Homily: Twenty-fourth Friday of Ordinary Time
Twenty-fourth Friday of Ordinary Time (Luke 8:1-3) “The Women in Jesus’ Life”
Luke is the gospel that emphasizes Jesus’ contacts with those who are rejected. The writer talks a lot about Jesus’ interaction with people of other races like Romans and Canaanites. His contacts are usually favorable. There were people who weren’t Jewish who believed in Jesus.
Luke also emphasizes how important children were to Jesus. In the ancient world a child was a non-person. They had no redress and in some ancient cultures a father had a right to put a child to death. They were his property.
Another rejected group that was given statue in the Kingdom Jesus preached about were women. Women were supposed to stay at home. If they went out in public by themselves their morals would be immediately questioned.
In this brief gospel passage, we hear how Jesus treated women. He invited women to be his apostles. He also had women traveling in his company. Women were not supposed to be educated by rabbis. There was a separate place for them in the synagogue and in the temple. Yet, Jesus taught women about the things of God.
Jesus also accepted support from his women disciples. Some women did have material resources at their disposal. They might be widows who had money left to them. They also might be married to wealth men who would give them money to spend.
The women who are mentioned in this Gospel are young and old, widowed, married and single. We have no reason that Jesus only had pious elderly woman who traveled with him.
All these facts challenge the church in the modern world to look at women differently. Women are slowly being entrusted with more and more responsibility. Jesus is the inspiration for this way of thinking.
Reflection Questions:
1. Do I ever think about how women were treated by Jesus? What insights might I gain from reflecting on this?
2. Do I see women gaining influence in the church? What more needs to be done?
___________________________________________________
Dear Parishioners,
During the past few weeks, we have been asking the parish for recommendations for the parish pastoral council. A couple of people will be retiring from the council, and we need to replace them. The pastoral council is an important part of our parish life. When I have pastoral decisions to make, I often will ask the pastoral council for their opinions.
There are usually about a dozen people on the pastoral council. We try to have a cross section of the parish represented. If you would like to be on this important consultative body, drop your name in the collection or if you would like to recommend someone, drop their name in the collection.
Let’s all pray that new leadership will be raised up for our parish.
May our Lady Pray for Us,
Fr. Mark