Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings for Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Genesis 2:18-24
The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
"This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, '
for out of 'her man’ this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Gn 2:18-24
This selection continues the Yahwehest creation account with the creation of life. It is important to note early near eastern peoples felt that the individual who named a person or thing, had dominion over it. Here we see man naming all the animals in God’s creation thereby having dominion over them.
The passage concludes with God’s creation of woman as the perfect companion for man. He does so by taking a rib (thus also explaining why there is a “spare rib”). This passage will be familiar to those who attend weddings as it is one of the texts frequently used because of verse 24: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. (cf. 5) May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel!
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Psalm 128 is an individual lament. In these strophes it reemphasizes the tenet of our faith regarding the need for faith in God in the marital union.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: Hebrews 2:9-11
Brothers and sisters:
He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, "
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin.
Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Heb 2:9-11
This passage from Hebrews contains a very complex and important understanding of the nature of Christ. God set mankind to rule the earth. For a while he sent his only Son to be in that state – “lower than the angels”, and suffer death for everyone. This classic passage from Hebrews is foundational to our understanding of Christ Jesus, true God and true man.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel
A Longer Form: MarK 10:2-16
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
"Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it."
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on MK 10:2-16
This passage gives us the scriptural support for the Church’s view of the “Sacrament of Matrimony”. The Pharisees question to Jesus and their response to his; “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." shows the Mosaic Law they are referring to (Deuteronomy 24:1) dealt with a contractual relationship. Jesus, in quoting Genesis (see Genesis 1:27 and 2:24) speaks instead of the spiritual bond which joins husband and wife. This bond cannot be broken (“…what God has joined together, no human being must separate.").
The passage continues with a picture of Jesus demonstrating that those who had seen his works and heard his words saw greatness in him. They brought their children to him instinctively that they might receive the grace empowered by his touch. This activity made his disciples indignant that their master should be pestered by these little ones. The Lord, however, used this as a teaching moment and told the crowd that only complete dependence upon God’s support would allow them salvation (“…for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OR
B Shorter Form: Mark 10:2-12
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk 10:2-12
This passage gives us the scriptural support for the Church’s view of the “Sacrament of Matrimony”. The Pharisees question to Jesus and their response to his; “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." shows the Mosaic Law they are referring to (Deuteronomy 24:1) dealt with a contractual relationship. Jesus, in quoting Genesis (see Genesis 1:27 and 2:24) speaks instead of the spiritual bond which joins husband and wife. This bond cannot be broken (“…what God has joined together, no human being must separate.").
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
I want to apologize to you right off today. I had a very difficult time with today’s remarks. The scripture we are given to reflect upon today presents us with a variety of important topics from which to choose and I will admit, when reviewing them, I had difficulty about which topic to address. So I prayed about it.
God gave us first the image of his creative hand in Genesis and in that second account of creation He showed how much he cared for us, placing us at his side, giving us dominion over all the animals. We are told how it was necessary for the man and woman to complement each other and how he then created male and female to share the dominion over creation as co-heirs of what he had made and how the bond he created between them as partners must not be broken.
As we prayed about this great love God had shown us in giving us all he had made, we thought of all those who have taken this beautiful passage and made it contentious; a political football. Out of this simple passage we could speak to the debate with scriptural literalists who say the, in spite of the scientific evidence to the contrary, the earth is only seven thousand years old and that God created man and all the animals in seven 24 hour days and that organic evolution is a flawed theory.
We could take the other side, the Catholic side, and speak to the Neo-darwinians who claim that God had not hand in creation; that there is no evidence for divine involvement in creation and speak about the academic conspiracy to deny God. No, the prayerful voice said – let’s not go there today.
Then I thought we might speak to the clear scriptural evidence that the sacrament of marriage was intended to be between a man and a woman. It is an important and strong teaching of the church that this is so. We could talk about how those who want to change the laws are trying to do so to get something from the government that they see validly married couples getting in terms of tax breaks or they are trying to get there employers to give health benefits to their partners. We could talk about the awful slippery slope of morality such a change in the legal system would create. Again, that prayerful voice said – no let’s not talk about that difficult subject today.
Perhaps I should just not talk about Genesis at all and skip straight to the second reading from Hebrews, so I prayed about it. Again, the incredible love God has for us is made known. The author of Hebrews describes how God made himself for a time “lower than the angels” so he could show us what he wished us to be. He emptied himself, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, taking the form of a slave. We could speak to that incredible act of sacrifice and how it shows us the Lord was truly like us in all things but sin. But my praying voice told me that the way that love must color our whole lives was too difficult a concept to explore in the short homily Father expects me to give, so we better not talk about that.
