FranciscanMedia.org | Sunday Soundbites | 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Soundbites

Sunday Soundbites is a weekly, 90-second radio homily based on the Sunday readings, written and read by Fr. Greg Friedman, O.F.M. Sunday Soundbites is also heard on Catholic radio stations around the country.

Program for Sunday, July 15, 2012
(15th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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Transcript

Am 7:12-15
Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14
Eph 1:3-14 or Eph 1:3-10
Mk 6:7-13

Being a prophet is not the "ideal job." Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the "Sunday Soundbite" for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

If you ever had any doubt, today's first reading makes it clear that prophets usually didn’t seek out their role. Amos is confronted by the priest Amaziah at the shrine of Bethel in the land of Israel. The prophet has apparently offended both the king and the priests. His reply: He didn’t want the job in the first place! It was God who called him and sent him to speak a message—unpopular though that message might be.

While our Gospel for today doesn't describe the unpleasant side of delivering God's message, Jesus seems to anticipate that might happen, as he commissions his disciples for a preaching mission. If they aren't welcomed, he says, they are to leave that place and shake its dust from their feet.

Christians today are likewise commissioned to take a message to the world. It seems these days that our message is more and more prophetic, more and more calculated to meet with rejection, in a world that finds our values alien.

We may not want the job, but it's ours. Our great and holy calling is outlined by Paul in the second reading. He says that God’s choice of each of us comes with the power of the Spirit, with whom we are sealed. May we be courageous in our prophetic role.

I’m Father Greg Friedman with the "Sunday Soundbite" for St. Anthony Messenger Press, on the Web at FranciscanRadio.org.

Meet Father Greg Friedman

Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M., is creative director with the Media Production Team at Franciscan Media. He also hosts American Catholic Radio each week, and produces videos for www.AmericanCatholic.org, including the "Two-Minute Take." Father Greg wrote and directed Assisi Pilgrimage: Walking in Faith with Francis and Clare, which appeared on ABC-TV stations nationwide. He also produced the popular faith-formation series Catholic Update Video, used in parishes around the U.S. He currently serves as pastor of St. Francis Seraph Parish, located in the inner-city neighborhood of "Over-the-Rhine" in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can contact him at letters@franciscanradio.org.

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