A Thorn in the Flesh - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- Friends, on this Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, our second reading is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. The focus of the reading is “a thorn in the flesh” that was given to Paul “to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.” What was it? We don’t know, but whatever it was, it wasn’t trivial. We all have something like this-some physical, psychological, or spiritual suffering that’s chronic and deeply troubling. Yet this struggle with the thorn in the flesh is very often what brings us back to God.
Mass Readings:
Reading 1 - Ez 2:2-5
Psalm - Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
Reading 2 - 2 Cor 12:7-10
Gospel - Mk 6:1-6
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Our God indeed is a covenant keeping God. Has he said a thing and not perform it? I watch how things unfold in my life, from penury to $356,000 every three months and I can only praise him and trust him more. Hallelujah 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Hello how do you make such monthly??
I'm a born Christian and sometimes I feel so down🤦🏼♂️ of myself because of low finance but I still believe in God🙏
But then, how do you get all that in that period of time? What is it you do please, mind sharing?
It is the digital market. That's been the secret to this wealth transfer. A lot of folks in the US and abroad are getting so much from it, God has been good to my household Thank you Jesus
Big thanks to Ms. Chisty Fiore❤️✨💯May God bless Christy Fiore services,she have changed thousands of lives globally
How can I start this digital market, any guidelines and how can I reach out to her?
This is, in a nutshell, why I’m Catholic. No other faith deals with suffering so authentically and completely.
Miscarriages are a powerful thorn.
Agree 100%! Protestantism was all about health and wealth, prosperity, favor, giving your 10% tithing etc… I say this because I once was there before I converted over 13 yrs ago. Thanks be to God he brought me home.
I converted this year! I love our faith
These homilies are heavenly, one should never miss!
As an EO - and Orthodoxy has great teaching on suffering - I find that Catholicism has perfected the devotion of redemptive suffering in believers.
St. Teresa of Avila has a similar story to St. Paul's. Once when she asked God why he allowed her to suffer public humiliation, He told her "That's how I treat my friends." Her reply is immortalized: "No wonder you have so few."
She is my patron saint and I too suffer from public humiliation, gossip, slaunder !
Bishop,I've suffered from neuropathy,and arthritis,I've cried out to GOD and I feel his love at times and other times I can't feel that love ,but my belief is strong!Bishop your homilies are incisive and thebest!!
I can’t even put into words how much this homily affected me in such a profound way. It was comforting, peace giving, and provided cleansing tears. Thank you Bishop Barron.
My son's and my suffering has made us fall into the loving arms of God our Lord...please God keep loving us!
One of your very best homilies, Bishop Barron. Thank you for delving into the inexplicable role which human suffering plays in its connection with Our Savior's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. It's astonishing to hear the pronouncements of observers ( oftentimes family and friends) toward a person coping with personal tragedy, the loss of children, debilitating disease, mental illness in the family. The common conclusion of others is, "You must have done something sinful, and you're being punished by God." Remnants of the Book of Job.
Your teaching opens the door to undersranding God's assignment for human suffering which He measures carefully as He draws the person closer to Himself. The result is a visible change and finally, the ability to trust in God.
Once again, grateful thanks for giving us your insight on a topic which is seldom so thoroughly understood.
Thank you, thank you thank you Bishop for addressing SUFFERING! So many, myself included, are suffering. I'm isolated and afflicted, but this allows me to pray FOR HOURS for all who are suffering. Please continue often to address suffering with the scriptures, your wisdom, and encouragement. God bless you. ❤
Bless you immensely! ❤🙏🏼✝️🕊️
It is amazing how bishop Barron is able to preach the heart of the Christian faith week after week. I can feel the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through his words, even while I am not Roman Catholic at all.
Thank you Bishop Barron for reminding us to focus on Christ in our sufferings. Before my husband passed from cancer he told me to pray and not to cry. It’s the best tool.
This was a masterclass. May God richly bless Bishop Barron and his ministry.
*"By our own suffering we participate in the salvation of the Cross."* - BISHOP ROBERT BARRON
This is astonishing!
This is the most Holy Spiritual Core!
And to do it with love! Suffer in Christ WITH love!
This is humanly overwhelming secret of life. I am catholic, I was raised as catholic butI did not have a CLUE!!!! - a clue what treasure is hidden in this faith in Christ!