Having heard this voice I jumped to praying the Gospel of St. Mark. Oh, what riches lie there! The Lord is being challenged by the Pharisees. Probably over his use of the Genesis statement about the unbreakable bond between man and woman we chose not to speak about from the first reading. Jesus asks them what the Law of Moses told them to do and the Pharisees spoke from a legal sense saying that Mosaic Law permitted a divorce.
As the Lord frequently does, he reveals God’s love more fully. He tries to teach them that, if the sacramental bond God created truly existed between husband and wife, that bond could never be broken – it would exist forever, binding them, making them one flesh. But at times, because we are only human we want to see that bond were it does not exist and a man and woman enter into a contract marriage which the Bride of Christ, his Church recognizes. They later discover that that unbreakable bond was not really there and they wish to dissolve the contract, which civil law says is Ok but then get mad because the Church wants to be sure that the sacramental bond, the unbreakable part was not there to begin with. That could lead into the whole topic of annulments and why they are necessary. But that is a difficult topic and perhaps we had better not speak of that either.
Fortunately, I prayed, the longer form of the Gospel takes up yet another possible topic. As Jesus was teaching people were bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed. The disciples were probably like some of us at Mass, trying to keep the kids away from Jesus so he could focus on important things. The Lord again sees this as a teaching moment and instructs everyone, probably even as he places his blessing hand on a child, that all of us must struggle to retain the simple faith of a child. He tells them that complete surrender, like a child’s innocent trust, is the attitude that must be ours if we are to enter God’s Kingdom.
As I prayed about this I thought; how difficult it is for an adult to find that innocent faith. With all the rational thinking that must be built up in order for us to be successful in the secular world. How can we lay that aside, trust only in the Lord, and succeed? No, I prayed that too would take too much time to go into in depth. Trusting so completely in God’s love and mercy would require a great deal more than the few minutes we have together so, I prayed, what shall I base my homiletic remarks upon?
I confess, in the end I could not decide so I again apologize for not having something prepared. I will simply ask you to review the scriptures yourselves some time in the next day or so and see what God says to you.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Creation of the Animals” by Tintoretto, 1551-52
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Readings for Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Genesis 2:18-24
The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
"This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, '
for out of 'her man’ this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Gn 2:18-24
This selection continues the Yahwehest creation account with the creation of life. It is important to note early near eastern peoples felt that the individual who named a person or thing, had dominion over it. Here we see man naming all the animals in God’s creation thereby having dominion over them.
The passage concludes with God’s creation of woman as the perfect companion for man. He does so by taking a rib (thus also explaining why there is a “spare rib”). This passage will be familiar to those who attend weddings as it is one of the texts frequently used because of verse 24: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. (cf. 5) May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel!
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
Psalm 128 is an individual lament. In these strophes it reemphasizes the tenet of our faith regarding the need for faith in God in the marital union.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: Hebrews 2:9-11
Brothers and sisters:
He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, "
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin.
Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Heb 2:9-11
This passage from Hebrews contains a very complex and important understanding of the nature of Christ. God set mankind to rule the earth. For a while he sent his only Son to be in that state – “lower than the angels”, and suffer death for everyone. This classic passage from Hebrews is foundational to our understanding of Christ Jesus, true God and true man.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel
A Longer Form: MarK 10:2-16
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
"Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it."
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on MK 10:2-16
This passage gives us the scriptural support for the Church’s view of the “Sacrament of Matrimony”. The Pharisees question to Jesus and their response to his; “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." shows the Mosaic Law they are referring to (Deuteronomy 24:1) dealt with a contractual relationship. Jesus, in quoting Genesis (see Genesis 1:27 and 2:24) speaks instead of the spiritual bond which joins husband and wife. This bond cannot be broken (“…what God has joined together, no human being must separate.").
The passage continues with a picture of Jesus demonstrating that those who had seen his works and heard his words saw greatness in him. They brought their children to him instinctively that they might receive the grace empowered by his touch. This activity made his disciples indignant that their master should be pestered by these little ones. The Lord, however, used this as a teaching moment and told the crowd that only complete dependence upon God’s support would allow them salvation (“…for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OR
B Shorter Form: Mark 10:2-12
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mk 10:2-12
This passage gives us the scriptural support for the Church’s view of the “Sacrament of Matrimony”. The Pharisees question to Jesus and their response to his; “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." shows the Mosaic Law they are referring to (Deuteronomy 24:1) dealt with a contractual relationship. Jesus, in quoting Genesis (see Genesis 1:27 and 2:24) speaks instead of the spiritual bond which joins husband and wife. This bond cannot be broken (“…what God has joined together, no human being must separate.").
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
I want to apologize to you right off today. I had a very difficult time with today’s remarks. The scripture we are given to reflect upon today presents us with a variety of important topics from which to choose and I will admit, when reviewing them, I had difficulty about which topic to address. So I prayed about it.
