<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-ajy" tabindex="0"><img class="gmail-ajz" id="gmail-:tu" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif" alt=""></div>
<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14864" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_picture" align="left"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14864" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074image-td" width="650" valign="top" align="left"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1020A1221A29A1263286" style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,119,34);display:block;min-width:100%" target="_blank"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/4b960868d8cca37f5b0fa9ef087f3099.png?r=1097358369" alt="" style="display: block; border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; outline: medium none; opacity: 1; margin-right: 0px;" class="gmail-CToWUd" width="266" height="131"></a></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14868" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_html gmail-m_-27707205954773074style14868" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14868" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:0px 30px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074html_div14481" width="590" align="left"> <p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:white;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:4px;line-height:1.5">Your daily Gospel reflection...</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14867" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_html gmail-m_-27707205954773074style14867" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14867" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074html_div14480" width="590" align="left"> <p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:28px;font-style:italic;line-height:1.25;text-align:center"><span class="gmail-aBn" tabindex="0"><span class="gmail-aQJ">Thursday, September 28, 2017</span></span></p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14870" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_picture gmail-m_-27707205954773074style14870" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14870" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:20px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074image-td" width="590" valign="top" align="center"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1020A1221A29A1263290" style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,119,34);display:block;min-width:100%" target="_blank"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/7e2867fcaf0c2ddd581483e5e17f4d20.png?r=436715438" alt="" style="display: block; border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; outline: medium none; width: 220px; opacity: 1; max-width: 100%;" class="gmail-CToWUd" width="220"></a></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14865" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_html gmail-m_-27707205954773074style14865" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14865" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074html_div14478" width="590" align="left"> <p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Avenir Next;font-size:20px;font-weight:500;line-height:1.25;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase">25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14866" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_html gmail-m_-27707205954773074style14866" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14866" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:5px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074html_div14479" width="590" align="left"> <p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,119,34);font-family:Avenir Next;font-size:18px;line-height:1.25;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase">Luke 9:7-9</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row14871" class="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row gmail-m_-27707205954773074widget gmail-m_-27707205954773074_widget_html gmail-m_-27707205954773074style14871" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074layout-row-padding14871" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="gmail-m_-27707205954773074html_div14484" width="590" align="left"> <p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>in today's Gospel we see Herod interested in and perplexed by <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Jesus.</span> </b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>Political rulers </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>don't come across well </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>in the New Testament.</b></span> In Luke's
Christmas account, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Caesar Augustus is compared very unfavorably </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>to the
Christ child</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>And that child,</b></span> in Matthew's account <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>is</b><b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> h</span>unted down by the
desperate Herod. </b></span>Later, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Herod's son persecutes<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> John the Baptist and
Jesus himself. </span>More to it, the Jewish authorities are seen in<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> all of the
Gospels </span>as corrupt.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> </p>
<p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>And
Pontius Pilate is a typical Roman governor: efficient, concerned for
order, brutal.</b></span> Like the other rulers of the time, he perceives Jesus,
quite correctly, as a threat. "So you are a king?" Pilate asks. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><u><b>Jesus
says, "My kingdom does not belong to <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">this world.</span>"</b></u></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> </p>
<p style="margin:0px;outline:medium none;padding:0px;color:black;font-family:Sorts Mill Goudy;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>This
does not mean </b><b>that Jesus is</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">un</span>concerned<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> </span></b><b>for the realities of politics</b><b>,
with the very "this-worldly" concerns of</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>justice, peace, and right
order.</b></span> When he speaks of his kingdom not belonging to the "world", he
shades the negative side of that term. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>The"world" is the realm of sin,
selfishness, hatred, violence.</b></span> What he is saying is that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>his way of
ordering things is not typical of</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the worldly powers like Pilate,
Caesar, and Herod.</b></span></p>
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