And my spiritual journey is long! So many secrets ahead of me.
@@prinprin3313 Isn't it?! Such Truth, such depth, such deep understanding of the human plight in the face of suffering. And how a Loving God can allow and ask it of us. Bless you!❤
Christ crucified the power of God and the wisdom of God. 😇💕
I identify as a follower of Christ Jesus and not as “Catholic” or any other denomination. However, Bishop Barron is a man that I cannot pass without listening to his messages.
The Catholic Church was the only church that Jesus Christ intended for the world, therefore if you’re not Catholic, your “identification” as a follower of Christ isn’t what you think it is… God bless you
Catholics aren’t a denomination. The definition of a denomination is a branch of Christianity. The Catholic Church is the Church Christ established and isn’t a branch.
I pray for you always, but without communion in the Catholic faith, we have no life in us.
“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;” - John 6:53
Research the Catholic faith and the history of the apostolic fathers (the fathers of the church who were taught from the apostles), and that will help you understand that communion with Christ is being Catholic. That is as close as you can be with Him.
May God bless you and Our Lady keep you.
That verse from St. John relates to the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is so important.
Jim, he is our starting point and the center. Our bedrock. Our Good Shepherd. Our Lion of Judah. However, where in the Scriptures Jesus intended for his disciples to be separated from one another? None of us are perfect and we may be "the thorn in the flesh" to fellow followers of Jesus. If you love God with all your heart, mind, soul and might, He will show you how to love neighbour. That's the key to building a Christ-centered community.
Know Jesus. Follow him. Grow in him. Run to him. Trust his way.
If you study the Acts of the Apostles, learn from St Paul, St Peter, St James etc. epistles, you'll see the origin of the Church. If you are curious enough to substantiate your claim, read the Church Fathers. Then decide.
Sorry for you that dont have the sacraments
Oh my goodness! You spoke to my heart Bishop Barron. I loved this, so beautiful! Thank you my Lord for loving me!!
Suffering is the one thread that unites all of humanity, past, present and future. If you haven’t suffered yet, you will. When it happens, fall forward, towards the cross.
😢🥲✝️
“The thorn in the flesh brings us back to God”.
Thanks Bishop for this important reminder.
He is so brilliant and yet able to reach to us common men and women to explain exceedingly difficult theological meaning.
Dear Good Bishop,
I know this in a deeply personal way. I have come to understand it precisely because God has not taken it away from me. And in that suffering and frustration, I am led away from my pride, and I can turn it all into powerful prayer for others, for the Church. I have come to realize that, ultimately, the only prayer becomes, as Jesus said, "not my will, but Thy Will be done". This, even if He asks of me further suffering which I might deem unbearable, but during which His Grace is sufficient. Whatever He needs me to suffer, for the most good, is what I accept. ❤
Thank you lord for the thorns in my flesh and my weakness ,for it keeps me humble now I only trust in you.
Truth! ✝️ ❤🛐
Agreed ❤
It can be easy to cringe when we think our thorns in the flesh won't go away, whatever they may be. Yet God still demonstrates His immense power of redemption which works even in our suffering to bring forth good. That is the great and wondrous mystery of our God.
Thank you, Bishop Barron for teaching us about “a thorn in the flesh” from St. Paul’s Letter. The emphasis on suffering and humility and drawing nearer to Jesus resonates with me in a new way for reflection.🕊⛪️🙏🏼
God bless you, Bishop Barron, as you offer the salvation of Christ to all with open hearts and minds...one glorious, illuminating sermon at a time. 💙🙏
Bishop Barron, it is hard for me to put into words how enjoyably effective you are in pushing us to deeply ponder our connection to our Lord and Father. So often I find myself evolving thru your sermon, moving from listening to a fascinating story to leaving the sermon finding myself rolling over and over in my mind and heart the lesson or the teaching that you lay out so gently. I’m not a Catholic yet (but I’m working on it). I love the way you make one think and provoke the desire to dig deeper into faith. Your sermons are great treasures. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank You Bishop Barron!!
Offering our sufferings/afflictions to CHRIST on the cross. Amen.
