FrNikola

26th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

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The beginning of the book of Job, today’s First Reading, throws a bucket of cold water in the face of anyone who even has the most minimal sense of entitlement, and also touches on the biggest issue for which people take the Lord to task: why does he allow evil in the world? The book of Job is considered part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament because it wrestles with the question of why bad things happen to good people. Job struggles with this throughout the book.

Blaming God for every bad thing that happens is nothing new. In today’s First Reading the Lord is praising Job’s virtue and has great faith in him. “Satan” in this story is not the fallen angel, since he still has communion with God and serves him; rather, Satan is a transliteration of a Hebrew word for “adversary,” someone in a court of law who tries to legally refute another’s claim. In this story, Satan is refuting Job’s virtue: is he virtuous just because he is comfortable and rich? Job’s virtue is on trial.

Job experiences a deluge of misfortune: he suffers from war, violence, and “natural” disaster costing him his loved ones and his wealth. Yet Job does not claim to be entitled to anything: “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” Job’s virtue shines in the face of adversity. Our Lord permits trials, and sometimes even sends them, in order to make our virtue shine. He believes in us. He let himself be nailed on the Cross to prove that exact point.

Whatever trials or adversity we currently face, let’s not play the blame game, or play the entitlement card, or give up. Let’s prove Our Lord’s faith in us is well founded by facing our trials with virtue.

Readings: Job 1:6–22; Psalm 17:1b–d, 2–3, 6–7; Luke 9:46–50. See also 26th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday,  25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B and 19th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

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Today’s readings are an invitation that go far beyond the fashionable pastime of bashing on the rich in the face of the world’s needs and problems. The rich man in today’s Gospel converted too late, but his late conversion should be a lesson for us to consider that one day we may too hear those dreaded words, “too little, too late.” It doesn’t take a fortune to be complacent.

There may be people in the world who live in plush mansions with everything they could want, but the rich are not the only people in society today endangered by abundance. There are lots of couch potatoes out there who are parked on their sofas when there is something they can do to help make the world a better place. The poor are not just at the gates of mansions; they’re in our towns and neighborhoods. It is our society that runs the risk of falling apart. Each of us can take inventory of the plenty with which the Lord has blessed us and ask him how we can use that plenty in a way pleasing to him. A surplus of time, talent, or treasure should never stay a surplus for long, otherwise we run the risk of drowning in our abundance due to our complacency and apathy.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to give us the nudge to get off our sofas and help shape society for the better.

Readings: Amos 6:1a, 4–7; Psalm 146:7–10; 1 Timothy 6:11–16; Luke 16:19–31. See also 2nd Week of Lent, Thursday.

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Qoheleth encourages the young to enjoy their youth, but to not be deluded into thinking it is eternal or that they are immortal. He makes a stark contrast between the young person, enjoying life and unconcerned about the future, and the person aware of his mortality and how brief and fragile life can be.

When we’re young we often can’t wait to grow up, and once we get there, we lament our lost youth and how we squandered it. Both the young and the old striving to be the other only manage a caricature of what they once were, or what they will grow up to be. The lesson Qoheleth wants to impart today for young and old is that our actions and decisions always have consequences. Our Lord in today’s Gospel knows his actions and decisions will lead to the Cross; he warns his disciples, but they are too immature to face the facts.

We may not have so dire a cross facing us, but young and old must now that there are moments of difficulty and decision in life that either help us to mature or show us how immature we really are. Let’s examine our life today and see how we can grow in maturity at the right pace, never coming up short.

Readings: Ecclesiastes 11:9–12:8; Psalm 90:3–6, 12–14, 17; Luke 9:43b–45. See also 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday and 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Qoheleth invites us to consider the meaning of all the moments in our life: our birth and death, our up moments and our down moments, times of change, times of adversity, times of joy, and times of sadness. There is a time for everything, and the Lord has established that, not only so that there may be some order in life, but also to make our thoughts turn to whether anything is timeless, anything is eternal.

Eternity is not just a mental construction that we extrapolate from contemplating finite, temporal situations. Eternity is where we find God, at least until he became man, and even then he bridges the gap for us between time and eternity and consoles us with the certainty that one day all our toil will end, having achieved its purpose.

Many people today “live for the weekend”; let’s ask Our Lord to help us live for eternity.

Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1–11; Psalm 144:1b, 2a–c, 3–4; Luke 9:18–22. See also 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Sunday, Cycle C, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, and 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading, the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes, its author, Qoheleth, begins a survey of his experiences and his perceptions in an attempt to answer the question of life’s meaning. Ecclesiastes is part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, so it is eminently philosophical, and one of the most central questions of philosophy is the meaning of life. I society today the thought of considering the meaning of life is the butt of many jokes, but it is a question every person should ask.

In today’s First Reading Qoheleth is just beginning his inquiry, and the results so far are not encouraging. When he considers the things of this world, the natural things, the human things, and the course of history, he finds a monotony and ultimate lack of novelty that makes him question their significance. This is only a source of discouragement if we forget that this world does not have the last word in the question of life’s meaning; with the Lord, we know there is something beyond this world that gives it meaning, but Qoheleth is not there yet.

Herod in today’s Gospel is also trying to measure up Our Lord using his narrow-minded experiences and perceptions, but doesn’t have the faith or the wisdom to see that with Jesus something truly new has come into the world. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help our faith and our reason seek and find life’s meaning in Christ.

Readings: Ecclesiastes 1:2–11; Psalm 90:3–6, 12–14, 17bc; Luke 9:7–9. See also 4th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, and 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.