Saturday, August 3, 2025

 

Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Leviticus 25:1.8-17; Matthew 14:1-12)

Today’s first reading describes part of the great Jubilee tradition of Israel.  The Jubilee Year marked the year after seven cycles of sabbatical years, each seven years long, were completed – the fiftieth year.  As a means of achieving social justice, the tradition prescribed three forms of liberty.  First, it proclaimed liberty to those who were dispossessed of their family land.  In the Jubilee Year they could reclaim that land according to the rates established in the Law.  Second, during the Jubilee Year Hebrew slaves could leave their masters to return to their families.  Finally, the Jubilee Year gave freedom from toil as all work on the land was prohibited. The people were to store food from the previous harvest and would scavenge food grown on the fallow land.

 How much these laws and traditions were actually practiced is a debated issue.  There are few references to them in the Old Testament.  But the Gospels tell of Jesus proclaiming a Jubilee Year as he begins to preach in Israel.  Luke describes his entering the synagogue of Nazareth, taking a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, reading the script saying how the Spirit of the Lord was upon him to proclaim glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind. freedom to the oppressed, and a year acceptable to the Lord.  The “acceptable year” refers the Jubilee Year tradition.

The Jubilee Year was a mechanism of social justice.  Mistakenly, this term has become demonized.  People associate it with socialism and consider its proponents in the Church as ignorant of the workings of grace.  But it may be finding a comeback.  Pope Leo says he chose his name because Leo XIII authored the first social encyclical.  Really, how can we not give social justice more than lip service when our Savior proclaimed himself its agent?

Monday, July 1, 2024

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 2:6-10.13-16; Matthew 8:18-22)

Today’s first reading marks the beginning of a long stretch of readings from the writing prophets.  These men raised red flags when Israel strayed from the covenant God made with Moses.  Because both northern and southern kingdoms didn’t take heed, both experienced military defeat and national exile.

Amos came from Juda to preach in the northern kingdom called Israel or Samaria.  He focused largely on the social injustice during the eighth century before Christ.  As the reading indicates, people were being sold into slavery for paltry sums.  Other social atrocities included the usurer’s keeping the poor person’s garment and orgies in the temples of foreign gods.

Amos reminds us of the need to work for a world where the poor retain human dignity.  The obligation falls on everyone.  We should not only respect the poor but also contribute to their support.  Governments have a role, but private organizations and individuals often meet human needs more effectively.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 21:17-29; Matthew 5:43-48)

For practical purposes Ahab gets away with murder in today’s first reading.  He witnesses the treachery of his wife but does nothing to stop her.  He appropriates Naboth’s garden like a bandit.  He even repents of his crime and does not face retribution.  The story sounds incredible but there is a parallel happening today.

The wealthy in our society are creating safe havens for themselves while leaving the poor in misery.  They construct gated communities where they are shielded from the plight of the less fortunate.  They send their children to the best schools while education for the poor often lacks funding.  Their politicians and economic advisors make available ways to avoid paying taxes.  But they become outraged if a poor person uses food stamps to buy a sirloin steak.  Meanwhile the wealthy are more likely found in church thanking God for the good life they have.  Where is the justice of it all?

We find justice in Jesus Christ.  He insists that his followers take care of the poor.  More than that, we are called to be the source of reconciliation.  We are to work for the unity between rich and poor, women and men, black and white.  If we forsake this responsibility, our posterity will face the social turmoil that Ahab’s descendants experienced.  We pray now for the virtues of justice and prudence to bring about social peace.