Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kobe, priest and martyr

(Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Matthew 8:15-20)

St. Maximilian Kobe’s martyrdom has been contested.  It has been said that he did not die in defense of his faith but for his generosity.  The facts of his case are that he substituted himself for a fellow prisoner in a concentration camp whom the Nazis arbitrarily chose for execution when another prisoner escaped.  However, it must be remembered that martyrdom means witnessing one’s faith which St. Maximilian’s heroic act of love did.

In the gospel Jesus instructs his disciples on how to give further testimonies to faith.  He says that when wronged, a disciple is to be direct and discreet.  He or she is to go to the one who gave offense, make the charge to the person, and hopefully receive an apology so that forgiveness may be extended.  If there is doubt about the facts of the case, the offended party is to bring a few witnesses to testify to what happened.  Jesus in no way recommends mass denunciation much less retaliation.  Christian witness always does what is truly loving.

Love never ignores the truth but seeks the true benefit of others.  Sometimes it demands that we take a stand that may be inconvenient or even more costly.  We do it out of solidarity with the Lord Jesus.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Deuteronomy 31:1-8; Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)

University students are especially preoccupied that their sports teams are considered the best; that is, rated number one.  They will chant incessantly as their teams compile an undefeated record, “We’re number one!”  The concern may be truly called sophomoric in light of today’s gospel.

The disciples come to Jesus with the question, “Who is first in the Kingdom of God?”  Pointedly Jesus ignores the concern to give a lesson on service.  He tells them that they must humble themselves like a child so that they may respond to the needs of others.

It is hard to give up our sense of self-importance.  We want to be appreciated for what we do.  But Jesus is reminding us again that we do not earn heaven on our own.  It comes as grace from God to which we respond with the eagerness of children trying to please their parents.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 17:22-27)

In his landmark “Gettysburg Address” Abraham Lincoln appealed to the “Declaration of Independence” in exhortation that the nation carry on the struggle for a united nation.  He said that the government founded to protect the freedom of all peoples is worth dying for.  In the Book of Deuteronomy Moses makes a similar argument. 

The Israelites are about to enter the Promised Land.  They have every reason to hope that they and their children will have all the resources they will need to live in prosperity.  But Moses, conveying the will of God, wants for them more than that.  He wants them to fulfill their destiny of being a model of God’s justice.  So he exhorts them to remember God’s graciousness to them and to their ancestors.  He is especially concerned that they treat other peoples fairly for, he says, “…you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.”

As mass immigration has become a reality in all parts of the world, we should highlight these words of Moses.  It is difficult to sojourn in different lands with different customs and a different language.  Immigrants need understanding, fairness and even compassion.  Such treatment would show our solidarity not just across national boundaries but among generations.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Deuteronomy 4:32-40: Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s optional memorial celebrates St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, more commonly known by her name at birth, Edith Stein.  Her death amply illustrates Jesus’ gospel message, “…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Edith Stein was born a German Jew.  She earned a doctorate in philosophy studying with the eminent phenomenologist Edmund Husserl.  Converting to Catholicism around thirty years of age, she joined a Carmel in Germany about the time when the Nazis started their systematic persecution of Jews.  Sr. Teresa Benedicta transferred to a Carmel in Holland where the Nazi regime was more tolerant of Jewish-Catholic converts. But when the Dutch bishops spoke out against the Nazis, the authorities rounded up known Jewish-Catholics there and sent them to Auschwitz.  Sr. Teresa Benedicta died in a gas chamber in 1942.

St. Teresa Benedicta’s life and death illustrate that following Jesus can be costly.  Many today think of being Catholic as belonging to a distinguishable social group that goes to mass on Sundays and says the rosary at wakes.  St. Teresa Benedicta testifies that to live the implications of our faith, we must be ready not only to make the daily sacrifices that faith requires but also to suffer humiliation and even death if systematic persecution should begin again.  

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Memorial of Saint Dominic, priest

(Numbers 20:1-13; Matthew 16:13-23)

“’You are thinking not as God does but as human beings do,’” Jesus tells Peter in the gospel today.  The lead disciple has just denied that Jesus will have to suffer and die because he is the Messiah.  He wouldn’t say the same thing to Dominic as a young cleric.

Dominic was studying in Palencia, Spain, when the region underwent a famine. The poor were perishing, but few rich people or the authorities came to their assistance.  Dominic could not bear the sight.  He gave away all his possessions to the poor and even sold the parchments he had for study with the proceeds going to feed the hungry.  Eventually Dominic founded his order based on radical poverty.  He did not mean to burden anyone but to preach that peace comes from trusting in God.

It may not be prudent to empty our bank accounts on behalf of charity. But it is certainly unjust to horde money or to spend it lavishly while people suffer want.  We should pray for the gifts of wisdom and generosity that we may come to think and live as God would have us do.