Year I

7th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the Lord through Sirach makes a strong case for the benefits of having wisdom in your life. Society today has a tendency to seek immediate results in an immediate way–success, gratification, etc.–but often lacks the most important thing: wisdom. Wisdom is ultimately an insight into the big picture of things and the ability to apply that wisdom to life’s decisions, big and small.

As Sirach describes today, embracing Wisdom paves the way for being blessed by the Lord. He describes bringing wisdom into your life as a process. It can be unsettling, even painful, at first, because wisdom sheds new light on you attitudes and your actions, and part of that process is a realization of the foolishness in your life too. In yesterday’s First Reading Sirach taught us that the Lord is the source of all wisdom. He’s written wisdom into all of his Creation and when we discover that, we discover blessings and happiness.

St. Paul describes Our Lord as the Wisdom of God (see 1 Corinthians 24,30). In Christ we find the Wisdom of God incarnate. Let’s welcome him and his wisdom into our life.

Readings: Sirach 4:11–19; Psalm 119:165, 168, 171–175; Mark 9:38–40. See also 26th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

 

3rd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the author of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds the Christians who formerly participated in Jewish worship at the Temple, before embracing Christianity, that the old sacrifices of animals offered by those priests did not have the power to take away sins, and now Our Lord, the High Priest of a new covenant, offers the perfect sacrifice, once and for all, of himself. His sacrifice takes away the sins of the whole world. Our Lord sacrificed himself on the Cross and, upon ascending into Heaven after the Resurrection, took this sacrifice, himself, to the Father and now at the Father’s right hand continues to intercede for us before the Father as priest and sacrifice.

Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist we offer the same sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, but in an unbloody manner. Our Lord was crucified on Calvary, and now, sacramentally, we offer his Body and Blood to the Father for our sins and for the sins of the whole world. However, we do not just offer it for sins; we offer it in thanksgiving, we offer it for our needs, we offer it for the needs of the whole world as a priestly people. Like our High Priest, Jesus, we too can offer our day-to-day sacrifices, united with his perfect sacrifice, for the good of the whole world.

Sacrifice for sacrifice’s sake does not appeal to anyone. Our Lord teaches us that our sacrifices can benefit not only ourselves, but those we love. Let’s not shy away from sacrifice for the sake of others.

Readings: Hebrews 10:11–18; Psalm 110:1–4; Mark 4:1–20. See also 16th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year II and 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

 

32nd Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the Lord reminds us of the responsibility we have to others in evaluating situations and giving advice. Justice is not just meted out in courtrooms anymore; the Internet is a court of public opinion, but sometimes we forget that opinions need to be weighed to see what is truly just to all involved and truly wise as a way to achieve not only personal growth, but holiness. It’s no coincidence that the Lord not only condemns injustice, deceit, and foolishness, but wants nothing to do with them: they are not only the wrong thing to do, but the sinful thing do do, and sin is not compatible with God. If you love, can you ever condone something you know is bad for those you love?

In today’s Gospel Our Lord laments those who are the occasion for sin in the life of another. We’re called to help each other on the path to a holy and fulfilling life, and in a world where a cloud of contrary opinions seek our attention each of us must examine our conscience and see whether we’re helping others along the path of truth or just contributing to the moral noise. That requires us to remember our own obligation to seek the truth, spread the truth, and put it into action. Some may question the wisdom of that because they see convenience as the path to success, but Our Lord has taught us that the truth will set us free.

When a friend tries to make us stumble, wittingly or unwittingly, let’s not shy away from pointing out the truth and being forgiving when forgiveness is warranted. Foolish friends need our help even more than wise ones do.

Readings: Wisdom 1:1–7; Psalm 139:1b–10; Luke 17:1–6.

 

31st Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year I

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Today’s First Reading is a little confusing if it is not seen within the context of whom Paul has been speaking about: Israel. In the Acts of the Apostles we see Paul going to the Jews first to proclaim the Gospel, only to receive hostility. Paul then tells them they’ve rejected what Our Lord was offering them and would, therefore, share it with the Gentiles (see Acts 13:44–49). In today’s reading Paul describes the Jews’ loss as the Gentiles’ gain.

If the Jews had not rejected the Word, “disobeyed,” the opportunity of mercy would never have been presented to the Gentiles, who did accept the Word, becoming reconciled with God as a result. The wonders the Gospel did among the Gentiles gave the Jews an opportunity to re-think their disobedience and receive God’s mercy through the Gospel as well.

Many people who have returned to God tell the tale of how many twists and turns the path to mercy took in their lives. That’s not God’s fault, but ours. John the Baptist, quoting Isaiah, encouraged us to “Make straight the way of the Lord” (see John 1:23). Let’s embrace his mercy and his way with all our heart.

Readings: Romans 11:29–36; Psalm 69:30–31, 33–34, 36; Luke 14:12–14.

26th Week of Ordinary Time, Friday, Year I

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Imagine someone really important that you wanted to meet. If you ignored his representatives when they introduced themselves and tried to arrange a meeting, or his son, do you think he’d be interested in meeting with you? In both of today’s readings we see the dire consequences of that attitude.

In today’s First Reading the Israelites in exile remember all the Lord had given them, and all they had squandered by turning their backs on him and his prophets. When they were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses warned them that they choice between a blessed life and a cursed one depended on them: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which you have not known” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). They chose a life without the Lord or those sent by him, and they suffered for it.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord warns those who think they can spurn his disciples or him that in doing so they cut themselves off from the one who sent them all: God the Father. Many people today try to come up with “creative” ways to associate themselves with divinity that don’t imply the mediation of anyone else, human or divine, and it’s no surprise that often they lose sight of the fact that God is not just something, but someone, if they have any thought of God at all.

God the Father has sent his Son, and his Son has sent us, his disciples, to lead us to both Father and Son, not to mention Spirit. Let’s not shy away from bringing others to Our Lord so that they too can receive the blessings that come from truly knowing God.

Readings: Baruch 1:15–22; Psalm 79:1b–5, 8–9; Luke 10:13–16.