A Homily – The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

 First Reading – Isaiah 66:18-21 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 116(117) ©

Second Reading – Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:23

Alternative Acclamation – John 14:6

The Gospel According to Luke 13:22 - 30 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

The scriptures often point out for us what the promise of a good life should be, telling us that if we are to have good things; they will not come from God as if by magic…do not expect it.

We experience the good if we live a just life…together; if we live together as one people, caring for one another we will experience that as good.

The good life will come for everyone if and only if our society, our civil structures, our courts, and every other apparatus of government are structured in as vehicles of compassion, justice and mercy; then we will have fellowship and that will be good.

It will be good in our hunger and our thirst, in our sorrow and our joy, it will be good.

Be mindful!

The God of creation is the God of all people, of all nations. The God of creation cares for God’s children, God cares for everyone and touches all us with mercy.

Trust in God; have faith, it will lighten the burden of the way.

Know this:

You are loved; you will not be tested beyond what you can endure.

Though God made us into creatures capable of suffering, and we know this much to be true, we also know that God will not heap it upon us. God does not interfere in our lives in any way. God does not lift us up or lay us low, because God has made us and the entire creation free. We are free to do good and free to do evil, subject to sorrow and capable of joy. There is no system of rewards and punishments laced through the things we experience in this life, those things simply are.

Be Mindful.

The grace of God is not transactional.

Love fosters love, but there is always love and God is always with you.

Remember!

Jesus instructs us in the way to aid us in leading a truthful life, a life dedicated to the good of all God’s children; follow it!

When Jesus encourages us to seek the narrow path, he is encouraging us to live the best life we can, the best life we are able to live, we conceive of this as going through the narrow door, not because the path is delimiting, but because it is difficult and few will even attempt it…the door is merely narrow, it is not locked. The narrow door is the way of justice and mercy, of love and forgiveness, it is the way of salvation and well-being.

God knows how difficult it is, and only asks that we aspire to it, God will lead us through the challenges that rise before us.

Know this.

Jesus understands the human condition, he knows that nearly everyone desires to follow the way, but few can live it completely. He also knows that we make the world a better place in direct proportion to the efforts we make to live out our lives according to our divine purpose.

Our individual and collective well-being depends on our willingness to forgive those who injure us, to accept forgiveness from those whom we have hurt, to be compassionate, merciful and just.

Jesus is not the master who locks the door, God is not the judge who tells God’s servants that they are unknown to the divine. God knows each of us, even as we know ourselves. God knows where we come from, and God where we are going…God leads us along the way.

God knows what is in the heart of every person, God knows, God loves and God forgives.

If the gatekeeper seeks to lock out any of God’s children, they do so not because they are on the narrow path, but because they are on the other path, the same path that most of the rest of us are walking…they are on the broad path which is nevertheless a path, it is the way that most of us sinners follow, it is the way we share with the patriarchs; with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with the prophets, all of whom were sinners like ourselves, and who were nonetheless the objects of God’s loving ministry.

Every person is the object of God’s love, whether we are on the narrow path or the broad path, whether we are trying to hold the gate closed or keep it open, we are all welcome to God’s table. God is patiently waiting for us to join the divine convivium.

Remember.

The last will be first and the first will last…Jesus said so; think nothing of your place in society, of your office or of your power unless you are thinking of how to use those things for the benefit of others…then and only then will you e like the angels of God.

First Reading – Isaiah 66:18-21 ©

They Will Bring All Your Brothers from All the Nations

The Lord says this: I am coming to gather the nations of every language. They shall come to witness my glory. I will give them a sign and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put, Lud, Moshech, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant islands that have never heard of me or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory to the nations. As an offering to the Lord they will bring all your brothers, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, on dromedaries, from all the nations to my holy mountain in Jerusalem, says the Lord, like Israelites bringing oblations in clean vessels to the Temple of the Lord. And of some of them I will make priests and Levites, says the Lord.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 116(117) ©

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

O praise the Lord, all you nations,

  acclaim him all you peoples!

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

Strong is his love for us;

  he is faithful for ever.

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 ©

The Lord Trains the One He Loves

Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons? My son, when the Lord corrects you, do not treat it lightly; but do not get discouraged when he reprimands you. For the Lord trains the ones that he loves and he punishes all those that he acknowledges as his sons. Suffering is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him? Of course, any punishment is most painful at the time, and far from pleasant; but later, in those on whom it has been used, it bears fruit in peace and goodness. So hold up your limp arms and steady your trembling knees and smooth out the path you tread; then the injured limb will not be wrenched, it will grow strong again.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – John 14:6

Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.’

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 13:22 - 30 ©

The Last Shall be First and the First Last

Through towns and villages Jesus went teaching, making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, ‘Sir, will there be only a few saved?’ He said to them, ‘Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.

 ‘Once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may find yourself knocking on the door, saying, “Lord, open to us” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.” Then you will find yourself saying, “We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets” but he will reply, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!”

 ‘Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves turned outside. And men from east and west, from north and south, will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

 ‘Yes, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.’

 

A Homily – The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)