Monday of the Twenty-eighth
Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 1:1-7; Luke 11:29-32)
In today’s first reading Paul from the Letter to the Romans calls
himself “a slave of Christ.” He does not
mean that Christ forces him to do things against his will, quite the
contrary. Christ has freed him to act
according to what his will most deeply desires. He writes further along in the letter
of his former sinful condition, “For I do not the good I want, but I do the
evil I do not want” (7:15). Then he
reports of being freed through faith in Christ.
The evil that Paul refers to is largely covetousness. Humans want what does not belong to
them. It may be riches but as often as
not it is illicit sexual pleasure. Certainly
one of the most confessed sins today is viewing pornography. Viewing lascivious images depersonalizes sex
and turns eros into individual
gratification.
We are wise to turn to Christ when we are tempted by
covetousness. He enlightens the darkness
of our hearts so that we can see clearly what is good for us. He will give us the temperance to control our
animal desires. He will not treat us as
slaves, but as younger sisters and brothers whom he wants to flourish in
goodness and happiness.
Memorial of Saint
Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr
(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)
In the early 1990s an American Dominican priest working
among the poor in El Salvador began to receive death threats. Determining them to be credible, the priest’s
superior called him back to the United States.
No doubt, the priest returned with a divided heart. He would have preferred to stay with his
people, but such persistence might have cost his life. St. Ignatius of Antioch evidently had a
different perspective on a similar situation.
From the letters he wrote as he traveled from Antioch to his
execution in Rome, we know that Ignatius looked forward to being martyred. When it seemed that Christians might find a
way to have the penalty commuted, Ignatius pleaded with them not to do so. He evidently wanted to be eaten alive by
lions. It is not sacrilegious to ask
whether his outlook may be in part pathological.
But Ignatius also knew the corruption in many pagan
hearts. To this Paul testifies in today’s
first reading. Pagans, Paul writes,
abandon their consciences differentiating right from wrong to follow the whims
of their hearts represented by idols. By
dying as a martyr, Ignatius witnesses to the truth that God has created us to
be just and holy as He is. He does not
tarry in professing his faith because he knows that God will reward him soon.
