Monday, June 27, 2016

Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Amos 2:6-10.13-16; Matthew 8:18-22)

Last year a couple of women completed the Army Ranger training.  It was a significant achievement.  The Rangers are the Army’s elite, and their training is grueling.  It includes days in the wilderness with mostly one’s wits for survival.  In today’s gospel, Jesus challenges his disciples to a similar ordeal.

People want to join Jesus’ travelling group of disciples perhaps unaware of its costs.  Jesus disabuses them of notions of instant glory.  He tells one that he will not provide a home to rest in and another not to expect home leave.  The life of discipleship is not easy.

We should not expect it to be so today.  We may not have to leave family or even a house to be disciples, but following Jesus still requires sacrifice.  We are called to give up some comforts to provide for the needs of others.  More costly still, we are instructed to let of the egotistic will so that God’s glory may radiate to all.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

(Isaiah 49:1-6; Acts13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66.80)

The liturgical year does not celebrate many birthdays.  Only three people are honored in such a way.  Jesus’ birth, of course, is remembered in December and Mary’s in September.  Today John the Baptist’s birthday completes the special kind of celebration.

John’s beginnings are shrouded in wonder.  His parents are beyond regular child-bearing age when he is conceived.  When he is born, he is not given the customary name of his father or indeed anyone in his family.  Rather he is named “John” out of obedience to God’s command.  More strangely, his father begins to speak again after nine months of silence only when he affirms that name.  The evangelist relates John’s story in this way to indicate his uniqueness.  John will be the harbinger of the Messiah.  His preaching of repentance will announce to the world that its salvation is at hand.

Enjoying the celebration of birthdays, we should take great pleasure today.  John will have stern words, but his message is ultimately one of joy.  He announces that Jesus is here to save us from folly.  We heed John so that we may not miss the infinite goodness offered us by Jesus.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Kings 24:8-17; Matthew 7:21-29)

Jesus in today’s gospel could well have been commenting on our first reading.  That passage from the Second Book of Kings takes note of the final days of the Kingdom of Judah.  After the spring of renewal with Josiah, Judah’s kings returned to idolatrous ways.  Now the entire kingdom experiences downfall.  The king of Babylon carries off the nation’s wealth and a sizeable number of its population.

In the gospel Jesus warns about basing one’s life on wickedness.  He compares it to building a house on sand which will give way in a storm.  It is necessary, Jesus says, to construct a house on rock which provides a firm foundation.  Rock, which is often an image of God himself, symbolizes here Jesus’ moral teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

History may be described as the sequence of great nations falling because of the deterioration of virtue.  Many peoples have built empires which eroded as the people lost their bearings of righteousness.  Rome is the greatest example.  We Americans must assure that our country’s laws are firmly grounded on morality if the nation’s future is to resemble its past.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Kings 22:8-13.23:1-3; Matthew 7:15-20)

A television drama portrayed a man who had gone to Washington to read every book in the Library of Congress.  When he returned home, he was asked to share the wisdom that he gained.  A crowd assembled for his exposition.  He began, “I am the Lord, your God; you shall have no strange gods before me.  You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.”  Then the people joined the litany.  One person after another recited one of the Ten Commandments.  The first reading today conveys this sense of rediscovery of ancient wisdom.

The high priest finds the Book of the Law, the first five books of the Bible, in the Temple.  Evidently it has been lost or ignored for decades.  The setting is the seventh century before Christ.  The Northern Kingdom of Israel has been decimated, and Judah is constantly threatened.  But at last there is a worthy king whose name is Josiah.  When Josiah hears the contents of the Book of the Law, he is overwhelmed with a mixture of sorrow and urgency.  He orders that it be read so that the people could once again find the way to righteousness.  Unfortunately, Josiah will not live long enough to carry out all the needed reforms.  Within fifty years after his premature death Judah falls to the Babylonians.

New ways of thinking seem to make our traditional values outmoded.  Some people seem to think that change always means improvement.  Sure, knowledge may enhance the quality of life for many.  But basic human values – love, truth, goodness, to which the Scriptures testify -- remain the basis of a truly satisfying life.  We too must continually scrutinize the Scriptures and follow its wisdom if we are to find our way to happiness.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious

(II Kings 19:9b-11.14-21.31-35a.36; Matthew 7:6.12-14)

Many see God as the author of creation.  They reason that there must be a first cause of the universe.  They also recognize that the physical laws of the universe are so finely determined that if they were changed a bit, absolute chaos would result.  Today’s first reading challenges the world to see God as the Lord of history as well. 

The passage from the Second Books of Kings, a history of Israel, relates a famous story.  Just as the king of Assyria is about to attack Jerusalem, he is turned back in his tracks.  It is not Judah’s army that stops the siege.  Rather a pestilence has broken out among the troops forcing a retreat.  Because God is viewed as the controller of nature, He is seen now as the Judah’s savior.  He seems to be in control of history as well as creation.

God works in many ways and always through secondary causes.  We see His hand in the downfall of the Soviet empire and the protection of tiny nations like Costa Rica.  We believe that God is bringing the world together in peace despite many regional conflicts.  He will use human agency and may not accomplish the task for millennia.  But because God loves humanity, He will see the various nations and peoples reconciled by the end of time.