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The Sacred Heart of Jesus
June 15, 2007
Eleventh Sunday of the Ordinary Time
June 17, 2007 Year: C
2 Sam. 12:7-10, 13; Gal. 2:16, 19-21; Lk. 7:36-8:3
First Reading...
David did what displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent
the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan said to David, "Thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king
over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I
gave you your master's house, and your master's wives
into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of
Judah; if that had been too little, I would have added
as much more."
"Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what
is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the
Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be
your wife, and have killed Uriah with the sword of the
Ammonites."
"Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your
house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife
of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife."
David said to Nathan, "I have sinned agains the Lord."
Nathan said to David, "Now the Lord has put away your
sin; you shall not die." [2 Sam. 12:7-10, 13]
Second Reading...
"We know that a person is justified not by the works of
the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. As we have
come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be
justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works
of the law, because no one will be justified by the
works of the law. For through the law I died to the law,
so that I might live to God."
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer
I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the
life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not
nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes
through the law, then Christ died for nothing." [Gal.
2:16, 19-21]
Gospel Reading...
One of hte Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he
went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the
table.
A woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned
that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought
an alabaster jar of oitment. She stood behind Jesus at
his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her
tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued
kissing his feet and anointing them with the oitment.
Now when the Pharisees who had invited Jesus saw it, he
said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would
have known who and what kind of woman this is who is
touching him that she is a sinner."
Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something
to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "speak."
"A certain creditor had two debtors: one owed five
hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could
not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now
which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I
suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt."
And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly."
Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you
see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no
water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her
tears and dried them with her hair.
"You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she
has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my
head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with oitment."
"Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have
been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the
one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Then
Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
But those who were at the table with him began to say
among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you;
go in peace."
Soon afterwards Jesus went on through cities and
villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the
kingdom of God. THe twelve were with him, as well as
some women who had been cured of evil spirits and
infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven
demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's
steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who
provided for them out of their resources. [Lk. 7:36-8:3]
Sinfulness is part of humanity. There is no humanity
without sin. Hence, man is born sinner. There ought to
be a way out of this sinfulness, as there ought to be a
way out of our sickness. The way out of our sinfulness
is through a man without sin – Jesus. Only the innocent
has the right to cast the stone at a sinner. But Jesus
does not do that. He simply forgives and forgets the
sin. He came to give and forgive. That is his secret
weapon of love.
Helpful Anecdote:
In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a
roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's
wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply
walked around it.
Many loudly blamed the king for not
keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about
getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant
came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching
the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried
to move the stone to the side of the road. After much
pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a
purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The
purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king
indicating that the gold was for the person who removed
the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what
many others never understand.
Every obstacle, sin presents an
opportunity to improve our condition.
We are
all born in sinful conditions. There are
four types of
sinfulness:
First one
is
what we inherit from our parents. The defects of our
parents, at times become part of our own life. An
alcoholic will certainly leave traces of alcoholism
among his children. A person with some sort of bad
habits may also transmit those elements of bad habits in
his children.
The second
one is when we break the Commandment of God: This one
happens at times due to our weakness of our flesh, or
due to certain traits we have been imbibing through the
years. This is disobedience to God. A child does not
learn disobedience through parents, but it is the effect
of Original sin.
The third
type is because of the influence of others. Well, this
needs a bit of explanation. We at times become victims
of the opinions of others and because of the environment
in which we live. A child born among slum dwellers
becomes gradually one among them and perhaps also
becomes a victim of circumstances.
Fourth type
becomes our nature because of circumstances in which we
live. One becomes an alcoholic because of depression,
defeat, or other factors of life. Due to harshness of
life around, one becomes a victim, sinful. But he/she
may not be aware of this development.
There
is also objective sinfulness
and subjective sinfulness.
Objective is when we break the traditional conventional
rules and regulations given in the Scriptures or laid
down by the society. Subjective is something we feel
personally wrong, which we should have avoided by all
means, and we are directly responsible for it before
God.
Most
of our sins are of sins of judgment: When we are told
not to judge, yet we continue to judge others.
NO POINTING FINGERS
A man
asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a
successful marriage. Could you please share with me your
secret?" The father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never
criticize your wife for her shortcomings or when she
does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because
of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a
better husband than you."
We all
look forward to being loved and respected. Many people
are afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person
makes a mistake, he would look around to find a
scapegoat to point the finger at. This is the start of a
war.
If we forgive the others, others will
ignore our mistake too.
