September 20th 2009 A.D.
25th Sunday In Ordinary Time, Mk 9/30-37

September Homilies:  6th  |  13th  |  20th  | 27th

Background:

  Jesus now enters Galilee, but secretly. His time has not yet come. He does not want to risk himself until that time. So he discretely evades his enemies. Yet despite his obvious caution and his continued warnings to his followers about what will happen, they discuss not his warnings or the implication of these warnings for them but their own dignity and power in the kingdom that Jesus will found. Jesus rebukes them and warns them that unless they obtain the simplicity of the child they will not earn power in his kingdom. It is a warning that not all those who have held power in the Church through its long history have heeded.

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 Once upon a time a CEO of a large and important corporation promoted two of his brightest young executives for rapid promotion because they were so creative and so intelligent and so hard working. Everyone knew, including the executives whom he had passed over, that one or the other of these men would be the next CEO. One was named president of the company and the other the Vice CEO. They had been close friends for twenty years and their combined talents and dedication had been responsible for the rapid growth of the firm. However, once it became clear to both of them that only one could win the prize, they began to try to undercut one another. Their friendship ended. Their wives stopped speaking to one another (though they had been friends too). The other executives enjoyed the rivalry and plotted how they could undercut both of them. Now the big problem was that the two stopped cooperating with one another and that cooperation had been the key to firms success. Sales fell off, a little bit and then a lot. Wall Street, as you can imagine, didn’t like that at all. Two months before the CEO was to retire, the board of directors intervened and fired him. Then they brought in a new CEO from another company. Everyone said that if the two crown princes had only cooperated a little more, they both would have won. Two children, an analyst said, could have run that company, it was so successful But these adults couldn’t.

Psalm 54:1-7
1 Save me, O God, by thy name, and vindicate me by thy might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For insolent men have risen against me, ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before them. [Selah]
4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5 He will requite my enemies with evil; in thy faithfulness put an end to them.
6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to thee; I will give thanks to thy name, O LORD, for it is good.
7 For thou hast delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

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