Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 1:1.4-10; Matthew 13:1-9)
No one in the Old Testament reveals more of himself than the prophet Jeremiah. In the reading today we hear how he reluctantly answers the call to speak in God’s name. In another autobiographical passage of his book, he will lament this vocation because it costs his peace of mind. This is the case when God tells him that he cannot marry as a sign of the barrenness that the sins of the people have wrought. But what can Jeremiah do but accede to God’s command? As he admits, God’s name burns within his heart.
Although prediction of the future authenticates their standing, prophets first and foremost are God’s spokespersons. Their main function is to point out to the people when and how they swerve from righteousness. They demonstrate outrage when the people’s wandering always leads them to idols, be they craven images or illusory values. In our time Pope John Paul II showed himself to be a prophet when he spoke out regarding radical individualism leading people from solidarity with the poor to excessive consumption.
Although prophets are more famous for indicating the impending wrath of God, they also convey God’s tender love. Jeremiah will tell us that God has a new covenant or relationship for His people in mind which will be written not in stone but on their hearts so that they will easily keep it. When this happens, he will say, the Lord will be the people’s only God and they will be forever His. This prophesy is fulfilled, of course, in Jesus Christ. As Paul tells the Romans, Christ’s death has led to “the love of God (being) been poured into our hearts through the holy Spirit.”
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Micah 7:14-15.18-20; Matthew 12:46-50)
A new movie, “Winter’s Bone,” hints at the redemption the prophet Micah promises in the first reading today. A seventeen year-old girl, growing up dirt poor in the Ozarks, sacrifices the joy of adolescence to hold her family together. Her father, who moonshines drugs, is arrested and puts his house up as bond. Then he turns up missing. The young girl has to find out what has happened to him if her mother and brothers will have a place to live. She doggedly rises to the task although its bleakness and the harsh life around her drain her of youthful free-spiritedness.
The girl’s determined self-sacrifice reminds us of Jesus’ giving up his life to redeem humanity of its sins. His accomplishment fulfills the prophecy that Micah makes. The prophet relates how God cares about His people. Although they are recalcitrant sinners, He will not abandon them. Indeed, He promises to remove their guilt. Again, their forgiveness is achieved only through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection in glory.
In face of such goodness, we need to pause and wonder how God could love us so much. It’s like standing before Michelangelo’s “Pieta” and marveling how anyone can carve a statute with so much pathos. After that, we give thanks and recommit ourselves not to offend God anymore.
(Micah 7:14-15.18-20; Matthew 12:46-50)
A new movie, “Winter’s Bone,” hints at the redemption the prophet Micah promises in the first reading today. A seventeen year-old girl, growing up dirt poor in the Ozarks, sacrifices the joy of adolescence to hold her family together. Her father, who moonshines drugs, is arrested and puts his house up as bond. Then he turns up missing. The young girl has to find out what has happened to him if her mother and brothers will have a place to live. She doggedly rises to the task although its bleakness and the harsh life around her drain her of youthful free-spiritedness.
The girl’s determined self-sacrifice reminds us of Jesus’ giving up his life to redeem humanity of its sins. His accomplishment fulfills the prophecy that Micah makes. The prophet relates how God cares about His people. Although they are recalcitrant sinners, He will not abandon them. Indeed, He promises to remove their guilt. Again, their forgiveness is achieved only through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection in glory.
In face of such goodness, we need to pause and wonder how God could love us so much. It’s like standing before Michelangelo’s “Pieta” and marveling how anyone can carve a statute with so much pathos. After that, we give thanks and recommit ourselves not to offend God anymore.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Micah 6:1-4.6-8; Matthew 12:38-42)
Most Christians are well aware of the judgment scene toward the end of Matthew’s gospel. In it Jesus tells how he will come at the end of time to judge the peoples of the earth. In the reading from the prophet Micah today we find a counterpart in the Hebrew Scriptures to that memorable scene.
God appears in the trial as both plaintiff and judge. He has a case against the people of Israel. Although He has freed them from slavery and given them His Law as their guide, they have been anything but loyal. They have ignored righteousness and like testosterone-laden young men lusting after whores they have joined themselves to other gods. Now facing powerful enemies, they turn to God for assistance. They propose paying their indemnity with sacrifices – animals, oil stocks, or (how could they ever imagine this?) their own children. But God exacts neither blood nor material. He only pleads that Israel be just, good, and humble.
As simple as it seems, what God asks is impossible for humans alone to accomplish. We need to be fortified with the grace of Christ if we are to walk in God’s ways. It alone will move us to selflessly feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and so enter God’s kingdom.
(Micah 6:1-4.6-8; Matthew 12:38-42)
Most Christians are well aware of the judgment scene toward the end of Matthew’s gospel. In it Jesus tells how he will come at the end of time to judge the peoples of the earth. In the reading from the prophet Micah today we find a counterpart in the Hebrew Scriptures to that memorable scene.
