A Homily – Most Holy Trinity (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading – Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40 ©

Responsorial Psalm 32(33):4-6,9,18-20,22

Second Reading – Romans 8:14-17 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Revelations 1:8

The Gospel According to Matthew 28:16-20 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 The law as it was written, is not the law of God, it was the law of human beings. God does not distribute land among the people, parceling out lots like a county surveyor. God does not play favorites among nations, tribes or families. God, is not a God of battles and any social construct theology predicated on such a notion should be rejected out of hand.

 Consider the wisdom of the psalmist, who is correct when demonstrating how fitting it is to praise God.

 It is wise to trust in the counsel of God, to have faith in God’s mercy, but it is foolishness to expect that God will rescue you from the dangers of this world…God will not.

 God does not intervene in our world, and it is folly to believe that God will, and nonsense to believe that God’s loves any one of God’s children more than any other.

 Be mindful.

 God knows all things; God understands all things. You have heard this said and it is true, but God’s knowledge is not an abstract knowledge of the particular details of individual events, their precedents and consequences. God understands our person, the choices we make in the context of our lived experience; God understand us even as we understand ourselves, though God’s understanding is conditioned by divine clarity, the scope of which is without measure.

 Therefore, do as the psalmist says and trust in God’s plan for you, trust in God’s plan for creation; do not wait for salvation, because salvation was promised to you the moment you came into world…this is the good news, and we are called to share it.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle, who misconstrues many things.

 It is true that we are free to live spiritual lives, and that as followers of the way we are called to live our lives governed by our most altruistic hopes. Even though we are animals, we do not have to live as animals do, governed by appetite and predation.

 Know this.

 Everyone is a child of God; from the most disciplined and devout, to the most reckless, devilish, destructive and demonic.

 Be mindful.

 No one has need to fear God, we are united with God…by God, who is the source of all being. God created us in the divine image and after doing so God said that what God had made was good.

 Understand this:

 Some of us may suffer more than others, but everyone suffers. Jesus suffered, and we honor what he taught us through his suffering.

 Remember.

 Jesus is not a king or a ruler of anykind, he is not a priest but a prophet; Jesus is a friend, a comforter and healer, he came to show us the way and it is our duty to follow him.

 Consider the gospel reading for today.

 This passage is commonly known as the “Great Commission,” it purports to grant authority to the disciples that survived Jesus’ arrest and execution.

 It is pure propaganda.

 The event described never happened, but the writers of Matthew’s Gospel, writing more than one hundred years after Jesus was killed, thought it was necessary to establish their own authority and the exclusive right to speak and act in Jesus’ name, therefore they wrote this into the sacred text.

 Apart from the false narrative (which cannot be condoned) the message is reasonable, it articulates the basic mission of the church: to turn all people of all nations into followers of the way, to be seekers of justice and servants of truth, to foster the type of community that cares for the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the marginalized among them.

First Reading – Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40 ©

The Lord is God Indeed: He and No Other

Moses said to the people: ‘Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you, from the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard it, and remain alive? Has any god ventured to take to himself one nation from the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors – all this that the Lord your God did for you before your eyes in Egypt?

  ‘Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever.’

 

Responsorial Psalm 32(33):4-6,9,18-20,22

The Lord Provides

Praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just:

  it is good for the upright to praise him.

Proclaim the Lord on the lyre,

  play his song on the ten-stringed harp.

Sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing out your cries of triumph,

for the word of the Lord is truly just,

  and all his actions are faithful.

The Lord loves justice and right judgement;

  the earth is full of his loving kindness.

By the Lord’s word the heavens were made,

  and all their array by the breath of his mouth.

He gathered the seas as if in a bag,

  he stored up the depths in his treasury.

Let every land fear the Lord,

  let all the world be awed at his presence.

For he spoke, and they came into being;

  he commanded, and they were made.

The Lord confounds the counsel of the nations,

  throws the thoughts of the peoples into confusion.

But the Lord’s own counsel stands firm for ever,

  his thoughts last for all generations.

Happy the nation whose lord is God,

  the people he has chosen as his inheritance.

