Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 41:55-57.42:5-7a.17-24a; Matthew 10:1-7)

The woman had lived a profligate life.  In her youth she had committed all sorts of sins, mainly sexual.  Now she felt great remorse.  Although she had confessed the sins before, she needed to do so again -- completely and deeply.  We see a semblance of this kind of guilt in the first reading today.

Joseph’s brothers kneel before him whom they would have left for dead.  His request to see the only brother not in the company reminds the rest of their betraying Joseph years before.  Their guilt surges as they say to one another, “Alas, we are being punished because of our brother.”  Joseph, however, is ready to forgive.  He has a plan to reunite his family, but there are risks.  He may be revealed to all Egypt as a Hebrew and thus lose his precious status as keeper of the Pharaoh’s treasury.

The story should remind us of the relationship between Christ and us.  Before him crucified we can see ourselves as hopeless sinners.  But he came to reconcile us to God by the outrageous plan of the crucifixion itself.  Thus, guilt serves a dual purpose: it reminds us of Jesus’ death for us and urges us not to sin again.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 32:23-33; Matthew 9:32-38)

A boy of about ten or eleven years old had a providential experience that affected his entire life.  The boy heard from friends about the adolescent prank of stealing inner tube caps.  One day he was playing at the curb of the street and began unscrewing the inner tube cap of a car that was parked there.  Before he had the cap off, however, the car’s owner came out shouting, “What are you doing to that car.”  The buy screwed the cap on quickly and was never tempted to steal again.  In the reading from Genesis Jacob undergoes a similar life-changing experience.

Jacob has left his father-in-law’s ranch a wealthy man.  His own wits, not God, made him rich.  But God is not far away.  He is the stranger with whom Jacob wrestles.  The struggle is actually a metaphor for Jacob’s troubled conscience, the voice of God.  He knows that he swindled his brother Esau years before and now cannot sleep because of guilt.  Jacob survives the encounter and even manages to extract a blessing from his opponent.  He will have to somehow reconcile with Esau but will no longer be defined by his twin brother.  He was given the name Jacob meaning heel catcher because he was born lurching after Esau who came out of his mother’s womb first.  From now on he will be called Israel after God Himself since Israel is said to mean you have struggled with God.

We too know what it is like to struggle with God when we ask ourselves questions like, “Did I dwell too long on an impure thought?” or “Would it be wrong to leave work early without permission?”  As God does not destroy Jacob, he does not abandon us because of our sins.  Rather, He lets us know that we are His sons and daughters whom He forgives and blesses when we honestly take account of our sins and make amends for them. 

Monday, July 8, 2013

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 28:10-22a; Matthew 9:18-26)

Ask a child what they will do when they grow up, and often enough they have an answer.  One girl of approximately twelve years said that she will be a pediatrician.  She will have to work hard to fulfill her plan, but it is not an impossible dream.  We meet Jacob in the first reading today in a comparable situation.

Jacob has left his house as a young man to pursue his destiny.  The reading shows him in communion with God who promises to make him the father of a nation that will bless the entire earth.  Jacob accepts the revelation by making a shrine to the Lord on the spot where he received it.  It is a long, long story, but eventually the promise is fulfilled in Jesus, Jacob’s descendent.  The whole world recognizes him as the model of righteousness.

As we become older, our dreams often become humbler.  We may no longer think of changing the world but hope to change our own hearts.  We want to lose our preoccupation with self so that we might love others as Jesus has shown us.  It is helpful to remember that the same God who promised to accompany Jacob wherever he went is also at our side.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 23:1-4.19.24:1-8.62-67; Matthew 9:9-13)

Building inspectors are often considered corrupt by the nature of their profession.  It is claimed that they have so much authority to accept or reject many hours of labor that they will gladly overlook faulty wiring or missing fire alarms for a few dollars under the table.  For this reason they may be considered modern tax collectors who bore the same reputation in Jesus’ time as today’s gospel notes.

The passage apparently affirms the tax collector’s dishonestly when Jesus tells the Pharisees that he comes to call sinners.  Its underlying claim, however, is that the “man named Matthew” is also open to the Lord’s command to follow and obeys it.  It implies as well that he will forfeit any unrighteous tendencies as he submits to Jesus’ instruction.

We must remember that we too are tax collectors of sorts.  By reason of a corrupted nature all of us are given to taking dishonest money, illicit pleasure, or what have you.  Nevertheless, at the same time like Matthew God has graced us with openness to truth and love.  We learn from Jesus how to live out this new way of grace.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 2:1b-19; Matthew 9:1-8)

The Lord’s test of Abraham related in the first reading today is one of the greatest stories of the Bible and, indeed, Western Civilization.  God asks Abraham to put his destiny completely in His hands.   Passing the test by willfully carrying out the command to kill his favored son until the last moment when God names another victim, Abraham shows himself a worthy beneficiary of God’s awesome blessing.  He can be a true father to many nations.

As Americans celebrate their nation’s birth today, it faces a momentous test similar to Abraham’s.  The promise of freedom, which the nation’s founders claimed on July 4, 1776, was based on the principles of natural laws expressed in Thomas Jefferson’s famous words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  The test is whether the nation will continue to pursue freedom in accord with God’s will as given in human nature.  The alternative path, on which the nation seems to be headed, is to dally in contrived freedoms like abortion and homosexual marriage.

We come together today to implore the risen Lord present in our midst to straighten the misguided turns the United States has taken in recent years.  We pray that a nation so well-endowed with a gracious people, prudent laws, and abundant resources may not deviate from the path of righteousness upon which its founders set it.