Friday, July 17, 2020

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 38:1-6.21-22.7-8; Matthew 12:1-8)

Sixty years ago, all Catholics were to abstain from meat on Fridays and adults were not to eat between meals during Lent.  The practices distinguished Catholics from others and instilled a sense of sacrifice for the Lord.  However, they also fostered criticism of those who did not abide by these penances.  As much as anything else, this third result probably led the bishops to withdraw the obligations.  In today’s gospel Jesus gives his position on imposed dietary regulations.

He does not oppose such restrictions, but he is open to exceptions.  He defends his disciples’ eating grain on the Sabbath as akin to David’s men eating the Temple bread.  He further points out that just as priests do not violate the law by working on the Sabbath, neither do his disciples who are on a kind of mission.  Jesus clinches the argument by citing the prophet Hosea who said that God wants “mercy, not sacrifice.”  That is, God is more pleased when we judge mercifully than when we abstain or fast.  The latter is not to be forsaken, but the former is to be pursued.

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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

A television drama featured the story of a Catholic school teacher.  The woman was fired for having conceived a baby through in vitro fertilization.  The drama portrayed the Church as dominated by rules and regulations with little compassion for barren couples.  Although people do not like to think of Jesus acting in this way, his Sermon on the Mount certainly sounds unrelenting regarding obligations and prohibitions.  In it he demands perfection and prohibits divorce.  One wonders then what Jesus could mean in today’s gospel when he says, “My yoke is easy.”

His yoke seems to be very difficult, indeed.  Perhaps the reason for this perception is that most people think of it as a code of conduct.  But that is not what it is at all.  Jesus’ yoke is his relationship with God, his Father.  He, more than anyone else, knows God to be his Father who always cares for him.  He delivers himself to evil men knowing that things will turn out all right.  He now offers his followers a share in this relationship.  They too can feel the freedom of being children of God. 

We should realize that people do not need a lot of things to be thrive as human beings.  Indeed, having things often is a prescription to misery.  But we do need loving relationships.  When we join the Church, we are adopted into God’s family.  We help one another appreciate how to live as God’s children.  The relationship with the Father, with Jesus, and with one another brings a modicum of happiness.  It is likely that others will take note of our happiness and join us.  It is certain that we will experience fulness of happiness in eternal life.

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church

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

St. Bonaventure was both a scholar and an administrator.  He held the Franciscan chair at the University of Paris until he served as Minister General of the Franciscan Order.  On a superficial level this background seems to eliminate him from Jesus’ company.  After all, in today gospel Jesus thanks the Father for revealing his mystery “to the wise and the learned.”

But Jesus does not mean to exclude all wise and learned.  What he cannot tolerate are those who use knowledge to lord it over others.  He has the Pharisees especially in mind.  These men advise the poor to make sacrifices while they find excuses to avoid them.  Jesus knows that true wisdom recognizes the need for divine love.  It also discerns how this love has been extended to the faithful poor.

Our task is to imitate Jesus as Bonaventure did.  We first pray to God in thanksgiving.  God is the source of everything including the benefits of life and love.  Then we make known to God our needs.  We want to ask for simplicity that recognizes the goodness of each person but pays tribute mostly to God.

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Memorial of Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin

(Exodus 2:1-15a; Matthew 11:20-24)

Kateri Tekakwitha’s life was short and hard.  At the age of four she and her family contracted smallpox which left her both orphaned and physically impaired.  In becoming a Christian she was rejected by the Iroquois tribe among whom she grew up in what is now New York State.  She emigrated to the indigenous Christian community near Montreal.  There she might have chosen resentment for all the setbacks she experienced.  Instead, she devoted herself to prayer to God and concern for others.  She can be seen as a model of the conversion which Jesus desires in today’s gospel.

Jesus laments over the towns of Galilee where he has worked wonders to no avail.  Despite his preaching and cures, the people carry on with life as usual.  Whether they do not accept his message or refuse to respond out of laziness, Jesus cannot but regret their failure.  The prophetic “woes” he utters are condemnations for the refusal to live in accordance with God’s loving mercy.  

The life that Jesus calls for is not that we begin to pray all the time although that would be helpful.  He wants us to change our hearts - to live with compassion for others like Kateri Tekakwitha.  He wants us to imitate the very goodness of God.

Monday, July 13, 2020

Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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

One wall of the home was covered with crucifixes and crosses.  They were large and small; wood, metal, and stone.  Coming from different parts of the world, they comprised a fascinating testimony of Christian faith. Jesus likely would have taken notice.  How would he have responded?  Two things come to mind.

First, he would have cited Isaiah in today’s first reading.  He does so elsewhere in the gospel of Matthew.  He would have said that it is not a display of crosses that he desires any more than God seeks “new moons and festivals.”  He wants people who pursue righteousness in the way they live and justice for the vulnerable.  In other words, he wants mechanics to charge fair prices and hospitals to provide care to the poor.

Just as important, Jesus would have said, we have to learn something from the crosses on the wall.  As Jesus bore his cross in obedience to the Father, so are we to bear our crosses.  The cross we take up may be to love a difficult person with whom we work or live.  It may be to follow the directives of health care officials or even to accept contagion and isolation during this pandemic.  However challenging it is, each of us must carry her or his particular cross with patience.