The Lord looks down from the heavens

  and sees all the children of men.

From his dwelling-place he looks

  upon all who inhabit the earth.

He moulded each one of their hearts,

  he understands all that they do.

The king will not be saved by his forces;

  the abundance of his strength will not set the strong man free.

Do not trust a horse to save you,

  whatever its swiftness and strength.

For see, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

  upon those who trust in his mercy,

hoping he will save their souls from death

  and their bodies from hunger.

Our souls praise the Lord,

  for he is our help and our protector,

for our hearts rejoice in him,

  and we trust in his holy name.

Lord, show us your loving kindness,

  just as we put our hope in you.

The Lord Provides

 

Second Reading – Romans 8:14-17 ©

The Spirit Himself and Our Spirit Bear United Witness that We Are Children of God

Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Revelations 1:8

Alleluia, alleluia!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; the God who is, who was, and who is to come.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 28:16-20 ©

Go and Make Disciples of All Nations

The eleven disciples set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.

 

A Homily – Most Holy Trinity (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

A Homily - The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 ©

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and John 6:68

Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2 Thessalonians 2:14

The Gospel of The Day - John 2:1-11 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

In the reading from Isaiah we are given a profound expression of hope for the future of Israel and by extension the entire world. As Christians and theists we are called on to brandish that hope, carry it forward, not only for ourselves but for all people, in all places, at all times.

Following the teaching of Isaiah we come to understand that this hope is like the hope of a young couple entering into marriage. They do not know what the future will bring but they are determined to face it together, believing that together they can endure whatever comes their way, even those things that threaten to overwhelm them.

Together we are stronger, through our relationships we are wiser, in a bond of unity we are better, the love they share with one another, in the view of the prophet, is like a bright and beautiful gemstone adorning a crown upon our heads, it is like a beacon on a hill lighting up the night.

The prophet speaks from a position of wisdom and ignorance both, as do we all, knowing some things and not knowing others. Isaiah speaks well of faith and hope, but regarding the activity of the creator in the world, there is confusion. He speaks to his belief that God, the creator of the universe has played a role in shaping the destiny of Israel, and by extension the world…this is an error.

Know this:

God has made both us and the entire creation free. God does not coerce anything or anyone. God does not intervene in worldly affairs, either for our benefit, or to our detriment. We are free, as individuals and in the whole.

Our faith tells us to look to God for deliverance from this world to a place of safety and joy, of love and rest, to bring us to a place of wellbeing…not in this world, but the next.

Be mindful.

It is right to praise God; it is right and good. It is right to treat our discourse concerning God with respect and honor; God is holy and our discourse should reflect that, keeping in mind the sacred nature of God’s blessed work, but it is wrong to think of God as a Lord.

God, whom Jesus called abba (papa), God is not a royalist. Disregard the psalmist when he speaks this way.

Remember this:

God has already judged the world, God has judged the entirety of the created order, God Judged it at the beginning while seeing the end, God judged the world and proclaimed that it is good, and us in it…not good “on balance,” but good in its entirety, the whole of the created order, existing in and through the divine Logos, sustained by God’s word, the alpha and the omega saw that it is good.

This is what our faith instructs us to believe: God is not to be feared, but trusted.

Be mindful.

As a theist I will happily proclaim that there is only one God. As a philosopher I will tell you that the infinite can only be expressed by the numeral one; the infinite is one, undivided, indivisible being. There are no other God’s, but there are other cultures and traditions who approach the divine with different languages, and the reality of different felt-experiences.

We should respect, cultures different from our own and strive to understand all human language concerning the sacred and pertaining to the divine reality, from whatever culture or whatever nation it comes.

Know this:

There is only one God and none of us understand God perfectly…no one ever has.

Remember!

God’s salvation is close at hand; we are a single heart-beat away from it. Therefore, have no fear, God’s grace does not come and go according to our merits, it is always present.

God is present in all times and all places; God is with you now, believe it without fear.

