Key Message:
Let us take a personal oath – “I and my household will serve the Lord in both good and troubled times”. Homily: The takeaway from the first reading:
Joshua makes a strong commitment in front of all the Israelites:
“I and my household will serve the Lord”.
Joshua wholeheartedly loved the Lord and He has invested time in ensuring that His whole household also loves and serves the Lord.
We need to emphasize that as a family we worship our Lord. We can teach action songs for our children to perform during family prayer so that they will be interested in doing so. If older children do not sit before the Lord, then, to begin with, let us have a few minutes of prayer at the dinner table itself. Please ensure that the prayer time is creative and not boring. Creative like allocating a topic for speech every week, (topics like – what do you think about God?), dance, song or show a painting of Jesus, or write an essay and read it aloud). We need to make it a daily practice. On some days, when time is not sufficient, then we can only use a worship song.
Another good learning from the reading is Joshua is not looking for people’s approval. If we are looking for people’s approval and not God’s approval, it will hinder our relationship with God and we will not be able to fulfil the marvellous plans which God has planned for us.
We need to realize that everyone is not going to like us. If we keep focussing on what other people think about us, we will never be able to do what God has planned us to do. We will miss living God’s plan and will be filled with regrets.
We will remember the God of our good times and serve Him in troubled times!!
Takeaway from the second reading:
The Apostle Paul explains that the relationship between husband and wife should be similar to the relationship between Christ and the church.
We will go through this in the Tips section. The takeaway from Gospel reading:
Jesus asks His disciples, “Do you ALSO wish to go away?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
When other people left Jesus, Jesus turned to His friends. Jesus is ok when other people leave Him. But He wants His own friends to be with Him.
Jesus has the same expectation with us now. He has spent years closely working with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. If we lose touch with Him, it is very painful for Him. We who sit in the table of God every Sunday, can we leave Him?
Jesus is longing for us. Let us also long for Him and enjoy our lifetime with Him.
Tips to implement the takeaways:
1. In the First reading, the Israelites responded to Joshua by counting all the good God has showered on them. Then with a heart of thanks, they also take the same pledge as Joshua. Recalling the blessings that we have received, makes our heart faithful. Actually, the easiest way to be faithful is to keep recalling the daily blessings.
We can consider the following easy doable action items:
Before sleeping, we can allocate few minutes of our time to recall all the blessings we experienced through the day and note them in a notepad or laptop or any device.
Read through it and thank God for them. Blessing God can be the last item for the day. This will enable us to calm down and have a peaceful sleep.
While we wake up in the morning, let us remember our Almighty Father’s face as the first thought in the morning.
As soon as a baby wakes up from sleep, once it sees its mother’s face it becomes very happy. When we wake up, let us also see our Almighty Father’s caring face and be filled with happiness and joy!!
2. In the Gospel reading, we find that when the rest of the people left Jesus, Jesus searches for His own.
A person will undergo the same search when s/he is abandoned by the world. If the world also rejects, a person will expect their spouse to be there for him/her. Jesus expects us never to disown our own family.
3. Christ did not expect the church (His disciples) to make Him happy. He was taking care of His own happiness. Actually, it would have been stressful for us, if we have to live with and manage a batch of 12 people who were totally different in educational status, financial status, behaviours, and so on. But Jesus never lost His cool in managing them. He loved them irrespective of all the troubles they gave Him.
Similarly, we should not expect our spouse to make us happy. If we want to go shopping and our spouse wants to stay at home, then let us sacrifice and stay at home. While staying at home too we should make ourselves joyful and fulfilled. It may be listening to songs or whatsoever. But we should ensure that we should not lose our happiness because of others and also we should not give others the responsibility of making us happy.
4. Jesus did not expect His disciples to be perfect, because they are the disciples of the Son of God. He understood that they would have a human weakness. He never expected them to do what they could not do, or to give what they could not give.
If our spouse is not able to talk sweetly or not able to shine in front of people or causes a bad name for the family or not able to earn more or is not able to cook, that’s ok. Let us not feel frustrated about it. Let us accept them as they are. God has a purpose to keep us there. We are much needed in this family rather than anywhere else in this world, because we can serve God by serving His people who are difficult to be with.
5. We find in the Bible that when our dear Jesus was talking about spiritual food, His disciples were assuming that Jesus was mentioning the physical bread, which they had not brought. When Jesus revealed about His forthcoming sufferings, the Apostle Peter told Him not to do all these things. The thoughts of Jesus and the apostles were not at all in sync. There was a huge difference in their priorities, in what each considered the right thing to do, and so on.
