Homily for August 28th/29th – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Back around 1990, there was a singing group called Milli Vanilli that caused a great music controversy. The duo of Rob & Fab had exploded onto the pop music scene. They had 6 big hits which included three number 1 songs. Then it was discovered that they were not really singing on their records or at their concerts, they were simply lip-synching; and that the actual vocals were being sung by two former soldiers who did not have the good looks that the record producer wanted. People in the recording industry were outraged – and Milli Vanilli had to give back the Grammy Award given to them for Best New Artist.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the Pharisees, like Milli Vanilli were doing Old Testament lip-synching. They were mouthing the appropriate words – but not doing the work of living out those words, that’s why Jesus quoted Isaiah “These people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me”. If we are merely lip-synching our way through our faith, we become this centuries Pharisees. They were accused of sounds like us when we may just be here out of habit and are involved in nothing else.
When we say the Creed, there should be no doubt that these things we believe in as Catholics.
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, there should be no question that we give our praise and thanks to God and that we will forgive others and work to build God’s Kingdom.
When we receive the Eucharist, we say Amen and really mean that we believe we are receiving Jesus Christ.
Otherwise this might be lip-service religion when our prayer is a mere moving of the lips; when there is no change inside us- it is hollow. When there are no good deeds that show that Christians are here – we have become Milli Vanillis. This type of hypocrisy is perhaps not thought through, but it is a failure of discipleship. We need to be aware of it in our lives and align our actions with our faith, our deeds with our talk, our hearts with our image.
Prayer for Priests
Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the gift of our priests. Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments. Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their souls on fire with love for your people. Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom.Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest. Amen. (Courtesy of USCCB.org)
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