Amen thank you ❤❤❤❤
Dear Bishop Barron, thank you for the deep reflection. Who in this world does not suffer from "a thorn in the flesh"? It is indeed insightful to listen to your interpretation of the Biblical Verses and Scenarios in Christ's life with a different perspective. Thank you for the Sunday message. I will have a retreat on this explanation the whole week and this I admit is the answer I have been seeking for "my Black Dog " experience in my life for the past 30 years.
I grew up catholic. The way Bishop Barron gives a great way to understand the Bible
For me your channel is an oasis of holiness and enlightenment in the digital desert! Thank you so much for what you do!
You're right, Bishop Barron; I beg Jesus Christ everyday to help me carry my trials to make it a bit lighter, ❤❤❤❤
If you don't know suffering, you can't understand compassion and mercy.
Thank you Bishop Barron for explaining how a thorn in the flesh drastically affects our lives from weakness to salvation.
Thank you Bishop Barron for such an enlightened interpretation of this passage that I have read and heard so many times. You are so right that we all have a Thorn in the flesh that can bring us closer to God who provides us with the grace we need to preserve. Thank you again for your helping me to see this truth.
This was extremely powerful. And, today I came to know the thorn in my flesh. What a revelation, and to know that God's grace is sufficient. This is what I needed to hear.
Beautiful homily. Offer up our sufferings to Christ, and they will be much lighter and become a source of our salvation.
Salvation not only for us but others - salvific value, redemptive suffering - God will use it.
Dear Bishop Barron,
This homily really spoke to my heart as I became aware of "the thorn in the flesh" in me. In my weakness, I found strength as I let myself be thrown into the loving and strong arms of Jesus. The thorn in the flesh was His way of drawing me closer to Him! (Fr. Alex - 81 years old)
When we suffer, we come to remember that we are weak, that there is only one God and it is not us. Suffering helps us to stay away from idolatry and self-center if we suffer with our Lord
Without a struggle, there is no growth. If we are just given Happiness without earning it, we don't value it. When a clam has a grain of sand that bothers it, eventually then clam produces a spectacular pearl. So too, with us.
Thank you, Bishop Barron. I am Catholic, from Canada who listen to you regularly and enriches knowledge and faith with your sermons and talks. God Bless You and I pray for you.
This was very affirming and timely. I have experienced what it's like to have the thorn in my flesh removed - and that was only for a few months. I spiralled into the vortex of reckless happiness and pleasure which did not feel right at all. Later, the 'thorn in my flesh' was back. But I thanked God for it ... and I still do to this very day :) I guess I wasn't ready for that 'pure' joy because you only really learn it via sacrifice and suffering.
Thank you for an edifying sermon Bishop Barron (Your Excellency). I appreciated that :) (And I also related to your comment about St Paul's writings versus his presentation skills)
It is in our falling that we learn how to rise. And in our rising that we learn the meaning of why we fall. Thanks be to God. 🙏🏻
Your best homily yet, Bishop Barron. Thank you. 🙏🏼❤
Bishop Baron God bless you abundantly
A very fine sermon on one of the most important aspects of Christianity -.suffering as grace.
Thank you Bishop Barron for reminding me... in our suffering there is a blessing. Oh! And how Jesus and the saints showed us how to continue on with that suffering with love in our hearts. For love endures all things... Peace be with you all.
“Spiritual power that comes from union with God comes precisely through weakness.” 💯❤️🔥
Thorn of flesh : biggest is my husband and his side of family . So much happened in my ears of marriage . At the end l have anxiety / depression , cancer , financial issues . One day , God revealed that my family is my church or cross to bear . It is very hard but if l don’t look after my family , who will ? Bishop Barron , l liestenef to Fr John Ricardo l , Fr Chris Alar, Fr l Leon Pereira, etc but yours is the one l follow diligently . Americans are very lucky . There are so many eloquent and insightful preachers . Thank you for the homilies and sermons . God bless you and your ministry . Ann from Malaysia
My husband is my thorn too. Mostly because he has a short temper. Not with me but the things around him. I laughed when I read the first part of your post. I guess I don’t have it so bad. Thank you for sharing. 😊
Beautiful simple reflections that heighten my faiith and resolve to drag my feet towards Jesus embracing the thorn he alone can pull out in his perfect time. Meantime suffering must be bore with patience and resignation knowing his grace will see us through.
Thank you for sharing years of praying , studying, and reflecting on the meaning of suffering!
