{"id":2964,"date":"2019-09-15T11:37:59","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T15:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2964"},"modified":"2019-09-15T11:37:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T15:37:59","slug":"24th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/24th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-3\/","title":{"rendered":"24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

24<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19 (Luke 15:18)
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32
September 15, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s\nreadings should be familiar to us.  Our\nSunday readings are on a three-year cycle so if you have been coming to church\nall your life, you have heard these several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add to that some\nof these readings are popular biblical stories, the Parable of the Prodigal Son\nand the story of the \u201cmolten calf<\/em>\u201d\nfrom the Exodus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus,\nthinking we have heard it all before, it would be easy enough to not pay much\nattention to these readings.  To do that\nwould not do the readings justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, we hear\nthe same readings every three years but are you the same person as three years\nago.  What has happened in your life?  What have your learned about our faith since\nthen?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you\nthink you are the same, it is still important to give the readings serious\nattention.  Sometimes we notice something\nwe didn\u2019t before.  It might be because of\nsomething that has happened to us, something we learned or the Spirit might\nprompt us to hear something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we resume\nour catechesis classes for our children and youth.  \u201cCatechesis\u201d might seem like a big church\nword.  It means to teach.  Our catechetical programs are meant to help\nour children have a solid foundation in our faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are grateful<\/em><\/strong> to our catechists (meaning our\nchildren\u2019s teachers) who volunteer to help our children know our faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said before\nthat we \u201cresume\u201d our classes.  As we\nbegin a new school year, many might say we \u201cstart\u201d our classes.  I used the word \u201cresume\u201d deliberately to\nremind us that learning about our faith is an ongoing process.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts in\nlistening to the readings and homily every Sunday but it can be more than that\nwith spiritual reading and\/or attending activities designed to deepen our\nfaith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nIsraelites in the Exodus probably thought they had a strong faith when God\nfreed them from slavery in Egypt.  God\npresented them with the Commandments and they agreed to follow the\nCommandments.  One might have thought\nthey were all set, knowing what they needed to know but their faith was\nimperfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moses then\nwent up on the mountain to converse with God. \nWhen the Israelites saw that Moses was delayed in returning, they became\n\u201cdepraved<\/em>\u201d, \u201cturned aside<\/em>\u201d from the way the Lord had shown them, and made a \u201cmolten calf.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If their\nfaith had been stronger, if they knew everything, this would not have\nhappened.  They needed to grow more in\ntheir faith and we should seek the same. \nLearning about our faith does not end in Confirmation.  It is a lifelong process if we truly want to\nbe good disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in this\nsame desire to grow in our faith that we need to open ourselves to new insights\neach time we hear the same readings at Mass. \nWhat is God saying to us today? \nThe Bible is a living<\/em><\/strong> document, still relevant\ntoday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance,\nthe first time a person hears the Parable of the Prodigal Son, one probably\nfocuses on the fact that the younger son sinned, hit bottom, and returned to his\nfather who eagerly welcomed him back.  We\nsee this as a sign of how God is willing to forgive us when we repent.  This is a very important point and to know\nthis gives us hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, we can\nfind more in the readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance,\nthe story is not just about the younger son. \nWe might relate to the younger son as sinners but have you ever asked\nyourself if you are more like the older son, always doing what the father asked\nbut resenting those who have turned away and refusing to welcome them\nback?  In short, are you willing to\nforgive others?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The older son\nwas not.  The father was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you like\nthe father, willing to forgive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only was\nthe father willing to forgive, he was eager to do so.  The culture of the time would have said then\nwhen the younger son left with his inheritance before the father died, he would\nbe considered dead to the family.  The culture\nwould have said the father would refuse to ever talk to the son again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this\nfather was not like that.  He was so\neager to forgive, to reconcile, that when he saw his younger son approaching,\nhe ran out to greet him and threw a celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your\nreaction when you see someone in church that hasn\u2019t been here in a while and\nhas sinned?  Do you think, \u201cwhat are they\ndoing here?\u201d or do you rejoice that they have returned?  Maybe they still need conversion but how do\nyou expect them to change if they don\u2019t come to church?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\ngoing back to seeing ourselves as the younger son, what sins have you committed?  Have you confessed them to God?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes\npeople say they need to get their sins under control and then<\/em> they will come to confess them in the Sacrament of\nReconciliation.  To think that way is to\nthink we can do it all on our own.  We\ncan\u2019t.  We need God\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the story,\nThe Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/em>, part\nof the Chronicles of Narnia <\/em>series by\nC.S. Lewis, Eustace sees the dragon\u2019s treasure and becomes greedy.  Because of his greed, he is transformed into\na dragon himself.  He cannot change himself\nback.  He needs Aslan to do this for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot\nreconcile ourselves to God.  We need God\nto do this.  We need God to wipe out our\noffenses, to wash us from our guilt, and to create a clean heart in us.  God does this in the Sacrament of\nReconciliation when we confess our sins with a contrite heart.
\n
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CExodus 32:7-11, 13-14Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19 (Luke 15:18)1 Timothy 1:12-17Luke 15:1-32September 15, 2019 Today\u2019s readings should be familiar to us.  Our Sunday readings are on a three-year cycle so if you have been coming to church all your life, you have heard these several times. Add to that …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘24th 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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[491,82,150],"tags":[635,191,139,165],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-LO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964"}],"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=2964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2965,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2964\/revisions\/2965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}