Scripture Reflections for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“What happened to Jeremiah, well you know what, it happens really to all the prophets up to today, including you when you speak the word of God”

“Jesus was in his own person the prophetic Word. He's not one more prophet speaking God's Word. He is God's Word made flesh. Jesus in his person was right praise. He was the temple.”

“When, in the interest of saving “my life” must I turn my back on the excessive demands of others? When are the demands of others in need my chance to die with Christ in order to live with Him?”

“What about all those mistakes of our past, things we’ve confessed, but still feel a certain shame or embarrassment for? They will be like battle scars which have healed, not a source of shame anymore, but each one a mark of the graciousness of God’s forgiveness.”

“If we allow ourselves to be mastered by fear then we fail in our service of our own true Master: Jesus the Lord”

“Faith invites us to believe that our real significance is not to have our name put up on billboards among the Hollywood stars, but to have our name written in heaven, among the eternal stars. A place in God’s heart gives us a significance and a permanence that the hall of fame does not.”

“Jesus does not make light of human suffering – his own or anyone else’s – but he invites his disciples to share with equanimity his own realism about what lies ahead, and his own confidence that the love God has for us will triumph over the mystery of suffering and death, which at present is hidden from our understanding”

“we fear that God sometimes forgets and does not notice us, that God, like us, is an inadequate Lord of the universe. That is why we get anxious and fret, because, like one without faith, we can feel that we are in an unfeeling universe.”

“When we have entered into friendship with God we have now bound ourselves to the power that makes the whole cosmos, that transcends space and time...then we can look back at any and all of the goods of the world and see them in their proper perspectives. None of those should be the center of my life.”

“As Christians, we need to show compassion to those most in need and those who are being treated without dignity. The people who are being harmed need allies and advocates who are not afraid to speak out and offer assistance.”

“We bring the Kingdom of God by the way we live. We still suffer. That’s to be expected as part of life AND as our part in carrying Jesus’ cross. BUT, God is always with us in the struggles…as he was with Jeremiah, the disciples, and the early Christians.”

“We are not called to be Stoics, emotionally withdrawn and proudly indifferent to pleasure or pain...Rather, we are graced, as Christ’s body, equally in the joy and pain which often are equally present in our lives, to connect with God in Him and others in Him, as social individuals.”

“My dearest, when we feel lonely and abandoned, when it seems that our prayers are unanswered, God knows and cares. His silence means a lot. Only those in the secret place of the Most High understand it.”

“It’s sad when Christians are so afraid of publicly being identified with Christ, they won’t pray before meals in a restaurant. Do our coworkers, friends, acquaintances know we are followers of Christ, and are we setting a good example of what it means to be a Christian?”

“So this is what God’s care looks like: not preventing all suffering but holding all things in being and never letting sin or death have the last word”

“Jesus is telling us to persevere through it, because He did. He’s telling us to trust in our training, the training He has provided for us. He’s telling us to trust in His grace, that regardless of what is going on, He will provide us the special graces we need to get through it – one way or another.”

“We need more prophets like Bishop Romero who are not afraid to speak the truth and can face the anger and hatred of those do not wish to hear the voice of God”

“Today’s readings are stories of courage and faith and hope in the midst of persecution. And they carry a blessed reminder for us that no one, not the smallest or lowliest creature, goes unloved or unheard by the God who brought all of us into being.”

“It is only in the light of our friendship with God that we can properly understand that we are sinners and that we are forgiven. When we are friends with God sin is never in the centre of that relationship. It is God’s mercy and forgiveness that always precedes it.”

“you can listen to the voice of God because he desires to tell you that 'I love you' and that you have no need to fear what anyone else thinks of you, however any one else may judge you so that you can live each day out of the fullness of the life that he gives to you.”

“I got failures and fears and anxieties all around me but at the level of my soul I am connected to that power which is here and now creating the universe”

“I don't hear Matthew saying in this text that we should not fear, I don't hear him saying that we will always be protected. Rather I hear him saying 'speak the truth even if your voice shakes' because the only way justice has a chance to survive is if it moves from being whispered in the dark into being spoken in the light”

“In the midst of the world's struggles and difficulties you can find a place of safety and power when you are grounded in Christ Jesus”

“That's what it means to be a saint. That you fear God above all things. What you are most afraid of is not losing wealth, health, power, yes even your life. What you're most afraid of is losing friendship with God.”