{"id":233,"date":"2012-09-20T11:13:10","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T16:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=233"},"modified":"2012-10-25T11:15:52","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T16:15:52","slug":"dealing-with-reality-not-appearances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=233","title":{"rendered":"Dealing With Reality, Not Appearances"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time<\/span><\/h1>\n

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1 Cor 15: 1-11; Luke 7: 36-50<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

By Deacon Larry Brockman<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

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\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Appearances can be deceiving- like in today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 <\/span>First, there is the respected man of God- the Pharisee; and then there is the sinful woman.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus praises the sinful woman, and pretty much blasts the respected man of God.\u00a0 <\/span>Why? Because of what is in their hearts and how that plays out in their lives.<\/font><\/p>\n

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The Pharisee is comfortable with himself and his position.\u00a0 <\/span>He has learned all the rules and is following them.\u00a0 <\/span>He thinks he has it made right where he is.\u00a0 <\/span>The sinful woman is not comfortable with herself.\u00a0 <\/span>She has broken all the rules and knows it.\u00a0 <\/span>She realizes something must be done.\u00a0 <\/span>Both have heard the message of Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span>The Pharisee is seeking validation by association.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s like he is saying:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI will invite this man, the latest crave among the people, to my home; and by association with him, my perfect life will be validated.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>But the sinful woman wants only a chance to be forgiven.\u00a0 <\/span>She hears the message of Jesus, believes and repents.\u00a0 <\/span>She demonstrates her contrition and faithfulness with actions not words.\u00a0 <\/span>On the one hand, we have complacency, comfort and inaction.\u00a0 <\/span>On the other hand, we have faith, contrition, and growth.<\/font><\/p>\n

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St. Paul echoes the faith and humility of the sinful woman.\u00a0 <\/span>He persecuted the Church, and he realized his sin.\u00a0 <\/span>But by the grace of God- the grace of God- he saw the light, and became a believer.\u00a0 <\/span>And by the grace of God, he said \u201cI am what I am\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Yes indeed, Paul was the greatest of the evangelists to the Gentiles.\u00a0 <\/span>Similarly, by the grace of God- after hearing the message, repenting, and coming to believe, the sinful woman reaches out and does something.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Do we see this contrast today- this contrast between people like the Pharisee who have settled in on a way of life and the sinful woman who realizes that more is required of her?\u00a0 <\/span>Because Jesus message applies to us today as well.<\/font><\/p>\n

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God is always calling us to change, to conversion.\u00a0 <\/span>It is a life-long process.\u00a0 <\/span>Our growth as Christians isn\u2019t over when we become confirmed and go out into the secular world to make a living; it doesn\u2019t end when we have children; it doesn\u2019t end when the children grow up; and it doesn\u2019t end when we retire.\u00a0 <\/span>Our challenge to recognize our imperfections; repent; and trust in the will of God, to move out and do something that grows us as Christians, is always there till the day we die.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Our humility and willingness to respond to God come from the heart.\u00a0 <\/span>They are not always visible from the image we portray. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Indeed, don\u2019t let appearances be deceiving.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time 1 Cor 15: 1-11; Luke 7: 36-50 By Deacon Larry Brockman \u00a0 Appearances can be deceiving- like in today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 First, there is the respected man of God- the Pharisee; and then there is the sinful woman.\u00a0 Jesus praises the sinful woman, and pretty much blasts the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[160],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}