Salvation reaches everyone, not because any of us deserve it, but simply because God loves us, every last one of us, God laid a plan for our salvation when we only existed in potential, as a mere possibility, we were touched by grace even then.

Be mindful.

God welcomes our participation in the work of the faithful, and there is much to do. There is a role for everyone to play, both inside and outside the church, but mostly outside of it. We are meant to go out among the people, to find those who feel most alienated from the divine and give them comfort.

Everyone of us comes to that work with different gifts, different abilities and talents, we are called on to use our gifts for the benefit of our brothers and sisters, for those who share the same tradition and for those who do not.

Understand this:

The reward for your faithful service is peace, it is peace in this life and the knowledge that you have lived well, acted justly and done good…seek no other reward.

Consider the teaching of the apostle, of Peter who denied Jesus three times on the night he was arrested. Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret message that leads to eternal life. His teaching here is like that of the Gnostics, which the Church in its wisdom rejected. Peter, or those writing in his name, suggests that there are passcodes and secret ways that lead a person upward on a journey through the heavens, until the come to the place of everlasting paradise.

Peter puts this forward as if this were the purpose of the Gospel, as if “believing” that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving those spiritual benefits.

This faith is born from fear, from a fear that God will not deliver on God’s promise to bring everyone to the feast at Isaiah’s table, at the foot of the mountain, at the end of time. This teaching is predicated on the notion that God will not save everyone, that God is not with us, and that our salvation is something God cannot manage without us.

Reject this fear.

The Gospel is this: it is simply this: God loves you, and you are saved.

You are not saved for anything that you have done, you did not earn it, you are saved because God loves you. There is nothing more to it, there is nothing that you have to do, and the same is true for everyone.

The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you.

The Gospel is this: God has already forgiven you. You are already saved, we were saved at the beginning, and the divine proclamation confirmed this when God looked on creation and called it good.

God has prepared you, and everyone for eternal life; believe it!

Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now, start living this life as if it were true.

We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the principles of his faith, to live lives of charity and service to one another other.

From the beginning, God chose all people to receive the sanctifying spirit, God created each person in the divine image, God placed within us a seed of the eternal Word. Through the Good News given to us by Jesus of Nazareth, we learn to trust (have faith) in the truth of that proclamation.

Know this:

As people of the faith we have a duty to adhere to the truth. The divine spirit is truth, as ministers of the faith we are meant to proclaim this truth and let it shine in the darkness like a beacon of hope for all to see.

Consider the Gospel reading for today, ask yourself this: Where is the truth in this myth?

Jesus was not a magic-maker.

God is not a miracle worker.

Read literally; this story is a lie.

Jesus never turned water into wine; it is likely that there was no wedding at Cana, that the entire event never happened…it is make believe.

Mary did not call on Jesus to work wonders and people did not follow Jesus because they saw him to wonderful tricks; they followed him because he spoke to them about justice, he looked to their wellbeing, he was a minister of mercy and he gave his life in service of the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized and the outcast.

So, what is happening here?

This it is not a story concerning who Jesus was or what Jesus did, we are not called on to believe anything about those things based on this narrative. It is a story that tells us something of what people came to believe about Jesus a hundred or so years after he was killed.

It may be a story about Jesus and John the Baptist, an apology of sorts; it may be a defense of Jesus given to the followers of John, insofar as John came first, but John was the lesser-prophet of that era.

The people might have expected the best to come first, like the wine at the wedding, but as in the stories of the patriarchs, the second son was favored more, and so Jesus came to surpass John.

The Wedding of Cana is not a miracle story, it is a parable intending to convey a simple set of beliefs; Jesus did not come to carry the mantle of John, his work is not an extension of the former. Jesus came carrying the promise of the covenant, his was the more inclusive revelation.

He came with a different teaching altogether, marking a radical departure from the prison of the law, he came to preach a message of love, of service and humility in the furtherance of the good.

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©

The Bridegroom Rejoices in His Bride

About Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch.

The nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer.

You are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land ‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’; for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding.

Like a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 ©

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Alleluia, alleluia!

O sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing to the Lord all the earth.

