked of …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Final Sunday Homily at Immaculate (13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C)’ »<\/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-tO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848"}],"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=1848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1849,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848\/revisions\/1849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}