{"id":2027,"date":"2017-01-29T09:39:06","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T14:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2027"},"modified":"2017-01-29T12:15:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T17:15:24","slug":"4th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nZephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13
\nPsalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
\n1 Corinthians 1:26-31
\nMatthew 5:1-12a
\nJanuary 29, 2017<\/p>\n

The prophet Zephaniah wrote in the 7th<\/sup> century B.C.\u00a0 This is shortly before Jerusalem falls to the Babylonian Empire.\u00a0 He speaks of how Israel did not listen to God\u2019s voice or draw near to God.<\/p>\n

Zephaniah speaks of how the Lord will leave a \u201cremnant of Israel<\/em>\u201d who will take refuge in the Lord.\u00a0 The Kingdom of Israel had already shrunk some when the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in the 8th<\/sup> Century B.C. and soon (at the time Zephaniah writes), the southern kingdom will fall but there will always be some who keep the faith as the \u201cremnant of Israel<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is in knowing all this that our first reading began today, \u201cSeek<\/em><\/strong> the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; seek<\/strong> justice, seek<\/strong> humility.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

Zephaniah uses the word \u201cseek\u201d three times in this one sentence, the first of which is with regards to the Lord himself, and the other two with regards to the virtues of justice and humility (both of which are a vital part of our faith.)<\/p>\n

What does it mean to \u201cseek the Lord?\u201d<\/p>\n

In human terms, we could define seeking the Lord as to try and learn about the Lord.\u00a0 In action, it can be to spend time in prayer and coming to Mass.<\/p>\n

How much effort do we put into our seeking?\u00a0 Obviously the fact that we come to Mass shows some effort.\u00a0 Celebrating the Eucharist is the source and summit of what we do as Catholics but is it the only thing we do?<\/p>\n

I recently finished reading Forming Intentional Disciples<\/em> by Sherry A. Weddell (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division. Huntington, IN. 2012).\u00a0 She describes five \u201cthresholds\u201d of our faith that I believe are a good way of thinking about the depth of our seeking.<\/p>\n

The first threshold is \u201ctrust.\u201d\u00a0 Now I have to admit that when I saw trust as the first (lowest) I was surprised because I immediately thought of \u201ctrust\u201d as trusting in the Lord, which I certainly won\u2019t put as the lowest level.\u00a0 As I read I discovered that she was using \u201ctrust\u201d in terms of our trust in other people or things.\u00a0 For instance, maybe the first time you came to church was because of a friend or family member who you trust and invited you here.\u00a0 Maybe you can include here that mom or dad said you have to come.<\/p>\n

The second threshold is \u201ccuriosity\u201d.\u00a0 You\u2019ve heard something about God, the Church, or some aspect of our faith that has triggered some curiosity in you.\u00a0 You aren\u2019t sure where it is going but you want to know more.<\/p>\n

The third threshold is \u201copenness\u201d.\u00a0 You\u2019ve experienced something you like or your heart and soul have been touched and you ask more but you aren\u2019t quite ready to change your life yet.<\/p>\n

The fourth and fifth threshold become harder to distinguish.\u00a0 Number four is \u201cseeking\u201d and the fifth is \u201cintentional discipleship.\u201d\u00a0 In moving to the fourth threshold of seeking, one has a definite interest in our faith and has begun to engage<\/em><\/strong> with their faith.\u00a0 When we have reached the fifth threshold of intentional discipleship we have turned our lives to God and being a disciple has become the priority of our life.<\/p>\n

Where would you put yourself in terms of the five thresholds of trust, curiosity, openness, seeking, and intentional discipleship?\u00a0 You can\u2019t assume just because you are coming to church you are an intentional disciple.\u00a0 In fact, Sherry Weddell puts most practicing Catholics in the third or fourth threshold.<\/p>\n

What are indicators of \u201cintentional discipleship\u201d?\u00a0 I think we see some in our readings today.\u00a0 Paul speaks of those who are wise and powerful by human standards as opposed to the foolish, the weak, and the lowly.\u00a0 It is the latter who are open to God.\u00a0 To be disciples we have to realize that we can\u2019t do it all ourselves.\u00a0 We need to be willing to put in some hard effort but to be intentional disciples, we have to realize how much we need<\/em><\/strong> God.<\/p>\n

We also see it on our gospel reading, known as the Beatitudes.\u00a0 We also see the reward of intentional discipleship.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 To be \u201cpoor in Spirit\u201d is to realize how much we need<\/em><\/strong> God.\u00a0 When we fully open ourselves to God, we receive the Kingdom of Heaven.<\/p>\n

The same could be seek for the meek who are described as blessed.\u00a0 Then, when we \u201chunger and thirst for righteousness<\/em>,\u201d we stop seeing things our own way and worrying about ourselves and realize that God has a better way.\u00a0 When we set aside the things of this world, we receive what we are created for, the fullness of God\u2019s grace and we are \u201csatisfied.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

If we want to be \u201cintentional disciples,\u201d we need to stop worrying about what others think or worldly things to put God at the top of our priorities, to put God at the top of our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13 Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Matthew 5:1-12a January 29, 2017 The prophet Zephaniah wrote in the 7th century B.C.\u00a0 This is shortly before Jerusalem falls to the Babylonian Empire.\u00a0 He speaks of how Israel did not listen to God\u2019s voice or draw near …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – 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":true,"_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":[9,82],"tags":[243,244,242],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-wH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027"}],"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=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2030,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions\/2030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}