16th Sunday in Ordinary Time https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071926.cfm In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus tell a parable about slaves working the fields of a slave master. We may be surprised to find him casually using slavery in a teaching story, but it would not have been shocking to a first-century audience. In today’s homily, I will explain what the Bible says about slavery, what it meant to Catholics in the United States in the antebellum period, and apply that example to social injustices that are with us in the world today. Slavery was ubiquitous in the ancient Mediterranean, including among the Jews who lived in Israel. The Jews had been enslaved in Egypt, and their liberation by God and exodus from bondage is the high point of their national and religious story. Despite this, when they settled in Israel, they began to enslave foreigners themselves. I wonder, as we reflect on Jesus’ parable, whether we might think of slavery...
These posts are the collected homilies of Deacon Ned Berghausen, permanent deacon of the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, assigned to St. Agnes Catholic Church. The title "Foot Washer" refers to the Last Supper (John 13:1-20) in which Jesus washed the feet of the apostles and challenged them, "“Do you realize what I have done for you? If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow."