Homily Notes - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B


13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

This isn't a homily I am preaching this weekend but more of a reflection on the readings, based on my preparation for mass this weekend, as well as a personal reflection on life, death and my Dad. [Patrick Joseph Scanlon, rest in peace. No Matter how life changes, No matter what we do, A special place within our hearts, Is always kept for you.]

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Wisdom 1:13-15
Psalm 29
2 Corinthians 8:7-9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-43
[For the next 30 days you will find these reading at http://www.universalis.com/20120701/mass.htm]

This week was the third anniversary of the death of my Dad. The 27th June will always be an odd day for me and those close to my Dad. Filled with sadness that he is no longer with us, but also with joy remembering who he was and what he did for us. Today's readings are very reassuring for me, and I hope also for everyone who has lost someone close to them.

We start in the book of Wisdom, with a small answer to the question we all ask when we lose someone, the question “Why?”.

“Death was not God's doing” - God didn't intend us to die. Our sinful nature is our own doing and that result's in death. God takes no pleasure in that. It saddens him greatly. In fact so much so that he has done something about it. He came to us and through the cross forgave us our sinfulness. He offers us life and it's now our choice to accept this gift or reject it and turn towards deaths creator the devil.

These big themes of life and death, sin and forgiveness, God and the devil become very personal to us when we face personal grief and bereavement. And it's at these point's when we most need to understand them, that we are probably least able to read scripture and connect in prayer with God. The Gospel story today shows us the compassion Jesus showed to a grieving family and how he was compelled to bring their daughter back for them. It shows us the love of the living God.

It also gives us a direction, a way to connect again in times of sadness. That way is faith. Faith isn't always strong, sure or unshakable. It's often full of human questions and misunderstanding. But faith is different from proof, it's a belief and a hope in something we can't ever truly know in this life. The challenge for us at sad times or for that matter happy times is to dare to believe, that small act of faith is the way to God, a way to love, a way to life.

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