Let the children come unto me
Listening tot the Gospel today at Mass of Mark 10:2-16 I was reminded me of the same juxtaposition that I had been reading in Matthew 19 recently. Where Jesus teaches about marriage and then transitions immediately to Jesus rebuking the Disciples for not letting the children come to him. This transition brought to me the sin of contraception where deliberately children are prevented from coming to him.
Today at Mass our Deacon did the homily and he brought out the same point in a very good homily. It was great to hear an elegant explanation of the Church's teaching on both contraception and marriage. He even touched on why there can be no such thing same-sex marriage. I really wish I could remember in detail his homily since it had so much red meat in it it would make a vegetarian faint. Homilies of this sort are not rare in my parish, I just thought this one was especially forthright on these subjects.
Known as 
The sermon was probably written down. You could ask the deacon for a copy.
The more I read and study the Scripture, the more convinced I become that they are finely structured documents. It is unfortunate that so many treat them as a haphazard collection of sayings and stories.
Today was the first time I've ever preached on marriage and divorce...this is not from being faint-hearted but rather just the way the readings have fallen since I've been ordained. I would be grateful for any feedback on my homily--be gentle but tell the truth (of course!): http//hancaquam.blogspot.com
Fr. Philip, OP
Boy Jeff, are you blessed!
divorce and contraception are still such difficult issues for preachers to address... as this gospel reading shows, it was the same in Jesus' time.
Our Preacher didn't go there, but he did use this as a opportunity to speak unequivocally about the evil of abortion and embryonic stem cell research.
At the end of his homily, a little old lady in front of me...started to applaud... and people followed suit.
It is a bit sad that such a homily is so rare that people applaud to finally hear it. But how lovely that maybe the tide is turning.
It was a homily by a deacon, and I hope it made an impression on our regular priest, who gives lovely, but very unchallenging homilies...people can handle the truth...and even are grateful.
I look forward to the day that such a homily brings a standing ovation...
(well, maybe not at a reverent mass)... but you know what I mean...
Fr. Philip, you left the colon out of your url!
oOPs! I'm not a techie priest...thus my sloth about podcasting...
http://hancaquam.blogspot.com
How blessed you are to have a priest who gave a homily like that! I'd never before noticed the connection between the two readings (marriage and letting the children come) and thought it was so beautiful and poignant. Unfortunately, the priest who gave the sermon missed it entirely. Instead, he just kept saying the readings are about "challenging us to think about what God wants in marriage" without ever telling us what the Church TEACHES about marriage, contraception, and homosexuality. Why are so many priests so spineless???
We had a guest priest Saturday, while one of our pastors is traveling Germany with some friends from India. Anyway, the priest from from the local Carmelite monastery and gave a wonderful homily on divorce and how Moses, in the first reading, was compromising, but Christ was arguing that the time for compromise was over and that to give ourselves more fully into marriage (whether to a spouse or the Church) may be difficult, but it brings us closer to God. I love when this gentleman pays a visit to our parish - his homilies, while longer than what people in this drive-thru era are used to, are always full of theology, none of this touchy-feely, let's all just be happy stuff that never forces anyone to think about their faith.