{"id":6156,"date":"2022-08-05T12:04:49","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T02:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/?p=6156"},"modified":"2022-08-05T12:04:54","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T02:04:54","slug":"fr-thomas-homily-for-the-19th-sunday-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/fr-thomas-homily-for-the-19th-sunday-in-ordinary-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Fr Thomas&#8217; Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-vivid-purple-color has-text-color\" style=\"font-size:24px\"><strong><em>Be Warned<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bishop Pablo David, president of the Catholic Bishops&#8217; Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), admonished the priests, bishops and other church leaders to take heart their role in the Church as representatives of the \u201c<em>Synodal God in the Body of Christ<\/em>\u201d and not only as \u201c<em>ordained ministerial priesthood<\/em>\u201d who are lording it over the church members.\u00a0 Synodality is a hotly discussed topic in the ecclesiastical circles now.\u00a0\u00a0 It is generating a fair share of warning and anxieties for the Church leadership.\u00a0\u00a0 Anxieties and warnings to the leadership is nothing new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the early Church, Luke the evangelist wrote about the Lord\u2019s warning which was somewhat different.&nbsp; The problem in the early Church was something more than the lack of consultation (Synodality).&nbsp; Christians surrounded by hostile Jews were afraid to practice their faith.&nbsp; To them the evangelist reminded what the Lord taught.&nbsp; The life of the disciples in this world is an opportunity to prepare for the Kingdom of Heaven.&nbsp; They are to be mindful that death could steal from them this opportunity anytime and you wouldn\u2019t know when.&nbsp;&nbsp; What the Lord told them is applicable for us too.&nbsp; Therefore, as disciples we are to be \u201c<em>dressed for action and have the lamps lit<\/em>.\u201d&nbsp; We are to be \u201c<em>like men waiting for their master return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks<\/em>\u201d (<em>Luke 12:35-36<\/em>).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In presenting this message of the Lord, Luke also reflects on the persecution experienced by the Christians then&nbsp; In the time of adversity, the leaders of the Church are to be \u201c<em>prudent stewards<\/em>\u201d of their flock. They should diligently work to encourage those in their care to live in a manner worthy of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the secular world is busy punishing the Church with anti-Christian legislations and aggressive propaganda, we are not to be slack.&nbsp; Because any complaisance will be answerable at the last judgement.&nbsp; So if you are a bishop or a priest you need to be pro-active.&nbsp; If you are a parent or a teacher, you are&nbsp; a faith leader for your children and students.&nbsp; The Gospel reminds you also of the importance and urgency to be proactive for the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bishop Pablo David, president of the Catholic Bishops&#8217; Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), admonished the priests, bishops and other church leaders to take heart their role in the Church as representatives of the \u201cSynodal God in the Body of Christ\u201d and not only as \u201cordained ministerial priesthood\u201d who are lording it over the church members.  Synodality is a hotly discussed topic in the ecclesiastical circles now.   It is generating a fair share of warning and anxieties for the Church leadership.   Anxieties and warnings to the leadership is nothing new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6157,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions\/6157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeter-stjoseph.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}