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07 Jun 2015 - Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Cycle B

Observe all that I have commanded you. The obedience of the people of God is the watchword in today’s readings. In Deuteronomy Moses made the not-so-veiled point that unless the people obey the Lord’s “statutes and commandments,” the same power God used to deliver them would be turned against them. Saint Paul softened the message by saying that Christians “did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear”: Being obedient to God, in particular God’s Spirit, did not involve abject fear. And while “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to” Christ and makes him worthy of worship, he exercised that authority through his teaching Spirit to empower the disciples to evangelize and also to accompany and guide the church until the end of the age. While obedience makes people children of God, it is also an active response to the loving initiative of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Obedience

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Homily themes

17 Aug 2014 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Isaiah and the psalms appeal to the example of God’s blessings to motivate those beyond Israel to serve the God of Israel, while Saint Paul appeals to the example of his evangelism to the Gentiles to motivate Israel to follow Christ. Jesus himself moves beyond the lost sheep of Israel. These seemingly opposite directions, however, result in the same thing: God’s generous offer to all to worship on the mountain of God. They both involve requirements as well: following the commandments and faith.

Faith Belonging Obedience

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Homily themes

29 Dec 2013 - Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle A

This week Saint Joseph picks up where he left off showing one of his chief virtues, his willingness to hear and pay attention to God, by acting on his instructions from the angel right away. The other readings speak of obedience as well: between family members and among those in Christian community generally. Notice how this kind of obedience takes the form not merely of following orders but of listening, heeding, respecting, and following.

Authors Joel Schorn

Obedience listening

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The inner word

22 Dec 2013 - Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

Saint Joseph awoke from his dream. “He did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” Those words could very well describe much of his life. Joseph, though, was not blindly obedient. He was an observant and thoughtful person. The challenge for him was not whether to obey God but to find the best way to do it. Even while the basic instructions were clear, he still deliberated his course of action and even changed it when necessary—much as, unknown to him at that point, his wife Mary had already done in her own encounter with an angel. As Advent draws to a close, promise yourself to follow Joseph’s example of faith, attentiveness, intelligence, mercifulness, and courage as your make your own decisions.

Faith Obedience joseph

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Exploring the word

24 Mar 2013 - Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Cycle C

At the name of Jesus every knee must bend. No; that’s not what Saint Paul says. At the name of Jesus every knee should bend: in the heavens, on earth, and in the land of the dead—“under the earth.” We know the angels, with wills ordered toward obedience, are certainly kneeling right now. Saints, too, are on their knees because they’re long practiced in bending toward the divine will. What, however, people on earth will do, folks with the freedom to choose or deny God every moment of their lives: That’s an open question. Some will kneel. Some will not so much as incline their heads in acknowledgment of an authority greater than themselves. Most, frankly, will do a little of both in the course of a lifetime. Kneel. Ignore. Kneel. Ignore. The Passion story is rich with details, thick with characters, and brimming with dialogues. Everyone in the narrative is faced with the same choice we are: Bow toward God’s authority or bend a knee to their own? The 12 apostles have a dismal record on allegiance. Peter denies, Judas betrays, someone takes a halfhearted swipe with a sword at an unarmed servant before dashing off into hiding. It’s the outsiders who make a better showing. Roman procurator Pilate fights in defense of Jesus’ innocence, twice, even making overtures toward a despised adversary like King Herod to do it. In the end Pilate hands Jesus over without ever sentencing him. Simon of Cyrene, from faraway North Africa in modern-day Libya, shoulders the cross for a while. A nameless crowd featuring “the daughters of Jerusalem” follows Jesus along the way of the cross that will become a celebrated devotional path later. A dying criminal confesses the innocence of the man condemned to die next to him. A Roman centurion witnessing the events at Golgotha also proclaims Jesus innocent. The Galilean women, ever-present but rarely acknowledged, watch from a distance. Sanhedrin protester Joseph of Arimathea comes to claim and bury the body. The details speak plainly: Just because you’re counted as a disciple doesn’t mean you’re bending the knee along with the angels. Actually disciples reveal themselves to be the most disloyal followers Jesus has. Others far removed from the inner circle will say “Jesus is Lord” by their deeds even if they never say it with their lips. It’s a terribly recriminating narrative, and every evangelist tells it, so it’s hardly a subjective interpretation. It is told every year in our assemblies of the faithful because it’s something you can’t afford to forget. The good news is that the disciples get the opportunity for redemption, and most of them take it. There’s still time for all of us to bend our knees and bow our heads. Related scripture links Leading by serving: Matt. 9:35-38; 10:5-10, 24-31; 23:1-12; John 13:1-20 Greatest is the least: Matt. 18:1-5; 20:20-28; Mark 9:33-37; 10:35-45 Peter’s objection: Matt. 16:21-23 Catechism links Works of mercy: CCC 2447-2449 Least is greatest: CCC 526; 894; 1570

Authors Alice Camille

Obedience

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Who's listening?

