Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 3:14-17; Matthew 13:18-23)
The gospel today speaks of different types of soil to nourish the seed of the word of God. It features the many qualities of ground as metaphors that facilitate the coming of the Kingdom: proximity to well-traveled roads, rockiness, presence of thorns, and richness of composition. Let’s take a look at rocky soil that provides little substance in which the word of God may take root. We will begin with an example.
Last week the legislature in Argentina passed a law which validates so-called gay marriages. Some well-intentioned people show little concern about this development. They claim, “If gays or lesbians in another part of the world think they are married, let them; it doesn’t affect me.” However, the new law in Argentina is part of a global movement that is distorting a proper understanding of marriage. Marriage unites a man and a woman in intimate love so that they may procreate and provide for children. It is an absolutely vital institution that must be safeguarded if civilization is not to devolve. Seeing it exclusively as an arrangement for sexual gratification or even the partnering of individuals lessens its purpose of engendering and nourishing new generations of responsible people. Much more may be said about marriage; for example, why heterosexual couples who cannot give birth may wed. But now it is only necessary to note that an improper concept of marriage easily leads to shallow existence thwarting the fruition of the word of God.
Upholding the nature of marriage as a union of love and the proper context of procreation does not ordain contempt for homosexuals. God knows that they are too often ridiculed and harassed. Like everyone else, they must be accepted and cherished as human beings. But recognizing the inherent contradiction of “gay marriage” as possible disserves society and makes the ground on humanity treads especially rocky.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene
(Jeremiah 2:1-3.7-8.12-13; John 20:1-2.11-18)
The Dominicans, the Order of Preachers, for centuries have honored St. Mary Magdalene as one of their patrons. Their motive is obvious. As they see themselves sent to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, they take after Mary Magdalene whom the resurrected Jesus dispatches to his apostles with the news of his resurrection.
The Dominicans, together with other Christians, can also hope to imitate Mary Magdalene’s love for the Lord. Luke will name her first among the women who accompany Jesus and his disciples in his mission of preaching the Kingdom of God. Even more significantly, Mary stands at the foot of the cross in John’s gospel and goes alone to his grave to mourn his death. She not only esteems his goodness but also possesses the valor to be identified with him, come what may.
Mary serves as a model for all Christians as well because like her, as again Luke tells, the demons of rebelliousness and egotism are being exorcised from us so that we my give ourselves completely to Jesus’ mission.
(Jeremiah 2:1-3.7-8.12-13; John 20:1-2.11-18)
The Dominicans, the Order of Preachers, for centuries have honored St. Mary Magdalene as one of their patrons. Their motive is obvious. As they see themselves sent to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, they take after Mary Magdalene whom the resurrected Jesus dispatches to his apostles with the news of his resurrection.
The Dominicans, together with other Christians, can also hope to imitate Mary Magdalene’s love for the Lord. Luke will name her first among the women who accompany Jesus and his disciples in his mission of preaching the Kingdom of God. Even more significantly, Mary stands at the foot of the cross in John’s gospel and goes alone to his grave to mourn his death. She not only esteems his goodness but also possesses the valor to be identified with him, come what may.
Mary serves as a model for all Christians as well because like her, as again Luke tells, the demons of rebelliousness and egotism are being exorcised from us so that we my give ourselves completely to Jesus’ mission.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 1:1.4-10; Matthew 13:1-9)
No one in the Old Testament reveals more of himself than the prophet Jeremiah. In the reading today we hear how he reluctantly answers the call to speak in God’s name. In another autobiographical passage of his book, he will lament this vocation because it costs his peace of mind. This is the case when God tells him that he cannot marry as a sign of the barrenness that the sins of the people have wrought. But what can Jeremiah do but accede to God’s command? As he admits, God’s name burns within his heart.
Although prediction of the future authenticates their standing, prophets first and foremost are God’s spokespersons. Their main function is to point out to the people when and how they swerve from righteousness. They demonstrate outrage when the people’s wandering always leads them to idols, be they craven images or illusory values. In our time Pope John Paul II showed himself to be a prophet when he spoke out regarding radical individualism leading people from solidarity with the poor to excessive consumption.
Although prophets are more famous for indicating the impending wrath of God, they also convey God’s tender love. Jeremiah will tell us that God has a new covenant or relationship for His people in mind which will be written not in stone but on their hearts so that they will easily keep it. When this happens, he will say, the Lord will be the people’s only God and they will be forever His. This prophesy is fulfilled, of course, in Jesus Christ. As Paul tells the Romans, Christ’s death has led to “the love of God (being) been poured into our hearts through the holy Spirit.”
(Jeremiah 1:1.4-10; Matthew 13:1-9)
No one in the Old Testament reveals more of himself than the prophet Jeremiah. In the reading today we hear how he reluctantly answers the call to speak in God’s name. In another autobiographical passage of his book, he will lament this vocation because it costs his peace of mind. This is the case when God tells him that he cannot marry as a sign of the barrenness that the sins of the people have wrought. But what can Jeremiah do but accede to God’s command? As he admits, God’s name burns within his heart.
