Gospel Homily for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Gospel-based homily for this Sunday is entitled Building the Church of Christ .

John XXIII was pope during the turbulent 1960s when it seemed that everything was falling apart. The priesthood was in crisis, religious life was in crisis, marriage was in crisis, faith was in crisis, the church was in crisis. The pope worked long and hard hours trying to address these problems. One evening, after an exhausting day in the office, he went to his private chapel to do his daily Holy Hour before retiring but he was too exhausted and too stressed out to focus or pray. After a few minutes of futile effort, he got up and said, “Lord, the church belongs to you. I am going to bed.” Difficulties might have driven the Pope to acknowledge that the church belongs to Christ. But Jesus himself said it 2000 years ago: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18)." ... Read more .

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