Thursday, July 10, 2014

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 11:1-4.8e-9; Matthew 10:7-15)

“I have six pence, jolly, jolly six pence

I have six pence to last me all my life.

I have two pence to spend and two pence to lend,

And two pence to send home to my wife, poor wife.”

Many sang such rhymes in their youth perhaps making the best of the days when their earning power was minimal.  Perhaps the apostles sang something like it as they were sent by Jesus to proclaim the Good News.

Jesus tells them that they are not to “take gold or silver or copper” with them.  The last, a copper coin, is what is called today a penny.  Jesus wants the apostles are to preach the goodness of God by their poverty as well as by their words.  Completely dependent on Divine Providence, without even a penny to their name, they will show how the Lord cares for those who trust in Him.

Often enough today we forget this instruction from Jesus.  Preachers will set their fees to meet their budgets which include hefty health insurance premiums and retirement accounts.  We must forgive them for doing so as our society expects that we look after these needs.  But we should never abandon the thrust of what Jesus is saying here.  When we bestow a blessing of peace on those we meet, we can be assured that the gracious act will come back to us tenfold.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 10:1-3.7-8.12; Matthew 10:1-7)

The Good Earth is an epic story about a Chinese peasant who accumulates a fortune.  Through hard work, shrewdness, and especially the cooperation of his wife, the peasant becomes a rich landowner in the time after the downfall of the Qing dynasty.  Tragically, the peasant takes into his home a local beauty leaving his wife forlorn.  The man’s sons, educated but querulous, eventually plot to take apart the estate their father and mother so diligently put together.  The tale reflects the trajectory of Israel as told by Hosea and other prophets of the Northern Kingdom

In today’s first reading Hosea highlights the glory of the Northern Kingdom.  He calls it a “luxuriant vine” with “abundant…fruit.”  Hosea objective in extolling Israel, however, is to contrast God’s gracious blessing on the nation with the people’s meager response.  Rather than embrace more faithfully the God who has given them the land, they worship him as only one god among others.  The prophet makes no compromises about their destiny.  He predicts the destruction of the kingdom.

The nations of western civilization should take warning.  They too have been blessed by the God whom their ancestors worshipped faithfully.  Now they seem to follow other gods – not graven images but desires for pleasure, power, and wealth.  Some nations like Greek and Spain may be on the verge of collapse.  Others like the United States face great challenges such as the lack of workers to support an aging population.  We pray for the grace of conversion.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 8:4-7.11-13; Matthew 9:32-38)

Two years ago William Byron, a Jesuit priest teaching at St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia, and Charles Zech, an economist at Villanova University, reported on their survey of why Catholics in a New Jersey diocese leave the Church.  Unsurprisingly, many people said that they no longer practice the faith because of policies such as not allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion.  The survey uncovered other reasons as well, but high moral standards seem to discourage Catholics as much as anything else.  In the first reading today the prophet Hosea chastises Israel for abandoning the faith of their ancestors for similar reasons.

Hosea was an eighth century B.C. prophet who preached in the Northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital located in Samaria.  It was a time of prosperity, but rather than turning to the God of their ancestors in gratitude, the people were inclined to worship the fetishes of their pagan neighbors.  The pagan deities were much less demanding than God.  Where the Lord insisted that the people control their appetites, paganism could extol licentiousness.

In Jesus the commands of God are brought to fulfillment.  To many they seem harder to obey – not even to look with lust or not even to resist a rebuke!  But this is because we tend to forget that Jesus walks with us to share our burden.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 2:16.17c-18.21-22; Matthew 9:18-26)

The man was diagnosed with cancer.  He duly took the chemotherapy that was prescribed.  With even greater confidence he believed that God would cure him.  Five months later and after no easy struggle, the man’s doctor says that there is no evidence of cancer.  Although the story is but one of millions and not yet completed, it does illustrate the prerequisite faith for healing shown in today’s gospel.

The official astoundingly goes to Jesus after his daughter has died to ask for resuscitation.  He believes that a personal encounter with Jesus will give life back to her.  On the way to his house, Jesus is approached by a woman who has been in the tentacles of hemorrhage for years.  She also places faith in Jesus’ presence.  Neither the official nor the afflicted are disappointed.

Our prayer invokes the presence of Jesus.  We may not feel his presence.  Indeed, we may feel the frustration of trying to send emails when the server is disconnected. But through persistent and patient faith we will experience his life-giving attention. 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 8:4-6.9-12; Matthew 9:9-13)

Of all the symbols of freedom and justice in the United States none seems to capture the imagination like the Statute of Liberty.  Standing on an island in New York harbor, the image of a strong and lovely woman with a torch in her hand held high certainly has lifted the hopes of millions of poor immigrants.  They have sought no more than opportunity which the country based on law and animated by civic affection provided.

Today’s gospel shows Jesus in a similar way calling not the wealthy and the righteous but tax collectors and sinners.  He too provides opportunity – his life-giving love – for them to begin anew.  By all means they will have to forfeit their larcenies, but they have already a cogent reason to do so in the fellowship they have with the Lord.

Today we Americans should toast out country.  Only fools would deny its greatness in spawning not just wealth to millions but, more importantly, a spirit of generosity and cooperation.  Of course, we also thank God for His blessings on our forefathers and mothers who first came to this land.  Likewise, we entreat the Lord that the gifts so bounteously bestowed will not be squandered out of selfishness and individualism.