Tuesday, July 28, 2026

 

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Jeremiah 14:17-22; Matthew 13:36-43)

In today’s first reading Jeremiah describes a war-strewn, devastated Jerusalem. The death and destruction will remind contemporary readers of nuclear war classics like On the Beach and The Road.  There will be no winners of a nuclear war.  Rather, all survivors will be left in grief, horror, and fear of their imminent ends.

The gospel hints at how to avoid nuclear war.  First, evil must be recognized, not only in a nation’s enemies, but – as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn advised – in every human heart.  Then, as the gospel implies, the nations must learn to tolerate those whose ways they find repugnant and build a strategic defense plan in case hostility overruns civility.

St. Augustine in his monumental work, The City of God, sketches a plan for peace among nations.  He advocates that governments recognize their duty to defend their people; that they use force when necessary to prevent evil from taking hold; and that their cause be just for going into battle and that their soldiers hold the right intention for participating in it. 

Homilette for Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Wednesday, XXXII Week of Ordinary Time

(Wisdom 6:1-11)

During the Viet Nam War President Lyndon Johnson once was given a memo concerning the pros and cons of using tactical nuclear weapons. According to Johnson’s Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, the memo stated that use of such weapons would move China to enter the war with its own nuclear weapons and so begin a full-fledged nuclear war. Rusk reported that the words popped out of the page to Johnson who as President of the United States felt responsibility for not just his country but the world.

The first reading from the Book of Wisdom tells us that princes and kings, and we can surely add presidents and prime ministers, should indeed feel grave responsibility for their actions. It emphasizes that the burdens of their offices will not exempt them from divine scrutiny but intensify judgment. The wisdom to which the reading refers is practical wisdom or prudence. Leaders of the people must develop the virtue of taking the timely measure for the good of all. Along with justice, prudence is a prerequisite for governing.

The Church recognizes the responsibility and the difficulties of civil leaders. Together with prayers for Church needs, the General Instructions for the Eucharist specify that the faithful pray for “public authorities and the salvation of the world” in the intercessions after the homily. Although we frequently think that we might perform better than our political leaders, we should pray for them more than envy their work.