Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 3:1-9; Luke 4:38-44)
When Jesus retreats to a deserted place, we generally conclude that he is going to pray. However, he may have other experiences than communing with his Father. As the devil tempts Jesus in a desert place in an earlier passage, in today’s gospel the people come to tempt him again.
Jesus has successfully met the people’s needs. His speaking with authority left them astonished. His casting out maddening demons and curing debilitating illnesses healed them mentally and physically. Why wouldn’t they want such a prophet to stay among them? The gospel does not mention how the people try to prevent Jesus from leaving them, but we might imagine their making offers difficult to refuse. They may tempt him with a life-tenure as rabbi of their synagogue. Or perhaps propose the hand of the beautiful daughter of the town’s richest merchant in marriage!
But Jesus knows that he is no local guru. He has come to tell the world about the Kingdom of God, indeed to inaugurate it with words, deeds, and ultimately with his life. He is not to be deterred by temptations of beauty or security. In this gospel passage Jesus offers us an example and an assurance. Like him we must know what we are about as Christians and not allow ourselves to be lured away from holiness. Equally important, Jesus assures us that he will not be distracted from his mission of saving us.
Showing posts with label Sr. St. John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sr. St. John. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 2:10b-16; Luke 4:31-37)
Sr. St. John died a prophet. Entering the convent in 1942, she spent most of her years teaching. At first she concentrated on simple messages from catechism and English grammar. As time passed, her lessons touched on more controversial subjects like the needs of the poor and of prisoners. Perhaps Sr. St. John showed her prophetic zeal most when she volunteered to serve with sisters from her congregation in Rwanda just after the massacres there. She returned to the United States to remind Americans that divine love does not come easy but extracts the whole of one’s being: body, soul, and mind. In the first reading today, St. Paul names this kind of sacrifice as having the Spirit of God.
Paul has proclaimed Jesus Christ to the Corinthians by telling how Christ died on the cross as the supreme example of God’s love for the world. Now the Corinthians are being urged to assume that love for their own with exemplary lives in support of one another. They are to stop boasting and bickering, and most of all they must put aside all immoral behavior. They are to live in the Spirit of God that has been revealed to them.
We also are tested every day whether we live in the same Spirit. It is not just our outrage with abortion but, really more critically, our care for our neighbors that shows whether God’s Spirit has become our own.
(I Corinthians 2:10b-16; Luke 4:31-37)
Sr. St. John died a prophet. Entering the convent in 1942, she spent most of her years teaching. At first she concentrated on simple messages from catechism and English grammar. As time passed, her lessons touched on more controversial subjects like the needs of the poor and of prisoners. Perhaps Sr. St. John showed her prophetic zeal most when she volunteered to serve with sisters from her congregation in Rwanda just after the massacres there. She returned to the United States to remind Americans that divine love does not come easy but extracts the whole of one’s being: body, soul, and mind. In the first reading today, St. Paul names this kind of sacrifice as having the Spirit of God.
Paul has proclaimed Jesus Christ to the Corinthians by telling how Christ died on the cross as the supreme example of God’s love for the world. Now the Corinthians are being urged to assume that love for their own with exemplary lives in support of one another. They are to stop boasting and bickering, and most of all they must put aside all immoral behavior. They are to live in the Spirit of God that has been revealed to them.
We also are tested every day whether we live in the same Spirit. It is not just our outrage with abortion but, really more critically, our care for our neighbors that shows whether God’s Spirit has become our own.
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