Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

July 14, 2020

Is 7:1-9, Ps 48, Mt 11:20-24

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Yesterday we finished a week-long examination of the instructions Jesus gave to the Twelve before he sent them out and we mentioned as an aside that after he had “finished giving these commands to his twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.” Jesus himself went out to preach and to practice what he had preached to the Twelve. He went out to announce that the kingdom of God was at hand and therefore it was essential to repent and believe. He went out to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and drive out demons. He went out without gold or silver or copper for his belt, with no sack for the journey, no second tunic, sandals, or walking stick. He went out as a Lamb among wolves, as wise as a serpent and as pure as a dove, wishing peace upon all those who met him. And as we pondered yesterday, what he looking for above all was welcome. He was seeking those who could welcome him and in welcoming him welcome God the Father and the whole salvific mission. But he also had warned the Twelve that they, like him, would encounter those who were hardened and unwelcoming, who would respond, as our Psalm says, with hardened hearts to the voice of the Lord.

* Today Jesus preaches about three different places — Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum — that ultimately were unwelcoming to Jesus. On the surface, these were places that very much seemed to embrace Jesus. Capernaum during his public ministry was actually called his “home” (Mt 9:1), his home base after departing from Nazareth. They were the cities where Jesus, according to St. Matthew, had worked “most of his mighty deeds.” Jesus had called his apostles from these towns, he had preached in these squares and synagogues, he had cast out demons, healed countless sick people assembled at the door of Peter’s house, fed a multitude with a few buns and sardines and yet, even though many were bringing him friends on stretchers and the whole town was bring their sick to him, they still hadn’t really welcomed him. The reason is because they had given welcome only to those parts of what Jesus was doing that had fit into their own categories. They weren’t really welcoming his message and mission. They weren’t really open to change. They had heard his words calling them to conversion, to a new way of life, to follow him in big things and in small, to love him more than they loved their parents or children or even life, and they responded not with open hearts but hardened ones.

* That’s why Jesus today reproaches the towns for their lack of faith, comparing them negatively to Tyre and Sidon, the debauched metropolises of Phoenicia north of the Holy Land, and to Sodom, one the most notoriously sinful and unwelcoming cities in history, there the residents literally tried to “sodomize” the messengers sent by God to Lot’s house. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!,” Jesus said. “For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.” The word “woe” is not so much a word of anger but of crushed disappointment. It’s as if he were saying, “What a tragedy, Chorazin and Bethsaida! What an absolute pity, Capernaum!” Jesus had come to save them, and his deeds were physical manifestations of greater miracles he wanted to work in their souls, but they didn’t want to cooperate, they didn’t want to change, they didn’t want to repent and believe.

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Monday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Feast of St. Henry

July 13, 2020

Is 1:10-17, Ps 50, Mt 10:34-11:1

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Yesterday we pondered Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, Seed and Soil. Jesus stressed that he wished us all to receive his words and work of salvation and sanctification on good soil, embracing it with faith and understanding, allowing that seed to grow and cooperating with God in bringing about abundant fruit. That’s a very helpful starting point to examine the word that Jesus wants to inseminate in the good soil of our heart today.

* Jesus concludes his instructions to the Twelve about the mission he was entrusting to them and to us. We’ve already covered what they were to say, how they were supposed to accompany those words with deeds of healing, exorcism, and resurrection that would manifest God’s kingdom, and how they were to package that message in word and witness by the way they themselves gave evidence to God’s providence by their traveling without money sack or extra tunics, to his peace, love and joy by the way they would respond to each other, to his mercy by not holding grudges and taking them with them to the next town. Today, among several final points he makes, he focuses on one that has pervaded all of these instructions and on which we really should stop to ponder, because it is absolutely at the root of our faith, as Jesus described in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. It’s the theme of rejection and welcome.

* The theme of rejection has been prevalent already in Jesus’ instructions. He had mentioned that there would be peaceful people who would receive the greeting of peace and others who wouldn’t. He had mentioned the need to wipe the dust of rejection off of our feet. He had mentioned being dragged before religious and civil rulers and being hated by all because of his name. But today he talks about one of the hardest forms of rejection of all: by our own family members. Even though he is the long-awaited Prince of Peace prophesied by Isaiah, even though in the Beatitudes he would bless the peacemakers as children of God and he as the Son of God would be the foremost example, even though during the Last Supper he would say, “My peace I leave you; my peace I give you,” he says today, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” And then he explicates how that division would hit our families: “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.” This is not because Jesus wants to cause that division, but because that division may ensue once we prioritize him over family members. Many will get jealous. It’s not Jesus himself who divides, but sinful preferences that divide. But this division is itself can be salvific. First it will help us to solidify our choice of Jesus through choosing him and accepting this Cross. He says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This familial suffering is a means by which we can become more united with Christ, the pearl of great price, because we might not appreciate him unless we have to choose him over all of the other good and beautiful pearls in our collection combined. And that will also be perhaps the greatest preaching of the Gospel to our family members, when we show them that Jesus is someone worth that choice,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Monday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Feast of St. Henry