  O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Proclaim his help day by day,

  tell among the nations his glory

  and his wonders among all the peoples.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Give the Lord, you families of peoples,

  give the Lord glory and power;

  give the Lord the glory of his name.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Worship the Lord in his temple.

  O earth, tremble before him.

Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’

  He will judge the peoples in fairness.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ©

The Spirit Distributes Gifts to Different People Just as He Chooses

There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose. One may have the gift of preaching with wisdom given him by the Spirit; another may have the gift of preaching instruction given him by the same Spirit; and another the gift of faith given by the same Spirit; another again the gift of healing, through this one Spirit; one, the power of miracles; another, prophecy; another the gift of recognising spirits; another the gift of tongues and another the ability to interpret them. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who distributes different gifts to different people just as he chooses.

 

Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and John 6:68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2 Thessalonians 2:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Through the Good News God called us to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alleluia!

 

Gospel - John 2:1-11 ©

'My Hour Has Not Come Yet' - 'Do Whatever He Tells You'

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’, and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw some out now’ he told them ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from – only the servants who had drawn the water knew – the steward called the bridegroom and said, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now.’

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

 

A Homily - The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

A Homily – The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading - 2 Kings 4:42-44

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 144(145):10-11,15-18

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:1-6

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alternative Acclamation – Luke 7:16

The Gospel According to John 6:1-15 ©

                        

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 It is wise to trust in the providence of God, knowing that it does not manifest itself as miraculous or supernatural activity; we are the agents of the divine, God’s providence comes through us. Those one-hundred men experienced this when the bread was distributed and none of them took more than one hundredth of what had been given, each of them took less than a fifth of a loaf…and there was some left over.

 Know this.

 God, the creator of the universe, God is not a king.

 God is present in all times and all places, even in the deepest recesses of the human heart, but God does not intervene directly in human events. God’s influence over us is indirect; God shows us the way and it is for us to take it. It is up to us to act on God’s behalf in relation to our sisters and brothers, to care for our mother’s and father’s as God would have us do. God’s power does not interfere with our freedom in any way.

 Contemplate the vast power of God, in whom and through whom the entire universe exists; contemplate the way of justice, love and humility, keep to it, and share it with the stranger, the alien and even your adversary.

 The apostle calls us to selflessness and to love, to recognize this truth: Gods spirit animates all things. God is God of all beings; the whole of what is came into being through the divine, exists in the divine, and without the divine would cease to be, because God’s spirit animates all things.

 As children of God we each share in the same grace that was manifested by Jesus of Nazareth. We each receive an equal share of God’s love, which is a love without measure, infinite and eternal. We each reflect that grace for one another according to our own willingness and our individual capacities which fluctuate in direct proportion to our desires and ambitions for ourselves and our families.

 Be mindful of doctrine and its pitfalls.

 Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret to eternal life, as if this were the purpose of the gospel, as if believing in the proposition that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving the gift, as if the gift had not already been given to all of God’s children.

 Peter wants us to believe access to Jesus, to the truth and the reality of life everlasting, is parceled out by God through the church, allowing some to come to it while refusing others.

 This scheme is not true.

 Jesus preached the good news, and the good news is this:

 God loves you and you are saved. You are not saved for anything you have done, you did not earn it, you are saved because God loves you and God love’s everyone.

 The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you…if you do x, y, and z.

 God has already forgiven you, you are already saved. God has prepared you and everyone for eternal life, this is the good news…the really good news.

 Believe it!

 Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now and start living as if it were true.

 We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the “Holy One of God;” we are called to act on the principles of Jesus’ faith, to be charitable and of service to each other.

 Remember.

 At least half a century had passed from the time of Jesus’ death to the time that Luke’s Gospel was written. By this time Palestine (Judea and Samaria) were completely under Roman rule, Jerusalem had been ruined, its temple destroyed, and the population killed or in bondage, scattered across the Empire in the second great Diaspora.

There were no witnesses to the events Luke describes, the story is a fabrication, pure myth, it never happened. Nevertheless, it became part of the tradition and was handed down as evidence that Jesus had both great compassion and great power.

