The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, July 5, 2009
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time



Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ezekiel 2:2-5
Psalm 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6



A reflection on today's Scripture:

Teenagers will often take advice or warning from their peers, rather than from their parents or teachers. It's a phase most of us have gone through. But even later in life, we will accept the word of an "expert" before listening to someone we've known all our lives.

In today's Gospel, Jesus is frustrated at the refusal of His own hometown friends and relatives to give Him a hearing, and comments sadly to His followers, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place, and among his own kin . . . ." Because of their lack of faith, God withheld many graces from them.

Why didn't they listen to Jesus? They were all too content with their little village life and its comfortable demands. They didn't want any large challenge to that life.

In today's first reading, God has much to say to the Israelites in exile. Because of their refusal to accept the warnings of the prophet, Ezekiel, their exile lasted much longer, and the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem and its Temple was all the more devastating. Why didn't they listen? They were caught up in the life of Babylon. They were too comfortable with it all.

We too, can get very satisfied with our lives as they are. We don't like challenges to our way of thinking or our ways of acting. When God tries to adjust our values to bring them more in conformity with His Will, we often turn a deaf ear. We may even harden our hearts against God and His messengers. There are many around us who challenge the Holy Father and the teachings of the Church. Many have even been persuaded by the secular voices of our times and have given up the practice of their faith completely.

However, like the Israelites at the time of Ezekiel, and the contemporaries of Jesus in Nazareth, we ignore the voice of God at our own peril. The readings from Scripture this Sunday give us much food for contemplation. What particular teaching of the Church am I resisting?


- Msgr. Paul Whitmore | email: pwhitmore29@yahoo.com