July 13, 2020

Is 1:10-17, Ps 50, Mt 10:34-11:1

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Yesterday we pondered Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, Seed and Soil. Jesus stressed that he wished us all to receive his words and work of salvation and sanctification on good soil, embracing it with faith and understanding, allowing that seed to grow and cooperating with God in bringing about abundant fruit. That’s a very helpful starting point to examine the word that Jesus wants to inseminate in the good soil of our heart today.

* Jesus concludes his instructions to the Twelve about the mission he was entrusting to them and to us. We’ve already covered what they were to say, how they were supposed to accompany those words with deeds of healing, exorcism, and resurrection that would manifest God’s kingdom, and how they were to package that message in word and witness by the way they themselves gave evidence to God’s providence by their traveling without money sack or extra tunics, to his peace, love and joy by the way they would respond to each other, to his mercy by not holding grudges and taking them with them to the next town. Today, among several final points he makes, he focuses on one that has pervaded all of these instructions and on which we really should stop to ponder, because it is absolutely at the root of our faith, as Jesus described in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. It’s the theme of rejection and welcome.

* The theme of rejection has been prevalent already in Jesus’ instructions. He had mentioned that there would be peaceful people who would receive the greeting of peace and others who wouldn’t. He had mentioned the need to wipe the dust of rejection off of our feet. He had mentioned being dragged before religious and civil rulers and being hated by all because of his name. But today he talks about one of the hardest forms of rejection of all: by our own family members. Even though he is the long-awaited Prince of Peace prophesied by Isaiah, even though in the Beatitudes he would bless the peacemakers as children of God and he as the Son of God would be the foremost example, even though during the Last Supper he would say, “My peace I leave you; my peace I give you,” he says today, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” And then he explicates how that division would hit our families: “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.” This is not because Jesus wants to cause that division, but because that division may ensue once we prioritize him over family members. Many will get jealous. It’s not Jesus himself who divides, but sinful preferences that divide. But this division is itself can be salvific. First it will help us to solidify our choice of Jesus through choosing him and accepting this Cross. He says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This familial suffering is a means by which we can become more united with Christ, the pearl of great price, because we might not appreciate him unless we have to choose him over all of the other good and beautiful pearls in our collection combined. And that will also be perhaps the greatest preaching of the Gospel to our family members, when we show them that Jesus is someone worth that choice,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) (Vigil)

July 11, 2020

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.11.20_Landry_ConCon.mp3

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday.

* Why among the first apostles did eleven become great saints and one become the most notorious traitor of all time? Why among the students of a poor, inner city school will some kids from down-and-out circumstances go on to become famous surgeons and others end up in jail? Why do some children go on to become great athletes while others with the same coaches and even greater physical coordination and endowments never make it? One of the most basic reasons is because some people are more receptive and more responsive to coaching, to education and to grace.

* This is an important lesson for us all to grasp and it will help us to understand better what Jesus will teaching us on Sunday as he gives us one of his most important parables, the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. Jesus teaches us us crucial lessons about how to be a more fruitful disciple and a more effective evangelist, how to receive God’s grace and how to live in accordance with it. At the end of the Parable, Jesus says, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear!,” which is the ancient way of saying, “Pay attention!.” By means of the Parable, Jesus is going to help us to take a soil sample of our hearts, to help determine how well we pay attention, how much we receive and respond to him, what he teaches, and all that he seeks to do in our life.

* To understand what he says, we first need to grasp a little about ancient farming techniques. Sowers would scatter seed on long thin plots before any soil had been turned over. The seed would land on four different types of earth. The first is the hardened land between plots that would serve as the paths on which people would walk. They were the ancient sidewalks and no seed could penetrate. The second is very thin “rocky” soil that would have thick layers of limestone a few inches underneath the surface. Here the seeds take and quickly germinate because the water would be retained within the few inches of soil. Because the roots couldn’t penetrate the stone, however, the sprouts would not be able to last for long, quickly dehydrating and withering as the rising sun grew in intensity. The third terrain Jesus describes as “thorny” soil, which is basically good earth that could bear a lot of fruit if it weren’t covered with thornbushes and weeds that exhaust the nutriets of the soil so that good seed can’t grow. And the last type is good soil that Jesus describes bears much fruit.

