Catholic Preaching

Called By Name to Continue the Mission of the Apostles, 14th Wednesday (I), July 9, 2025

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Msgr. Roger J. Landry

Chapel of the Vincentian Seminary, Krakow
Wednesday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, Martyrs
July 9, 2025
Gen 41:55-57.42:5-7.17-24, Ps 33, Mt 10:1-7

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.9.25_Homily_1.mp3

 

The following points were attempted in the homily:

  • Today in the visit of several sites associated with St. John Paul II’s Krakow, we have had two great unifying themes. First, the former Father Karol Wojtyla. Second, the martyrs. We have gone to the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, both martyrs. To the Franciscan Church, where we encountered those martyred by the shining path in Peru. We’ve passed Wawel Cathedral with the tomb of St. Stanislaus looked at a distance from Skalka, where he was martyred. We’ve visited the Church in Debniki from which many Salesians were martyred. And all along we were thinking about St. John Paul II who, when once asked as he was struggling with Parkinson’s whether he would resign, simply said, “Christ never came down from the Cross.” He was someone who looked at his whole life as a martyrdom, a witness, a manifestation of Christ’s life on the Cross. That’s a perfect introduction to the Memorial of the Chinese martyrs we mark today.
  • The Gospel mentions that Jesus astonishingly gave his authority to the first apostles. His divine authority over unclean spirits and every disease and illness. As we’ll see tomorrow, he’ll give them his authority even to raise the dead. That authority, given to these 12 whom he called by name, was extended to the whole Church in the great commission. It continues in the Church in an even more astonishing way through the sacraments. We see, likewise, that he tells the apostles to announce that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near, close enough to touch, but requiring them to move to touch it, to enter it, to live in it, by allowing Christ to reign.
  • But what we can focus on today is Jesus’ instruction to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Eventually, in the great commission, Israel would be expanded to include the whole world through Jesus’ making us his Mystical Body. But there was a prioritization in the proclamation of the good news. Jesus wanted us to start with those we knew, with our kin, with those around us, which is often a far more challenging mission than traveling the world. We see that lesson being played out in Joseph the Patriarch in the first reading in how he was saved in order to save his brothers and his father. We see that lesson likewise in the Chinese martyrs, who evangelized their fellow Chinese.
  • Every day at Mass Jesus gives us his authority to make his Body and Blood present. He summons us to enter into his kingdom here, to make the effort, to reach out and not just draw near but enter into communion with him. And then at the end he sends us out, just like he sent the first 12, just like he sent out the Chinese martyrs, just like he sent out Karol Wojtyla.

    •  

    The readings for today’s Mass were:

    Reading 1
    Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a

    When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt

    and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread,
    Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph
    and do whatever he told them.
    When the famine had spread throughout the land,
    Joseph opened all the cities that had grain
    and rationed it to the Egyptians,
    since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.
    In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain,
    for famine had gripped the whole world.

    The sons of Israel were among those

    who came to procure rations.

    It was Joseph, as governor of the country,

    who dispensed the rations to all the people.
    When Joseph’s brothers came and knelt down before him
    with their faces to the ground,
    he recognized them as soon as he saw them.
    But Joseph concealed his own identity from them
    and spoke sternly to them.

    With that, he locked them up in the guardhouse for three days.

    On the third day Joseph said to his brothers:

    “Do this, and you shall live; for I am a God-fearing man.
    If you have been honest,
    only one of your brothers need be confined in this prison,
    while the rest of you may go
    and take home provisions for your starving families.
    But you must come back to me with your youngest brother.
    Your words will thus be verified, and you will not die.”
    To this they agreed.
    To one another, however, they said:
    “Alas, we are being punished because of our brother.
    We saw the anguish of his heart when he pleaded with us,
    yet we paid no heed;
    that is why this anguish has now come upon us.”
    Reuben broke in,
    “Did I not tell you not to do wrong to the boy?
    But you would not listen!
    Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”
    The brothers did not know, of course,
    that Joseph understood what they said,
    since he spoke with them through an interpreter.
    But turning away from them, he wept.

    Responsorial Psalm
    Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19

    R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

    Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
    with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
    Sing to him a new song;
    pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
    R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
    The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations;
    he foils the designs of peoples.
    But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
    the design of his heart, through all generations.
    R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
    But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
    upon those who hope for his kindness,
    To deliver them from death
    and preserve them in spite of famine.
    R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

    Alleluia
    Mark 1:15

    R. Alleluia, alleluia.

    The Kingdom of God is at hand:
    repent and believe in the Gospel.
    R. Alleluia, alleluia.

    Gospel
    Matthew 10:1-7

    Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples

    and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
    and to cure every disease and every illness.
    The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
    first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
    James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
    Philip and Bartholomew,
    Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
    James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
    Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
    who betrayed Jesus.

    Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,

    “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
    Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
    As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'”

    The post Called By Name to Continue the Mission of the Apostles, 14th Wednesday (I), July 9, 2025 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

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