8th July 2012 - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

After a few hectic weeks, this morning Sacred Space 102 gets back to basics with John and Shane taking a bit more time for a prayer space, our regular sharing and reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel, saints of the weeks and some other odds and ends.

This weeks podcast is available HERE.


Gospel - Mark 6: 1-6

From this weeks Limerick Diocesan Resource Newsletter:

They said, "Where did this man get all this? ...Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary" ... And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place ... He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6)

God is here.
Now.
Today.
In this moment as you read.
In your family, in your life, in your heartache and in your joy.
This is what Incarnation means. God is not separate, distant, to be searched for only in distant places. God is here with us now, closer than your own breath.
Don't miss out on Gods presence in your life because you think its too ordinary to possibly be graced with Gods presence. Don't wait only for special moments in your speak with God, to listen for God, to listen to God.
God is not present only in extraordinary moments and special places - God chooses to be present in all of life, and that includes all of your life!!
 

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The One - Patrick Kavanagh

 Green, blue, yellow and red—
God is down in the swamps and marshes
Sensational as April and almost incredible
the flowering of our catharsis.

 A humble scene in a backward place
Where no one important ever looked
The raving flowers; looked up on the face
Of the One and the Endless, the Mind that has baulked
The profoundest of mortals.

 A primrose, a violet,
A violent wild iris – but mostly anonymous performers
Yet an important occasion as the Muse at her toilet
Prepared to inform the local farmers
That beautiful, beautiful, beautiful God
Was breathing His love by a cut-away bog.

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This weeks gospel is a challenging one to us. Mark recounts the return of Jesus to his home town of Nazareth. He has been out, preaching and healing the Galilee region since his baptism by John in the Jordan and his forty days in the desert and he arrives back home; back to the place where people think they know him the best. It is a story which can reverberate for many people especially those who have been at home and those who have gone away and the difficulties and challenges of seeing/recognising the changes that have occurred in both those that stayed and also those that left. The reaction of the people of Nazareth (mirroring the response from the people of Israel) is one of trying to contain/control this man who they all know as the carpenter, who grew up before them. Who does he think he is coming back and teaching with authority? Are we like that? Do we write people off because we know something about them in the community - they didn't finish school, they don't have a qualification, they were in AA, what ever it may be? Are we trying to bring people down? Do we tend to want to "put them back in their box"?

Other reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Deacon Greg Kandra
Sunday Reflections
Blue Eyed Ennis
English Dominicans
Centre For Liturgy

Liturgical odds and ends

Saints of the Week

July 9th - St Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions (Martyrs)
July 10th - St Silvanus
July 11th - St Benedict (Abbot)
July 12th - St Veronica
July 13th - St Teresa of the Andes
July 14th - St Camillus of Lellis - Today is the feast day of St Camillus Hospital, Shelbourne Rd, here in Limerick city. Many of us know it as the old TB hospital, or as a nursing home, as a respite care facility for family members, or as the place we go to get birth certs!!
July 15th - St Bonaventure
July 16th - Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel available here

Divine Office - Week 2