* Just as a sower would scatter seed over all four types of earth, so Jesus scatters his word, his grace, his saving deeds over all four kinds of people represented by the respective soil samples. We see all four soil types among his first listeners. We saw in many of the scribes and Pharisees the hardened soil that totally resisted Jesus’ words and the testimony of his miracles, closing their ears and their hearts to his message and actually accusing him of working his indisputable miracles not by God’s power but by the devil. The evil one, as Jesus mentions in the Parable, would come to snatch the seed away before it could ever get planted. We see the rocky or superficial soil in the people for whom Jesus worked the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. They listened to Jesus for hours, they even followed him after the miracle along the entire upper li...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

Memorial of St. Benedict

July 11, 2020

Gen 49:29-32.50:15-26, Ps 105, Mt 10:24-33

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today on this Feast of St. Benedict, the great founder of western monasticism and one of the greatest saints who ever lived, it’s key for us to grasp what he did founding the Benedictine Order, as he said in his famous Rule, as a “school of the Lord’s service.” Jesus told us in the Gospel, “No disciple is above his teacher. … It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,” and St. Benedict sought to become like his Master and to train others to enter that same school of the Lord’s service. St. Benedict and his Benedictine sons and daughters seek to serve the Lord in their prayer, especially their common liturgical prayer that he called the “opus Dei,” the work of God. They seek to serve the Lord in their work. Prior to St. Benedict’s revolution, manual work, like working the fields, being in shops, even copying manuscripts, were considered things done by slaves. The Benedictines sought to do it as slaves of the Lord, not in a slavish way, but learning from the Master in the school of service how to do it well. They also sought to serve the Lord in their study, zealously learning from the Master in such a way that they could not only live it but pass on as of the first important what they themselves received. Ora et labora et studium: They served the Lord and learned from him in this three course classroom of prayer, work, and study. Those are the three principle courses in the life of every Christian and in all of those activities God comes first. Two of the most celebrated phrases in the famous Rule of St. Benedict that formed countless monks and nuns and lay oblates in the “school of divine service” were about the preference that needs to be given to God. Ergo nihil operi Dei praeponant, St. Benedict says in Chapter 43: “Prefer nothing to the Work of God,” by which he means their common prayer; and Christo omnimo nihil præponant, which he says at the very end (Chapter 72): “Prefer nothing whatsoever to Christ.” These were part of the opening prayer of the Mass, when we besought, “O God, who made the Abbot Saint Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands.”  The whole point of the Christian life is to put God first, above family members, friends, even our own life, which is something St. Benedict did and trained his monks to do. Once we do, we hasten to obey him with a loving heart:  in prayer we put God first, in our work we seek to offer him the sacrifice of Abel, and in our study we come on fire for him and for the truth that he has revealed in so many settings.

* Today in the Gospel, Jesus continues his instructions to the Twelve about the mission he was giving them to complete his own. It is the Master’s own school of divine service. It’s all meant to help them to go out in the person of Christ, with his words, with his authority, and even with his sufferings, and to put nothing before him. Jesus lets the apostles know that if they’ve insulted him and tried to ascribe his work to the devil, they will do the same to the Apostles and us. But he reiterates to us not to be afraid, but to speak in the light what Jesus says in the darkness, to proclaim on the housetops what he whispers. He reminds us that we have nothing to fear from those who will seek to kill our bodies but can’t harm our souls. This is what gave the apostles and the martyrs the courage to proclaim the Gospel despite all the vicissitudes they encountered,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I

