Cycle B

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Proverbs: 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58

Originally delivered on August 14, 1994

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus again tells us that He is the Bread of Life.  In the first reading, Fr. Healy points out that God is referred to as feminine. Our thinking, therefore, is challenged by Jesus, in both the first and Gospel readings, to let Him be our food and drink so that we might respond in His Spirit to our current realities.

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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Kings: 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51

Originally delivered on August 11, 1991

In today’s first reading, we hear about Elijah’s journey to the desert where God wakes him, feeds him, and commands him to keep going. In the Gospel, Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life. We are called to be the bread and nourishment for our sisters and brothers because of our commitment to the person and message of Jesus. Indeed, we are called by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians to “Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind. In place of these, be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ.”

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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-25

Originally delivered on August 4, 1991

Today we are called to abandon our practical living and to believe and trust in God. In the first reading, we hear about Moses and manna in the desert.  In the Gospel, Jesus says that He is the bread of life.  Fr. Healy passionately preaches that we, as followers of Jesus, must have faith in God and share our treasures, whatever those may be, with our needy sisters and brothers. We are called to be radical, even revolutionary, from the order that is in place if we are to create a just world.

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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Kings: 4:42-42; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15

Originally delivered on July 24, 1988

Today’s Gospel is the miracle of the loaves and fishes feeding 5,000. We are reminded that through this miracle, Jesus shows us that we already have more than enough for the hungry and the hurting. The solution is in our hands for our world’s problems. Fr. Healy challenges us to be bold and share our treasures with our marginalized and hungry sisters and brothers, both as individuals and as a nation. Are we living our espoused values?

 

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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Ephesians 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34

Originally delivered on July 21, 1991

In today’s Gospel, we hear a continuation of last week’s mission.  Jesus welcomed back the disciples from their mission as messengers of the Gospel. We hear about two recent deaths – one young person taken due to violence and another elderly member of the parish. Fr. Healy challenges those marginalized, particularly black Americans, to stand up and not take the blame for their oppression, but demand leadership. We hear in the first reading from Jeremiah, “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture.” In the second reason, we hear that Jesus calls us to unity with one another. Our greatest gift is to be the family of God. We cannot rest until we become a family with all of our sisters and brothers. Indeed, we are called to be the bearer of this message.

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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Amos 7: 12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

Originally delivered on July 14, 1991

We are reminded today that it’s easy to miss the full meaning of repentance beyond being sorry. It means expressing one’s sorrow, regret, and shame for having done something wrong, and also turning oneself around. In today’s Gospel, we hear several important considerations from Jesus to his disciples.  Those are that He sent them out in pairs, told them to go without many things, and to trust in Him to provide through those they would meet. In the first reading, we also hear about the challenges faced by the prophet Amos. He was an ordinary person, a shepherd, just as we are ordinary people called to a prophetic ministry of challenge and confrontation to those that victimize others. Like Amos and Jesus, as we heard in last week’s reading, as prophets, we will be challenged and rebuked. Nevertheless, we are called to challenge the comfortable notions of those that make the arrangements that leave some of our sisters and brothers marginalized.  When confronted and asked who sent us, like Amos, we can be confident that God called us to be prophets.

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14 Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5; Corinthians 12: 7-10; Mark 6:1-6

Originally delivered on July 3, 1988

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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5; Corinthians 12: 7-10; Mark 6:1-6

Originally delivered on July 7, 1991

Fr. Healy reminds us today that we are each called to be a prophet. And yet we must sort out what we think and believe with what is truly God’s. We hear in the second reading that our humanity (sinfulness) does not excuse us from this calling of prophecy in the name of Jesus. In the gospel, through Jesus’s own experience, we know that prophets are not that well received at home where they are known.  We are also reminded that our most important ministry is to serve the needs of our sisters and brothers. We are asked to make personal the words in the first reading, “But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God! And whether they heed or resist – for they are a rebellious house – they shall know that a prophet has been among them.”

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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Wisdom: 1:13-15, 2:23-24; Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5: 21-43 or 5: 21-24, 35 – 43

Originally delivered on June 30, 1991

In today’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus bringing back a little girl from the dead.  Indeed, we are asked to believe in God as the one that can restore us to life.  And yet, in the end of the Gospel story, Jesus tells her family gathered to feed the girl.  In essence, we, like the little girl’s family, are called to care for our sisters and brothers. In the second reading we also hear, “The relief of others ought not to impoverish you; there should be a certain equality.  Your plenty at the present time should supply their need so that their surplus may in turn one day supply your need, with equality as the result.  It is written, ‘He who gathered much had no excess and he who gathered little had no lack.’” Fr. Healy reminds us that the key is in our sharing.

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11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Readings: Ezekial 17: 22-24; Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4: 26-34

Originally delivered on June 16, 1991

In this week’s homily, Fr. Healy tells us a bit about his time teaching high school in Chicago and his time at a conference of the Holy Ghost Fathers. We are invited to remember that God is the source of all life and that His will shall be done with us or in spite of us.  The Kingdom of God is being achieved in our midst. We’re further invited to remember those that have gone before us in the fight for the realization of the Kingdom of God here on Earth and to feel their fear.  Let us gain hope in that our voices of dissent might be heard. We must also trust that God will see to our future.

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