Monday of the Twentieth
Week in Ordinary Time
(Ezekiel 24:15-23; Matthew 19:16-22)
A forty-three year old husband and father died
recently. He was vacationing at a lake
with his family when he jumped in the water, came up once briefly and then went
under never to surface alive again. Of course,
the family was devastated not knowing what happened until an autopsy revealed
that he had an undiagnosed brain tumor which evidently caused him to pass out
in the water. This Wednesday the family
will hold a memorial service for the man at which friends will gather to offer
condolences and to recall why the dead man was loved so well. Such a service seems necessary to dispel some
of the grief of the sudden loss. It is
exactly what is denied in the first reading today.
The Lord tells the prophet Ezekiel not to mourn his recently
dead wife as a sign to Judah that the nation will not be permitted to mourn
their loved in the upcoming combat. He
does not will the nation harm but recognizes that war often leaves people so
desperate that they do not have time to bury their dead. God wants the people to repent of sinful ways
by turning to Him as their Savior. Only
by following His ways will they know consolation and peace.
The prophetic message will often sound harsh to us who have
grown accustomed to thinking the perfect society is where everyone “lives and
lets live.” But God has made us for
something greater than that. He calls us
to be His people – to love Him as our Father and to love one another as sisters
and brothers. Here is where happiness resides.