“O Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary; I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your sacred heart. In union with the holy sacrifice of the mass throughout the world, in reparations for my sins for all the intentions of my relatives and friends and in particular for the intentions of the holy father. Amen”
Amen 🙏
This is beautiful. May you be blessed beyond measure today.
My morning prayer everyday upon awakening.
God bless you all 🙏
So true! My mental illness
Lately in my position at a maternity shelter, I have felt my own weakness and a sense of defeat before the challenges of ministry to the women who come to us. I've felt embarrassed by the thorn in my flesh. How could I serve in such a state of seeming ineffectiveness. Thank you Bishop for your homily on today's 2nd reading, including your mention of Mother Teresa's darkness in serving the homeless. May His grace be sufficient -- that is, enough.
Amazing sermon 🙏thankyou your Grace
Thank you Bishop Barron for this powerful homily. I so needed to hear this. God bless you a thousand times. 🙏❤️
So true. Without suffering I would not have sought out answers to life that have led me to know God and our Savior. Most likely if I could handle all of life's thorns by myself I probably would have no need for God. If that were the case, then my life would seem to have no purpose. This life is so short and I need to fully welcome the Lord's grace, which comes with suffering. Thank you Bishop Barron for providing us with real life examples because it gives me hope and perspective.
@BishopBarron, without a doubt one, this is the most laser-focused homilies I’ve been able to glean divine truth from in countless homilies I’ve been humbled to listen to from you. May our precious Lord continue to shine His light and His truth through you.
Jesus have mercy on us, pour your grace on us that we might accept the thorns in our flesh as You did the crown of thorns
Thank you so much Bishop Barron. I love to hear your homily every Sunday, because you make it easy to understand. God Bless you ❤
Thanks a million for this sermon Bp. Barron. Blessings always in your ministry.
Today, I feel that God spoke to me through this homily. Thank you Bishop Barron. May God’s Blessings be always with you as you continue to touch many lives like mine. Amen.
You are a very good preacher. Please continue to evangelize the gospel, it’s so much more valuable than wading into culture wars (right or wrong)
Thank you, so beautiful 😇🙏
Strong message about suffering and grace, wow.
Thank you, Bishop Barron. I now see of my sufferings, and I thank Him for such a misused unitatem in a way. For even if I don't feel Him, by the intellectual and spirituallity knows He is there.
Amazing Homily Bishop Barron. May God bless you with continued ability to explain scripture and make it applicable to our everyday life ❤
Timely. I have had a pain in my side for 5 1/2 years now. This summer, I have seen the humility and message of my reliance on God that it has brought me. It in that way is a blessing.
I’m reading at Mass tomorrow and hope that I can portray this wonderful message of the thorn in the flesh to the congregation. Thank you for this excellent homily dearest Bishop Barron GOD BLESS YOU
Blessed Sunday!
I feel God close when I realize I am on the right track and doing his Will. He's there, with little blessings, through the joy and even through the pain. When I don't feel him nearby, I think ooops, and ask him "what should I be doing that I am not doing?" Jesus I surrender to you and trust in you.
Lord take this suffering from me but only according to Your good will. You know what is best. If this is my cross then help me to carry it well.
Profound. Thank you Bishop Barron. We all have a thorn or three in our flesh.
Yes, absolutely. Timestamp 11:05 resonated deep within me - the Fulton Sheen anecdote. I have been praying for God to remove my painful thorns and now I will pray that God grants me His grace to carry my sufferings well. This is why I converted to being a Catholic. Thank you, Bishop. Your insights have, once again, brought me closer to God our heavenly father. Best homily ever.
@@annduncan313 In my times of weakness, in my own life, I've become closest to God. Being raised Catholic, I didn't always appreciate the grace, until physical suffering hit me at age 20. Listening to Bishop Barron (I remember Bishop Sheen and his blackboard from childhood) has been so helpful to put suffering into perspective.
The healing that I've experienced along the journey of my own life, the mistakes and missteps, have been a learning experience. The miracles that I've seen in not only my own life, but others, gives me hope, faith and love for life.
That account of Saint Paul's is my favourite in the Bible. I love how he too flips his attitude and "rejoices" in his infirmities, as each of them is an opportunity for the power of Christ to rest upon him. A manual for how we can begin to play with Jesus in this dance of life.
