{"id":2908,"date":"2019-07-14T11:26:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-14T15:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2908"},"modified":"2019-07-14T11:26:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T15:26:48","slug":"15th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/15th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

15<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37 (33)
Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 10:25-37
July 14, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hear the \u201cscholar of the law<\/em>\u201d ask Jesus a question.  We are told that he asked Jesus the question\n\u201cto test him.<\/em>\u201d  While the scholar\u2019s motives may not be pure,\nthe question is one we all want to know the answer to, \u201cwhat must I do to inherit eternal life?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are here today because we seek\neternal life.  What does it take?  Jesus puts the scholar\u2019s question back to him\nby asking, \u201cWhat is written in the law?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scholar responds quoting\nDeuteronomy 6:5, calling us to love God with \u201call\u201d we have and are, and\nLeviticus 19:18, calling us to love our neighbor.  Jesus affirms the scholar\u2019s response.  We are called to be loved and to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scholar then asks, \u201cAnd who is my neighbor?<\/em>\u201d  Physically, our neighbor is someone who lives\nin the house next to us or near us.  For\nthe Jews, it would be kinsmen and other Jews. \nTo help us understand who really is our \u201cneighbor\u201d, Jesus tells the\nParable of the Good Samaritan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of us have heard the story\nbefore, \u201ca man fell feel victim to\nrobbers<\/em>\u201d who \u201cbeat him and went off\nleaving him half-dead.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who would help him?  First a priest came along.  The priest was a man of God.  He should have helped but he didn\u2019t.  Instead, \u201che\npassed by on the opposite side<\/em>.\u201d  The\nLevite, also a servant of God does the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third person is a Samaritan, who\nwould have been despised by the Jews.  He\nis the one who does the right thing and stops to help the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you have stopped and helped the\nvictim?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me tell you about an experience I\nhad while in seminary in Washington, DC. \nOn this particular day, I went out for my daily walk.  I had barely started walking along Michigan\nAvenue, when I noticed a man laying on the sidewalk.  I don\u2019t like to stereotype but, for lack of a\nbetter description, I will say, \u201che looked homeless.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan Avenue is a major\nthoroughfare so there is lots of traffic but no one was stopping to help.  Sadly, there are a lot of homeless in the\narea so people don\u2019t pay much attention. \nHowever, it was unusual to see a person laying in the middle of the\nsidewalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did I stop?  I will be honest and say I didn\u2019t.  On a positive note, I did not cross to the opposite\nside like the priest and the Levite.  I\npaused long enough to see if he looked sick or injured.  He didn\u2019t. \nI should have asked him if he was okay but I didn\u2019t \u201cheed the voice<\/em>\u201d within me and I kept on\nwalking.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thought of him laying on the\nsidewalk stayed with me the whole walk, enough that I made a point to walk past\nthe spot on my way home but he was already gone.  I hope he was okay and simply woke up and\nleft on his own but I don\u2019t know.  Now,\nwhenever I hear the story of the Good Samaritan, I think of that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you have done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some would do nothing because they \u201cdon\u2019t\nwant to get involved.\u201d  Others say they\ndon\u2019t have the means to help.  Part of me\nmight have thought that with this man in DC. \nI didn\u2019t have much money and I didn\u2019t know where to direct him to get\nhim any help.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all called to help the\npoor.  It might be financially but we\nwonder about helping the stranger on the street, what they might do with the\nmoney?  We have two options there.  First, instead of giving them money, buy them\nwhat they need so they can\u2019t use the money for something else.  Another option if you are financially able is\nto give to charities.  Then, when you see\nsome in need, direct them to a charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another option if you can\u2019t help\nfinancially, or want to do more, is to volunteer.  I\u2019m new here but I know there are charities\naround like the food pantry and Catholic Charities.  We have parishioners who volunteer in prison\nministry or in bringing Communion to the nursing homes and homebound just to\nbegin to name some options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, whether or not we are able to\nvolunteer or to give financially, we can all pray.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I think of the experience I\ndescribed from my seminary days, I wish I had done differently.  I feel like I went astray and ask God to keep\nme on the right path going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can all pray to ask the Lord to\n\u201copen our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters; inspire in us words\nand actions\u201d that we may love God and our neighbor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CDeuteronomy 30:10-14Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37 (33)Colossians 1:15-20Luke 10:25-37July 14, 2019 We hear the \u201cscholar of the law\u201d ask Jesus a question.  We are told that he asked Jesus the question \u201cto test him.\u201d  While the scholar\u2019s motives may not be pure, the question is one we …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘15th 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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,7],"tags":[612,182,613],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-KU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908"}],"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=2908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2909,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908\/revisions\/2909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}