Memorial of St. Benedict

July 11, 2020

Gen 49:29-32.50:15-26, Ps 105, Mt 10:24-33

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today on this Feast of St. Benedict, the great founder of western monasticism and one of the greatest saints who ever lived, it’s key for us to grasp what he did founding the Benedictine Order, as he said in his famous Rule, as a “school of the Lord’s service.” Jesus told us in the Gospel, “No disciple is above his teacher. … It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,” and St. Benedict sought to become like his Master and to train others to enter that same school of the Lord’s service. St. Benedict and his Benedictine sons and daughters seek to serve the Lord in their prayer, especially their common liturgical prayer that he called the “opus Dei,” the work of God. They seek to serve the Lord in their work. Prior to St. Benedict’s revolution, manual work, like working the fields, being in shops, even copying manuscripts, were considered things done by slaves. The Benedictines sought to do it as slaves of the Lord, not in a slavish way, but learning from the Master in the school of service how to do it well. They also sought to serve the Lord in their study, zealously learning from the Master in such a way that they could not only live it but pass on as of the first important what they themselves received. Ora et labora et studium: They served the Lord and learned from him in this three course classroom of prayer, work, and study. Those are the three principle courses in the life of every Christian and in all of those activities God comes first. Two of the most celebrated phrases in the famous Rule of St. Benedict that formed countless monks and nuns and lay oblates in the “school of divine service” were about the preference that needs to be given to God. Ergo nihil operi Dei praeponant, St. Benedict says in Chapter 43: “Prefer nothing to the Work of God,” by which he means their common prayer; and Christo omnimo nihil præponant, which he says at the very end (Chapter 72): “Prefer nothing whatsoever to Christ.” These were part of the opening prayer of the Mass, when we besought, “O God, who made the Abbot Saint Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands.”  The whole point of the Christian life is to put God first, above family members, friends, even our own life, which is something St. Benedict did and trained his monks to do. Once we do, we hasten to obey him with a loving heart:  in prayer we put God first, in our work we seek to offer him the sacrifice of Abel, and in our study we come on fire for him and for the truth that he has revealed in so many settings.

* Today in the Gospel, Jesus continues his instructions to the Twelve about the mission he was giving them to complete his own. It is the Master’s own school of divine service. It’s all meant to help them to go out in the person of Christ, with his words, with his authority, and even with his sufferings, and to put nothing before him. Jesus lets the apostles know that if they’ve insulted him and tried to ascribe his work to the devil, they will do the same to the Apostles and us. But he reiterates to us not to be afraid, but to speak in the light what Jesus says in the darkness, to proclaim on the housetops what he whispers. He reminds us that we have nothing to fear from those who will seek to kill our bodies but can’t harm our souls. This is what gave the apostles and the martyrs the courage to proclaim the Gospel despite all the vicissitudes they encountered,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Friday of the 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Year II

July 10, 2020

Hos 14:2-10, Ps 51, Mt 10:16-23

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily:

* The Prophet Hosea says, “Straight are the paths of the Lord,” but the Book of Hosea, as well as today’s Gospel both at first glance seem to contradict it. Those words of Hosea are at the end of the entire book. Hosea summarizes everything he says about the forceful call to conversion throughout the book as the Assyrians were approaching to attack the Kingdom of Israel and had finally arrived to do their destruction and deport so many Israelites, “Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them.” The Lord’s paths are straight, he says, and the just walk in them. Sinners stumble, in them, he adds, but as God said through him in yesterday’s passage, God lifts them after they’ve fallen up to his cheek, or, as we saw earlier this week, God welcomes us back as his beloved bride. But how can we understand the Lord’s straight paths when he allows his people to be defeated and deported? The Lord’s path does not meant the path to earthly prosperity, or earthly tranquility, or earthly pleasure. The Lord’s path is ultimately the path to him. And even in hardship, even in difficulty, even in losing everything else in life, we can still walk that path. That’s why God through Hosea tells those in the Kingdom of Israel before the deportation, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.” They are leaving Israel but it’s still a chance to return to the Lord! He adds, “Take with you words and return to the Lord,” meaning that God’s word is part of the journey home. And God specifies those words that they’re supposed to say to him: “Forgive all iniquity and receive what is good. … Assyria will not save us. … We shall say no more ‘Our god’ to the work of our hands, for in you the orphan finds compassion.” He was teaching them the straight path of a prayer for mercy, which involves renouncing the sins of placing their trust in Assyria, creating idols and making sacrifices to them. He was also teaching them the path of trust. Even though they were being orphaned their land, God extends to orphans his compassion. And God specifies the compassion he will give: He will heal their defection, forgive their betrayal. He will love them free of any anger. He will be like dew for them, allowing a fruitful spring day, that will permit their flower — their lily, a sign of purity and a future sign of resurrection — to blossom. He will plant them like a fragrant Lebanon cedar and a splendid olive tree and they will produce fruit — symbolized by great wine. God says about himself, “I am like a verdant cypress tree,” meaning he is ever green, ever casting his shade, preventing them as olives and vines from being scorched by incessant sun. This is what the Lord will do as soon as the Israelites return to him and walk the straight path to meeting him.

