Homily: Follow Me: Part 2

Follow Me: Part 2

June 23, 2013 l 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Notes for Part 2

No. 1: "A particularly dangerous phenomenon for faith has arisen in our times: indeed a form of atheism exists which we define, precisely, as 'practical', in which the truths of faith or religious rites are not denied but are merely deemed irrelevant to daily life, detached from life, pointless. So it is that people often believe in God in a superficial manner, and live 'as though God did not exist'. In the end, however, this way of life proves even more destructive because it leads to indifference to faith and to the question of God."

— Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, November 14, 2012

No. 2: The Matrix, Warner Brothers, 1999

No. 3: "without reference to God’s original plan and its hope of restoration in Christ people tend to accept discord ... 'as just the way it is.' ... When we normalize our fallen state, it is akin to thinking it normal to driving with flat tires. We intuit that something is amiss, but when everyone drives around in the same state we lack a point of reference for anything different."

—Christopher West, Theology of the Body Explained, pg. 60

No. 4: "People are thirsty, and when people are thirsty enough they’ll drink the sand in the desert when they see a mirage."

— The American President, Universal Pictures, 1995

No. 5: "But who do you say that I am?"

— Luke 9:20

No. 6: "Then he said to all, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.'"

— Luke 9:23

No. 7: "If God does not exist, life is empty, the future is empty."

— Pope Benedict XVI, August 15, 2006

No. 8: "if God exists, everything changes, life is light, our future is light and we have guidance for how to live."

— Pope Benedict XVI, August 15, 2006

No. 9: "He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.'"
— Luke 4:16-19

No. 10: "Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
— Ephesians 3:20

© Fr. Mark Toups, 2013