Monday, July 15, 2013

Memorial of Saint, Bonaventure, priest and doctor of the Church

(Exodus 18-14.22; Matthew 8:34-11:1)

When St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan friar, was studying in Paris for the celebrated master’s degree, the diocesan clergy opposed his candidacy.  The mendicant orders were ascendant throughout Europe, and friars took over many professorial positions at the University of Paris threatening the dominance of the diocesans.  Through an order by the pope Bonaventure was granted the degree and became one of the Church’s greatest theologians.  The gospel today hints at a similar instance of unfortunate rivalry.

Jesus almost sounds as a troublemaker as he warns his disciples to expect hostility when they follow him.  It is not that he advocates the use of force or any immoderate behavior.  But the righteousness to which he is calling his disciples live will set them against their own families.  They are not to worry as he will more than compensate them for any loss they sustain for his sake.

Parents give permission for adolescent daughters to take contraceptives.  Families inculcate racial prejudice.  Elders tell children to lie on their behalf.  There are many familial matters for faithful followers of Jesus to resist.  One consolation we have in doing so is that we join the company of saints like Bonaventure.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 46:1-7.28-30; Matthew 10:16-23)

If one wants to end a conversation quickly, she might bring up the subject of death.  No one really likes to talk about it.  In fact, as the title of a great book published forty years ago suggests, many practice The Denial of Death.  Thus, people try to hide their mortality by refusing to make a will or plan their funeral.  In today’s first reading, God puts the inevitability of Israel’s death squarely before him.

The Lord tells Israel not to worry but to go to Egypt where he will die.  However, death will not be his absolute destiny.  His name will live on in his people which will become great under God’s protection.  Reassured, Israel complies with God’s command.

We believe that God has given us a greater destiny in Jesus, his only begotten Son.  United to Jesus by his cross and resurrection, which we assume in Baptism, we share Jesus’ eternal glory.  For us death is not the end but a new beginning.  In it we will feel the love of God more deeply than ever possible on our earthly sojourn.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Memorial of Saint Benedict, abbot

(Genesis 44:18-21.23b-29.45:1-5; Matthew 10:7-15)

St. Benedict started monasteries in different parts of Italy and is considered as the Father of Western Monasticism.  But his influence has gone far beyond religious life fostering the roots of European civilization.  The rule that he wrote for his monks incorporates virtues like hospitality which gives the guest an honored place in the host’s household.  His monks were to treat strangers as “another Christ.”  In today’s gospel Jesus also comments on hospitality.

Jesus tells his apostles that they can expect lodging when they go to preach.  “The laborer,” he says, “is worth his keep.”  But those laborers have to bless the households that receive them with peace.  This is not a trifling gesture but a word of dynamic force because it is uttered by divinely commissioned apostles.  Hospitality then invokes a blessing upon the one who receives it and the one who gives it.

“My house is your house,” Latin-American people are fond of saying.  The phrase indicates that they have assimilated the key Christian value.  When we respond, “Peace be with you,” we also manifest the Christian way of life. 

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.