Thursday, August 10, 2017

Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr

(II Corinthians 9:6-10; John 12:24-26)

In Italy today’s feast of St. Lawrence may be celebrated by looking up at the night sky.  It is the time of year when shooting stars instill a sense of awe in the observer.  Stories about St. Lawrence provide hearers with a similar awe.

Lawrence was the deacon of the Church of Rome in charge of its treasury at the time of the persecution of the emperor Valerian.  When government officials demanded that he produce for them the church’s treasures, Lawrence led them to the city’s poor.  For this act of defiance, he was sentenced to death by burning.  It is said that during his execution he quipped to his executioners that he was well done on one side and they might turn him to be roasted on the other.

Most everyone wants to be recognized as unique in some way.  Currently it is fashionable to have one’s body tattooed in a singular way.  That seems like a dubious way to stand out.  We might encourage our young people to aspire to be different like St. Lawrence.  Rather than being known for doing something odd, they should want to excel in caring for others and enduring trials patiently.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Numbers 13:1-2.25-14.1.26a-29a.34-35; Matthew 15:21-28)

Today’s gospel not only shows the value of persistent prayer but also the valor of a woman who seeks the welfare of her child.  We must take care not to be scandalized by the remark of Jesus comparing non-Jews to dogs.  He only means that his mighty works are not done to impress people.  Rather, they are meant to foster a living faith in God’s care for His people.  As the woman shows that faith, Jesus readily grants her request.

Rather than contrast the urgency of the woman’s plea with the hesitation of Jesus to help her, it is more instructive to note the difference between the disciple’s desire to dismiss the woman and Jesus’ willingness to listen to her.  Like the disciples we may not want to attend to people who come begging for assistance.  It is true that granting them what they ask often is not prudent and sometimes not possible.  But we do not have to dismiss them and much less ignore them. We could listen to their needs, respond in truth and courtesy, and pray for their welfare.  Such actions are expected of us if we are truly the Lord’s servants.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Memorial of Saint Dominic Guzman, priest

(Numbers 12:1-13; Matthew 14:22-36)

The Chicago archdiocese used to be the largest in the United States.  Churches were found in almost every neighborhood, and the faithful packed them on Sundays.  It is a different story today.  Many parishes lack a resident pastor, and whole pews go empty during Sunday mass.  The Church there, as in many dioceses in North America and Europe, is experiencing crisis.  The situation is anticipated in today’s gospel.

The boatful of disciples being tossed about by the waves represents the Church after Jesus’ resurrection.  It is suffering persecution and rejection by the Jews in Israel.  Mission activity is more successful but not necessarily easier.  Preachers like St. Paul undergo supreme hardship in preaching the gospel in faraway places.  The reading shows Jesus coming to the aid of his Church.  He saves his head disciple from drowning and brings peace to the threatening elements.

St. Dominic lived in another time of pastoral challenge.  Catholics of southern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were abandoning the church because of the bad example of some of the clergy.  At the same time they were accepting an old heresy called Manicheanism which held that all material things are bad and all spiritual things are good.  Dominic took up the challenge.  He put his faith in the Lord of the gospels, preached the goodness of all creation, and lived simply and joyfully.  His efforts, assisted by the same Lord, gradually won back many of those who had fallen-away.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Numbers 11:4b-15; Matthew 14:13-21)

People’s complaining about government services has a long history.  Today citizens expect a host of benefits – education of children, protection from mercantile fraud as well as the building of roads and the defense from foreign powers.  The first reading today shows what people in Moses’ day demanded.

The Israelites have become tired of eating manna.  Although it provides them calories, they evidently find it bland to the taste.  In any case because it is all they have to eat, they have begun to abhor it.  They take their case against God to Moses, his representative.  “Give us something else;” they demand, “it was better for us in Egypt.”

We might call the people ungrateful for forgetting the drudgery of life in the old country.  But God is more understanding.  He will provide meat to enhance their diet.  Much more significantly, in time he will send his Son Jesus to feed them the Bread of Life.  In today’s gospel Jesus gives his listeners a foretaste of the banquet to come.  The people receive sustenance for the journey home.  One day they will remember this ersatz meal as like the Eucharist.  In that meal they will be nourished spiritually so that they may experience eternal life.

Friday, August 4, 2017

Memorial of Saint John Vianney, priest

(Leviticus 23:1.4-11.15-16.27.34b-37; Matthew 13:54-58)

In one of his novels Larry McMurtry tells the story of an antique collector who buys a precious item from the owners of a second-hand store.  The owners ask a price many times below the object’s value because they do not know its real worth.  In the gospel today the townspeople where Jesus grew up similarly do not recognize Jesus for who he really is. 

The people of Nazareth think that they know Jesus because they know his family.  They cannot comprehend that he is the long awaited Messiah who comes to save Israel.  Even his miraculous cures and his wonderful teaching do not convince them but just confound them more.

Some of us may likewise be scandalized by the ways that Jesus makes himself present today.  We do not meet him at a grand banquet which we have to pay thousands of dollars to attend.  No, he is present in the simple hosts and the inexpensive wine that we bring to the altar.  His teachings promising eternal life are also neither complex nor enigmatic.  Rather, they contain the straightforward message that we are to love God above all and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We must be careful not to reject Jesus as his townspeople do in the gospel.  Quite the contrary, we must be ever grateful that he makes himself available to us and to all.