13 Feb 2011 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

The readings' vocabulary of law, commandment, obedience, and righteousness is likely to receive a frosty reception from many in attendance. Many Christians struggle to understand the notion of "God's law" central to the development of Jewish identity and Hebrew scripture. And the word commandment is a real nonstarter for many contemporary Catholics, raised to identify with the God of Love more so than the Rule Maker on High. As for obedience, well, let's just say this is not your grandfather's generation of "pray, pay, and obey." This is the questioning generation, and most of those questions begin with Why . . . ? People want reasons. A discussion of what is meant by "God's wisdom" as described in the second reading may be a good place to start. From there you may be able to connect some dots for folks that will help them understand how law, commandment, obedience, and righteousness all can express aspects of God's great wisdom.

god's law commandment Obedience righteousness

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Homily themes

12 Feb 2012 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

A leper came to Jesus. With the first reading the lectionary conveniently provides the context for the gospel passage. The Israelite procedure for someone with a skin lesion was to go to the priest in order to determine if it made one ritually unclean. If so, the unfortunate person had to 1. Give warning signs to others to keep their distance--rent clothes, bare head, crying out--and 2. Go into exile for the duration. They were ostracized from any contact with the community. The "leper" who came to Jesus, however, was not following the rules (as he wouldn't at the end of the story either). For one thing he approached a fellow Jew, something that an officially unclean person was not supposed to do, and instead of sounding the alarm he asked to be healed. Even worse, Jesus touched him, thereby joining the unclean club on the spot. What's especially interesting is what happens next. Christ tells the healed man to do exactly what Leviticus prescribed--go to the priest--but also keep quiet about it. Jesus wanted the man to be readmitted to the community in the recognized way, but at this point in his ministry he also wanted to keep the power of his word and touch a bit of a secret, and the next part of the story shows why. News of a holy man and healer wandering the countryside attracted a throng. So, right at the beginning of his mission, he was hitting obstacles. That, however, is what the Gospel of Mark is about: following Jesus can be hard, sometimes extremely hard. To end the suffering of the world, his disciples will have to suffer themselves. Receiving his healing touch also means obedience to his word.

Authors Joel Schorn

Suffering challenges Healing Obedience

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Homily themes

10 Jun 2012 - Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), Cycle B

Observe all that I have commanded you. The obedience of the people of God is the watchword in today’s readings. In Deuteronomy Moses made the not-so-veiled point that unless the people obey the Lord’s “statutes and commandments,” the same power God used to deliver them would be turned against them. Saint Paul softened the message by saying that Christians “did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear”: Being obedient to God, in particular God’s Spirit, did not involve abject fear. And while “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to” Christ and makes him worthy of worship, he exercised that authority through his teaching Spirit to empower the disciples to evangelize and also to accompany and guide the church until the end of the age. While obedience makes people children of God, it is also an active response to the loving initiative of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Authors Joel Schorn

Commandments Obedience Holy Spirit

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The inner word

25 Sep 2011 - Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

One way to think of obedience is in terms "listening"; in fact, "to hear" is at the root of the word obey. What is more, repentance, one of the themes of this week's readings, could be seen as a matter of obedience, of listening to--and doing--the ways of the Lord and the voice of the church. Where do you do obedient listening? How do you act on it? What sacrifices do you make for the good of your Christian community? How can you connect them to the Paschal Mystery in which Christ "emptied himself"? What is your definition of humility? How do you practice humility?

Obedience listening hear

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Exploring the word

04 Jan 2009 - Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Cycle B

That introduces the problem in the eternal story of powers and principalities. So doggone many earthly authorities vie for our allegiance. We try to juggle our obedience to laws both mortal and divine, splayed between church and state or personal profit and love of neighbor. We want to believe there’s a comfortable neutral zone between these multiple altars at which we offer sacrifice. We try to convince ourselves we can be basically good people and still enjoy a taste of the “bad boy” and “bad girl” once in a while. Many of us spend a lot of energy trying to split the difference between who we are and who we pretend to be. We don’t clean up our act, control our excesses, rein in self-righteousness or rage or sloppy morality because we’ve swallowed the lie that what hovers at the edges of our lives has little to do with what’s at the center. We’re convinced it’s possible to serve a lot of little kings along with the Big One. Let’s give King Herod credit in today’s story: He understands perfectly that there can be only one king over Israel. Right now that’s him and he aims to keep it that way. Isaiah had an even grander perspective: He foresaw that only one power can rule the world and so he foretold that Israel would become the light of nations that all other kingdoms acknowledged. This was because Israel alone enjoyed the indwelling presence of God which made her a lampstand for the divine radiance. But back to King Herod. He is the most self-serving king ever to land in the pages of the Bible. He assassinates most of his family members to keep them from threatening his throne, according to extrabiblical accounts. Certainly he won’t allow some unknown baby to be raised up, star or no star. While wise men bow in recognition to the one true King, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, Herod seeks the death of this rival. In the end there can only be one king. And unbeknownst to Herod, it won’t be him. Related scripture links We walk by faith: 2 Cor. 5:7 The role of the stars: Gen. 15:5-6; Job 38:6-7; Psalm 148:3; Luke 21:25 Journey and faith: Gen. 11:1-4; Exod. 3:10; Mark 6:8; Matt. 28:19-20 Church mission shifts to Gentiles: Acts 14:16-17; Eph. 2:11-13; Rom. 11:11-29 Catechism links Theophany and epiphany: CCC 697, 707 Incarnation: CCC 456-463 Baptism of the Lord as epiphany: CCC 438; 535-37; 1223-1225 Light as symbol of manifestation: CCC 696-697; 1168; 1202

Authors Alice Camille

Obedience Herod power israel Isaiah's prophecy Epiphany

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