Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Today's Mass Readings
Today’s first reading from Isaiah and the gospel reading from Matthew are both hard passages. Both challenge us, although in different ways. In the Isaiah text, we hear of God’s revulsion with his people who will offer sacrifices without appropriately engaging in the justice those acts signify. What we see here is the need for repentance and reconciliation prior to proper worship of God. Right action is itself glorifying to God, and the worship of God must go hand in hand with the just treatment of others. We are reminded of our own failings every time we gather for our own sacrifice, namely, that of the Eucharist. It is for this reason that we engage in “calling to mind our sins” and begging the mercy of God as well as our neighbors. It is also for this reason that we offer peace to the other members of our Church before receiving the sacrament. These liturgical actions are indications of the truth expressed in this Isaiah passage, namely, that our worship is most glorifying to God when it is offered by a holy and good people. The gospel passage from Matthew can be one of the hardest to explain. Jesus tells the Apostles that he has not come to bring peace, but discord, and he describes it vividly as something which will rend families. Certainly in the lives of the Apostles they encountered these difficulties, such as family strife regarding their devotion to Jesus. It is in this sense that this passage is a tough one; we have come to associate Jesus with easy peace and family concord.
The Christian life, however is one of “not peace” or, perhaps, “uneasy peace.” This is expressed in the Isaiah passage inasmuch as we are always aware of our sins against others, always in tune to our own need for repentance, always desiring that our offering may be acceptable to God. We also know that it is God’s grace that makes our human efforts acceptable. While the doubt of our own ability brings the uneasiness, it is the grace connected to our belief in the redemption provided by Jesus that we do find some element of peace.
What Jesus warns against in today’s gospel passage is the expectation of pure contentment accompanying true peace. Again, the Christian life does not beget this kind of “peace,” that might lead more to an easy-chair and iced tea than to prayerful action. Jesus calls us to find ourselves in him. This is not easy and not peaceful, particularly because of those aspects brought out by the Isaiah passage. Our faith in Jesus must always lead us to a certain element of uneasiness in our lives as Christians, and each day must be a struggle of “not peace.” It must be a struggle of making the effort to overcome our own failings, to prioritize Jesus in our lives, and yet to be fully open to receiving the grace that is offered to us.
As we go through our day, let us reflect on this “uneasy peace” in our life. Let us try to identify where that “not peace” exists, and, rather than wishing it away, let us embrace it as a part of our Christian life here on this side of heaven.
- Maria Morrow