Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 8:4-7.11-13; Matthew 9:32-38)

Two years ago William Byron, a Jesuit priest teaching at St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia, and Charles Zech, an economist at Villanova University, reported on their survey of why Catholics in a New Jersey diocese leave the Church.  Unsurprisingly, many people said that they no longer practice the faith because of policies such as not allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion.  The survey uncovered other reasons as well, but high moral standards seem to discourage Catholics as much as anything else.  In the first reading today the prophet Hosea chastises Israel for abandoning the faith of their ancestors for similar reasons.

Hosea was an eighth century B.C. prophet who preached in the Northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital located in Samaria.  It was a time of prosperity, but rather than turning to the God of their ancestors in gratitude, the people were inclined to worship the fetishes of their pagan neighbors.  The pagan deities were much less demanding than God.  Where the Lord insisted that the people control their appetites, paganism could extol licentiousness.

In Jesus the commands of God are brought to fulfillment.  To many they seem harder to obey – not even to look with lust or not even to resist a rebuke!  But this is because we tend to forget that Jesus walks with us to share our burden.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Hosea 2:16.17c-18.21-22; Matthew 9:18-26)

The man was diagnosed with cancer.  He duly took the chemotherapy that was prescribed.  With even greater confidence he believed that God would cure him.  Five months later and after no easy struggle, the man’s doctor says that there is no evidence of cancer.  Although the story is but one of millions and not yet completed, it does illustrate the prerequisite faith for healing shown in today’s gospel.

The official astoundingly goes to Jesus after his daughter has died to ask for resuscitation.  He believes that a personal encounter with Jesus will give life back to her.  On the way to his house, Jesus is approached by a woman who has been in the tentacles of hemorrhage for years.  She also places faith in Jesus’ presence.  Neither the official nor the afflicted are disappointed.

Our prayer invokes the presence of Jesus.  We may not feel his presence.  Indeed, we may feel the frustration of trying to send emails when the server is disconnected. But through persistent and patient faith we will experience his life-giving attention. 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 8:4-6.9-12; Matthew 9:9-13)

Of all the symbols of freedom and justice in the United States none seems to capture the imagination like the Statute of Liberty.  Standing on an island in New York harbor, the image of a strong and lovely woman with a torch in her hand held high certainly has lifted the hopes of millions of poor immigrants.  They have sought no more than opportunity which the country based on law and animated by civic affection provided.

Today’s gospel shows Jesus in a similar way calling not the wealthy and the righteous but tax collectors and sinners.  He too provides opportunity – his life-giving love – for them to begin anew.  By all means they will have to forfeit their larcenies, but they have already a cogent reason to do so in the fellowship they have with the Lord.

Today we Americans should toast out country.  Only fools would deny its greatness in spawning not just wealth to millions but, more importantly, a spirit of generosity and cooperation.  Of course, we also thank God for His blessings on our forefathers and mothers who first came to this land.  Likewise, we entreat the Lord that the gifts so bounteously bestowed will not be squandered out of selfishness and individualism.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Feast of Saint Thomas, apostle

(Ephesians 2:19-22; John 20:24-29)

Mortimer Adler was the quintessential Jewish intellectual – prolific and deep.  He was a devotee of St. Thomas Aquinas, but for a long time resisted becoming a Christian.  He said that he did not have the gift of faith.  Finally, however, he submitted to what his mind was telling him.  He was baptized an Episcopalian and ultimately joined the Catholic Church.  He, like today’s saint, came to admit that he was mistaken.

For all the doubt he harbored, St. Thomas can be credited with a genuine change of heart.  He doesn’t have to express belief in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  Calling Jesus, “Lord” and “God” transcends acceptance of the other apostles’ testimony.  True, as the gospel passage testifies, he has the benefit of seeing the resurrected Jesus, but he gives up all pretension about having to touch Jesus’ wounds in order to believe.  Such a grossly physical act would nullify faith as it comprises empirical proof.

The story about Thomas indicates that the disciples of Jesus did ask themselves the question if they were seeing things.  They prove themselves not visionaries but practical men who were willing to die for what they saw and heard.  We too must act on our belief that Jesus has risen.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 5:14-15.21-24; Matthew 8:28-34)

The words of the "Pledge of Allegiance," which many Americans proudly recite these days, end with an appeal for liberty and justice. It’s important to keep in mind that the United States has enshrined both virtues.  Fairness in relations with other is as much a part of the American heritage as freedom which the nation’s founders risked life and fortune to attain.  The prophet Amos pleads for a similar justice in the first reading today.

Amos lives in the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, the northern kingdom. Unfortunately, not everyone is thriving.  The poor are often swindled of the little they have while the wealthy luxuriate. The story of Ahab and the poor man Naboth provides a sterling example although it occurred some seventy-five years before Amos comes on the scene.  The prophet cannot help but speak out against the inequities.  In a phrase echoed by Dr. Martin Luther King, he implores, “...let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.”

As long as people cling to individual privileges and claim rights that ignore responsibility, the justice to which Amos appeals will be wanting.  Jesus provides the key to the only adequate response.  He died so that we might live in true freedom and complete justice.  By modeling his self-sacrifice for the good of others, Catholic Americans can assist their nation attain the ideals it espouses.