Sunday, October 13, 2024

 TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30)

Many Catholics are familiar with the Book of Wisdom from having attended funeral Masses. The phrase “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God” is often read there. This is true, but this statement does not encompass even a tenth of the book’s message. Wisdom was written in the first century before Christ, although the author speaks as if he were King Solomon, some nine hundred years earlier.

Today’s reading from the Book of Wisdom recalls an experience from Solomon’s life. After assuming the throne of Israel at a young age, Solomon goes to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God. On his pilgrimage, Solomon dreams that God promises him whatever he asks. The young king's answer pleases the Lord: he asks for wisdom to govern well a people as great as Israel. So God grants him not only prudence, practical wisdom, but also wealth and other goods.

Prudence helps us to make good decisions. There are almost always many options for any decision we face. We can drive to work, ride a bike, or take a bus, for example. Prudence prompts us to consult those who know the factors involved. In our case, we might want to ask the weatherman if it is going to rain and the person who knows the route if there are potholes in the streets. Thus, prudence points us to the most profitable option. Furthermore, prudence gives us the determination to put into practice the decision once it has been made. It does not allow us to waste time wondering whether we have made the right decision.

The rich man who approaches Jesus in today's gospel needs prudence. He is about to make the most significant decision of his life: how will he live to attain eternal life, his goal? He displays the principle of virtue by consulting Jesus, an accomplished teacher, before making his decision. Prudence also enlightens the man, who recognizes that Jesus not only knows how to reach eternal life, but that he is eternal life itself. Jesus is the pearl of great value. Like the merchant who sells all his belongings to buy this pearl, the man should leave his wealth to the needy in order to follow the Lord.

Unfortunately, his prudence fails him. The rich man cannot carry out what his heart judges to be profitable. Because of his desire to retain his wealth, “his face fell, and he went away sad.” For him, his money has become a curse. It is like opium for the addict: although he knows that it prevents him from developing as a person, he cannot let it go.

Jesus also asks us to give up our resources to follow him. Perhaps he does not demand that we do so immediately, as he did with the rich man in the gospel. But to follow him, we are obliged to share our wealth with those who live in need. If we don’t, our chance for eternal happiness will be as slim as a camel’s passing through the eye of a needle. If we do, we can anticipate the glory of meeting Jesus face to face.

The reading ends with Jesus consoling the disciples who have left everything at once to follow him. He says that their reward is good in this world (“a hundredfold”) and excellent in eternal life. The reference to those who have left everything makes us think of priests and religious women. Do they all live happily? Unfortunately, one cannot answer “yes” categorically. It is possible to be a priest or religious and grab a new car, a satisfying job, or an affirming friendship. We too, priests and religious, like other Christians, are challenged to follow Jesus closely.

Friday, October 11, 2024

 

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 3:7-14; Luke 11:15-26)

It is doubtful that the Galatians could have followed St. Paul’s subtle argument in today’s first reading.  Yet Paul does not desist probably because he understands the Galatians.  He knows that if the Jewish-Christian missionaries could have convinced the Galatians from an argument from the Law that circumcision and eating kosher were necessary for salvation, then he could provide a better argument from the same Law that faith in Christ is what saves.

In the gospel Jesus is also refuting detractors.  They call him worse than a charlatan.  They say he is in league with the devil.  Jesus’ rebuttal is not so subtle as Paul’s.  He argues that the prince of devils would never allow someone to drive another devil from a person possessed.

We may be challenged to defend our faith in Jesus.  We may not have Paul’s subtlety, but we can simply tell others that Christ not only promises us eternal life but also his ways make us better people.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

 Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 3:1-5; Luke 11:5-13)

Suppose your son had what he thought was a great way to make money.  He heard about a corporation that was bending plastic tubes into what it called “hoola hoops” and selling them for many times the cost of production.  Now he wants to invest all his savings in the corporation’s stock.  He asks you what you think.  Would you not say that he is making a foolish mistake?  Something similar is going on in today’s first reading.

The Christian community of Galatia has been told that since they believe in Christ, who was a Jew, they must become Jews themselves.  That is, they must accept circumcision and eat kosher.  If they do not give themselves body and soul in this way, they are told that they will not share in Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  Like the father of the son wanting to invest in hoola hoops, St. Paul tells the Galatians that they cannot possibly gain from such a deal.  He goes beyond saying they are “foolish,” to calling them “stupid” for thinking that the old idea has such possibility.

Paul’s lesson has value for us today.  Few may want to become Jews, but some are attracted by Gnostic ideas like salvation through more specialized knowledge and not through repentance of sin and faith in Christ.  Our minds want to know more and more, it is true, and knowledge is not bad in itself, but it cannot bring us salvation.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

 Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 2: 1-2.12-17; Luke 11:1-4)

The word hypocrisy comes from a Greek word meaning to play a part or to pretend.  Hypocrites evidently were originally actors.  In modern parlance hypocrites pretend to be virtuous when they actually are the opposite.  They attempt to deceive.  So when Paul accuses Peter of hypocrisy in today’s reading from Galatians, he is leveling a serious charge.

Peter is caught in the bind between following Jewish custom and living in Christ.  Being a Jew, Peter grew up eating kosher.  But faith in Jesus means that following his ways of sacrificial love, and not a particular diet, brings salvation.  Peter had shown reliance on Christ by taking food freely with non-Jews.  But now in the presence of Jewish Christians he pretends that he would never do such a thing.  This behavior sends a mixed message which, Paul knows, will confuse non-Jews. In Paul’s view the mixed message has brought some Galatians to submit to circumcision rather than to concentrate on following Jesus.

Diametrically different from Peter’s hypocrisy, we likely exhibit the vice by covering up our religiosity.  Catholics who miss Mass on Sundays in order to attend a football game betray their commitment to the Church.  They want to be known as both lovers of God and of the world.  There may be some overlap, but we cannot square a circle.  We must not conform to the world but encourage the world to convert to God.

 

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 1:13-24; Luke 10 38-42)

In writing to the Galatians St. Paul is aware of the need to explain himself.  He knows that they know how he persecuted the Church.  However, Paul thinks that they do not know why and how he came to preach Christ crucified and risen from the dead.  So he eagerly informs them that he received a calling directly from God much like the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

But Paul assures his readers that he is not a totally free agent.  He went to Jerusalem to meet Peter who, presumably, informed him about Jesus.  He is also accountable to God to preach the truth about His Son.

Not only the faith of his converts but also our own faith rests on the value of Paul’s doctrine.  He has become the most important interpreter of God’s design in Jesus.  Without his letters we would be hard pressed to explain the ignominious death of Jesus on the cross and the glorious destiny his resurrection has given us.