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Today we have a recurring guest blogger: Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, pastor of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)
Scripture readings for this homily can be found at Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB
Submission to the blog of Dcn. Thomas Tortorella for the XXII Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Rev. Fr. Arthur F. Rojas © All Rights Reserved, August 30, 2023 ©
In Mt 16:21-27, the Gospel reading for Mass in the Ordinary Form on Sunday, September 3rd,
Our Lord reproves St. Peter to bring him to a deeper perception of what Our Lord will go through to redeem mankind from our sins. In the second reading (Rom 12:1-2), St. Paul exhorts us to be renewed in mind by not conforming ourselves “to this age” and instead discerning and following the will of God.
In the first reading (Jer 20:7-9), while St. Jeremiah the prophet rues the call to convey God’s message to his society and laments the trials he passes for his mission, St. Jeremiah knows that he was made by God for that very mission.
Lately, a survey of Anglican ministers in in The Times of London, England (www.thetimes.co.uk) recorded majorities in favor of discarding whatever Biblical and historically Christian elements remain of Anglican tenets on life, love, and morality to fall in line with public opinion of their patently post-Christian country. “You are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do.” Mt 16:23. Since their denomination was engendered by King Henry VIII’s self-interested rejection of Catholic doctrine on marriage and communion with the Holy See, perhaps we should not be shocked by the survey, especially as the Anglicans at their Lambeth Conference of 1930 permitted contraception, which was rejected historically by Christians of East and West and have further followed the spirit of the age instead of the Holy Spirit. Mt 16:23. With the documented decline of affiliation and participation of Anglicans in England and elsewhere, many studies attest also to the failure to stem decline among the mainline Protestant denominations for following similar paths in the United States and elsewhere. Mt 16:23.
Now there is a siren song coming from Germany and elsewhere urging our Church to follow the same path in order to stay “relevant” to contemporary society and not “lose” this or that group. Mt 16:23.
Too much can be made of journeys or accompaniment if the end, which is the sanctification of persons and peoples as well as the salvation of souls, is forgotten or de-emphasized. They forget that while the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was called from the womb by God to His prophetic service, we Catholics each and all have been transformed by the New Testament’s sacrament of Baptism into a priestly, prophetic, and kingly people (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1241). Our prophetic mission as Catholics, albeit performed in distinct yet complementary ways by the laity and the clerics, is to convey God’s ways of life, love, and goodness (a.k.a. the Magisterium), whether they are fashionable or not. These ways are not only in matters of life and love but fan out to all aspects of society.
As in the times of Arius, the first major heresiarch, and others who spread moral and doctrinal errors that would mislead many from high and low in society, may we Catholics rediscover, share, live, and defend the riches of the Truth that God has given our Church in Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the Magisterium, starting with our personal and parish families and then out into the virtual and public lives of our society. Yes, it is easier in this life to “go along to get along” with the spirit of the age. Mt 16:23. But you and I were made for so much more than the esteem of this passing age on Earth. “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Mt 16:26. Our thirst for meaning, purpose, and truth can be slaked only by the Living God and His ways, as Psalm 63 reminds us in the responsorial psalm. May we look to the example of St. Jeremiah and other heroes of the True Faith such as the Apostles, St. Athanasius, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Thomas More, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Edith Stein, and people today such as Joseph Cardinal Zen, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, Dr. Janet Smith, and Dr. Anne Nolte to live our prophetic mission today.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteIn my very limited understanding of this synod, I think the key issue in the synod is the age old need to discern the distinction between what it is that represents the infallible truths of Sacred Scripture & Sacred Tradition/dogma in matters of faith & morals that is unchanging & must never be changed vs what is merely a matter of human tradition, cultural tradition & the habit of "we have always done it this way".
Thanks to Vatican II many of the merely human & cultural traditions of the Church that needed to be changed, were changed, such as the languages in which Mass could be offered, the variety of musical styles & musical instruments that could be used at Mass, opening up greater roles for both lay men & lay women to participate more fully in the life of the Church, especially at Mass, both in the pews & in various liturgical ministries, the restoration of the permanent diaconate that also includes married men, and opening up better relationships with other Christians in various denominations (ecumenism) & interfaith relationships with non-Christians as well. All these were changed while maintaining the infallible dogma of the Church in matters of faith & morals coming from Sacred Scripture & Sacred Tradition.
In everything we are exhorted (especially in the letters of St. Paul) to test the spirits & to cling tightly to what is good.
We must ensure that we hold tightly to the sanctity of all human life & the sanctity of marriage as instituted by GOD as the union of one man with one woman that is intended to be a lifelong devoted, faithful committed which can only be annulled under well defined extenuating circumstances. We must always call SIN what GOD calls SIN while at the same time follow the example of Our LORD JESUS CHRIST Who welcomed sinners & ate with Him & Who by His uncompromised holiness & unconditional love called sinners to conversion. It has been established that women cannot be ordained priests or deacons, but perhaps there are other ways that women can be raised to higher levels of ministry, such as being raised to the order of lectors and raised to the order of acolyte--something I read that Pope Francis had begun to consider.
COME, HOLY SPIRIT!
Awesome homily!!! ✝️✝️✝️✝️
ReplyDeleteAwesome homily! 🙏✝️
ReplyDelete