Sunday, July 25, 2021

 SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, July 25, 2021

(II Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15)

In December, President Biden received his first dose of the virus vaccine. The photo of the event was published in many newspapers across America. It was a sign that the vaccine is not dangerous but helpful, indeed life-saving. More than scientific reports, the photo has the power to reach human consciousness. In the gospel Jesus performs a sign with similar effect when he feeds the crowd.

Jesus has performed several signs before. He healed the sick, and once changed water into wine. But he has never accomplished anything as impressive as multiplying a few loaves and fish to feed hundreds of people. He does it with leftovers to satisfy dozens of others. Jesus doesn't just want to nourish people. His greater concern is that they take him as the bread of eternal life. Now people recognize him as "the prophet to come." Unfortunately, however, they don't understand the meaning of his words.

In the reading the people come to make Jesus king. They think that he will give them bread without them working. They are wrong in two ways. First, they don't realize how work is an irreplaceable blessing. In this world men and women prove themselves worthy, at least in part, through work. They develop both their brains and their muscles in effort to produce useful goods and services for others. They also work to buy food, clothes, and shelter for their families. If we wanted a life without work, we would have a primitive existence like fish on a coral reef.

Second, people are wrong when they think of natural bread as what is most important. They are unaware that the greatest food Jesus offers is a share in his life. More than healing diseases and more than eating bread, a share in Jesus' life promises consolation and love that lasts forever. This is not to say that his life is always easy.  The consolation he offers is not received without suffering. The love he gives is not known without death itself.

In the gospel, everyone eats his fill. So we must also. The bread that Jesus provides us is his own flesh in the form of the Eucharistic host. Taking it in faith, we will be inclined to work not only for the good of our families but also for others. Be it caring for children or mowing lawns, with the bread that is Jesus our brains and muscles will create a better world. Then we will experience some of the comfort and love whose fullness will come to us at the end of time.

Friday, July 23, 2021

 Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

 (Jeremiah 3:14-17; Matthew 13:18-23)

In a television drama, a detective is asked if he believes in God.  He answers that he used to and hints that he lost his faith when his wife was killed in a hit and run accident.  The vignette demonstrates what Jesus means in the gospel by saying that some seed falls on rocky ground.

 No one’s life is always easy.  Everyone suffers setbacks and experiences limits.  Yet everyone as well is beckoned to respond in faith to God’s loving initiatives.  He gives life and, more significantly, sends men and women to preach of His mercy.  Rebelliousness and outrage hinder a positive response.  These obstacles comprise the rocky ground of the parable.  Still it is not necessary to lose faith.  Jesus is urging his listeners to soften the ground of their lives by breaking up clods of anger.  Recalling the many good people and wonderful experiences for which we did nothing to merit helps in this endeavor.  As countless suffering people have testified, God is more generous than anyone deserves.

 We live in an age of disbelief.  Statistics may say that a majority still believes in God, but the idea-makers are predominately agnostic and the faith of many is tenuous. Now more than ever perhaps it is our responsibility as believers to testify to our faith.  We can tell others how when we pray, good things happen.  At the very least, prayer enables us to cope with misfortune without cursing or self-pity.

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

(II Corinthians 5: 14-17; John 20:1-2.11-18)

A man writes of his former aversion to jigsaw puzzles.  He thought of them as vain pursuits.  It seemed to him that too much time was being wasted on the amorphous background.  In contrast relatively little time was spent piecing together the central images.  Then watching his daughter one day working on a puzzle, he had an inspiration.  The jigsaw puzzle, he thought, is like God’s creation of human beings.  Everyone has their importance.  Just as without the background the central figures would lose perspective, so it is with God’s children.  Everyone is a piece of the puzzle that adds to the panorama.  For the writer it was a new way of seeing.  It is like Mary’s inspiration in today’s gospel and Paul’s revelation in the first reading.

Paul writes of how he sees no one according to the flesh anymore but according to the Spirit.  He means that he regards no one as a rival or an enemy any longer.  Gifted with the Holy Spirit, Paul can see in others a true image of God to be respected, even loved.  Mary Magdalene comes to a similar realization as she discerns Jesus in one who looks like the gardener.  Graced with the Spirit, she sees that Jesus has risen from the dead.

Grace enables us to see in a new way.  It allows us to recognize a sister or brother in the homeless and even in the arrogant.  It bids us to help the stranger and to be patient with critics.  Grace is more than heightened consciousness.  It actually moves us interiorly to love without worry or regret.  It changes our lives as it did for both Paul and the Magdalene. 

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

 If you want to continue receiving homilettes by email, please send me your name and email address.  (If you have already done so, there is no need to repeat.)  I have been having difficulty adopting another mailing service.  However, Google seems to be sending the homilettes out for the time being at least.  When it stops, I will send out the homilettes to all whose email addresses if the email service problem is not resolved by then. Thank you for your readership.  Cm

Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 16:1-5.9-15; Mathew 13:1-9)

Those old enough to have experienced the gas shortages of the 1970s may remember how people reacted by hoarding the gas that was available.  A cartel of oil producers reduced its output so that there was less gas available on the American market.  Gas became more expensive, but people did not buy less.  It was a sorry sight.  People lined up sometimes for hours every day to hoard the gas that was available.  In today’s first reading God wants to see a different kind of response to shortage.

Not long after the exodus from Egypt the people’s food supply runs low.  Many start to worry that they would starve and complain that they should never have left captivity.  God hears their cries and plans to provide food.  But He wants to test the people’s trust.  He demands that they do not hoard the bread-like manna that He will send.  They are to take only enough bread for their daily ration although twice as much is to be allowed on the sixth day of the week so that they would not have to gather food on the Sabbath.

Fear of not having enough can move people to act greedily.  Hoarding is not being prudent but selfish. In times of shortages we need to be especially conscious of the common good.  Hopefully, government officials will provide prudent guidelines for how we should act.  In any case we have to trust that God will provide for us as we consider the welfare of others.

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

 If you want to continue receiving homilettes by email, please send me your name and email address.  (If you have already done so, there is no need to repeat.)  I have been having difficulty adopting another mailing service.  However, Google seems to be sending the homilettes out for the time being at least.  When it stops, I will send out the homilettes to all whose email addresses if the email service problem is not resolved by then. Thank you for your readership.  cm

Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Micah 7:14-15.10; Matthew 12:46-50)

Robert Kennedy was President’s John Kennedy’s closest advisor.  He had a Harvard education and considerable experience.  But the president confided in him for other reasons as well. They shared the same family and background.  Robert couldn’t betray John without betraying himself.  More importantly, Robert understood John’s way of thinking and could confidently tell him when he believed that he was mistaken.  In today’s gospel Jesus recognizes his disciples as having a similar relationship with him.

When Jesus is informed that his parents wish to speak to him, he surprisingly does not stop his presentation to see them.  Rather, he acknowledges that he is establishing a new family precisely with his preaching.  Those who heed his words by doing the will of God, his Father, he considers true family.  To the extent that his own blood relatives love others, they too become his “brother and sister and mother.”

We should see in Jesus’ statement here an offer to know him intimately.  He has come to share with us his intimate thoughts and desires.  We won’t have to correct any of his ideas.  We only can profit by feeling his love for us and following his wisdom.