{"id":2639,"date":"2018-09-23T12:39:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T16:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2018-09-23T12:39:36","modified_gmt":"2018-09-23T16:39:36","slug":"25th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/25th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

25th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nWisdom 2:12, 17-20
\nPsalm 54:3-,4 5, 6-8 (6b)
\nJames 3:16-4:3
\nMark 9:30-37
\nSeptember 23, 2018<\/p>\n

Once again Jesus tells his disciples about his coming Passion.\u00a0 The first time Peter rebuked Jesus for what He said.\u00a0 This time we are told that \u201cthey did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, it seems, they basically ignored what Jesus said.\u00a0 As they journey to Capernaum they argued amongst themselves about \u201cwho was the greatest<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Clearly, they are prideful.\u00a0 Remember, \u201cpride\u201d is one of the seven deadly sins.\u00a0 As Christians, we are not called to be the \u201cgreatest.\u201d\u00a0 However, we are called to \u201cdo our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe these doesn\u2019t sound that different.\u00a0 As I see it, the difference lies in our motivation.\u00a0 If we are trying to be the \u201cgreatest\u201d, our goal is to make ourselves better than everyone else.<\/p>\n

If we are trying to \u201cdo our best,\u201d we are trying to take what God has given us and do good things with it.\u00a0 Doing our best isn\u2019t meant to be a comparison between ourselves and others.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t a competition.\u00a0 To do our \u201cbest\u201d as Christians is to open ourselves to the gifts that God has given us and use them in the way that God calls us to serve others.<\/p>\n

Thus, our goal should not be to be \u201cfirst\u201d but \u201cthe servant of all<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 This is what we are called to be as God\u2019s children.\u00a0 This is the natural order that God has set before us.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, as James writes, \u201cWhere jealousy and self-ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Here the word \u201cdisorder\u201d means other than as God created the world to be.<\/p>\n

If our personal goals are based on \u201cselfish-ambition<\/em>\u201d, we are going down the wrong path.\u00a0 As James went on to write, \u201cWhere do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?\u00a0 Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

How many wars started because of the desire of someone\u2019s quest for power and wealth?<\/p>\n

How often do we hold resentment within ourselves because we \u201ccovet<\/em>\u201d what we \u201cdo not possess<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 The last two Commandments speak of the ills of coveting our neighbor\u2019s wife and property.\u00a0 If we let our desire for our neighbor\u2019s property control our actions, then our actions are not based on love but rather \u201cgreed\u201d and \u201cjealously.\u201d\u00a0 What good can come from that?<\/p>\n

If we are always thinking about what we don\u2019t have, then we are blocking ourselves from seeing the blessings that we do have.\u00a0 Do you see the cup as half-full or half-empty?\u00a0\u00a0 Isn\u2019t life much better when we see it as half-full so that we can live with gratitude for what we do have rather than what we don\u2019t have?<\/p>\n

I need to acknowledge that there are people sitting here among us that struggle to make ends meet.\u00a0 Some might wonder how they are going to pay their rent, get groceries, or pay for their car insurance so they can get to work.\u00a0 These are real concerns<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This makes it all the more important for those of us with enough to realize the blessings of what we have received.\u00a0 When we have enough, we are called to live with an \u201cattitude of gratitude\u201d that gives us a desire to share our blessings with others.<\/p>\n

What are the blessings you can share with others?<\/p>\n

Perhaps you are blessed with a generous income, so you can donate financially to charitable works.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you are blessed with free time, so you can volunteer to help others.<\/p>\n

How about faith?\u00a0 Do you recognize the faith that you have as a blessing?\u00a0 Are you willing to share your faith with others as a blessing?<\/p>\n

To share what we can is Christian stewardship.\u00a0 It is good discipleship.\u00a0 It is the way we show our love for our neighbor and our desire to love God.<\/p>\n

All of this flows from my reflection this week on our readings from this Sunday.\u00a0 It also fits with our theme for this year\u2019s Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA).\u00a0 The theme is \u201cSharing Our Blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The annual letter from our bishop went out this week.\u00a0 There is also a video<\/a> for our appeal.\u00a0 The video<\/a> starts with a message from Bishop Matano regarding what is going with the clergy abuse scandal and how it might affect our generosity.\u00a0 The video<\/a> is available on the diocesan website for the appeal<\/a>\u00a0and I put it on our parish Facebook page<\/a> and parish website page about the CMA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These are difficult times for our church.\u00a0 While the scandal might affect one\u2019s willingness to be generous to the church, it does not change the fact that we are called to share our blessings.<\/p>\n

Think of those without enough food to eat, 11% of the money raised in the CMA goes to support the work of Catholic Charities in our diocese.\u00a0 For other ways your contributions to the appeal are used, you can look at the poster boards near our entrances.<\/p>\n

Our goal for the appeal this year changed by $1,300.\u00a0 It went down!\u00a0 Now, before you all start thinking you can contribute less this year, let me say that a couple of last year\u2019s contributors have died or moved away.\u00a0 Looking at the numbers, my best guess is that if everyone who is able gives the same amount as last year, we should meet our goal of $44,851.\u00a0 There might be some who can\u2019t give as much.\u00a0 Others might have had a good year of financial blessings.\u00a0 Whatever you can contribute is appreciated.<\/p>\n

I thank you for sharing your blessings of your time, talent, and treasure.\u00a0 May God always richly bless you in faith and with his love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 Psalm 54:3-,4 5, 6-8 (6b) James 3:16-4:3 Mark 9:30-37 September 23, 2018 Once again Jesus tells his disciples about his coming Passion.\u00a0 The first time Peter rebuked Jesus for what He said.\u00a0 This time we are told that \u201cthey did not understand the saying, and …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – 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":[82,49],"tags":[502,343,503],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Gz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639"}],"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=2639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2641,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}