Although prediction of the future authenticates their standing, prophets first and foremost are God’s spokespersons. Their main function is to point out to the people when and how they swerve from righteousness. They demonstrate outrage when the people’s wandering always leads them to idols, be they craven images or illusory values. In our time Pope John Paul II showed himself to be a prophet when he spoke out regarding radical individualism leading people from solidarity with the poor to excessive consumption.
Although prophets are more famous for indicating the impending wrath of God, they also convey God’s tender love. Jeremiah will tell us that God has a new covenant or relationship for His people in mind which will be written not in stone but on their hearts so that they will easily keep it. When this happens, he will say, the Lord will be the people’s only God and they will be forever His. This prophesy is fulfilled, of course, in Jesus Christ. As Paul tells the Romans, Christ’s death has led to “the love of God (being) been poured into our hearts through the holy Spirit.”
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Micah 7:14-15.18-20; Matthew 12:46-50)
A new movie, “Winter’s Bone,” hints at the redemption the prophet Micah promises in the first reading today. A seventeen year-old girl, growing up dirt poor in the Ozarks, sacrifices the joy of adolescence to hold her family together. Her father, who moonshines drugs, is arrested and puts his house up as bond. Then he turns up missing. The young girl has to find out what has happened to him if her mother and brothers will have a place to live. She doggedly rises to the task although its bleakness and the harsh life around her drain her of youthful free-spiritedness.
The girl’s determined self-sacrifice reminds us of Jesus’ giving up his life to redeem humanity of its sins. His accomplishment fulfills the prophecy that Micah makes. The prophet relates how God cares about His people. Although they are recalcitrant sinners, He will not abandon them. Indeed, He promises to remove their guilt. Again, their forgiveness is achieved only through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection in glory.
In face of such goodness, we need to pause and wonder how God could love us so much. It’s like standing before Michelangelo’s “Pieta” and marveling how anyone can carve a statute with so much pathos. After that, we give thanks and recommit ourselves not to offend God anymore.
(Micah 7:14-15.18-20; Matthew 12:46-50)
A new movie, “Winter’s Bone,” hints at the redemption the prophet Micah promises in the first reading today. A seventeen year-old girl, growing up dirt poor in the Ozarks, sacrifices the joy of adolescence to hold her family together. Her father, who moonshines drugs, is arrested and puts his house up as bond. Then he turns up missing. The young girl has to find out what has happened to him if her mother and brothers will have a place to live. She doggedly rises to the task although its bleakness and the harsh life around her drain her of youthful free-spiritedness.
The girl’s determined self-sacrifice reminds us of Jesus’ giving up his life to redeem humanity of its sins. His accomplishment fulfills the prophecy that Micah makes. The prophet relates how God cares about His people. Although they are recalcitrant sinners, He will not abandon them. Indeed, He promises to remove their guilt. Again, their forgiveness is achieved only through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection in glory.
In face of such goodness, we need to pause and wonder how God could love us so much. It’s like standing before Michelangelo’s “Pieta” and marveling how anyone can carve a statute with so much pathos. After that, we give thanks and recommit ourselves not to offend God anymore.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Micah 6:1-4.6-8; Matthew 12:38-42)
Most Christians are well aware of the judgment scene toward the end of Matthew’s gospel. In it Jesus tells how he will come at the end of time to judge the peoples of the earth. In the reading from the prophet Micah today we find a counterpart in the Hebrew Scriptures to that memorable scene.
God appears in the trial as both plaintiff and judge. He has a case against the people of Israel. Although He has freed them from slavery and given them His Law as their guide, they have been anything but loyal. They have ignored righteousness and like testosterone-laden young men lusting after whores they have joined themselves to other gods. Now facing powerful enemies, they turn to God for assistance. They propose paying their indemnity with sacrifices – animals, oil stocks, or (how could they ever imagine this?) their own children. But God exacts neither blood nor material. He only pleads that Israel be just, good, and humble.
As simple as it seems, what God asks is impossible for humans alone to accomplish. We need to be fortified with the grace of Christ if we are to walk in God’s ways. It alone will move us to selflessly feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and so enter God’s kingdom.
(Micah 6:1-4.6-8; Matthew 12:38-42)
Most Christians are well aware of the judgment scene toward the end of Matthew’s gospel. In it Jesus tells how he will come at the end of time to judge the peoples of the earth. In the reading from the prophet Micah today we find a counterpart in the Hebrew Scriptures to that memorable scene.
God appears in the trial as both plaintiff and judge. He has a case against the people of Israel. Although He has freed them from slavery and given them His Law as their guide, they have been anything but loyal. They have ignored righteousness and like testosterone-laden young men lusting after whores they have joined themselves to other gods. Now facing powerful enemies, they turn to God for assistance. They propose paying their indemnity with sacrifices – animals, oil stocks, or (how could they ever imagine this?) their own children. But God exacts neither blood nor material. He only pleads that Israel be just, good, and humble.
As simple as it seems, what God asks is impossible for humans alone to accomplish. We need to be fortified with the grace of Christ if we are to walk in God’s ways. It alone will move us to selflessly feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and so enter God’s kingdom.
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