* In the Gospel, Jesus similarly illustrates how the straight path is not immune from bandits, traitors, persecutors and even executioners. He says he is sending out the apostles as sheep among wolves, and describes how they will be betrayed to courts, scourged in places of worship, led before governors and kings, handed over by family members to death, hated by all, and persecuted. The ways of the Lord seem complicated and perilous, anything but straight. But that brings up again what we understand by straight. If it means a road without sufferings, without hills and valleys, without having people try to get in our way, then it would seem that the Lord’s ways indeed are meandering. But if we understand by straight everything intended to lead us to the destination he intends — encounter with him — then we can begin to ...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Friday of the 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Year II

July 10, 2020

Hos 14:2-10, Ps 51, Mt 10:16-23

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily:

* The Prophet Hosea says, “Straight are the paths of the Lord,” but the Book of Hosea, as well as today’s Gospel both at first glance seem to contradict it. Those words of Hosea are at the end of the entire book. Hosea summarizes everything he says about the forceful call to conversion throughout the book as the Assyrians were approaching to attack the Kingdom of Israel and had finally arrived to do their destruction and deport so many Israelites, “Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them.” The Lord’s paths are straight, he says, and the just walk in them. Sinners stumble, in them, he adds, but as God said through him in yesterday’s passage, God lifts them after they’ve fallen up to his cheek, or, as we saw earlier this week, God welcomes us back as his beloved bride. But how can we understand the Lord’s straight paths when he allows his people to be defeated and deported? The Lord’s path does not meant the path to earthly prosperity, or earthly tranquility, or earthly pleasure. The Lord’s path is ultimately the path to him. And even in hardship, even in difficulty, even in losing everything else in life, we can still walk that path. That’s why God through Hosea tells those in the Kingdom of Israel before the deportation, “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.” They are leaving Israel but it’s still a chance to return to the Lord! He adds, “Take with you words and return to the Lord,” meaning that God’s word is part of the journey home. And God specifies those words that they’re supposed to say to him: “Forgive all iniquity and receive what is good. … Assyria will not save us. … We shall say no more ‘Our god’ to the work of our hands, for in you the orphan finds compassion.” He was teaching them the straight path of a prayer for mercy, which involves renouncing the sins of placing their trust in Assyria, creating idols and making sacrifices to them. He was also teaching them the path of trust. Even though they were being orphaned their land, God extends to orphans his compassion. And God specifies the compassion he will give: He will heal their defection, forgive their betrayal. He will love them free of any anger. He will be like dew for them, allowing a fruitful spring day, that will permit their flower — their lily, a sign of purity and a future sign of resurrection — to blossom. He will plant them like a fragrant Lebanon cedar and a splendid olive tree and they will produce fruit — symbolized by great wine. God says about himself, “I am like a verdant cypress tree,” meaning he is ever green, ever casting his shade, preventing them as olives and vines from being scorched by incessant sun. This is what the Lord will do as soon as the Israelites return to him and walk the straight path to meeting him.

* In the Gospel, Jesus similarly illustrates how the straight path is not immune from bandits, traitors, persecutors and even executioners. He says he is sending out the apostles as sheep among wolves, and describes how they will be betrayed to courts, scourged in places of worship, led before governors and kings, handed over by family members to death, hated by all, and persecuted. The ways of the Lord seem complicated and perilous, anything but straight. But that brings up again what we understand by straight. If it means a road without sufferings, without hills and valleys, without having people try to get in our way, then it would seem that the Lord’s ways indeed are meandering. But if we understand by straight everything intended to lead us to the destination he intends — encounter with him — then we can begin to ...

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Thursday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of SS. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

July 9, 2020

Hos 11:1-4.8-9, Ps 80, Mt 10:7-15

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today through the Prophet Hosea we continue to focus on the reality of the merciful dimension of God’s spousal — and today he reveals, paternal — love. Through his prophet God describes the infidelity of the people of Israel, how after he had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, rather than keeping his covenant, drawing closer to him, and seeking to become holy as he is holy, they broke his covenant, wandered far from him, and became idolatrous. “The more I called them,” God says through Hosea, “the farther they went from me, sacrificing to the Ba’als and burning incense to idols. … I drew them with … bands of love, I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks, yet, though I stooped down to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.” Yet, even though God’s people had repeatedly rejected that love to commit spiritual adultery and even though it would have been fitting for God to have reacted with righteous indignation, he responded rather with mercy. “My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred,” he tells us today through Hosea. “I will not give vent to my blazing anger. I will not destroy,… for I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you, [and] I will not let the flames consume you.” To symbolize God’s relationship to his people, he had Hosea marry Gomer, a prostitute, to show that God’s will was mercifully to take us back after we had engaged in infidelity with other deities, saying, as the Church heard at daily Mass on Monday, “I will espouse you to me forever … in right and in justice, in love and in mercy. I will espouse you in fidelity and you shall know the Lord” (Hos 2:17-18; 21-22).

