Homily: Seventh Friday of Ordinary Time

Seventh Friday of Ordinary Time (James 5:9-12)

The writer of James reflects the words of other pieces of Scripture in his text today. He speaks of the persistence of Job. When I was a child, my mother said often while she was reflecting on someone who was having great misfortune in their life, “He or she has the patience of Job.” She did not use the word persistence as James does.

There is something about the word persistence that seems to indicate a conscious choice. Patience might speak about how we react to things beyond our control. Persistence would seem to indicate that someone might experience setbacks while they are pursuing some goal, but still try to achieve the goal.

We might think of a church minister who is engaged in some holy work. Perhaps the work seems like a very virtuous undertaking, but still there can be failure.

I had a priest friend who always seemed to get assignments that involved small parishes in out of the way places. He was a great priest and a very holy pastor. One day I was talking to him, and I said that I did not understand why he never seemed to get an assignment that would be easier or more prestigious. He gave a very thoughtful response.

He said, “Sometimes you can do everything right, but you still don’t succeed in the eyes of the world.” Too often we all give up when we don’t see concrete results. In the eyes of the world, we may have failed. But does the world’s judgement matter. Say yes if you mean yes and no if you mean no, the scriptures say.

I would say that this is what integrity is all about. Do we persevere on the right course even when it is discouraging? If we do, we have integrity.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Is there a difference between patience and perseverance? What is it?

2.   What does it mean to have integrity? Why is this important to me?

 Dear Parishioners,

           This Monday is Memorial Day, and we will be moving Masses to the local cemeteries. Mass at St. Mary cemetery, Moline will be at 9:30 a.m. Mass at Calvary Cemetery in Rock Island will be at 9 a.m.

We will have no Masses at our church this coming Monday.

          Praying for the dead is a wonderful work of mercy. If we have loved ones buried in the cemetery where we are having Mass, this makes it that much more meaningful. Please come and join us.

          May Our Lady of Peace pray for our war-torn world.

          Fr. Mark