Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, February 20, 2022
(EPISODE: 351)
Readings for Sunday, February 20, 2022 - Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C
FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-25 ++
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8+10, 12-13. "the lord is kind and merciful"
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 15:45-50 ++
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 13:34). Alleluia, alleluia! I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.
GOSPEL: Luke 6:27-38
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed 1828646321 Be merciful bible words with the sky over mountain background – Contributor: -Naitham
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Please listen to the audio recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C - Sunday, February 20, 2022 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-seventh-sunday-of-ordinary-time-year-c-episode-351?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing (EPISODE:351 )
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*Prologue (Fr Paul Kelly)
What does it mean for us to, (as St Paul says so wonderfully in the second reading), "bear the image of the one of Heaven?" Or, as another translation says: "be modelled on the Heavenly man, (Jesus)."
Surely it means, we open ourselves up to the Lord's grace, teaching and values and allow ourselves to be reshaped into an icon of Christ's grace, mercy, and compassion. It means a deeper union with Christ – to the point of exercising our thinking, abilities, and powers in union with how Christ acts.
The first reading is quite challenging… David has been persecuted quite unjustly by King Saul, who is suffering from terrible delusions and jealousy and paranoia about David. David has been nothing but loyal to him but Saul will not be satisfied. War breaks out but David and his army are given the chance to kill Saul and David refuses to do so. This is not the first time this will happen.
It's a striking lesson… Just because we have been given the power to lift up and to cast down, and simply because we have within us the ability to kill or to heal, does not mean that we should use our freedom to destroy, to avenge or to harm. David unites himself to God's patient, loving forbearance - he does not lower himself to repay the wrongdoing of others with the same behaviour. He does not return bad for bad. Rather, he uses God's perfect antidote; – returning love and kindness for wrongdoing. Cancelling it out, rather than multiplying it. This is a radical and otherworldly solution, but clearly, it is Divine wisdom.
As David says so beautifully …. "Today the Lord put you in my power, but I would not raise my hand against the Lord's anointed.'" In this instance, David used his ability to be modelled upon the values and actions of God's ways and not human ways… and the results are refreshing, surprising and wonderful. Once where it seemed only one solution to the problem of King Saul and David. One strikes the other down. Now there is a beautiful second option… reconciliation and rebuilding. We are invited to give from God's gracious and compassionate love within, rather than to mirror or give back what one receives from the selfish, narrow actions of others.
Our Lord confirms this Heavenly mindset in the gospel…. He teaches us a very challenging message that goes against base instinct… Do good to those who harm you and pray for them… go further than the minimum……
The word "love" used by Our Lord in this teaching is not the same as for family or friends or a spouse… but it's a love that wishes the best and only the good for another, irrespective of their actions. Wanting for everyone that dignity and respect and good that anyone deserves as a child of God, whether they themselves have acted in ways befitting of their status as children of God.
Do this, and 'you will be children of the Most-High, for God himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.'
BE generous, not stingy or selfish; loving and compassionate, not gossiping, or judging; Merciful, not vengeful and precious. .... The standard by which we will be judged is going to be the standard with which we treat others!
Are we tempted to be offended when someone slights us? Are we outraged when someone wrongs us? But then we look at Our Lord… who is deserving of all honour, obedience, and service…
At times, each of us has offended the Lord, slighted him… not given God his due, deliberately or carelessly chosen to do what is wrong… God would have been within his rights to become furious, to lash out, the punish, to cast us away…. But God does not… (thank goodness!). {So many times I thank God that we humans do are not God because the results would be disastrous and capricious}. Rather, Our Lord is full of love, mercy, and forbearance…
Thanks be to God, that the Lord does not choose to exercise his rights against us when we have wronged him time and time again. And if we are truly to model ourselves on the Heavenly Person, and bear the image of the one of Heaven, then we too must have the same attitudes and responses when we are offended, slighted or wronged. How different would the world and our local communities be if this was the full reality?
Otherwise, as Jesus points out if our goodness and kindness go no further than our family and friends and those we are already in goodwill with, what difference is that from the pagans and the sinners… they are kind to their kin and friends… Christ invites us to be fully immersed in his ways, not just dipping our toes into the waters of baptism we have received.
The golden rule is in many ways a universal rule… also found in other religious traditions. (Jewish, Greek, even Confucian) … but in each of these traditions. it is framed negatively and in a limiting way… namely… "don't do things to people you wouldn't like people to do to you." But in Christ, this teaching goes much further! … It is expressed in a wonderfully positive light! and not merely a negative one… That is, it is not merely refraining from doing what you would not want to be done to you, but also doing the good things for others that you would want people to do for you! Christ's saying itself, "goes the extra mile…"
A commentator on today's first reading shared this insight too….- "David, an anointed messiah, shows mercy in taking king Saul's sword and water jug. I cannot help but see a foreshadowing of the cross when the sword in the hands of another soldier, pierces the side of a king, the son of David, to give us the greatest mercy of all. The water and blood flow from Jesus' side in our Baptism and in the Eucharist, feeding us until we too enter the deep sleep of the Lord."
