Monday, August 7, 2017

Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Numbers 11:4b-15; Matthew 14:13-21)

People’s complaining about government services has a long history.  Today citizens expect a host of benefits – education of children, protection from mercantile fraud as well as the building of roads and the defense from foreign powers.  The first reading today shows what people in Moses’ day demanded.

The Israelites have become tired of eating manna.  Although it provides them calories, they evidently find it bland to the taste.  In any case because it is all they have to eat, they have begun to abhor it.  They take their case against God to Moses, his representative.  “Give us something else;” they demand, “it was better for us in Egypt.”

We might call the people ungrateful for forgetting the drudgery of life in the old country.  But God is more understanding.  He will provide meat to enhance their diet.  Much more significantly, in time he will send his Son Jesus to feed them the Bread of Life.  In today’s gospel Jesus gives his listeners a foretaste of the banquet to come.  The people receive sustenance for the journey home.  One day they will remember this ersatz meal as like the Eucharist.  In that meal they will be nourished spiritually so that they may experience eternal life.

Friday, August 4, 2017

Memorial of Saint John Vianney, priest

(Leviticus 23:1.4-11.15-16.27.34b-37; Matthew 13:54-58)

In one of his novels Larry McMurtry tells the story of an antique collector who buys a precious item from the owners of a second-hand store.  The owners ask a price many times below the object’s value because they do not know its real worth.  In the gospel today the townspeople where Jesus grew up similarly do not recognize Jesus for who he really is. 

The people of Nazareth think that they know Jesus because they know his family.  They cannot comprehend that he is the long awaited Messiah who comes to save Israel.  Even his miraculous cures and his wonderful teaching do not convince them but just confound them more.

Some of us may likewise be scandalized by the ways that Jesus makes himself present today.  We do not meet him at a grand banquet which we have to pay thousands of dollars to attend.  No, he is present in the simple hosts and the inexpensive wine that we bring to the altar.  His teachings promising eternal life are also neither complex nor enigmatic.  Rather, they contain the straightforward message that we are to love God above all and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We must be careful not to reject Jesus as his townspeople do in the gospel.  Quite the contrary, we must be ever grateful that he makes himself available to us and to all.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 40:16-21.34-38; Matthew 13:47-53)

We might call the significance of the two parables in today’s gospel “a matter of emphasis.”  Jesus emphasizes the bad fish and the new teaching.  He summarily says the good fish will be put into buckets but explains that corrupt people are like bad fish and will be thrown in fiery furnaces.  Jesus more subtly emphasizes his new teaching in the storeroom of wisdom by inverting the expected order of words.  Rather than speaking of old before new, he gives priority to his new teaching before the ancient wisdom of the Scriptures.

The new teaching is the kingdom of heaven which now has definitively come through Jesus’ presence.  It brings joy, peace, and happiness to those who repent of their sins.  The old teaching – the Law and its commandments – has not been suspended but human concern goes beyond keeping its statues.  The bad fish are those who never repent, that is, never look at their faults, ask forgiveness, or endeavor to live Jesus’ new righteousness.

Here again Jesus challenges the sensibilities of the modern world.  We like to think that we can get away with doing evil.  Many have no problem with telling a lie or absenting themselves from Mass on Sundays as long as they help the poor.  Jesus is indicating that there is a problem.  He would agree with the ancient Greek moralists who said, “First, do no evil.”  Likewise, many today have trouble saying, “I’m sorry.”  Jesus would want us to do so every time we err.  It is part of what he intends when he tells us to repent.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 34:29-35; Matthew 13:44-46)

One of Michelangelo’s most famous sculptures shows Moses with horns coming out of his head!  It was not that Michelangelo thought Moses some kind of devil.  Rather he was faithfully depicting the figure described in the Latin Bible that was used at the time.  In it the Hebrew word for radiance was incorrectly translated as horn.  Hence the great sculptor and religious devotee shapes horns protruding from Moses’ head.  Moses is radiant, of course, from having spent time with God who imparts his wisdom to him in the Ten Commandments. 

The gospels speak of Jesus as having a similar radiance when he is transformed on the mountaintop.  He also has seen God face-to-face.  We learn from him even more clearly God’s will for us.  Today’s gospel expresses that will as seeking the kingdom of God.  It tells us not to allow anything or anyone to take priority to living the joy and peace of that life.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, bishop and doctor of the Church

(Exodus 33:7-11.34:5b-9.28; Matthew 13:36-43)

Adoration has become again a central feature of Catholic devotion.  Almost abandoned for decades, most parishes are now designating parts of days, whole days, and even ongoing days for praying before the Blessed Sacrament.  Chapels on college campuses as well often have regular hours of Eucharistic devotion.  Evidently people today just as in Moses’ time according to today’s first reading feel the need to commune with the Lord.

The reading specifies that the meeting tent was open to everyone.  What is more, when Moses entered the tent, everyone would pray before his or her own tent.  As one commentator says, “Everyone’s life was oriented toward meeting God.”  No doubt, they share with the Lord both personal and communal needs.  They want to know God’s will for them and also seek His help in carrying out their responsibilities.

Today the Church honors St. Alphonsus Ligouri, an eighteenth century theologian and bishop.  More than most St. Alphonsus was able to clarify what God expects of people.  When we go to him in prayer, he will help us to find our way to God.