{"id":804,"date":"2019-07-11T07:14:07","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T07:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=804"},"modified":"2019-07-11T07:14:07","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T07:14:07","slug":"14-july-2019-c-fifteenth-sunday-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=804","title":{"rendered":"14 July 2019 (C) Fifteenth Sunday of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. <\/strong>The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/strong>Awareness\nof our Christian inheritance and pride in it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. <\/strong>The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Deuteronomy 30:10-14).\nThe word is very near to you for your\nobservance.<\/em> This is the final section of Moses\u2019 discourse on God\u2019s Law to Israel. The\nremaining section of the book will be on the concluding events of Moses\u2019 life.\nEarly in his discourse Moses had reminded his people of their dignity in that\nGod had revealed himself to them making them unique among the nations of the\nearth. His words are worth recalling (Deuteronomy 4:5-8): <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSee, just as the Lord my God has charged\nme, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that\nyou are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom\nand discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will\nsay, \u2018Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!\u2019 For what other\ngreat nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to\nhim? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this\nentire law that I am setting before you today?\u201d \nAt the end of his discourse Moses returns to the theme. He presumes that\nthe people have been unfaithful to the Law, and invites them to return to it\nfully. His central point is that the Law can be lived and is known to them. It\nis not something far away, in the heavens above or the depths beneath. The Law,\nthe Word, the Word of God, is very near to them, in their mouth and their\nheart, to be put into practice. To know the Law, God\u2019s will, is one thing; the\npower to put it into practice quite another. The Book of Deuteronomy recognizes\nthat Israel\nfailed to observe the Law and was punished by destruction of the state, and\nexile. But the book also looks forward to repentance on Israel\u2019s part\nand return to God\u2019s law. The root of the failure was seen in the weakness of\nthe human heart. The exilic and post-exilic reflection in the books of Jeremiah\n(Jeremiah 31:31-34) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:25-27) sees the remedy to this in a\nnew heart and a new spirit, the law written in the heart. In our text Moses says\nthat the law is very near, in the mouth and in the heart \u201cfor your observance\u201d.\nIt was in their mouth since the law was to be recited. In saying that it was in\ntheir heart, the text may be thinking of a prophecy such as we find in\nJeremiah. In Romans 10:5-8 Paul cites the text of Deuteronomy about the word\nbeing near, in the heart and lips and applies the text to the good news he\npreaches, but omits the words \u201cfor your observance\u201d. Observance came not\nautomatically but through divine empowering grace.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial\nPsalm <\/em>(Psalm\n68[69]). Seek the Lord, you who are poor,\nand your hearts will revive.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Colossians\n1:15-20). All things were created through\nChrist and in him. <\/em>This is a magnificent hymn on the supremacy of Christ,\non the mystery of the supremacy of Christ. Paul leads into it (Colossians\n2:9-14) with a prayer in which he asks God that the Colossians may be filled\nwith a knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, bearing\nfruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. God has\ntransferred believers from darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in\nwhom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The hymn on the supremacy of\nChrist in the universe and the church then follows, a hymn which re-uses images\nof Wisdom personified in the Old Testament (in particular Proverbs 8). Christ\nas the image perfectly reveals the invisible God. As first-born he has priority\nto and supremacy over all creation. Every created thing had it origin in him,\nand was created for him, including various ranks of angels (Thrones etc.). As\nstated elsewhere in the New Testament (Hebrews 1:3), Christ holds all things\ntogether, a concept of Greek philosophy found also in the Old Testament (Wisdom\n1:7; Ecclesiasticus 43:26). As stated elsewhere (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:15)\nChrist is the head of the Church, his body. Christ is the Beginning, and by his\nresurrection the first-born from the dead, ushering in a new age, and\nconfirming belief and hope in the resurrection of our bodies. Next comes .a\nverse to be rendered literally as: \u201cAnd it pleased God to make all the entire\nfullness (in the original Greek text: pleroma<\/em>)\ndwell\u201d.  (Some texts render: \u201cBecause God\nwanted all perfection to be found in him\u201d.) The text is to be understood through\nColossians 2:9: \u201cFor in him (that is Christ) the whole fullness of God dwells\nbodily\u201d, that is, all that God wants to communicate of himself in Christ so as to\nintroduce us to Christ and make us perfect in him. Some see this idea close to\nthat of the work of the Holy Spirit. This all-powerful presence of God in\nChrist is intended to make through him a universal reconciliation, including\nboth heaven and earth. This reconciliation was effected by the blood of the\ncross, by Christ\u2019s death on the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em>\n(Luke 10:25-37). Who is my neighbour?<\/em>\nToday\u2019s beautiful reading is one that calls for our reflection, just as it did\nin Jesus\u2019 own day and down through the centuries. It centres around the basic\nand abiding question: \u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d, and the point\nmade by Jesus in reply is that the demands made by oft-repeated professions of\nfaith may go much further than one first imagines. The question is put to Jesus\nby a lawyer. He would have been learned in civil and in the Jewish Mosaic law,\nand in Jesus\u2019 day the lawyers would in general favour the Pharisaic position of\nfidelity to the strict observance of details of the Pharisaic tradition. The\nlawyer is said to have put his question to disconcert Jesus, possibly to\nascertain where Jesus stood with regard to the central question of inheriting\neternal life. It is a question which may well have been discussed by the Jewish\nlawyers. Jesus has the lawyer answer his own question from the Law of Moses,\nthe Jewish fundamental guide. The lawyer gives the two great and fundamental commandments\nfound in this Law (the Pentateuch) on the love of God and the love of the\nneighbour as oneself. Jesus agrees with his answer, adding that life, the\neternal life of the lawyer\u2019s question, depended on the observance of these. All\nJews would have agreed on this.But\nthe big question is that next put by the lawyer: \u201cWho is my neighbour?\u201d For\nJews it would be Jews, excluding Samaritans and gentiles. The Samaritans were\n\u201chalf-Jews\u201d, rejected by, and in turn rejecting, other Jews. Jesus\u2019 parable of\nthe Good Samaritan is a gem, easily understood and full of meaning. The fifteen\nmiles (25 kilometres) of desert country between Jerusalem\nand Jericho was\nbandit territory. The Jewish priest and lay Levite clerical helper see the\nwounded man and pass by, without helping their fellow wounded Jew. The one\nchosen to help is of the despised, rejected, Samaritans, who uses medicine of\nthe period: oil to ease the pain and wine to disinfect. The parable ends in a\nquestion by Jesus as to who was the wounded man\u2019s neighbour, and the lawyer\ngives the obvious and only answer: the neighbour is every human being\nirrespective of race or religion. What gave rise to the parable was the\nabstract religious law: love your neighbour. Jesus, however, makes it clear\nthat religious principles can make striking demands; \u201cGo and do the same\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: Awareness of\nour Christian inheritance and pride in it<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s readings\ninvite us to reflect on our Christian inheritance and to take pride in it.\nMoses called on his people to do likewise, and to thank God for the great gift\nof divine revelation granted them.  They\nwere also reminded of the great gift that faith bestowed on them, making them\naware of the divine presence, of a personal God near them, not some remote\nimpersonal power or being. They we also reminded that living their religion s\nthey were called to do would make them messengers of the one true and only God.\nThe second reading calls on us to reflect on the supremacy of Christ, sent by\nGod to reconcile all things on earth through him. Christ is head of the Church,\nhis body. In Christ all the fullness of God\u2019s saving power dwells, and though\nChrist in the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Let us now turn to the general\nsituation in our own day, in much or the Western world and in our own country\nat any rate. There is a strong movement towards secularism and a growing\nhumanistic and atheistic view of things. God and revelation from God are seen\nas impediments to individual freedom and human development. There is a growing\ntendency to see to it that the Church or religion has no say in public life.\nThis holds good in particular for political leaders. But the general believing\npublic are not unaffected. There is lack of enthusiasm for matters relating to\nbelief in Christ or the Church, and a decrease in religious practice. Today\u2019s\nreading could act as a wake up call, inspiring us to pray for knowledge of the\nmystery of the supremacy of Christ, bearing\nfruit in good work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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