Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture Readings
“Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus’ retort to the Pharisees questioning him and his disciples about eating with “tax collectors and sinners” in today’s gospel passage from Matthew (9:9-13). I suspect we’ve all known those questions that aren’t really seeking an answer but are making a statement, a judgment, an accusation. Snarky-like. And Jesus was ready with his retort, adding, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” It sounds to my ears like Jesus was saying I’m not here for you, I’m not calling you, because apparently you don’t need me; you’re righteous, morally superior, you’ve got it all figured out.
Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus’s curing of the paralytic can teach us a lot about faith. We read in Matthew 9:1-8 that our Lord heals the man physically and spiritually. Two different reactions play out in this scene; the crowd expresses wonderment while the scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy.
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
Today is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. The Church celebrates this major liturgical feast in honor of their martyrdom in Rome. I invite us to reflect on the lives of these great saints and to consider the path of martyrdom. Perhaps their witness might inspire us to pursue a purer holiness, a deeper commitment to Christ this day, indeed even the goal of martyrdom.
Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
In today's Gospel reading from the Gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus asleep in a boat with the other disciples. A storm begins to rage and the disciples become afraid. We might be tempted to read this story as if the disciples were little children afraid of the thunderstorm outside, in need of a parent to comfort them. We should keep in mind, however, that at least some of these men were fishers, and knew how to sail a boat. And what's more, they probably had a lot of experience with storms while fishing. Anyone who has any experience sailing can tell you that storms can be extra dangerous when you're out at sea. One of the parallels for this story in Mark's Gospel uses the Greek word for "earthquake" to describe the storm, so this storm is probably no laughing matter.
Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
They hand over the just for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. Amos 2:6
Throughout this week our first reading comes to us from the prophet Amos. It will not come as a surprise to us as why the Hebrew name Amos means burden.
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today we celebrate the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We commonly associate the physical heart of a person with love, as in “I love you with all of my heart.” We also associate the heart with the very essence of a person, the deeper place where the most real aspect of a person resides as in, “in my heart of hearts I know…” Both of these aspects come together in this memorial, which directs our attention to Mary’s joys and sorrows, her virtues, and, above all, her love—for God, for her Son, Jesus, and for all people.
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
The theme of God’s abundant and tireless love, compassion, and mercy is obvious throughout today’s readings. In our first reading, from Ezekiel, the detailed descriptions of the pastures and grazing grounds sound delightful, like places I have only seen in pictures. They call to me as places I want to go in order to rest and be cared for by the shepherd. Certainly, it does not sound like some of the places I see every day. The graffitied bridges, the boarded up houses, the scars of a poverty-ridden city and an entire earth feeling the effects of climate change. But there are pockets of green pastures for us all, right? For me, in my home, with my family, in my work, in my church. On the best days, when we can look beyond our sinful decisions or attitudes, when we can look at each other and care for each other with the love and kindness of our good God, then it feels like we are truly home, in the shepherd’s pasture.
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
As you may know from one or more of my previous reflections, I did not grow up going to church. But, for whatever reason, I was very interested in Christianity and I loved the red-letter Bible that my grandmother gave me. I read it often and, as you would expect given my upbringing, I didn’t understand a lot of what I read.
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
“Every good tree bears good fruit,” Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel. Yesterday marked the first day of summer in this year 2022. What a fruitful time of year this is! We see the beauty all around us in lush fields of corn, beans, and wheat, flowering shrubs, glorious flower beds in yards and lovely wildflowers by the roadsides. My husband and I have delighted in darling, white-spotted baby deer frolicking across our lawn with their mamas. The pregnant robins feed hungrily at our bird feeder. Our vegetable garden is exploding to life with the various veggies practically growing right before our eyes. Today, as each of us marvel at the fruitfulness of God’s creation, let it be a reminder to us to examine our own lives and look for the fruit. Disciples of Jesus are fruitful people. We are “good trees” who bear good fruit by God’s grace. If fruit isn’t evident, we’re not living authentically as disciples. May today be a day of conversion for each of us, marked by increased vibrancy and fruitfulness.
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Today’s gospel passage from Matthew is one that rightly gives us pause. Wait a second – did Jesus just say that most people head toward destruction and that only a few find the road that leads to life? Does this mean that most of the people I know are going toward destruction? And what does it mean about me? How do I know if I’m on the right path, heading toward the narrow gate?
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
In today's liturgy we encounter a disaster with no parallel in salvation history---the total destruction of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) by dread Assyria (722 BCE). Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remain. Thus begins the legend of the “Ten lost tribes of Israel.”
Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
One of the positive outcomes of the pandemic is that many people have turned to the great outdoors and nature to find refuge. Today in the gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples that there is much we can learn through the world around us. The birds and the flowers are dressed in beautiful array and are provided all of what they need from God’s loving providence. Jesus encourages us to grow in our faith and trust in God’s love for all that we need.
Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Where IS my heart? Where do I want my heart to be? Where is my love, my energy, my attention and focus hanging out? Where do I want it to be? Somewhere where “moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal”? I surely don’t like the sounds of that. That sounds like a recipe for disappointment and frustration, even anger for wasted precious time and resources. And I think that’s what today’s gospel passage from Matthew (6:19-23) has Jesus warning the disciples (and us) about.
