Homily Twenty-third Friday of Ordinary Time (Cor. 9:16-27) “How’s the Race Going”
Homily Twenty-third Friday of Ordinary Time (Cor. 9:16-27) “How’s the Race Going”
St. Paul had certain images that he liked to use in his writings. One image that he used repeatedly was the figure of the Body of Christ. He used that to emphasize the unity and diversity of the church. We are all connected as Christians like the parts of the body are connected. We all have different functions in the church like the different organs of the Body have different roles.
St. Paul also liked to refer to athletics as a simile for Christian living. The Greeks especially identified with these types of examples. If we think that the United States is very attune to sports, we can be sure that the Greeks were as well. Afterall, their country was the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The games of that time were not concerned so much with team sports, but there was emphasis on individual sports like running, jumping, wrestling, etc.
St. Paul seemed to like the image of the marathon runner. A marathoner must train long and hard in order to compete. I have run for short distances over the years and have jogged, but never tried a marathon. It is intimidating to me to even think of running over twenty miles.
St. Paul compared being a marathoner to Christian life. The life of a Christian must be disciplined. We also must, according to St. Paul, expend all our energy if we are going to live out our Baptismal commitment.
Why do we run the race of Christian living? We do not do it to get a laurel wreath placed on our head. We run for the prize of eternal salvation. We do it for the joy of knowing we have pleased God in how we have lived.
Reflection Questions:
- Am I giving my full efforts to living my Christian life? Or, am I taking short cuts?
- How do I feel when I try to exercise Christian virtue? Depleted?
Uplifted? How?
Dear Parishioners,
We have one more window that has been reinstalled in the church. We moved slower this week than we hoped. On Monday, the work on three more stained-glass windows will continue. By the middle of next week those windows should be put back in place.
I was talking with a former parishioner this week whose mother had died. She shared how she loved the beauty of our church. As usual, she began her comments with the beauty of the stained-glass. I told her of our restoration project. She was surprised at the scope of the work and happy that our parish had made the commitment to preserve our windows.
On October 10th and 11th we will bless the stained-glass windows. We hope to have all work completed at that time. We will also invite anyone to walk through the church and look at the refurbished windows. Please spread the word that we are inviting people to tour our church Sunday afternoon October 11th. Our historic church building is a treasure for our whole community.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints protect you this day.
Fr. Mark