Our readings for Sunday are here.
These are the poems, my notes, and interpretation of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Masses of
- September 10, 2017 5PM
- September 7, 2014 8:30AM
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The poems Fr Dennis references are:
- 2017 homily — On the Closing the Apartment of My Grandparents of Blessed Memory by Robyn Sarah
- 2014 homily — You’re the Top by Robert Bly
In 2017
- All three readings present the challenge of responding with the fullness of love to the call we hear from God.
- The first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel and the second from Romans share the harder edge of love, the more challenging (in some ways). The reason we warn someone is because of God’s Love, which doesn’t want the sinner to die in their sin (i.e., their separation from God).
- The gospel reading is about major faults / grievances / sin. It is not about winning or achieving an outcome; it is not about judgment. The kind of sin at issue in the gospel is one which not only harms some one person but is also a sin against the church and greater community, the kind of sin that rips the fabric of community.
- It is a teaching gospel, and teaching needs to be done in a spirit of gift and love, so no condemnation.
- This gospel passage is probably not a direct saying of Jesus because there was no “church” during his ministry, but the saying is within the spirit of Jesus / the Risen Christ. At the time of this teaching (time line of the gospels), Jesus was still squarely presenting himself within and as part of the Hebrew tradition. So, it is likely that this passage was created by Matthew to embody Jesus’ teaching in the context of the emerging Christian church.
- Some context from rl — the relevant dates are roughly 30-ish C.E. for the teaching encounter, and the earliest surviving copy and estimate of the gospel attributed to Matthew is thought to be first written in Ancient Greek on papyri in 80-ish C.E., using the gospel attributed to St Mark (70-ish C.E.) and the Q Source, all in koinē Greek (the larger body of various Greek forms — Attic, Homeric, koinē, etc… ) referred to as Ancient Greek, to distinguish these forms from the Greek used as daily fare in contemporary Greece.
In 2014, D2 focused on the gospel (or rl’s notes did) —
- The phrase “whatever you [bind / loose] … shall be [bound / loosed] in heaven” is written in the Ancient Greek with
- the future perfect verb form in Ancient Greek. A better translation might be as “shall be [bound/loosed] in heaven” as “will have already been [bound / loosed] in heaven.”
- This form of the verb makes it clear that the statement is referring to our doing something and a later discovery that this was as part of God’s plan. We are not controlling God or having agency to affect or effect the gospel growing (rl notes, i.e., the gospel grows itself because the Word is God; see the Solemnity of the Trinity entry!). This passage is not about power or conferring power, when attention is paid to the verb form; it is helping us understand that God has been, is, and always will be proximate and in love with us, no matter the circumstances.
- In Tony Hoagland’s poem, You’re the Top, he shares how time can help us see God’s Hand after the fact. (And for those of us who are the beneficiaries of the free people in all nations and the heroic efforts of the Allied Forces, and have been granted the privilege of letting WWII dates slide away — March 1938 marked Germany’s invasion of Austria.)
In keeping with the Psalm verse of shepherd and flock, I’ve used an unattributed, hopefully free image of shepherd with sheep. Also, this time, D2’s notion that this is a teaching gospel and must be read and listened and interpreted in Love, together, made a flock image feel fitting for today’s entry. And, somehow, calming and comforting in today’s violent and topsy-turvy world.
The Surest Sign 