Saturday word

27th Saturday B (14 Oct 2006) Gal 3. 22-29; Ps 105; Lk 11. 27-28
Homily of Fr. Paul Panaretos, S.J.
To Bless Is To Do


As Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem some people gathered to join him; others, whose hearts rejected him, appeared to test him. Those of us with opportunities to go to mass during the week have been hearing both acceptance and rejection of Jesus.

Luke arranged the accepting and rejecting encounters in an alternating fashion. After being tested by others, who demanded a sign from heaven, as to how Jesus expelled a demon from a man, a woman blessed Jesus, as we heard.

Surely good for Jesus to hear; yet the air around Jesus was thick with tension. He did not reject her blessing; rather, he put in the right context. It was not enough to respond to Jesus as a person but to do two things more: to hear the word of God, which Jesus proclaimed, and to do it.

We bless Jesus and his Father and their Holy Spirit in many ways. When we bless them at mass, they send us on mission to do Jesus’ work of proclaiming the word and doing it in our lives. To use Paul’s metaphor, we have clothed []ourselves with Christ. Our baptismal vocation urges us to do that by making the pattern of Christ’s living, dying and rising our own. To fail to do that is to live under a disciplinarian like fear or obligation not a living Christian faith, not living the faith of Jesus.

To make the pattern of Christ’s living, dying and rising our own is to live according to the promise of the covenant and to be truly free. The eucharist sustains what baptism has begun, and it gives us the courage we need to bless Jesus in deed and word.