{"id":2217,"date":"2017-07-30T11:50:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-30T15:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2217"},"modified":"2017-07-30T11:50:51","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T15:50:51","slug":"17th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/17th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

17th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\n1 Kings 3:5:7-12
\nPsalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
\nRomans 8:28-30
\nMatthew 13:44-52<\/p>\n

Jesus says, \u201cThe kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure<\/em>\u201d so valuable that one who finds it \u201csells all that he has<\/em>\u201d to be able to obtain the treasure.<\/p>\n

What do you see as valuable?\u00a0 It might be monetary value but let\u2019s think beyond that.\u00a0 What is important enough to you that you arrange your schedule around it?<\/p>\n

Is it sports, plays, or music concerts?\u00a0 Is it work?\u00a0 Is it your fun time or being able to take a vacation?\u00a0 Maybe you want to sleep in on Sunday morning?\u00a0 How about your phone?\u00a0 Can you go an hour without checking your phone?\u00a0 How about fishing or a round of golf?<\/p>\n

Would you give up all of these things (i.e. sell all that you have) to enter the kingdom of Heaven?<\/p>\n

What could be more valuable to us than eternity in Heaven?<\/p>\n

The challenge is that we like to think that Heaven is a ways off, and that we will live a long time before then.\u00a0 Right now we have to live in this world.<\/p>\n

God offers us treasures to help us in this world.\u00a0 For example, when Solomon became king, God said, \u201cAsk something of me and I will it to you.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Solomon did not ask for a long life, riches, or revenge.\u00a0 He asked for an \u201cunderstanding heart<\/em>\u201d, hence the \u201cwisdom of Solomon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom and understanding are gifts of the Holy Spirit that God offers us to help us know how to live in this world.<\/p>\n

In our psalm response today we sang, \u201cLord, I love your commands<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Do we really love God\u2019s commands?\u00a0 Do we see them as \u201cmore precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces<\/em>\u201d?\u00a0 Do we see God\u2019s decrees as \u201cwonderful<\/em>\u201d?<\/p>\n

Again, God\u2019s commands are his way of guiding us on how to live in this world.\u00a0 We should not see his commands as burdens.\u00a0 When we do not understand them or if we disagree with them we should not discard them.\u00a0 If we love God and his commands, then we need to put some effort into learning more about them.<\/p>\n

One of the ways we do this is to study God\u2019s Word in the Bible.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we are doing right now!\u00a0 We just heard readings from the Bible and now I seek to help you understand what they mean for us today.<\/p>\n

This is why, as Bishop Matano wrote in his pastoral letter for our Year of the Eucharist, that we should seek to come to Mass every Sunday<\/em>, to receive the treasure of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 I know things like a football game (or practice), a round of golf, or just sleeping in might be more fun than coming to church but what do they do to help you know the \u201cKingdom of Heaven\u201d?<\/p>\n

As if God\u2019s Word isn\u2019t enough there is still more treasure to receive at Mass.\u00a0 It is the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Jesus<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It gives us strength to live like Jesus.\u00a0 It is not <\/em><\/strong>just bread and wine.\u00a0 As the Body and Blood of Jesus, it is a treasure to be cherished.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we have \u201crules\u201d about receiving Jesus.\u00a0 We need to take it seriously, to do our best to follow Jesus.\u00a0 It\u2019s also why the \u201crules\u201d say that non-Catholics are not to receive Communion.\u00a0 To receive one needs to understand the Eucharist as a treasure.<\/p>\n

The whole Mass is a treasure of receiving God\u2019s blessing.\u00a0 God blesses us with abundance.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we are called to come before it starts and not leave until it is completely over.\u00a0 Yes, the greatest treasure comes in the Eucharist but after Communion comes a final blessing.\u00a0 Every blessing is a gift from God to be treated as a treasure.\u00a0 Even the recessional hymn is important as we give praise to God for the treasures He has given us.<\/p>\n

Are you ready to sell all that you have to receive the Kingdom of Heaven?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A 1 Kings 3:5:7-12 Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130 Romans 8:28-30 Matthew 13:44-52 Jesus says, \u201cThe kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure\u201d so valuable that one who finds it \u201csells all that he has\u201d to be able to obtain the treasure. What do you see as valuable?\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘17th 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":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":[113,82,302],"tags":[318,317,304],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-zL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217"}],"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=2217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2218,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions\/2218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}