Catholic Preaching: Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Conversations with Consequences Podcast, July 13, 2024

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Fr. Roger J. Landry
Conversations with Consequences Podcast
Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, B, Vigil
July 13, 2024
To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/7.13.24_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3
The following text guided the homily:
* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday as he sends out the apostles for the first time to proclaim his Gospel, with instructions that are meant to guide the way that we share in that same continuous mission of the salvation of the world. As the whole Church in the United States prepares for the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis beginning this Wednesday, and prepare for the missionary phase of the Eucharistic Revival after the Congress’ completion, Jesus words will help us become more effective missionaries of Eucharistic knowledge, faith, gratitude, amazement, love and life.
* The essential starting point for our mission is that Jesus’ love for us was so great that not only did he want to save us, but he wanted to involve us in our own salvation and in the salvation of our family and friends, even those we don’t know. From the beginning of time, he wanted us to be co-redeemers with him. He could have stayed in our world until the end of time, physically, traversing every country himself. He did not have to ascend. But he wanted to ascend so that we could fulfill the mission he would give us, to bring the good news of salvation to the whole world. So from the beginning of his public ministry, not only did Jesus preach in word and deed, but he prepared us his disciples to do the same. He trained us to preach; he gave us his own authority to cure the sick and cast out unclean spirits. He formed us to be more and more like him, who himself was God the Father’s missionary. He did not merely state, “Do what I say,” but said “follow me,” and he wanted us to follow him in the mission he had received from the Father. That baton was passed to the apostles and first disciples. They passed it on to others, who in turn handed it to others. He hands to us anew this Sunday. Jesus trusted us enough to entrust to us his saving work.
* It’s important for us to grasp that Jesus commissions all of us as his missionaries. By our Baptism, and strengthened by our Confirmation, we’re called to share in Christ’s own prophetic work. This universal mission grew in stages. Jesus first trained the 12 and then sent them out (Mk 6:7-13). Then he trained 72 and sent them with the same instructions (Lk 10:1-12). Before he ascended into heaven, he instructed 500 on the mountainside and told them “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel, baptizing … and teaching them to carry out everything I have commanded you” (1 Cor 15:6; Mt 28:18-20). That mission continues down to this day and Jesus wants us — and in some sense needs us — to carry it on.
* The second point is that we’re not sent out with our own message or given the instruction to wing it. We’re sent out as ambassadors of Christ with his own message, the same message he himself preached. St. Mark writes that as soon as Jesus returned from his forty day fast in the wilderness, he came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the Good news” (Mk 1:15). Jesus states a fact and gives an imperative. Since the Kingdom of God is at hand, we are called to change our lives and base them on this Gospel. When Jesus sends out the 12, as we see in Sunday’s Gospel,

Episode: https://catholicpreaching.com/wp/fifteenth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-b-conversations-with-consequences-podcast-july-13-2024/

Podcast: https://catholicpreaching.com/wp/category/audio-homily/podcast/