For
many people forgiveness is one of the hardest steps of
all in our progress toward freedom of spirit. Yet it is
essential. For as long as we are unable to forgive, we
keep ourselves chained to the unforgiving. We give them
rent-free space in our minds, emotional shackles on our
hearts, and the right to torment us in the small hours
of the night. When it is time to move on, but still too
hard, try some or all of these steps. (Note that these
steps are appropriate for events resulting from an
ongoing adult relationship with anyone. They may not all
be appropriate for the random act of violence from a
stranger, nor for someone who was abused as a child or
while in some other position of true helplessness.)
i. Understand
that forgiving does not mean giving permission for the
behavior to be repeated. It does not mean saying that
what was done was acceptable. Forgiveness is needed for
behaviors that were not acceptable and that you should
not allow to be repeated.
ii. Recognize
who is being hurt by your non-forgiveness. Does the
other person burn with your anger, feel the knot in your
stomach, experience the cycling and recycling of your
thoughts as you re-experience the events in your mind?
Do they stay awake as you rehearse in your mind what you
would like to say or do to 'punish' them? No, the pain
is all yours.
iii. Do
not require to know 'why' as a prerequisite to
forgiveness. Knowing why the behavior happened is
unlikely to lessen the pain, because the pain came at a
time when you did not know why. Occasionally there are
times when knowing why makes forgiveness unnecessary,
but they are rare. Don't count on it and don't count on
even the perpetrator knowing why.
iv.
Make a list of what you
need to forgive. What was actually done that caused your
pain? Not what you felt, what was done.
v. Acknowledge
your part. Were you honest about your hurt or did you
hide the fact that the behavior hurt you? Did you seek
peace by reassuring the perpetrator that it was all
right? Did you stay when you could or should have left?
If so, then you, too, have some responsibility. (Here
you start to move away from being a victim.)
vi.
Make a list of what you
gained from the relationship, whatever form of
relationship it was. Looking back you may be focusing on
the negatives, the hurts. Yet if they were repeated, you
must have stayed to allow the repetition. You did not
remove yourself. Why? There must have been some
positives if you chose to stay around. What were they?
vii.
Write a letter to
the person (no need to mail it). Acknowledge what you
gained from the relationship, and express forgiveness
for the hurts. Allow yourself to express all your
feelings fully. Do not focus only on the hurts.
viii. Create
a ceremony in which you get rid of your lists and the
letter, so symbolizing the ending of the link between
you. You may choose to visualize placing them on a raft
and watching it drift gently away down a river. You may
prefer to burn them and scatter the ashes. You may
invent some other form of ritualized separation.
ix. Visualize
the person you are forgiving being blessed by your
forgiveness and, as a result, being freed from
continuing the behavior that hurt you.
x. Now
that you have freed yourself from the painful links and
released the pain, feel yourself growing lighter and
more joyous. Now you are free to move on with your life
without that burden of bitterness. Do not look back in
anger.
Body Forgives:
It is said that our body is quick to forgive. Whenever
there is a hurt, the blood vessels help to contain that
hurt or injury and will make its best to heal the wound
through its natural attempts. The moment hurt is
experienced, the healing process begins. That is nature.
We have in us the normal animal nature, human nature and
then we are endowed with Divine nature to help us
forgive. That is what Jesus has taught us, ‘forgive us
our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’.
A
New book from Fr. Rudy :
Short review of the book: This book is an out come of a
serious exegetical study on the important words and
texts from the writings of St John of the Cross. The
study deals with a short life and writings of the mystic
and then does a complete study on GOD, MAN and WAYS to
EXPERIENCE GOD. The book is available at: St. Joseph
Church, Near Holy Cross Convent School, Mira Road East,
Thane Dt. Maharashtra State - 401 107, India. Books can
be ordered through email:
rudyocd@yahoo.com
or rudyocd@gmail.com
The cost of the book is Rs.
125/- pp.xviii + 234, The Title of the Book is: THE
DYNAMISM OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH - An Exegetical Study on
St. John of the Cross, author: Dr. Rudolf V. D' Souza,
OCD, MA. PhD. |
Dear friend, my
homilies will be posted on Thursdays and you can benefit
them and if you need more resources, you could contact
me on
rudyocd@yahoo.com or
rudyocd@gmail.com
Let us make this ministry
fruitful one so that the Word of God becomes a source of
joy for me and for you and help people become more aware
of its riches. You are also welcome to share your
feedback with me. Thanks and God bless.
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