Friday, June 14, 2013

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 4:7-15; Matthew 5:27-32)

Summertime brings people to the beach.  Men typically go to look at women and women go to be looked at – both groups with lust in their hearts.  Jesus addresses the situation in today’s gospel.

After he posts the great rewards for his followers in the beatitudes and gives a few images of encouragement, Jesus presents himself as Lord refining the law given to the Israelites at Sinai.  He tells the New Israel that they sin not just by committing adultery but by desiring it in their hearts.  Only by transcending such desires, which amount to idolatry, will they be able to see the true God.

Girl-watching (and boy-watching as well) seems like a pastime innocuous enough that we may not want to comment upon it.  Yet it counters Jesus’ teaching and instrumentalizes human beings. We need to model modesty as well as give each person his or her due respect.  We should also exhort youth when there is a chance of being heard to practice self-control over what they look at and what they think.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church

(II Corinthians 3:15-4:1.3-6; Matthew 5:20-26)

Although only thirty-six years old when he died, Anthony of Padua was declared a saint within a year of his demise.  He was recognized as one of the greatest preachers of his time, so strong that heretics converted after hearing him.  In surprising contrast, St. Paul was evidently not a forceful preacher.  He hints at this in the reading from II Corinthians that we hear today.

When Paul writes that “our gospel is veiled” but “we are not discouraged,” he is referring to his inability to convert the whole of Corinth.  Later on in the letter he reiterates a criticism that “’his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible’” (2 Cor 10:10).  But his defects as a speaker do not bother him as long as he remains loyal to his commission.  Indeed, he will write of enduring hardship as testimony to the legitimacy of his message about Jesus Christ.

We too testify to Christ by deeds of love.  But let us not be silent about our motives.  An age that speaks sophomorically about an “altruism gene” needs to hear that if it were not for Jesus Christ, we would likely behave very differently.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 3:4-11; Matthew 5:17-19)

It is surely a credit to pro-life advocates that they can see in an infinitesimal human embryo a human being.  What gives them confidence, of course, is the knowledge that the embryo has all the life-producing information and dynamism to grow into a vivacious person.  St. Paul displays this same confidence in the incipient Christian movement when he compares it to the illustrious Jewish faith in the first reading today.

Paul acknowledges the inherent superiority of Christianity to Judaism because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Although we have to recognize the Spirit’s role in Jewish prophecy, we should see along with Paul its activity in the lives of Christians as the essential difference in their morality.  Where Judaism depends on a code of law to keep people in line, Christianity looks to the grace of the Spirit.  Christians also have a written law.  The Sermon on the Mount, which incorporates much of Jewish law, provides that.  But what is quintessential about Christian life is that this law is everywhere activated by the Spirit of love. 

We may see this Spirit at work in many pro-life workers.  Some stand voluntarily on sidewalks in front of abortion clinics day after day.  They are sometimes described as yelling at women about to have an abortion, but this kind of behavior is not the rule.  Rather, their love shines through as they pray for the fetus about to be annihilated and gently try to persuade the mother that there is help readily available for her to care for her baby.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, apostle

(Acts 11:21b-26.13:1-3; Matthew 5:20-26)

Barnabas may be readily identified for his companionship of Paul on the so-called first missionary journey.  But we know him in the book of Acts as well for his remarkable display of generosity.  Barnabas, originally called Joseph, is the man who gave all the proceeds of land he had sold to the community of disciples in Jerusalem.  Such a magnanimous gesture demonstrates what Jesus teaches in today’s gospel.

Jesus instructs his disciples that they must be the “light of the world.”  He intends that they do what some today call “random acts of kindness” so that the world will inquire their motivation and find out that it is the Holy Spirit who comes to them through Jesus Christ, the Lord.

In times when people are urged to think of themselves and to consume as if there were no tomorrow, it is challenging to think of our neighbor and act on her or his behalf.  Yet Jesus requires this kind of generosity of his disciples.  Gratefully, he equips us with the Spirit that not only moves us to deny ourselves but provides joy when we do so.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 1:1-7; Matthew 5:1-12)

It was said that Fr. John Powell, S.J., could keep a church basement full of people sitting on metal chairs attentive to his talk for two hours.  The marvelous communicator wrote about Jesus’ beatitudes as the “Be Attitudes” -- dispositions that promised the fullness of life.  We hear them in context today as the first installment from Matthew’s gospel which will be read on weekdays for most of the summer (or winter in the Southern Hemisphere).

Although catechisms sometimes list only eight beatitudes in Matthew, there are actually nine.  The first four (blessed are the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, and those desiring righteousness) speak of passive attitudes necessary to align one with God.  The second four (the merciful, the clean of heart, peacemakers, and those who suffer persecution) indicate one’s actively carrying out the divine will.  The long ninth beatitude reiterates what is said in the previous one but gives it a new purpose, Jesus himself.  It conveys Matthew’s belief that the kingdom of God has arrived in Jesus.

The beatitudes are so countercultural that most people do not understand them, let alone want to imitate them.  They rile at the thought of being “poor in spirit.”  This does not mean that we should have a negative attitude, but that we should trust in God as those without resources are inclined to do.  The irony that Jesus intends to convey is that when we live by such faith, we end up rewarded and not deprived.