God appears in the trial as both plaintiff and judge. He has a case against the people of Israel. Although He has freed them from slavery and given them His Law as their guide, they have been anything but loyal. They have ignored righteousness and like testosterone-laden young men lusting after whores they have joined themselves to other gods. Now facing powerful enemies, they turn to God for assistance. They propose paying their indemnity with sacrifices – animals, oil stocks, or (how could they ever imagine this?) their own children. But God exacts neither blood nor material. He only pleads that Israel be just, good, and humble.
As simple as it seems, what God asks is impossible for humans alone to accomplish. We need to be fortified with the grace of Christ if we are to walk in God’s ways. It alone will move us to selflessly feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and so enter God’s kingdom.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Isaiah 38:1-6.21-22.7-8; Matthew 12:1-8)
In 1998 Pope John Paul II published an apostolic letter entitled, “The Lord’s Day.” In it he tried to awaken Catholics to the glory of reserving one day a week for prayer, family, and renewal. He also challenged the secularizing idea of “weekend” which stretches a day for giving thanks in beloved company into two days or more of fulfilling individualistic ambitions. The letter is vintage JP II: fully human, deeply reflective, and imminently devout.
In the Gospel reading today Jesus provides his own reflection on the Sabbath. Of course, for him it is the very end of the week, not its beginning. As in Orthodox Jewish communities today, the Sabbath in Jesus’ time is rigorously prescribed: no cooking, no walking beyond what amounts to a kilometer, no jumping or handclapping. Jesus does not doubt the validity of these disciplines, but he does allow for exceptions. What is truly remarkable here, however, is his reserving to himself authority to dispense with Sabbath restrictions by declaring that he is “’Lord of the Sabbath.’” As the Sabbath rest and its promise of eternal life are among God’s greatest gifts to humankind, Jesus here implies that he is God!
Do we feel a twinge of remorse when we head to the mall or go to the office on Sunday? It would not be unhealthy if we did. It is not that such actions are sinful in themselves. Jesus argues for the necessity of similar deeds in critical situations. But still we should not let exceptions prevent us from giving him definite consideration every Sunday. After all, he is “Lord of the Sabbath.”
(Isaiah 38:1-6.21-22.7-8; Matthew 12:1-8)
In 1998 Pope John Paul II published an apostolic letter entitled, “The Lord’s Day.” In it he tried to awaken Catholics to the glory of reserving one day a week for prayer, family, and renewal. He also challenged the secularizing idea of “weekend” which stretches a day for giving thanks in beloved company into two days or more of fulfilling individualistic ambitions. The letter is vintage JP II: fully human, deeply reflective, and imminently devout.
In the Gospel reading today Jesus provides his own reflection on the Sabbath. Of course, for him it is the very end of the week, not its beginning. As in Orthodox Jewish communities today, the Sabbath in Jesus’ time is rigorously prescribed: no cooking, no walking beyond what amounts to a kilometer, no jumping or handclapping. Jesus does not doubt the validity of these disciplines, but he does allow for exceptions. What is truly remarkable here, however, is his reserving to himself authority to dispense with Sabbath restrictions by declaring that he is “’Lord of the Sabbath.’” As the Sabbath rest and its promise of eternal life are among God’s greatest gifts to humankind, Jesus here implies that he is God!
Do we feel a twinge of remorse when we head to the mall or go to the office on Sunday? It would not be unhealthy if we did. It is not that such actions are sinful in themselves. Jesus argues for the necessity of similar deeds in critical situations. But still we should not let exceptions prevent us from giving him definite consideration every Sunday. After all, he is “Lord of the Sabbath.”
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Memorial of St. Bonaventure, bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Isaiah 26:7-9.12.16-19; Matthew 11:28-30)
Is the resurrection from the dead a Christian idea or does it have origins in pre-Christian times? This question gives many people pause as they are afraid that eternal life is too great a prize to be hoped for. There may be little evidence in the Torah, the primordial Hebrew Scriptures, on eternal life, but in the reading from Isaiah today we do find testimony to its standing in Israel.
In an encomium to righteousness, Isaiah tells us that those who have lived close to the Lord will not lie in the dust forever. Rather, he says, their corpses will rise from the dead like the dew flushes the earth with life. Then they will live forever in the light of God. The writings of St. Bonaventure express how this happens. “We cannot rise above ourselves,” he states, “unless a higher power lifts us up.” Who but God, the Lord of creation, is this “higher power”?
(Isaiah 26:7-9.12.16-19; Matthew 11:28-30)
Is the resurrection from the dead a Christian idea or does it have origins in pre-Christian times? This question gives many people pause as they are afraid that eternal life is too great a prize to be hoped for. There may be little evidence in the Torah, the primordial Hebrew Scriptures, on eternal life, but in the reading from Isaiah today we do find testimony to its standing in Israel.
In an encomium to righteousness, Isaiah tells us that those who have lived close to the Lord will not lie in the dust forever. Rather, he says, their corpses will rise from the dead like the dew flushes the earth with life. Then they will live forever in the light of God. The writings of St. Bonaventure express how this happens. “We cannot rise above ourselves,” he states, “unless a higher power lifts us up.” Who but God, the Lord of creation, is this “higher power”?
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