* This was the plan of God that was fulfilled when Christ, the incarnation of divine love eventually came and identified himself as Bridegroom. As St. Paul described for us in his Letter to the Ephesians, “Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to made her holy, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word so that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, … that she might be holy and immaculate” (Eph 5:25-27). Despite our sins, Christ not only forgave us, he not only redeemed us by taking us back, but through his merciful love, he changed us, taking our sins away, so that we in the Church might be his holy and immaculate Bride. He continues to do this work of redeeming love through the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation, through the holy bath of his Word and through the one-flesh consummation of our spousal union with him in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. That’s the power of his mercy and the goal of his mercy. That’s what we are called to receive. That’s also what we’re called to live, rejoice in and proclaim.

* That brings us to today’s Gospel. The profound experience of God’s mercy is not something we can or ought to keep to ourselves. It’s a gift we’ve received that we’re called to announce to others. Today in the Gospel, Jesus sends the apostles on their first missionary journey. These would be the ones to whom on Easter Sunday evening he would entrust the power of the Holy Spirit so that just as God the Father had sent him as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, he could send them with God’s authority to forgive and retain sins in his name (see Jn 20:19-23). He was preparing them — and through them, us — to take his mercy to the ends of the earth. In this first expedition of evangelization, Jesus didn’t give them a lengthy message, just five words in St. Matthew’s Greek,

Fr. Roger J. Landry

Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan

Thursday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

Memorial of SS. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions

July 9, 2020

Hos 11:1-4.8-9, Ps 80, Mt 10:7-15

 

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

 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

* Today through the Prophet Hosea we continue to focus on the reality of the merciful dimension of God’s spousal — and today he reveals, paternal — love. Through his prophet God describes the infidelity of the people of Israel, how after he had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, rather than keeping his covenant, drawing closer to him, and seeking to become holy as he is holy, they broke his covenant, wandered far from him, and became idolatrous. “The more I called them,” God says through Hosea, “the farther they went from me, sacrificing to the Ba’als and burning incense to idols. … I drew them with … bands of love, I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks, yet, though I stooped down to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.” Yet, even though God’s people had repeatedly rejected that love to commit spiritual adultery and even though it would have been fitting for God to have reacted with righteous indignation, he responded rather with mercy. “My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred,” he tells us today through Hosea. “I will not give vent to my blazing anger. I will not destroy,… for I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you, [and] I will not let the flames consume you.” To symbolize God’s relationship to his people, he had Hosea marry Gomer, a prostitute, to show that God’s will was mercifully to take us back after we had engaged in infidelity with other deities, saying, as the Church heard at daily Mass on Monday, “I will espouse you to me forever … in right and in justice, in love and in mercy. I will espouse you in fidelity and you shall know the Lord” (Hos 2:17-18; 21-22).

* This was the plan of God that was fulfilled when Christ, the incarnation of divine love eventually came and identified himself as Bridegroom. As St. Paul described for us in his Letter to the Ephesians, “Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to made her holy, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word so that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, … that she might be holy and immaculate” (Eph 5:25-27). Despite our sins, Christ not only forgave us, he not only redeemed us by taking us back, but through his merciful love, he changed us, taking our sins away, so that we in the Church might be his holy and immaculate Bride. He continues to do this work of redeeming love through the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation, through the holy bath of his Word and through the one-flesh consummation of our spousal union with him in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. That’s the power of his mercy and the goal of his mercy. That’s what we are called to receive. That’s also what we’re called to live, rejoice in and proclaim.

* That brings us to today’s Gospel. The profound experience of God’s mercy is not something we can or ought to keep to ourselves. It’s a gift we’ve received that we’re called to announce to others. Today in the Gospel, Jesus sends the apostles on their first missionary journey. These would be the ones to whom on Easter Sunday evening he would entrust the power of the Holy Spirit so that just as God the Father had sent him as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, he could send them with God’s authority to forgive and retain sins in his name (see Jn 20:19-23). He was preparing them — and through them, us — to take his mercy to the ends of the earth. In this first expedition of evangelization, Jesus didn’t give them a lengthy message, just five words in St. Matthew’s Greek,