But irrespective of the differences, they loved each other. Jesus loved His disciples and His disciples loved Him very much. Jesus loved to be in the company of His disciples and His disciples loved to be in the company of Jesus.
Most of the time spouses will differ in their opinion. It is not necessary that both spouses should be able to take the same decision or have the same kind of response for any kind of situation. Respecting each other’s opinions, time and space is a must, because it is not a meeting in a restaurant, but is a lifetime meeting. We should never force the other person to do what we want them to do. Agreeing to disagree in trivial matters will enable us to lead a peaceful life.
6. The wisdom of Jesus and His disciples were not comparable. Jesus was compensating for the incompetence of His disciples.
Certainly, there will be differences in the level of wisdom and knowledge between spouses. That should not make one of the spouses feel less about him/herself. God has put the two different personalities together so that they will compensate for each other.
7. Jesus was always the first one to forgive and make peace. He forgave the Apostle Peter and Thomas first, even before they asked for an apology. They realized and repented of their mistake. He never said to them to feel bad for their sins and then be happy. He instantly forgave them.
Let us be the first ones to forgive. Being the first one to ask forgiveness only shows spiritual maturity. It is a bold step, not a cowardly one.
8. Jesus listened to the disciples when they returned from the mission of preaching. He listened to all their sharing of activities in the day. We also see that Jesus also shares all that He was planning to do. Often, Jesus ensures that He spends time just with the disciples and shares His wisdom with them alone.
Listening makes hearts bind together. Spouses should spend time alone together and both talk and listen. We should ensure not to let any unnecessary talk spoil the time of togetherness.
9. We see Jesus singing Psalms with His apostles at the dinner table. Though He was preaching to them always, He also prayed with them. God blesses the family when they pray together to Him. God enjoys seeing a family together praising Him. His heart flows with happiness.
A family that prays together, joys together. Together we shall sing and praise God.
Sunday 22nd August. Domestic violence
In 2000, (yes,21 years ago!) the Justice and Peace Commission of the Irish Bishops Conference produced a document on Domestic Violence in which they recommended several texts were omitted from reading at Mass, including Ephesians 5:21-25.
Regrettably the issue of domestic violence continues to be widespread. https://catholicmoraltheology.com/ephesians-5-and-domestic-violence-words-of-eternal-life/
Key Message:
Let us take a personal oath – “I and my household will serve the Lord in both good and troubled times”.
Homily:
The takeaway from the first reading:
Joshua makes a strong commitment in front of all the Israelites:
“I and my household will serve the Lord”.
Joshua wholeheartedly loved the Lord and He has invested time in ensuring that His whole household also loves and serves the Lord.
We need to emphasize that as a family we worship our Lord. We can teach action songs for our children to perform during family prayer so that they will be interested in doing so. If older children do not sit before the Lord, then, to begin with, let us have a few minutes of prayer at the dinner table itself. Please ensure that the prayer time is creative and not boring. Creative like allocating a topic for speech every week, (topics like – what do you think about God?), dance, song or show a painting of Jesus, or write an essay and read it aloud). We need to make it a daily practice. On some days, when time is not sufficient, then we can only use a worship song.
Another good learning from the reading is Joshua is not looking for people’s approval. If we are looking for people’s approval and not God’s approval, it will hinder our relationship with God and we will not be able to fulfil the marvellous plans which God has planned for us.
We need to realize that everyone is not going to like us. If we keep focussing on what other people think about us, we will never be able to do what God has planned us to do. We will miss living God’s plan and will be filled with regrets.
We will remember the God of our good times and serve Him in troubled times!!
Takeaway from the second reading:
The Apostle Paul explains that the relationship between husband and wife should be similar to the relationship between Christ and the church.
We will go through this in the Tips section.
The takeaway from Gospel reading:
Jesus asks His disciples, “Do you ALSO wish to go away?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
When other people left Jesus, Jesus turned to His friends. Jesus is ok when other people leave Him. But He wants His own friends to be with Him.
Jesus has the same expectation with us now. He has spent years closely working with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. If we lose touch with Him, it is very painful for Him. We who sit in the table of God every Sunday, can we leave Him?
Jesus is longing for us. Let us also long for Him and enjoy our lifetime with Him.
Tips to implement the takeaways:
1. In the First reading, the Israelites responded to Joshua by counting all the good God has showered on them. Then with a heart of thanks, they also take the same pledge as Joshua. Recalling the blessings that we have received, makes our heart faithful. Actually, the easiest way to be faithful is to keep recalling the daily blessings.