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Just the first two words!
Plural Our. Not singular My.
Father… Abba in Aramaic - not distant, but here, close, involved, Dad, Loving Parent.
Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
While sitting with the 8th Graders in a summer religious education program a few years ago, we had a discussion about the ways each of us lives our call to faith. The answers were wonderful and mostly straight forward including, obey my parents, be kind to my brother, go to church and praying at meals. One young lady stated that we ought to practice random acts of kindness. Her answer struck me as needing further discussion. So I pushed her to say what she meant by that, she responding with “You know doing kind things for people without expecting anything in return.” I asked her if the people needed to know about who carried out the acts of kindness and she said she liked it better “when it was a secret.”
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
In today's Gospel reading from the Gospel of Matthew we encounter one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, sayings of Jesus: "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44). Loving your enemies is an important part of what it means to be Christian, but it is very difficult.
Jesus acknowledges that His audience has been told before to hate their enemies. For most of us, I think, we could find that much easier to do. Wouldn't it be nice if Jesus said that it was ok to hate our enemies? But He does not. Rather, Jesus says, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." The best examples of enemies are those who are literally at war with one another. What would demonstrate more that people are enemies when they try to kill and torture one another? Most of us reading these posts are probably Americans. Many Americans consider Osama Bin Laden, or the late Saddam Hussein to be/have been enemies. I don't think it's difficult to imagine someone like Adolph Hitler to be an enemy. If these examples don't work for you, think of someone who you could see envisioning as an enemy. And what does Jesus tell us to do to them? Hate and kill your enemies without remorse, bringing the sword of justice to rest where it belongs? No, rather His words are: "love your enemies." In the parallel passage from Luke's Gospel, we find the added: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6:27-28).
These are tough words. Does it mean we need to feel good about our enemies, or think nice happy thoughts about those who have harmed us in some way? No. It means we need to love them. Love is not simply a feeling. Love is an action. Love is selfless, sacrificial. Loving enemies does not mean accepting victimization. It means asking God to help others. It means forgiving. The Christian family who visits the man who murdered their son and offers their forgiveness, who testifies at the court hearing to help the murderer avoid the death penalty (there are many real examples of this), show what this kind of love looks like. Is it easy? No. But the model again is Jesus:
"When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him...Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do'" (Luke 23:33-34). Loving enemies is not passive acceptance of wrongs, but active love, a peaceful Christian form of resistance that is powerful indeed. It is not passively accepting the wrong that has been done to us, but actively cooperating with God in transforming the wrong into a healing love that has the power to transform the transgressor. For, when Jesus speaks of loving enemies, He's not primarily speaking about the Bin Laden's, Hitler's, and others whom most of us will never meet, although if we have hatred directed towards such distant people surely it would include them, but rather Jesus is primarily speaking about those with whom we come in contact.
Perhaps "enemy" may even be too strong a word for most of us. Maybe we have no real "enemies." Jesus is telling us to reconcile with those around us. Let's take some time today to pray about who are the "enemies" in our own lives. Perhaps they are family members, co-workers, or someone else. Let's ask God to help us pray for them. Maybe we can take the extra step and try to think of something good we can do for them. Such good deeds are powerful. Perhaps they have hurt us too much to do anything so radical at this point, in which case, we need to pray to God to help us desire to get to the point where we can pray for them, or perhaps desire to desire to get to that point, etc. Most importantly, let us talk to God about our enemies. God knows how we have been hurt and how we feel, but only in bringing our hurts and pains before God can we begin to experience the loving transformation God wants us to experience, so that we can become more like Jesus, the embodiment of divine love.
Jeff Morrow
Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church
As a boy I would ride the bus with my grandmother on Saturday afternoons so she could go to confession at one of the various churches in the Mahoning Valley. She'd avoid our home parish since her thick Scottish brogue was a dead give away to the confessor, so we'd find our way to one of the “ethnic” parishes where her Gaelic lilt couldn't be so readily recognized---Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Croatian, Lithuanian or German. I'm probably missing a couple.
Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
I remember speaking with some friends shortly after college. We were feeling like we had matured a great deal because we didn’t cuss as much as we once did. As a matter of fact, we were talking about how we would cuss just to add emphasis, to communicate that we really meant what we were saying. We were a work in progress.
Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
I love the story from the first reading today where Elijah encounters God in the wilderness. It juxtaposes the fire and brimstone God that is described in the well-known Rich Mullins worship song, Awesome God: “There’s thunder in his footsteps and lightning in his fists (our God is an awesome God).” I’ve written before that most things in our boys’ world focus on superheroes and powers. I often remind them that Jesus’ greatest power is that of his immense love for us--he died on the cross out of great love. Our great and mighty God is good, compassionate, and merciful.
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Last weekend, Bill and I headed west on I-70 to Columbus to watch our second eldest daughter participate in a powerlifting competition. Along the way, we passed one of those Ten Commandments billboards. I’ve long wondered what the purpose is of such billboards. You can’t possibly read all ten of the commandments when you’re traveling at 70 miles an hour. I suppose they are meant to serve as some kind of reminder that we are supposed to obey God’s law. If we do, I suppose the reasoning goes, then we are good people and God looks favorably upon us. If we don’t, I take it that we are bad people and can expect to suffer for eternity.