Thursday, February 26, 2015

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Esther C:12.14-16.23-25; Matthew 7:7-12)

Rabbi’s Harold Kushner best-seller When Bad Things Happen to Good People pictures an almost impotent God who helps people by inspiring them to work together.  Prayer to such a deity, it claims, gives one occasion to think about what must be done to improve the situation herself.  The book seems to say that any hope that the situation may be modified that goes beyond human will and perhaps chance is wishful thinking.  Is there any way to reconcile such thinking to the Scripture readings today?

Jesus assures his disciples in today’s gospel that God listens to prayers like an indulgent father attends to the pleas of his children.  Queen Esther in the Old Testament selection demonstrates the proper stance vis-à-vis the Lord as she throws herself to the ground in supplication.  In both cases God is considered as the real cause of change.  Both readings claim that God can be counted on for assistance.

“Then why are not all prayers answered?” some will retort.  This is an earnest question which may be called “the mystery of God’s silence.”  Its answer is steeped in tradition although it will not satisfy everyone.  It insists that we must acknowledge God in faith even though we will never understand all His ways.  Just as He has been actively present to us countless times, He can withhold any recognizable response.  Still we can be sure that He has heard our plea and will act on our behalf although when and how may not be forthcoming.

Homilettefor Monday, July 23, 2007

Monday, XVI Week of Ordinary Time

(Matthew 12)

Remember the best-seller, When Bad Things Happen to Good People? Recently two authors wrote a kind of sequel called, Why Good Things Happen to Good People. The new book, in the words of one of its authors, bioethicist Stephen Post, shows, “When we give of ourselves, especially if we start young, everything from life satisfaction to self-realization and physical health is significantly improved.”

That God helps those who love Him is a message that is slow to sink in. We tend to moan about the heat rather than shows thanks for the air-conditioning. But if good people are blessed, it is true also that God is not indifferent to, much less spiteful of, those who do not show Him much care. As Jesus says, “(God) makes his sun to rise on the bad and the good” (Matthew 5:45). Still, all of us -- bad and good -- continually seek additional proof, like the scribes and Pharisees in today’s gospel, of God’s love for us.

Despite signs a-plenty showing God’s love brought to us in Jesus Christ, there are additional reasons to accept him. Jesus himself indicates what one of these is when he mentions the Queen of the South. She came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but as Jesus indicates, his wisdom is greater than Solomon’s. Many have testified to the integrity and clarity of Christian thought which always finds its basis in and its inspiration from the teachings of Jesus. In recent memory Mortimer Adler, a Jew of the highest intellectual caliber, converted to Catholicism after almost a lifetime of admiring Christian thought. Like Mr. Adler we too are wise to stop sitting on the fence and submit mind and heart to Jesus’ authority.