Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Today’s readings draw out the theme of salvation: “The Lord has made known his salvation,” proclaims the responsorial psalm response (Ps. 98:1). The first reading, from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians also appeals to this: “now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). We have a positive view of salvation, as indeed we should. SALVATION! It is what we dream of, what we long for, what we seek. The word itself indicates being saved, and we might think of peace, security, help in times of trouble. Our readings today, however, challenge such an easy conception of salvation. Note that after Paul says that now is the time of salvation, he continues by describing the Christian ministry that strives to be faultless. It involves afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, vigils, fasts, and patience among many other things. Salvation for those who have found Christ means being treated as deceivers when we are truthful, dying in order to live, sorrowful but rejoicing, and poor yet enriching. If we look at that list in the end of the 2 Corinthian excerpt, we notice the contrast in each line. To be sorrowful and yet rejoice, for example, is a challenging picture of salvation. We must be sorrowful about our own sin and the evil we see in the world, but it is precisely this sad situation that causes us to rejoice in God’s grace in saving us through Christ Jesus. This is the paradox of salvation. We must live in the world and yet look beyond our immediate surroundings to our ultimate end.

Today’s gospel reading extends even further this paradox of salvation. Jesus tells his disciples to give, give, give, returning good for evil and sacrificing ourselves for others. Indeed, this is what Jesus himself did. Hence his instructions here are not merely directions, but also foreshadow his own impending passion and death. The gospel passage for today is also illuminated when read in light of our first reading. Why should Jesus’ disciples live in the way Jesus instructs here? This is the stuff of salvation, the hardships, beatings, and patience that Paul mentions. This is not pointless, meaningless suffering; rather it is transformed because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This discipleship has great cost, but it also has great reward. We are saved by Jesus and hence can imitate him, uniting our sufferings to his own suffering. We will live with Jesus, we will die with Jesus, we will rise with Jesus.

We find ourselves when we lose ourselves and find Christ and live Christ-centered lives. This is the paradox of discipleship; this is the paradox of salvation. Today, take some time to reflect on this paradox. How does it challenge the conventional view of people in the world around us? How does our love for Christ transform our actions? How ought we to be more aware of this?

Maria Morrow