Beautiful homily. Simply beautiful. BP. Barron, thank you for touching my soul. Your homily answered a question I have been asking the Lord. He answered me through you. Glory and honor to Him forever and ever!
I rarely pause to listen to Bishop Barron but today I took the time and I am thankful to here these words from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians - it was something to think about and it was good
Thank you Bishop Barron! Yet another thought provoking Homily. May the Lord Bless you and Mother Mary Protect you always!
God Bless you Bishop Barron. Have a good day!
This man is incredible. His sermon hit me like a freight train. Thank you.
Another "Out-of-the-Park"⚾ sermon that truly "Touched-my-Heart".❤
Great homily. Thank you, Bishop.
Thank you Bishop Barron. I always listen to your Sermon before attending mass on Sunday, it helps me to understand the Word of God in different perspective and in depth. God bless you! BTW, I'm listening from Canada.
What a powerful sermon !!!! So true. We do need a thorn .
God Bless You Bishop Barron; your sermon really resonated with me.
Largely agree with Bishop Barron that suffering often brings us to God.
But it can also make one angry and bitter and drive one away.
Thank you Bishop Barron, your words are so enlightening and thought provoking 🙏🏻🕊🙏🏻
Thank you, Bishop Barron
Bishop Barron! Sooo beautifully said! God Bless you and may Jesus increase your heart so you can speak more to us! Amen! Thank you.
YES ! Salvific suffering .... from my limited experience .... is only fully realized when you have a relationship with Him, recognize Him truly present in the most holy sacrament of the altar, and KNOW that he is dwelling IN YOU ....
Explained with so much clarity. Thank you very much your Imminance Bishop Baron❤️🙏
Bishop Baron, you are such a help with your sermons, thank u!
Reminds me of the vignette from a play. A doctor struggling with debilitating depression seeks healing at the Pool of Bethesda. But an angel stops him entering the stirred waters and clarifies for him God's purpose, “Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve. Physician, draw back.” ― Thornton Wilder, The Angel that Troubled the Waters
Thank you for this! This is a very interesting topic to me, one that I puzzle about often. I have a chronic rare neuromuscular and immunological condition that can flare up in extreme pain, dismobility and/or infections at times. Because of the effects that causes on my life I am mostly detached from community except through distance and technology. My people are the displaced, homebound, and institutionalized people. When I was first diagnosed I thought God was cursing me. But now, flashing forward almost 30 years, having grown in my faith, and understanding of who God has given to me to be my people, I accept that God is allowing me to add my thorn in my flesh to His, and in doing so somewhere someone else is healed. My great predicament is whether to continue to seek medical care, treatment, and comfort, as in the book of James, or to call it quits on all that and except that only His grace in my life is sufficient. Either way, I am determined to have fought the good fight, and not give up.
Satan, get behind me.
Viva Cristo Rey.
The roses have thorns but the thorns have roses.
Thru our suffering tying to the suffering of Jesus we are indeed participating the suffering of Christ! ✝️🙏
Good early morning may the lord and almighty savior Jesus christ bless you bishop barren and your family too amen and like I always say please keep sending me your awesome sermons because like I always say I get alot out of it in my life ok bishop barren we,ll have a blessive and holy Sunday amen 😊😊😊😊😊😊
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis has written about pain similarly as Bishop Barron, almost as if pain is a way of communicating deepest truths.
WOW! Thank you for all that you do. You helped me make sense of my thorns. God Bless You!
Thank you! Bishop Barron for the words of wisdom. God Bless you more 😇
This is an amazing homily on St. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”
Your reflections on the WORD OF GOD
ARE TRULY FSNTASYIC TO GO OVER IY AND REALLY DRAW CLOSER EACH DAY TO OUR DIVINE MSSYER.
THANK GOD FOR GIVING YOU SUCH A GIFT.
One of your finest homilies, dear Bishop!
🙏🕊🛐DIFFERENT WAYS
Not one soul lives, so laden with sin
That Jesus’ love may not burst in,
Working such instant transformation
As is most like a resurrection.
Not many such a gift receive;
Some fail a slow change to perceive.
One sinner on a cross to the light was open;
My journey is slow, yet leads to heaven.
In body and spirit, with much pain,
Do I move, my true home to gain.
~ E.M.R.H. 13 September 2021
God bless you too Bishop Barron 🙏 never fails another interesting sermon.
Excellent!!