We can consider the following easy doable action items:
Before sleeping, we can allocate few minutes of our time to recall all the blessings we experienced through the day and note them in a notepad or laptop or any device.
Read through it and thank God for them. Blessing God can be the last item for the day. This will enable us to calm down and have a peaceful sleep.
While we wake up in the morning, let us remember our Almighty Father’s face as the first thought in the morning.
As soon as a baby wakes up from sleep, once it sees its mother’s face it becomes very happy. When we wake up, let us also see our Almighty Father’s caring face and be filled with happiness and joy!!
2. In the Gospel reading, we find that when the rest of the people left Jesus, Jesus searches for His own.
A person will undergo the same search when s/he is abandoned by the world. If the world also rejects, a person will expect their spouse to be there for him/her. Jesus expects us never to disown our own family.
3. Christ did not expect the church (His disciples) to make Him happy. He was taking care of His own happiness. Actually, it would have been stressful for us, if we have to live with and manage a batch of 12 people who were totally different in educational status, financial status, behaviours, and so on. But Jesus never lost His cool in managing them. He loved them irrespective of all the troubles they gave Him.
Similarly, we should not expect our spouse to make us happy. If we want to go shopping and our spouse wants to stay at home, then let us sacrifice and stay at home. While staying at home too we should make ourselves joyful and fulfilled. It may be listening to songs or whatsoever. But we should ensure that we should not lose our happiness because of others and also we should not give others the responsibility of making us happy.
4. Jesus did not expect His disciples to be perfect, because they are the disciples of the Son of God. He understood that they would have a human weakness. He never expected them to do what they could not do, or to give what they could not give.
If our spouse is not able to talk sweetly or not able to shine in front of people or causes a bad name for the family or not able to earn more or is not able to cook, that’s ok. Let us not feel frustrated about it. Let us accept them as they are. God has a purpose to keep us there. We are much needed in this family rather than anywhere else in this world, because we can serve God by serving His people who are difficult to be with.
5. We find in the Bible that when our dear Jesus was talking about spiritual food, His disciples were assuming that Jesus was mentioning the physical bread, which they had not brought. When Jesus revealed about His forthcoming sufferings, the Apostle Peter told Him not to do all these things. The thoughts of Jesus and the apostles were not at all in sync. There was a huge difference in their priorities, in what each considered the right thing to do, and so on.
But irrespective of the differences, they loved each other. Jesus loved His disciples and His disciples loved Him very much. Jesus loved to be in the company of His disciples and His disciples loved to be in the company of Jesus.
Most of the time spouses will differ in their opinion. It is not necessary that both spouses should be able to take the same decision or have the same kind of response for any kind of situation. Respecting each other’s opinions, time and space is a must, because it is not a meeting in a restaurant, but is a lifetime meeting. We should never force the other person to do what we want them to do. Agreeing to disagree in trivial matters will enable us to lead a peaceful life.
6. The wisdom of Jesus and His disciples were not comparable. Jesus was compensating for the incompetence of His disciples.
Certainly, there will be differences in the level of wisdom and knowledge between spouses. That should not make one of the spouses feel less about him/herself. God has put the two different personalities together so that they will compensate for each other.
7. Jesus was always the first one to forgive and make peace. He forgave the Apostle Peter and Thomas first, even before they asked for an apology. They realized and repented of their mistake. He never said to them to feel bad for their sins and then be happy. He instantly forgave them.
Let us be the first ones to forgive. Being the first one to ask forgiveness only shows spiritual maturity. It is a bold step, not a cowardly one.
8. Jesus listened to the disciples when they returned from the mission of preaching. He listened to all their sharing of activities in the day. We also see that Jesus also shares all that He was planning to do. Often, Jesus ensures that He spends time just with the disciples and shares His wisdom with them alone.
Listening makes hearts bind together. Spouses should spend time alone together and both talk and listen. We should ensure not to let any unnecessary talk spoil the time of togetherness.
9. We see Jesus singing Psalms with His apostles at the dinner table. Though He was preaching to them always, He also prayed with them. God blesses the family when they pray together to Him. God enjoys seeing a family together praising Him. His heart flows with happiness.
A family that prays together, joys together. Together we shall sing and praise God.
Sunday 22nd August. Domestic violence
In 2000, (yes,21 years ago!) the Justice and Peace Commission of the Irish Bishops Conference produced a document on Domestic Violence in which they recommended several texts were omitted from reading at Mass, including Ephesians 5:21-25.
Regrettably the issue of domestic violence continues to be widespread.
https://catholicmoraltheology.com/ephesians-5-and-domestic-violence-words-of-eternal-life/