Shepherds of Christ          Daily Writing

September 23, 2008

September 24th Holy Spirit Novena Scripture selection is Day 7 Period I.

The Novena Rosary Mysteries  for September 24th are Sorrowful.

We need money for the

Our Father Newsletter

Please help us.

        

  

Rita will be in Florida

October 5th   - 6:20pm

  

Retreat in China

October 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th

Mass 10th, 11th, 13th

October 13th - Mass 12 noon

92nd Anniversary of

Mary's 6th apparition at Fatima!

Please come!

 

 

You can order Fr. Joe's book $10.00 plus shippping.

1-888-211-3041

  

 

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
 

  Ezekiel 18: 25-28

    ‘Now, you say, "What the Lord does is unjust." Now listen, House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright abandons uprightness and does wrong and dies, he dies because of the wrong which he himself has done. Similarly, when the wicked abandons wickedness to become law–abiding and upright, he saves his own life. Having chosen to renounce all his previous crimes, he will most certainly live: he will not die.

   

Philippians 2: 1-11

So if in Christ there is anything that will move you, any incentive in love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any warmth or sympathy—I appeal to you, make my joy complete by being of a single mind, one in love, one in heart and one in mind. Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others, everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of others. Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus: 

Who, being in the form of God, 
did not count equality with God 
something to be grasped. 

But he emptied himself, 
taking the form of a slave, 
becoming as human beings are; 
and being in every way 
    like a human being, 
he was humbler yet, 
even to accepting death, 
    death on a cross. 

And for this God raised him high, 
and gave him the name 
which is above all other names; 

so that all beings 
in the heavens, on earth 
    and in the underworld, 
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus 
and that every tongue should acknowledge 
Jesus Christ as Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.

   

Matthew 21: 28-32

‘What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He went and said to the first, "My boy, go and work in the vineyard today." He answered, "I will not go," but afterwards thought better of it and went. The man then went and said the same thing to the second who answered, "Certainly, sir," but did not go. Which of the two did the father’s will?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘In truth I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, showing the way of uprightness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.

    

  

September 25, 2005

INTRODUCTION – (Ezekiel 18, 25-28) (Matthew 21, 28-32) In 587 B.C. when the Babylonians conquered the Jews, destroyed their cities and Temple and farms and took them off to Babylon as their slaves, the conquered Jews concluded they were being punished for the sins of their ancestors. They complained God was unfair. In today’s first reading from Ezekiel, God addresses the Jews during their exile. God tells them they brought this disaster on themselves by their own sins. But the situation was not hopeless. They could always turn back to God if they wanted. This reading prepares us for the gospel where we hear a similar message. If we have damaged our relationship with God, we can always turn back.

HOMILY – I hate to be late for meetings or appointments, almost as much as I hate to be early. So I usually try to time myself so I get where I need to be just on time! Sometimes unexpected complications arise, road repairs, an accident or whatever and on those occasions, as I offer my apologies for being late, I always give my excuse. And that is typical of most people I know. At a meeting I was at recently, one of the participants came about 25 minutes late and gave us a multiple choice excuse: “car wouldn’t start, traffic was slow, there was an accident, take your pick!” I know people who are habitually late who never try to offer an explanation. Their attitude seems to say: “The important one has arrived now, we can start.” A couple of weeks ago I was at a meeting with the Archbishop, who is usually very prompt, and he came about five or ten minutes late. As he entered he said, “if I had left on time, I would have arrived on time.” I was impressed. How many times do you hear someone say that? His was an honest admission of responsibility.

I’m not here to talk about being late, but about taking responsibility. Despite what our parents tried to teach us about honesty, experience taught us that if we did something wrong and can convincingly put the blame on someone else, we can avoid getting into trouble. When we grow up we know admission of guilt can cause us serious problems or even a big lawsuit. I understand Harry Truman had a sign on his desk “the buck stops here.” How few there are who are ready to say the same thing.

Now I’m talking about honest admission of responsibility. Sometimes people blame themselves for something when they’re not responsible. I know sometimes children do this. For example, when a father and mother break up, often the children feel they were somehow the cause of the break up. I always counsel parents to assure their children that the problem is between daddy and mommy and not their son or daughter’s fault. We can’t escape the fact that our lives are influenced by other people. For example, if we had good and honest parents, we benefited from their care and example. On the other hand, if we grew up in an alcoholic home, for example, we certainly experience the effects of that. Much of the work of counseling and psychology is to uncover and resolve the bad influences we experienced in life and learn to go on from there. We don’t have to stay stuck in the negative things that have happened to us. I was stuck for a long time, always blaming my parents for problems I was facing until I decided to forgive them and start doing something on my own about the things that were bothering me.

In our first reading, this is what God is telling the Jewish people in exile. They wanted to blame their ancestors. Certainly their ancestors contributed to their situation, but God also told that generation what they needed to do to avoid disaster and they did just the opposite. God is telling them they have to learn to take honest responsibility for what they are going through. And if they do so and stop blaming their ancestry and stop blaming God for being unfair, things will start turning around for them.

Jesus gives us a similar message in today’s gospel. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day put on a good show of being holy people. No doubt some of them were. But Jesus was not impressed with many of them. He wanted people who would be honest with themselves. He wanted people who, if they were sinners, would admit it and get themselves right with God. Talk is not going to impress God. Excuses are not going to impress God. Empty promises are not going to impress God. It’s the good that we do that’s going to please God and bring us the eternal happiness we were made for. For example, we can blame the hierarchy or the boring sermons or the songs we don’t like or the price of gas or our busy schedules or whatever else we can think of as to why we’re not practicing our faith. We can make lots of promises to ourselves about what we’re going to do tomorrow, but it’s what we actually do that’s going to matter. Jesus is telling us if we’re not doing right, it’s never too late to change our minds
 

 

 

    

   

 

 

You can order Fr. John's book.

1-888-211-3041