Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 8:1-9; Matthew 5:43-48)

In order to promote charitable giving among his peers Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates started a list of the biggest donors every year.  He thought that if people liked to see their names among the year’s biggest earners, they might also want to be named the biggest philanthropists.  St. Paul uses a similar scheme to raise money from the Corinthian Christians in today’s first reading. 

Paul first mentions the example of the people of Macedonia, the province to the north of the Greek isles.  He says that although they are of modest means, they begged for the opportunity to support the poor in Jerusalem.  The implication is manifest.  The far better off Christians in Corinth should be even more willing to donate to the cause.  Evidently the Corinthians delivered as Paul will take a considerable sum of money to Jerusalem when he finally goes.

We often feel uncomfortable about giving because we do not know exactly what the money will be used for.  We don’t mind it going to buy food for the hungry but feel unsure about giving it to beggars on street corners who are apt to buy whiskey or marijuana.  It seems best to contribute to organizations that have a record of assisting the poor.  The important consideration is that we don’t just have the intention of helping the poor but actually do so with regularity.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 (II Corinthians 6:1-10; Matthew 5:38-42)

Few Christian communities have taken Jesus’ message in the gospel today more literally than the Quakers, the Society of Friends.  For generations Quakers were given deferments from conscription into the U.S. Army because of their official position against the use of force.  In today’s gospel Jesus lays the groundwork for the Quakers’ policy.

Jesus’ command to offer no resistance to evil is a super-tall order.  Many insist with good reason that he is using hyperbolic language.  This means that Jesus exaggerates the obligation in order to move his followers from the natural disposition of taking revenge.  In other words, disciples do not have to submit completely to aggressors but, nevertheless, should be forbearing in their response. 

Forbearance is not a popular virtue today.  People either try to get even when they are offended, or they sulk in bitterness.  Forbearance inclines us to tolerate others’ faults and to forgive their offenses.  In these ways we mirror the Father’s patience with the sins of the world, which include our own. 

Friday, June 12, 2015

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

(Hosea 11:1.3-4.8-9; Ephesians 3:8-12.14-19; John 19:31-37)

A painting of the dead Jesus by the French impressionist Edouard Manet has an odd look.  At first glance we cannot say why, but after staring at it a bit, we ask, “Why is Jesus’ body wound on the left side?”  Sure enough, after checking against other portrayals of the crucified, we discover that the Jesus’ lance wound is usually drawn on the right side.

It may not matter to some, but the placing of the wound does say something to others about Jesus.  The probable reason why unsophisticated portrayals put the wound on the left side is that they mean to show that Jesus’ heart was wounded.  But, as we heard in the passage today, the gospel does not specify which side of Jesus was wounded.  Nevertheless, it is more often depicted on the right side because the prophet Ezekiel writes that water came down from the right side of the Temple – the same water of life that the evangelist John intends to signify.  An interesting rejoinder is the theory that Jesus’ heart was indeed pierced on the right side because Roman soldiers were taught to deliver a blow to the heart through the right side of their victim since the enemy usually carried his shield on his left arm. Indeed, looking at paintings of the Sacred Heart, we likely see that the right side of his heart is pierced.

The wounded heart assures us that Jesus knows our greatest pain.  Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by someone we love.  The murder of Caesar by Brutus, the treachery against Othello by his lieutenant Iago, and the jolting of the soldier Don José by Carmen in the famous opera create pathos in us because we know the victim is doubly hurt.  The Sacred Heart bleeding from such an injury demonstrates that Jesus does not exempt himself from such suffering.  We readily remember the accounts of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial.  Now we know that we can seek consolation with him in our darkest moments.  The Sacred Heart tells us that Jesus loves us especially when we are hurting deeply.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, apostle

(Acts 11:21b-26.13:1-3; Matthew 5:20-26)

Perhaps the apostles had not known much about Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus.  If they had, they may not have wanted to change the disciple Joseph’s name to Barnabas.  Like Jesus’ foster-father, Barnabas appears to have been an extraordinarily righteous man. 

Barnabas is the disciple who presented the money obtained from the sale of his property to the disciples for the use of the entire community of Israel.  He also, as today’s first reading shows, leaves Jerusalem to encourage the believers in Antioch.  Then he not only goes out of his way to fetch the former church persecutor Paul from Tarsus but proceeds to accompany the gifted apostle on the first missionary journey.

The apostles gave Joseph the name Barnabas because it means “son of encouragement” which is to say that he supported others in the faith.  It is a virtue in much need of emulation today.  We need to encourage others to trust the Lord in their trials and to give thanks to him in their success.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 3:4-11; Matthew 5:17-19)

It is surely a credit to pro-life advocates that they can see in an infinitesimal human embryo a human being.  What gives them confidence, of course, is the knowledge that the embryo has all the life-producing information and dynamism to grow into a vivacious person.  St. Paul displays this same confidence in the incipient Christian movement when he compares it to the illustrious Jewish faith in the first reading today.

Paul acknowledges the inherent superiority of Christianity to Judaism because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Although the Spirit’s role in Jewish prophecy is to be recognized, its activity in the lives of all Christians is even more essential.  Where Judaism depends on a code of law to keep people in line, Christianity looks to the grace of the Spirit.  Christians also have a written law, the Sermon on the Mount.  But what is quintessential about Christian life is that this law is everywhere activated by the Spirit of love. 

We may see this Spirit at work in many pro-life workers.  Some stand voluntarily on sidewalks in front of abortion clinics day after day.  They are sometimes described as yelling at women about to have an abortion, but this kind of behavior is not the rule.  Rather, their love shines through as they pray for the fetus about to be annihilated and try to persuade the mother that there is help readily available for her as well as her baby.