Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, July 19, 2020 EPISODE 241

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, July 19, 2020
EPISODE 241

Readings for 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
FIRST READING: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16. "Lord, you are good and forgiving."
SECOND READING: Romans 8:26-27
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION, (cf. Matthew 11:25).Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth. You have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
GOSPEL: Matthew 13:24-43 or 13:24-30
 
Shutterstock licensed stock photo ID: 1325193074. Field bindweed twines around wheat grain stalks & spikes in a field. Close-up of convolvulus, having pink flower buds & green leaves, trails around a golden wheat stalk. Weed growing in a wheat field. By Ellita
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A - Sunday, July 19, 2020, by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ordinary-16a-episode-241/s-uDg2z4r3R2T  (EPISODE: 241)
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PROLOGUE: Fr Paul Kelly:  A Quality that describes God in the readings this weekend is "Forbearance"  -which is defined as: "patience, being long-suffering, tolerance, or "the act of refraining from enforcing a debt, obligation or right."   (Merriam Webster Dictionary Online)  

"God is all-powerful, but is gentle and always wants to give us time for a change, for transformation, and for repentance." (Abbot's homily, Monastery of Christ in the desert).  

I for one am very glad that God is patient..  ….That God gives us time to be fully transformed by the gospel…….. I am sure we have all benefited from that most reassuring of Divine qualities… "forbearance and mercy."   

 We are invited to focus more than ever on doing as much good as we can, in being people of kindness, mercy, justice and compassion in deeper ways with each passing day. Let us not allow the hurts and sins of the world to stop us from doing yet-more-good; to love more deeply than before. When the weeds around us might otherwise prompt us to respond with negativity, bitterness, revenge or hate, and where sin and hurt abound, let us ensure that the grace, kindness and forbearing love of Christ all the more abound in all that we do and say…    
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16^th Sunday Ordinary Time – Year A – 2020
(Our apologies for the error last week where we initially posted this weekend's homily – so if it looks/sounds familiar, it is because it briefly appeared previously. We corrected the error as soon as it was noted. Here it is, related to the correct Gospel and readings. Pk).

We all have a tendency to divide people into two categories: saints or sinners. However, this division is quite unreal. Human beings are complex, and we find things that are at odds with one another coexisting in the same human being.

There is a coexistence in every person of good and evil, strength and weakness, loyalty and betrayal. As soon as we discover a weakness in someone, we write that person off. Our heroes must be perfect. As soon as we find a flaw or crack in another person we lose faith in them.

But we all know ourselves and we know that things are not that simple. We are all an extraordinary mixture of good and bad. Moreover, the roots of good are so intertwined with the roots of evil that one can't be pulled up without pulling up the other. If we aren't careful we may end up having no one who is free from imperfections and we will start to think everyone is untrustworthy and should be treated with suspicion. 

By concentrating on people vices, we become blind to their virtues. We are only too eager to voice our criticisms, but reluctant to offer a single word of encouragement, and in this way, we bar every road to improvement.

The message of this parable is something Jesus lived throughout his ministry.

He reached out to all sorts of people. Mixing with priests and crooks, scribes and politicians, children and tax-collectors. The Pharisees, those whose very name means " the separated ones", criticised him for associating with the wrong crowd, but Jesus knew that all communities were a mixture of the weeds and wheat, the good and bad, the crooked and the cracked, and it wasn't always easy to tell the difference.

The farmer in the parable thought he had an impossible task, but he did what most of us don't in this situation. He calmed down and was able to see things from a better perspective. Certainly, he could see that his precious field had both weeds and wheat and he recognised that he would have to work hard on the wheat, coaxing it and encouraging it so that it would outgrow the weeds. Like all good farmers, he worked hard on himself, not to give in to despair. He did not give up on his fled simply because it was a mixture of light and darkness. 

On harvest day the farmer separated the wheat and the weeds, and he reaped a fine harvest. Even though it fell short of the hundred per cent he had hoped for. It was a satisfying harvest because there is always more.

Firstly, we have to learn to be patient and lenient, mostly towards ourselves. We must be hospitable to all that we are. We must acknowledge the dark side of ourselves, with not conceding victory to it. We must struggle on in spite of the weeds, confident that goodwill finally triumph. It is through struggle that we are able to grow, provided we don't throw in the towel.

While we do have some responsibility to help the good plants flourish it is not our job as a church to set up inquisitions and purge the field for our own approved supports. The Church is not God after all. The final judgments are not ours to pronounce, but ours to prepare for, always with the hope that there will be changes before then. It is a hope that should never be denied, least of all by the followers of Jesus.
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References:
homily:  fr peter Dillon

prologue: Fr Paul W. Kelly. Quoting Mary Coloe. LiturgyHelp.com;  and MONASTERY OF CHRIST IN THE DESERT. ABBOT'S HOMILY.

Shutterstock licensed stock photo ID: 1325193074. Field bindweed twines around wheat grain stalks & spikes in a field. Close-up of convolvulus, having pink flower buds & green leaves, trails around a golden wheat stalk. Weed growing in a wheat field. By Ellita


Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A (Sunday, July 19, 2020) (EPISODE: 241 )
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)
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{{hello everyone}}

Brothers and sisters, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Lord,s supper, let us recall our sins and acknowledge them in silence.
Lord Jesus, you came to reconcile us to the Father and to one another: Lord, have mercy//You heal the wounds of our sin and division: Christ, have mercy// You intercede for us with the Father: Lord, have mercy//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
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PREFACE: own preface
Various Needs and Occasions. II
Communion side. pwk: RH
(OPENING THEME VARIATION:  4)
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{{thanks everyone. And may God sustain you with his grace and love.}}

Go in peace. 

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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
NB - It is often a week or so Ahead: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

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Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers. 

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray," by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The ….Gloria, Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.

- "Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - in memory of William John Kelly - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

"Quiet Time."  Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. This arrangement Stefan Kelk 2020.

- "Today I Arise" - For Tricia J Kelly. Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019. 

May God bless and keep you. 
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