 The raising of the dead man at Nain asserts the notion that widow should not be left alone, with no husband or son to protect her. This is a metaphor not a miracle, suggesting that the mission of the church is to protect the widow and keep her in life. This reversal of social norms and the common way of life is the miracle. The widow has entered the church, and the family of God will prevent the widow from being forces out into the margins of society.

 It is not that the widow’s son died, and returned to life; it is that Jesus appointed the church to care for the widow in place of her dead son. This is what puts Jesus directly in the tradition of the prophets, not the miracle making, the wonder working, the acts of power and the magic. It is his work as an advocate for justice in the community, his compassion and humility that mark him as the prophet that he was.

 Consider the gospel reading for today; this reading from John is piece of pure propaganda and a gross misrepresentation of Jesus’ ministry.

 The gospel writers took a story from the common tradition and embellished it, transforming a story that was suggestive of a miracle, the feeding of the multitudes, into an explicit work of magic.

 In other versions of this story the miracle of faith which led to the feeding of the people could be read as having come from the people themselves, because they were following the way that Jesus was leading them in, they shared what they had and each received a portion of what was put on the common table. The people, seeing how little food there was to be passed around, contributed to the stores of foodstuffs they each had in their possession; those without enough taking what they needed, and those with extra giving what they had in the spirit of communitarianism and hospitality that was a hallmark of the nascent church.

 The authors of John’s Gospel were not content with that; they could not resist the temptation to embellish and give the credit to Jesus’ supernatural powers for engineering a miraculous event. This editorial move undercuts the teaching of Jesus. The way he preached is a living way; it does not ask us to have faith in magic powers, but to trust in our neighbors and their basic commitment to principles of justice and compassion.

First Reading - 2 Kings 4:42-44

They Will Eat, and Have Some Left Over

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing Elisha, the man of God, bread from the first-fruits, twenty barley loaves and fresh grain in the ear.’ ‘Give it to the people to eat’, Elisha said. But his servant replied, ‘How can I serve this to a hundred men?’ ‘Give it to the people to eat’ he insisted ‘for the Lord says this, “They will eat and have some left over.”’ He served them; they ate and had some left over, as the Lord had said.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 144(145):10-11,15-18

The Greatness and Goodness of God

I will bless you day after day and tell of your wonderful deeds, O Lord.

Alleluia!

I will praise you to the heights, O God, my king –

  I will bless your name for ever and for all time.

I will bless you, O God, day after day –

  I will praise your name for ever and all time.

The Lord is great, to him all praise is due –

  he is great beyond measuring.

Generation will pass to generation the praise of your deeds,

  and tell the wonders you have done.

They will tell of your overwhelming power,

  and pass on the tale of your greatness.

They will cry out the story of your great kindness,

  they will celebrate your judgements.

The Lord takes pity, his heart is merciful,

  he is patient and endlessly kind.

The Lord is gentle to all –

  he shows his kindness to all his creation.

Let all your creatures proclaim you, O Lord,

  let your chosen ones bless you.

Let them tell of the glory of your reign,

  let them speak of your power –

so that the children of men may know what you can do,

  see the glory of your kingdom and its greatness.

Your kingdom stands firm for all ages,

  your rule lasts for ever and ever.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,

  the Lord is holy in all his deeds.

The Lord supports all who are falling,

  the Lord lifts up all who are oppressed.

All look to you for help,

  and you give them their food in due season.

In your goodness you open your hand,

  and give every creature its fill.

The Lord is just in all his ways,

  the Lord is kind in all that he does.

The Lord is near to those who call on him,

  to all those who call on him in truth.

For those that honour him,

  he does what they ask,

  he hears all their prayers,

  and he keeps them safe.

The Lord keeps safe all who love him,

  but he dooms all the wicked to destruction.

My mouth shall tell the praises of the Lord.

Let all flesh bless his holy name,

  for ever and ever.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – Ephesians 4:1-6

One Body, One Spirit, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God

I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life; you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Luke 7:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 6:1-15 ©

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.

Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.

 

A Homily – The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)