Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in
Ordinary Time
(Proverbs 21:1-6; 10-13; Luke 8:19-21)
Most baby-boomers remember with fondness the Mickey Mouse Club. Walt Disney’s daily television show of the late 1950s provided edifying entertainment without pedanticism. Proverbs were an almost daily feature. The show’s host repeated a proverb like the ones of today’s first reading. Then he sang a tune, “Proverbs help us all to be better mouseketeers; that is, followers of Mickey Mouse. The cheerful, good-hearted cartoon creation was proposed as the model for children of the generation.
(Proverbs 21:1-6; 10-13; Luke 8:19-21)
Most baby-boomers remember with fondness the Mickey Mouse Club. Walt Disney’s daily television show of the late 1950s provided edifying entertainment without pedanticism. Proverbs were an almost daily feature. The show’s host repeated a proverb like the ones of today’s first reading. Then he sang a tune, “Proverbs help us all to be better mouseketeers; that is, followers of Mickey Mouse. The cheerful, good-hearted cartoon creation was proposed as the model for children of the generation.
The ten proverbs cited today were probably used on the
Mickey Mouse Club. They do not have a
unifying theme beyond the need to be humble, earnest, honest, and kind. They reflect the Decalogue in their moral
wisdom and succinctness.
The fact that Jesus frequently uses proverbs in his
preaching gives those we hear today added currency. As he says in the gospel, his closest human
relatives are they who hear such words and put them into practice.
