11th SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME JUNE 18, 2023

Readings: Exodus 19:2-6a, Romans 5:6-11, Mathew 9:36-10:8

Sometimes in the past, the work of evangelizing or sharing our faith by preaching was regarded as belonging only to bishops, priests and religious. The lay people were expected to just say, ‘amen’ and to ‘pray, pay and obey.’ One writer compared our Church, many years ago, to a ship. The captain of the ship was the Pope. The officers were the bishops and the crewmembers were the priests. What was the role of the lay people? The lay people were viewed as paying passengers. They had no active role in the ship which is the Church. 

But now, there is a great change. We are going back once again to the early Christian idea that the Church is a Christian community of brothers and sisters all dedicated to the same work and all cooperating closely and together. 

Jesus generally means that the Kingdom is the presence of God in the world. The Kingdom is truly present in you and in me when we are following God and trying to be faithful to God’s word. The Kingdom is present within us. And when we join with others who are also faithful to the Word of God, then the Kingdom becomes present within the believing community.

Let us pray this Sunday for a deeper awareness of God’s divine presence in our personal lives and in the life of our Christian communities. Let us ask that the Holy Spirit will give us the vision to see how God is present in our world. May we have the power to ask for God’s healing, for the life of those who are dying, for freedom from demons. Let us ask for the gift to see how we have been born up on eagle wings.

Fr. Terry.