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A Homily on Today’s Readings: The Lord Will Be Passing By

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Rome, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) Fr. Jason Mitchell LC

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-16
Psalm 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14
Matthew 5:27-32

The episode with Elijah is an eloquent testimony to the reality of our encounter with God in prayer. In a certain sense, Elijah represents a culminating moment in the prayer of the Old Testament: the wind, the earthquake, the fire, and God passing by, all recall other episodes of prayerful encounter between God and his people.

The story of Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall suggests a close relationship between God and his children. The garden was the habitual place of encounter between God and man. After the fall, we are told that God was walking in the garden in the cool (ruah – wind, breath, spirit) of the day (Genesis 3:8). After the fall, man’s relationship with God continues: in the offering of the first-born of Abel’s flock; in the invocation of the divine name at the time of Enosh (Genesis 4:26); in Enoch’s and Noah’s walking with God (Genesis 5:24; 6:9); and in Noah’s offering that was pleasing to God (Genesis 8:20-21) (CCC, 2569). God walks with man, he is present to man, and desires that we enter into prayerful communion with him. [Read more at http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/daily-homily-the-lord-will-be-passing-by ]

Pope Reflects on the Science of God’s Tenderness

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Vatican City, June 07, 2013 (Zenit.org)

[At the end of his homily, Pope Francis spoke of God’s love for us – to read from the beginning, link here: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-reflects-on-the-science-of-god-s-tenderness ]

Concluding his homily, Pope Francis called on those present to not only love others the way God loves us, but more importantly, to let ourselves be loved by God.

“This may sound like heresy, but it is the greatest truth! It is more difficult to let God love us, than to love Him! the Pope exclaimed.

The best way to love Him in return is to open our hearts and let Him love us. Let Him draw close to us and feel Him close to us. This is really very difficult: letting ourselves be loved by Him. And that is perhaps what we need to ask today in the Mass: ‘Lord, I want to love You, but teach me the difficult science, the difficult habit of letting myself be loved by You, . . . . May the Lord give us this grace.”

Daily Homily: I Have Come to Fulfill the Law and the Prophets

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Rome, June 10, 2014 (zenit.org)

1 Kings 18:20-39
Psalm 16:1b-2ab, 4, 5ab and 8, 11
Matthew 5:17-19

After three years of drought and famine in Israel, God tells the prophet Elijah to confront King Ahab. Elijah commands King Ahab to gather all Israel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah at Mount Carmel. There, Elijah challenges the false prophets of Ba’al to a contest to prove that the Lord is God. This challenge recalls the Old Testament confrontations between Moses and the Egyptian magicians in the Book of Exodus and between the Lord and the Dagon in the Book of Samuel.

Elijah mocks the prophets of Ba’al throughout the day as they are unable to call down fire from heaven upon the sacrifice. In the afternoon, Elijah repairs the altar of the Lord with twelve stones, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel. To show the power of the Lord God, Elijah douses the sacrifice with water and fills the trench around the altar with water. Read more: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/daily-homily-i-have-come-to-fulfill-the-law-and-the-prophets

Holiness not Worldliness

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Pentacost Sequence:

Sunday Gospel Reading and Homily: