Friday, XIV Week of Ordinary time
(Matthew 10)
Everyday after school the boys bicycled to the park for football practice. They left their bicycles around the water fountain to scrimmage on the open field a hundred yards away. One day they returned to the fountain to find a number of their bicycles missing. “How could someone steal my bicycle?” a naïve victim asked. He was learning the hard way how the world works.
In the gospel Jesus tells his apostles to look out for how the world works. He says that he is sending them as sheep among wolves. People will try to take advantage of them because they preach goodness and forgiveness. But he assures them that they are not defenseless. As a shield against swindlers they have shrewdness. As an ally against liars they have the Holy Spirit. But it is also critical that the apostles do not become like their adversaries. Jesus insists that they remain as “simple as doves.” They are not to use force, treachery, or bribes to spread the Gospel.
Perhaps we don’t see ourselves as apostles. Still, in our homes we have the obligation to teach our children the faith. How do we respond, then, when they say, “I don’t want to go to church because mass is boring”? What do we do when they tell us, “It’s o.k. to have sex with your girlfriend as long as you do it ‘responsibly’”? Like Jesus says, we must be shrewd and simple. William O'Malley, a Jesuit high school teacher, advises parents to inform their teenagers that Sunday Mass is part of the price they pay for living at home. Similarly, they might say that sex before marriage is always irresponsible because it pretends to show a profound, permanent affection that just isn’t there.
