The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In today’s gospel reading from Mark, chapter 6, verses 1-6, we hear of how Jesus is received in His own community, by His own people. It might be hard to understand how He, the One who can cure the sick and raise the dead, the One who can preach the peace and Word of God, is looked at by those who know Him best with such doubt and with such a lack of understanding and faith (“Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?”). I guess it is all about familiarity breeds disbelief.
But if we look in our own lives it is not hard to understand how this could happen. For us, no matter who we are or what we were in our past lives, when we become something completely different (change careers or something bigger, such as a change in the way we live our lives) those who know us and knew of our “past” may have a difficult time in accepting the change or who we have become. With Jesus, it was more of a knowing of His humble beginnings and the human expectations that come along with that knowledge that blinded others to seeing who He truly was. It was less of “His past” and more of their lack of understanding that brought about this questioning of Him.
In our own lives, it is usually (with the exception of our closest family members and supporters) the ones who know us best who might have a difficult time in “seeing” us as who we have now become or the new career path we have chosen. But the message in today’s gospel from Jesus is that while “a prophet is not without honor except in his native place” do not let that roadblock prevent you from be-coming the person God has destined you to be. Accept the questioning or even the ridicule, and have faith enough in God and trust in Christ that the grace of the Holy Spirit will lead you into the righteousness which God has prepared for you and your life. Remember the Beatitude…”Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
You will notice in the last line of today’s gospel, “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith,” that the mighty power of God—save for healing the sick of those who believed—was not recognized due to a lack of faith on the part of the people. As I have said before in homilies, the grace of God, as we receive in the Sacraments of the Church, is not “magic” but requires an assent of the faith. Grace calls for belief. God does not force Himself on us but rather asks for us to freely love Him and to desire to follow Him in our lives.
The gift of God’s own love is not given to us so that we take it with the sense of obligation, but rather because we want to have His love in our lives. If you come home one night with a gift for your wife or husband, flowers or Red Sox tickets, and after you give them to your beloved and they respond to your gesture with great excitement and appreciation, and you then tell them, “Oh, it was nothing, they were inexpensive and I felt as if I should do this,” the luster and love of the gift or gesture fades. The excitement disappears; your gesture seems almost a waste or insult. God offers divine life and love freely, not because we deserve it or He feels as if He should but rather because He so much wants to do it. Completely free—a great desire. So should our response to Him.
Whether it is easy or difficult, let us all go out and be prophets for the Lord—especially in our own community—even when it “hurts us to do so.”
A Liturgical or Ritual Question or Two. I was asked this past week a few questions about the Mass and I thought I would respond to them in the bulletin since others might be wondering about the same thing…or not.
Q. After Communion and when I am back in the pew kneeling, when should I return to a sitting position?
A. There is a “dual” answer to this question. First, ritually speaking…when the Blessed Sacrament is reposed in the tabernacle after Holy Communion one may return to the sitting position. We kneel after reception of the Lord in the Sacrament both as a sign of respect and because we are sup-posed to return to our pews and offer a prayer of thanksgiving for this great gift. We do not consume the Lord and then immediately go about our business with regular conversation. Some people return to their pews and begin singing the Communion hymn, and that is certainly fine since the song being sung is sacred music and a form of prayer. By way of custom, some folks, particularly the French, Irish and Italian (and perhaps many others of which I am unaware), remain kneeling until the priest returns to the presider’s chair. This also is an acceptable practice.
Q. Why do some people genuflect while others bow to the altar—either in procession at Mass or before they take their seat in the pew?
A. The simple answer is that we bow to the altar and genuflect to the tabernacle. The altar, where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass takes place, receives a bow since the object is sacred; having been consecrated and blessed by the Archbishop when our church was first built, and is the central focus of our Mass. The tabernacle is where we repose and keep the Blessed Sacrament—the precious Body and Blood of Christ—for distribution outside of Mass, particularly in visiting the sick and dying. While also a sa-cred object and blessed, the tabernacle normally is not found directly behind the altar…thus the confusion. At this point, due to the placement of the altar and tabernacle here at Saint Catherine, either gesture is fine.
Q. After the second reading at Mass, it seems odd that the cantor comes back to the ambo (lectern) to sing the gospel acclimation while Father is trying to get to the ambo to proclaim the gospel. Why not sing the Acclimation from the cantor’s microphone? Just as the readings from the New and the Old Testaments and the Gospel are the Word of God, so too is the psalm and the gospel acclimation—and all are to be proclaimed form the Ambo. They all speak to us with God’s Word and His love and thus are worthy of the respect as to be proclaimed from the Sanctuary of the Church.
If you have a question about our Mass—either due to a ritual or a custom—feel free to send it along either by email (stcathy@comcast.net) or by phone, 658-1642, and we will be happy to answer it either in the bulletin or maybe during a homily.
Peace!
