Thursday, July 19, 2018

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 26:7-9.12.16-19; Matthew 11:28-30)

The eighty year-old women knelt beside her bed every night.  Rosary in hand, she prayed for her family.  She did not have children of her own; she never married.  But she prayed for her sisters and brother, her nephews and niece, and her grand-nieces and nephew.  Did she pray for herself?  Probably she did since her life was not the happiest.  Her solitariness likely called within her like a broken record, “What’s wrong with you, Mary?  What’s wrong with you?

In today’s gospel Jesus particularly invites those who never married and the widowed, the divorced and homosexuals who try to live chastely to share their burden with him.  He will give them support because he too felt loneliness as a burden.  He never married but that does not seem to have caused him grief.  Rather it was being betrayed by one trusted disciple and denied by another, being condemned by the leaders of his nation and being scorned by Rome, the supposedly great defenders of justice at the time, that made him feel abandoned.  His forlornness is dramatically demonstrated on the cross when he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus asks all of us to take upon ourselves this yoke of loneliness.  He wants us to love one another – both friend and foe – even when it is difficult.  It seems like a daunting challenge, but it turns out to be the way to happiness, precisely because we share it with him.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 10:5-7.13b-16; Mathew 11:25-27)

Assyria was a mighty empire extending through most of the Middle East including Egypt.  It easily conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the eighth century before Christ.  Although it considered itself the “cradle of civilization,” its army as much as its cultural institutions brought it notoriety.  In today’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah denounces Assyria’s warrior ways.

Isaiah states that God had used Assyria to punish the wayward kingdoms like Israel.  But Assyria went beyond its mandate.  It sought to wipe away other nations when it arrogantly attributed a godlike power to itself.  For this reason Isaiah predicts the fall of Assyria which came about in the late seventh century B.C.

We should allow the fate of Assyria to serve as a lesson for us.  For whatever gifts we have, we need to be grateful to God.  We have to ask ourselves how we might employ those gifts for God’s sake.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 7:1-9; Matthew 11:20-24)

Forty-five years ago the respected psychoanalyst Karl Menninger astounded American society.  Although a defender of mental illness, Menninger published a book entitled Whatever Became of Sin?  His answer to the question was that regular people often try to cover up responsibility for their evil acts with medical jargon.  Menninger understood, along with Jesus in today’s gospel, that this kind of evasion indicates a sick society.

Jesus preaches that before they can experience the love of God, people must acknowledge their faults and change their lives.  He says that inhabitants of Capernaum, where he lived, have been especially reluctant to meet this demand.  Hardly the ever-smiling pacifist, Jesus preaches eventual destruction to those who refuse to repent.

Still Jesus was no “fire and brimstone” preacher like John the Baptist.  But he does recognize the commonness of sin and the need to purify ourselves of it.  Whether our sin be sloth or sex, we must stop making excuses for it.  Rather we need to confess it and make every effort to put it behind us.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Memorial (optional) of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

(Isaiah 1:10-17; Matthew 10:34-11:1)

Although the celebration is optional, today many Catholics remember Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  She is associated with the protection of the faithful from sin and its consequences.  To this effect many wear a brown scapular, originally an article of clothing meant to shelter one from the elements.   It is worth asking why we look to Mary for help in need and not directly to Christ.

The simple truth is, however, that we cannot look to Mary without looking to Christ.  She is, after all, his mother.  More to the point, she stands for the Church ever since Jesus formed it from the cross.  There he gave his mother to his beloved disciple and him to her.  She is the Church’s most distinguished member, the one most faithful to God.  Since the Church is the Body of Christ, she represents him in his physical presence on earth.

As we looked to our mothers for help in our infancy, we look to the Church today.  The Church guides us to justice.  Its sacraments provide us assistance to overcome life’s greatest challenges.  Its members support us along the way to eternal life.  When we think of the Church in this way, we may give it the face of Mary.  Today we proclaim that Our Lady of Mount Carmel represents the Church protecting us from every evil.

Friday, July 13, 2018

Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 14:2-10; Matthew 10:16-23)

Today’s first reading ends the Book of the Prophet Hosea.  The prophet’s oracles were delivered to the northern kingdom of Israel.  Although Hosea typically denounces idolatry and social injustice, his message is more one of hope.  As its central image, the prophet offers his relationship with his prostitute wife.  Although she is unfaithful, he waits lovingly for her return.  God then is like the prophet ready to forgive his rebellious wife Israel if she buts repents of her infidelity.

In the passage at hand Hosea exhorts Israel to recognize its need of the Lord.  It is to beg God’s forgiveness as it reforms its way.  Not only are the people to give up idols; they are also to show compassion to the vulnerable. As a result they will thrive like a great tree unfolding its branches to the sky.

Has Israel ever returned to the Lord like Hosea envisions?  We should answer, “Yes, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.”  He alone has given God total worship.  And he alone has shown the poor thorough compassion.  As Lord, he acts on behalf of all the people.  We who swear allegiance to him then are considered righteous because of his deeds.