11th Sunday Ordinary Time (6-12-16)

6-17-16
2045

Being a lector is a privilege - and fun.  I'm pretty good at it.  Having a duty at Mass makes it likely that I'll go to Mass - before, I didn't need an external reason; it was a duty I embraced and an act of service plus a recognition of my relationship with God (and Church?)

Three readings and a homily.  Liturgy of the Word.  Why bother having one reading or two of the three if it's not mentioned in the homily?  It's annoying to be overlooked by the Preacher - in this case Deacon Martini, our most recently ordained/assigned to St Paul Deacon.  His sermons are the best of the three preachers we have at St Paul - tho that is not saying much at all, at all!  This Sunday, he preached from the Gospel, LK 7:36 - 8:3, without mentioning the OT or the NT additional readings.  ... . The woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, put her oil of them.  For which, Jesus forgave her sins.  The heart of Deacon's sermon.  A genuine offering, I'm confident written by him (another Deacon readily admits he simply lifts a pre-written sermon to read to us):  expressing his own feeloughts.  ... . He emphasized his encouragement for us to go to Confession:  with good reasons, offered from his authentic care for us.

Still, like most Catholic sermons, Deacon spoke from his head, an intellectual look at the Gospel story, a logical effort at persuasion.  He did connect but not at all on an emotional level. ... . and, without mentioning the  other two readings, which would have bolstered his attempt to get us to go to Confession, with reasons of the heart/soul.  (and, would have thrown a bone to the lectors, suggesting that our preparation and reading made a contribution as well as justified all the work we put into it.)

2 Sam 12:7-10, 13

A not unfamiliar OT story, even to those of us who are not much of a Bible Reader.  The Lord reminds David that He gave David EVERYTHING David has - more than any man would be happy with, grateful for.  Nathan passes on The Lord's admonition to David for his taking his man Uriah's wife and getting Uriah killed.  David rejected The Lord.  The Loving Lord is bewildered:  sad:  and Just! - David will suffer a consequence commensurate to the hurt he did to The  Lord.  But, David confesses that he has sinned. (tho the passage does not report that David promised to sin no more.)  So, The Lord forgives David. ... .

Seems easy enough to weave this into an admonition to go  to confession because God Loves us, is generous to us, and we sin against Him anyway.

Gal  2:16, 19-21

My reading.  Paul is not easy to read aloud for others to grasp cold.  The message - we are not justified by the law but by the Love of Jesus - is well known to adult Catholics - especialy to those in the South, with any Protestant friends at all. ... . 

I have been crucified with Christ;
yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me;
insofar as I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the Son of God
who has loved me and given himself up for me.

Seems to me, this passage could be woven into Deacon's exhortation to Confession - a pleading from the Heart, if not Deacon's heart, then Paul's. ... .