Daily Retreat 09/06/06
2006 Sep 6 Wed: Ordinary Weekday
1 Cor 3: 1-9/ Ps 32(33): 12-13. 14-15. 20-21/ Lk 4: 38-44
From today’s readings: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.... Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be His own.... At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place....”
A Preaching Tour
As many are aware, the word “gospel” means “good news,” and Jesus was personally very committed to preaching and diffusing all the good news stemming from His presence, and the Apostles too were specifically commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the gospel.
But in many places in the world, the message of Jesus is no longer seen as “good news” - rather, it’s disregarded as “old news.” This seems to be true even in the churches, for, as a preacher of this time and place, I am saddened to occasionally see people yawning even during the proclamation of the Sacred Scriptures (yes, sometimes they also yawn during my homilies, but it’s much worse when God’s Word as well is dismissed as wearisome).
But the divine message of Jesus, in its fullness, can hardly be brushed aside so lightly, so what people are actually bored with is only the caricature of the gospel and the watered down Word of God. For, just as the transcendent magnificence of a Beethoven symphony can be vulgarized by transcribing it into elevator music, so the gospel, the best news of human history, has been emasculated by insipid translations, lackluster preaching, banal commercialization, and, worst of all, blasphemous appeals to scripture as justification for crimes against humanity.
In spite of its undeserved association with such bad news, the Word of God has not been exhausted, for only the unadulterated gospel can answer the deepest needs and desires of the human heart, and so it is that every town in the world still wants the faithful proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom of God.....
1 Cor 3: 1-9/ Ps 32(33): 12-13. 14-15. 20-21/ Lk 4: 38-44
From today’s readings: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.... Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be His own.... At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place....”
A Preaching Tour
As many are aware, the word “gospel” means “good news,” and Jesus was personally very committed to preaching and diffusing all the good news stemming from His presence, and the Apostles too were specifically commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the gospel.
But in many places in the world, the message of Jesus is no longer seen as “good news” - rather, it’s disregarded as “old news.” This seems to be true even in the churches, for, as a preacher of this time and place, I am saddened to occasionally see people yawning even during the proclamation of the Sacred Scriptures (yes, sometimes they also yawn during my homilies, but it’s much worse when God’s Word as well is dismissed as wearisome).
But the divine message of Jesus, in its fullness, can hardly be brushed aside so lightly, so what people are actually bored with is only the caricature of the gospel and the watered down Word of God. For, just as the transcendent magnificence of a Beethoven symphony can be vulgarized by transcribing it into elevator music, so the gospel, the best news of human history, has been emasculated by insipid translations, lackluster preaching, banal commercialization, and, worst of all, blasphemous appeals to scripture as justification for crimes against humanity.
In spite of its undeserved association with such bad news, the Word of God has not been exhausted, for only the unadulterated gospel can answer the deepest needs and desires of the human heart, and so it is that every town in the world still wants the faithful proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom of God.....
posted by FrPitstick | 9/04/2006
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