-To listen to the whole Sunday Mass each week (including homily) from Surfers Paradise Catholic Parish, please visit this link: Liturgy for you at Home (by SPCP) - https:- soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks.
((References: Fr Paul W. Kelly; Barclay, W. (1975). The Gospel of Luke. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press).
(Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed. 1828646321 Be merciful bible words with the sky over mountain background – Contributor: -Naitham)
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Homily (Fr Peter Dillon)
7th Sunday Ordinary Time Year C 2022
If you were challenged by the paradoxical teachings of Jesus in the Gospel last week, then hold on to your hat, because this week he moves things up a gear with even more confronting teachings that must have been very difficult for the disciples to hear. We must remember that prior to Jesus gathering his trusty disciples their teachings were all to be found within the writing of what we know as the Old Testament. To them is was simply their sacred scripture and was both law and instruction for life. They were depend upon the scribes and the scholars of the temple to keep them informed and, since most of these humble disciples neither read not wrote they would have committed the teachings to memory and revelled in the grand sagas of kings and warriors who fought on the side of God.
But before we take on the Gospel, it is worth taking a brief look at the events and the relationships in our first reading from 1st Samuel. Often we gloss over some of the Old Testament readings because consider that they were written for different people in a vastly different time. However, when it comes to human nature and frailty, very little has changed over those many years. People are still suspicious, envious, greedy and threatened by the power and conviction of others, so it is worth making sure that we don't miss some of those key elements that underpin what might be happening both then and now.
David and Saul are two very significant and powerful men, both leading figures in a heartbreaking story of friendship, betrayal and misfortune. Both are anointed by God and become kings, and both must confront the challenge of ambition, power and madness.
**(apologies but technical problems make the next section of the recording unusable--
**While they are connected through marriage and initially have a love and respect for each other, what starts out as loyalty and attachment, soon turns into a quest to remove each other since they each come to threaten each other's rise to power, to the point where murder is seen to be the only solution.
Fortunately the wise King David comes to realise that if he wants his subjects to treat him with respect and dignity then he too must do the same to his ailing father in law. It is only when this generous loves becomes a reality that the impasse is broken between the two men.
It with this background knowledge that Jesus disciples would have been very familiar with that Jesus gives now gives as his most difficult teaching.
"Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who treat you badly". Why, "because the amount you measure out will be the amount you will be given back"
Note that Jesus is not asking his disciples to fall in love with their enemies, but rather to be challenged to be determined about their enemy's welfare, to be stubbornly gracious and to refuse to pay back violence with violence. Of course, we understand why this would have been so contrary to what the disciples had heard from their own scriptures and even experienced in their community living)***
The revenge and payback method of appeasement has been part of human thinking from the beginning of humanity. Even our civil laws today suggest that those who have been wronged by others are entitled to some form of compensation. Fortunately, we have moved away from the eye for an eye method of extracting justice.
Jesus goes on to tell them that hatred can only be defeated by love: injury can only be healed by forgiveness, and evil can only be controlled by goodness. We can fall into a trap of thinking that Jesus must have tried to make it easy for his followers to live his message, to make it more palatable, but in fact the opposite is really the case. If they were to be the teachers of others then they had to be the model of example. Even in his own life Jesus had to work hard at honouring his own ethic. As we know it ultimately cost him everything, but in doing so he confused his enemies with his love. He offered love first even though he knew the return would never measure up to what was being offered. That is sometimes the only way we can pass on these tough but important lessons, by trying them out. Not dismissing them as being too difficult or pointless without putting them to the test. Lived with pure intentions and honesty of spirit, then these gifts can create worth in others, they can stop the contagion of meanness, that can so consume our world.
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References:
prologue by Fr Paul W. Kelly
Homily by Fr Peter Dillon
Barclay, W. (1975). The Gospel of Luke. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press
Image Credit: Shutterstock Licensed.
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C (Sunday, February 20, 2022) (EPISODE: 351)
The Lord be with you.
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{{May God's Spirit of Wisdom and understanding abide in you.}}
Our Gods love and mercy knows no bounds, and so let us recall our sins so as to worthily celebrate this Holy Sacrifice.
(option two on the cards):
Have mercy on us, O Lord.
- For we have sinned against you.
Show us, O Lord, your mercy.
- And grant us your salvation.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
- Lord have mercy
- Christ have mercy
- Lord have mercy
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Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8+10, 12-13. "the lord is kind and merciful"
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 13:34). Alleluia, alleluia! I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.
Memorial Acclamation
1. We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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PREFACE: Sundays Ordinary I
Euch prayer two
Communion side. pwk: RH
(theme variation: v1/full )
(pre+post variation: v2-short)
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{heartfelt thanks to you all for uniting in prayer and reflectying upon God's goodness and care.}
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
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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. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.
- "Today I Arise" - For Trisha 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.
Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly.
Microphones: - Shure MV5
Editing equipment: NCH software - MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software
NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 12.44
Sound Processing: iZotope RX 6 Audio Editor
[Production - KER - 2022]
May God bless and keep you.
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[ Production - KER - 2022]
May God bless and keep you.
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