God gave us first the image of his creative hand in Genesis and in that second account of creation He showed how much he cared for us, placing us at his side, giving us dominion over all the animals. We are told how it was necessary for the man and woman to complement each other and how he then created male and female to share the dominion over creation as co-heirs of what he had made and how the bond he created between them as partners must not be broken.
As we prayed about this great love God had shown us in giving us all he had made, we thought of all those who have taken this beautiful passage and made it contentious; a political football. Out of this simple passage we could speak to the debate with scriptural literalists who say the, in spite of the scientific evidence to the contrary, the earth is only seven thousand years old and that God created man and all the animals in seven 24 hour days and that organic evolution is a flawed theory.
We could take the other side, the Catholic side, and speak to the Neo-darwinians who claim that God had not hand in creation; that there is no evidence for divine involvement in creation and speak about the academic conspiracy to deny God. No, the prayerful voice said – let’s not go there today.
Then I thought we might speak to the clear scriptural evidence that the sacrament of marriage was intended to be between a man and a woman. It is an important and strong teaching of the church that this is so. We could talk about how those who want to change the laws are trying to do so to get something from the government that they see validly married couples getting in terms of tax breaks or they are trying to get there employers to give health benefits to their partners. We could talk about the awful slippery slope of morality such a change in the legal system would create. Again, that prayerful voice said – no let’s not talk about that difficult subject today.
Perhaps I should just not talk about Genesis at all and skip straight to the second reading from Hebrews, so I prayed about it. Again, the incredible love God has for us is made known. The author of Hebrews describes how God made himself for a time “lower than the angels” so he could show us what he wished us to be. He emptied himself, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, taking the form of a slave. We could speak to that incredible act of sacrifice and how it shows us the Lord was truly like us in all things but sin. But my praying voice told me that the way that love must color our whole lives was too difficult a concept to explore in the short homily Father expects me to give, so we better not talk about that.
Having heard this voice I jumped to praying the Gospel of St. Mark. Oh, what riches lie there! The Lord is being challenged by the Pharisees. Probably over his use of the Genesis statement about the unbreakable bond between man and woman we chose not to speak about from the first reading. Jesus asks them what the Law of Moses told them to do and the Pharisees spoke from a legal sense saying that Mosaic Law permitted a divorce.
As the Lord frequently does, he reveals God’s love more fully. He tries to teach them that, if the sacramental bond God created truly existed between husband and wife, that bond could never be broken – it would exist forever, binding them, making them one flesh. But at times, because we are only human we want to see that bond were it does not exist and a man and woman enter into a contract marriage which the Bride of Christ, his Church recognizes. They later discover that that unbreakable bond was not really there and they wish to dissolve the contract, which civil law says is Ok but then get mad because the Church wants to be sure that the sacramental bond, the unbreakable part was not there to begin with. That could lead into the whole topic of annulments and why they are necessary. But that is a difficult topic and perhaps we had better not speak of that either.
Fortunately, I prayed, the longer form of the Gospel takes up yet another possible topic. As Jesus was teaching people were bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed. The disciples were probably like some of us at Mass, trying to keep the kids away from Jesus so he could focus on important things. The Lord again sees this as a teaching moment and instructs everyone, probably even as he places his blessing hand on a child, that all of us must struggle to retain the simple faith of a child. He tells them that complete surrender, like a child’s innocent trust, is the attitude that must be ours if we are to enter God’s Kingdom.
As I prayed about this I thought; how difficult it is for an adult to find that innocent faith. With all the rational thinking that must be built up in order for us to be successful in the secular world. How can we lay that aside, trust only in the Lord, and succeed? No, I prayed that too would take too much time to go into in depth. Trusting so completely in God’s love and mercy would require a great deal more than the few minutes we have together so, I prayed, what shall I base my homiletic remarks upon?
I confess, in the end I could not decide so I again apologize for not having something prepared. I will simply ask you to review the scriptures yourselves some time in the next day or so and see what God says to you.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Creation of the Animals” by Tintoretto, 1551-52
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
3 comments:
either the homolist didn,t listen to the prayer responce or was afraid to tackle the issue
Marko,
Thanks for your comment. I was going for irony, asking the people to reflect on too many possible issues raised by the Word. The indecision was real - the Word is so rich.
Pax,
Dcn. Jim
As a side note - I gave this homily at three Masses this past weekend (estimate - 2,300 people) and recived numerous comments - mostly positive but when the comments were critical it was because the person making the comment really though the tough message on one of the issuse touched upon needed to be hammered home. The people of God want to hear what the Church teaches even if it goes against secular wisdom.
Pax,
Dcn. Jim
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