Epilogue to Sunday

 Click HERE is a great Catholic podcast on Mimetics and desire. Faith Sharing Questions: What was an act of generosity given to you?  How did it change you? What was an act of generosity given by you?  What was its effects? How has God been generous to you this past week?  What changes did it effect?

 

  Social Justice Intrinsic to us as Church is our Social Justice; it is our morality in action.  Social Justice becomes the visible sign of the invisible reality of our meaning.  This past week youth from various parishes were at Catholic Charities helping out; our teens when along the river to provide the homeless some supplies and cool drinks.  They do this not to earn favor or points, but to demonstrate to those in need they have value, and to show that they themselves have meaning. Gratitude What are we grateful for from the Church (not the institution per se)?  The answer or answers would then inspire us in our mission.  Presumably if we have gratitude, we would want to give thanks for what we have received through our actions.  Our actions correspond to our mission. Love To love someone is to see their value, their meaning; and it also means that we work to help the other express that value and meaning.  Love is not just a feeling, but it is...

What is a Prophet? The Prophets acted as Messengers from God to the people.  They were not necessarily seers, those who could see a future, but they could pronounce consequences of actions.  The prophets were often not listened to; they encountered resistance if not outright hostility.  Ezekiel would endure this and he is warned of this by God. Israel was told by their prophets to change their ways and to trust more in God, and to do what is right and just for people.  They resisted, sought alliances with other countries and eventually the Babylonians conquered them and sent the elite into exile and destroyed Jerusalem.   As I mentioned in the homily, the idea at the time was that when a nation was defeated in war it also meant that the nation's god was also defeated.  Israel going into defeat faced an existential crisis.  If they were the chosen people of God and God was defeated, who were they?  Thus God speaks to Ezekiel, tells him to go a...

We are taught in seminary that a homily needs to be between 7-10 minutes long.  I believe this and usually preach around 8 minutes, give or take.   Yet, as Archbishop Romero was reported to have said, not every homily can cover everything.   Still, when he made this statement, blogs were not a thing yet.    Often I find that there are other stories I could make, or more biblical insight to provide that can build on a homily.  As well people will ask questions, and these could have been useful. Homilies are meant to awaken people more and more to the presence and the working of God in their lives.  The homily involves some catechesis, story telling, admonition, and inspiration.  The center of the homily is always God, in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.   Recently our Coordinator of Youth and Young Adult ministry told me that some kids want longer homilies because we need to explain more.  Wow, I thought, isn't that ironic....