Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
It should be difficult for nearly any of us in the United States to read today’s first reading and not feel convicted by the Holy Spirit by James’s writing. Whether we feel this way or not, we are the rich of the world. On a daily basis we are surrounded by a quantity and quality of possessions that most of the world can only dream about – houses, cars, furniture, clothes, toys, food, and so on. We need only look about us at this minute to know it is true. It is easy to reflect on our comfort and perhaps think to ourselves that we are truly blessed. But is this wealth really a blessing? The response from today’s responsorial psalm (from Mt. 5:3) informs us that the truly blessed are the “poor in spirit.” Why might James and the psalmist concur that wealth is not always a blessing? James’s letter gives us one important reason. Our wealth is often earned at the expense of others: “Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (5:4). We often forget that our cheap food prices come at the expense of others, often those far apart from us geographically but often those who are united with us in the Body of Christ. Those bananas and grapes are picked by real people – people who often can’t afford food for themselves. And yet on our end we buy them cheaply and sometimes let them go to waste. This message of James applies to our other possessions as well. We need only look around us once more. Chances are our clothes were made in places like South America. Our children’s toys came from China. Our car parts come from so many places we can’t trace them all. Our furniture may be made in America, but chances are it was made by factory workers receiving less than a living wage.
In looking around at our possessions then, perhaps we ought not to feel blessing so much as revulsion. James invites the rich to “weep and wail over your impending miseries” (Jas. 5:1). All of this – these possessions with which we surround ourselves – will rot away. What will be left of our lives are those things which we cannot see; this includes both our “treasures in heaven” from prayer, almsgiving, and fasting and also our unjust relationships with the poor of this and other countries.
The gospel passage from Mark is similarly challenging. Jesus tells us that we must rid ourselves of the causes of sin. On Jesus’ part, there is perhaps a bit of dramatic exaggeration… but the purpose is to drive home an important point: avoiding sin calls for determined and definite action. One way of beginning this is to repent. Repentance has become a long-lost part of American Catholicism. Yet, when surrounded by so many possessions that cause pain to so many others in the world, repentance is a good place for us to start. The traditional works of penance include prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Each of these also works to form us to recognize true blessing. Prayer reminds us that true blessing comes from God and true blessing ends in God. Our ultimate end is heaven, and this life is temporary. Hence sometimes it is our challenges and sufferings, which draw us closer to God, that are our true blessings – unlike the riches that often draw us farther away from God and from each other. Almsgiving reminds us of all those who are in need; it may be our parish, the local homeless population, the banana pickers of Ecuador, the street kid of Kenya. And again, the giving away of our riches remind us that these riches will never get us to heaven in and of themselves. It is only in sharing riches with others – using the riches for the good of the rest of the Body of Christ – that we are truly blessed. Fasting again reminds us of our dependence on God, and this is a blessing. Earthly food will never really satisfy us; God alone provides satisfaction. Fasting ought also to remind us of the many who go hungry in our world.
These acts of penance – prayer, almsgiving, and fasting – represent one way we can begin to rid ourselves of the causes of sin. On this day, let us pray that we can weep and wail over our riches, embracing repentance and beginning to live Christian life more truthfully. Let us work to recognize true blessing, always aware that it is the poor in spirit who are truly blessed. Today, let us reflect on the traditional acts of penance and challenge ourselves to make them more a part of our daily life as Christians.
- Maria Morrow