The Body Politic

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www.godswordmanyvoices.org

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Welcome to Rochester's Lay Preaching Web Site

God’s Word, Many Voices
is a website which showcases weekly Sunday reflections by lay people
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, NY.

The Second Sunday or Ordinary Time

January 17, 2021

Preacher: Gloria Ulterino

Also see Don't Throw in the Towel book club info below.

Readings: 1 Samuel 3: 3B-10, 19; 1 Corinthians 6: 13C-15A, 17-20; John 1: 35-42
Click here to download a PDF of this homily.

I took a look at the readings for this weekend. Oh, I love the story of the call of Samuel! Surely I would focus on that! But then, I looked again. And, what do you know? Paul’s words to the Corinthians, and to us today, stirred my heart. We—our bodies—are holy. We—our bodies—are the place where God’s Holy Spirit lives and moves and has its being! Not singly, but in all our bodies—female and male, of every color and persuasion under the sun: the prime location, in fact, of God’s Holy Spirit alive in our world. At least, that’s what God intends.

Wow! Where, then, to begin? How about with the season just ended, the Christmas season? The Gospel reminder that our God takes on human flesh. Our God takes on our flesh! We’re the Baptized, together— making a home after home after home for God’s Holy Spirit in this world. Our very sick, virus-infested world, so in need of healing. Still impacted so profoundly by Covid 19, don’t we all simply long to get together again, in person, in our bodies? We are bodies, baptized into Christ, meant to become today’s disciples, committed to living as Jesus lived, for the sake of our world.....Read More He re

What did you think of this week's reflection? To add a comment Click here! See COMMENTS below......

UPCOMING EVENTS

Don't Throw In The Towel Book Club: Women: Icons of Christ by Dr. Phyllis Zagano

January 21, 2021 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

ll are welcome to Zoom with us on January 21, 2021 at 4:00 PM to either listen in or comment on the following: Dr. Phyllis Zagano's book Women: Icons of Christ. The book is available on Amazon for about $15. See details on home page...

A prayer for peace

Great God, who has told us
"Vengeance is mine,"
save us from ourselves,
save us from the vengeance in our hearts
and the acid in our souls.

Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt,
to punish as we have been punished,
to terrorize as we have been terrorized.

Give us the strength it takes
to listen rather than to judge,
to trust rather than to fear,
to try again and again
to make peace even when peace eludes us.

We ask, O God, for the grace
to be our best selves.
We ask for the vision
to be builders of the human community
rather than its destroyers.
We ask for the humility as a people
to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.

We ask for the love it takes
to bequeath to the children of the world to come
more than the failures of our own making.
We ask for the heart it takes
to care for all the peoples
[in Washington D.C. and around our nation tonight]
as well as for ourselves.

Give us the depth of soul, O God,
to constrain our might,
to resist the temptations of power
to refuse to attack the attackable,
to understand
that vengeance begets violence,
and to bring peace—not war—wherever we go.

For You, O God, have been merciful to us.
For You, O God, have been patient with us.
For You, O God, have been gracious to us.

And so may we be merciful
and patient
and gracious
and trusting
with these others whom you also love.

This we ask through Jesus,
the one without vengeance in his heart.
This we ask forever and ever.

Amen.

—adapted from Sister Joan Chittister, Benedictine Sisters of Erie

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Purpose

This website provides the opportunity to hear a variety of voices reflecting on the scriptures used in Sunday Masses. Lay men and women will contribute, along with priests and deacons, so that a diversity of viewpoints and experiences will inform and inspire the reader’s reflections. The site will be continuously expanded and improved to provide additional resources.