Thursday, June 20, 2019

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 11:1-11; Matthew 6:7-15)

The story of Job illustrates an important point in the Our Father.  Job is a rich man who pleases God.  Satan, who in the story is part of the heavenly court, believes that Job is faithful because things go his way.  God then allows Satan to test job.  He loses in a flash his property, his family, and his health.  He is tempted to curse God for his misfortune but doesn’t.

In the standard form of the Our Father, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”  We are asking God not to have us tempted like Satan tempted Job.  Pope Francis does not like the wording, however, because it can imply something different.  It sounds like God might tempt someone like a drug lord tempts youth to sell drugs for large commissions.  The pope has reportedly approved a translation which says, “Do not let us fall into temptation.” 

It is not likely that the pope’s translation will gain much traction.  The standard prayer is so well established that people will have great difficulty uttering different words.  The real problem is not so much the present wording, which have a legitimate meaning.  Rather the problem is that we do not listen to what we are saying when we pray the Our Father.  We do not tune into the words that Jesus himself has offered us for our salvation.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 9:6-11; Matthew 6:1-6.16-18)

“Giving has never made anyone poor,” a fund-raising adage touts.  The saying is not meant to be exclusively spiritual as if the only benefit one can expect for being generous is a reward in heaven.  Quite literally, it means that people who give to the poor find themselves the beneficiaries of material blessings.  Of course, this is not an investment strategy, but it may be more than intuition.  Like the proven realities that people who go to church earn more, have children who are more likely to do well in school, and live longer, it may be possible to show that on the average those who support charity find themselves soon recompensed.

It is true that St. Paul has spiritual benefits most in mind when he writes to the Corinthians, “…whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully.”  However, his thought for today concludes by saying to the faithful, “You are being enriched in every way…”

As much as God inspires awe in the view of a mountain peak or an ocean sunrise, He works wonders in everyday experience.  We need not be surprised when it happens and can almost expect it.  Still it may be presumptuous to predict how God will astound us next.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

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

The gifts of the Holy Spirit allow their bearers to see the world as God sees it.   The gift of piety well exemplifies what this means.  Piety may conjure the image of attending church devotions, but its true meaning runs much deeper. With piety a person recognizes every human as a child of God.  Doing this it is perfectly aligned with today’s gospel reading.

Jesus gives his disciples the hefty commandment to love their enemies.  He uses his heavenly Father as an example.  God provides rain for the wicked farmer as well as for the virtuous one because both are His children.  Likewise, disciples should treat both the bad and the good as brothers or sisters.  The commandment does not require one to expose herself to danger, but it does demand of her respect and fairness.

When we regard the unlovable as brothers and sisters, we will go out to greet them.  If there has been animosity between us and them, we will dispose ourselves to forgive them.  These actions will bring us satisfaction as well as the world more peace.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

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

Although the Bible is the “word of God” written for the edification of all humans, each its books has a particular context.  Sometimes the context is apparent as in the Letter to Philemon where St. Paul pleads for the liberation of a slave.  Sometimes, however, it is obscure so that readers today cannot understand all the work’s references.  Scholarly opinion of the Letter to the Hebrews, for example, is divided regarding its original readers and intent as well as its author.  There is an element of uncertainty regarding the context of Paul’s so-called Second Letter to the Corinthians.  (Saying “so-called” just indicates that there is reason to think it is a compendium of letters written after Paul’s more famous First Letter.)

The uncertainty of the Second Letter regards the issue of reconciliation to which Paul refers in today’s reading.  In the previous verses he urged the Corinthians to “be reconciled to God.”  Here he indicates that the difficulty they were having with him caused their alienation from God.  What is the difficulty?  Perhaps some Corinthians took offense at some of Paul’s accusations in the First Letter.  Perhaps they have been influenced by a false interpretation of the gospel.  In correspondence between intimates rarely is the context fully explained.

Nevertheless, the Second Letter to the Corinthians reveals an enormous amount of information about St. Paul.  It tells us of his remarkable suffering on behalf of Christ and of his ongoing dialogue with him.  We stand in awe of this scholar missionary martyr.  We also thank God for his work that is, at least in part, responsible for our coming to know Jesus Christ.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 4:7-15; Matthew 5:27-32)

Lust may be the most problematic of the vices.  Yet it is not the most serious.  Indeed, Thomas Aquinas calls it the least offensive of the capital sins because it is the most natural.  This does not mean it is not harmful nor matter of mortal sin.  Quite puzzlingly in very recent times sociologists have discovered that Americans are less likely to have sexual relations than at other times since the sixties.  Evidently youth are substituting pornography and masturbation for sexual intercourse.  What might we derive from today’s gospel about this disturbing tendency?

Of course, Jesus makes here the provocative statement that anyone who looks at a woman with lust commits adultery.  The reference to sinning with one’s hand also hints of sexual offense.  The description of divorce and remarriage should likewise be considered as sexual deviance. 

With all these sexual matters we might think that Jesus frowns upon sexual intimacy.  But this way of thinking is simply not true.  Jesus and, certainly, the Church value sexual relations greatly.  They both deepen the love of marriage partners as well as facilitate the growth of the human family.  But we must be sure in our understanding of sexual intimacy.  It is for married couples and is not to be done primarily for pleasure but out of mutual love.