FrNikola

15th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading the Kingdom of Judah, the southern part of Palestine, is facing a threat from the Kingdom of Israel, the northern part of Palestine, which has allied with Aram (Syria) to invade Judah. The Lord sends Isaiah to the king of Judah, Ahaz, to ensure him that the kings who seek to invade are “stumps of smoldering brands”: they’re like matches that are about to burn out, flash with little substance. However, the Lord does ask for Ahaz’s faith or else his kingdom would not stand. In the end, Aram would conquer the Kingdom of Israel and Judah would not fall in Ahaz’s time, despite his weak faith.

The Gospel reminds us today what the Lord insisted on through Isaiah: “Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm.” Our Lord chastises those towns who had received the grace of him and his miracles for their lack of faith: the fate they’d incur was worse that some of the worst cities in the Old Testament. Why so harsh? Because now ignorance was not an excuse. The towns Our Lord scolds had received a visit from God himself; they’d received the Gospel and had not believed. Due to their disbelief them would not be firm and that’s a recipe for disaster.

This pattern continues even today. Society in many sectors, culture in many areas, is not what it should be. Let’s ask Our Lord to bolster our faith and through a life of faith help keep society solid. The faith is not just good for believers; it helps everyone.

Readings: Isaiah 7:1–9; Psalm 48:2–8; Matthew 11:20–24. See also 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday.

15th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading the Lord teaches us that devotion to him is pointless when we don’t show a level of devotion to others and their needs: he wants us to treat others justly and compassionately when they are in need. In the Gospel Our Lord takes it a step further by reminding us that devotion to others at the expense of devotion to the Lord is also a losing proposition. In the First Reading the Lord reminds us of our obligations in general; in the Gospel we consider those whom we owe the most: our family.

If the Gospel talks about “hating” your loved ones it must be understood in the context of the entire discourse: family members who do not welcome the Lord through his prophets or through righteous people. In short, loved ones who have fallen into sin and present a danger of leading us into sin as well. Not all family members are an obstacle to our devotion to the Lord, but if our devotion to our family exceeds our devotion to the Lord, we’re on the path to perdition, despite the best of intentions. We owe the Lord and our family everything, but the Lord comes first.

Let’s pray that our loved ones grow in devotion to Our Lord, confident that following the Lord, even when it implies the cross, will be a blessing to our family.

Readings: Isaiah 1:10–17; Psalm 50:8–9, 16b–17, 21, 23; Matthew 10:34–11:1. See also 31st Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, and 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

15th Week in Ordinary Time, Sunday, Cycle C

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In today’s First Reading Moses, as part of his parting words to the Israelites, encourages them to see that what the Lord expects of them is not hard to know or achieve: it is turning to God with all their heart and soul. The Lord has made this even easier by sending us his Son, the image of the invisible God, as Paul describes in today’s Second Reading. Through the Son we are aided in turning to God with all our heart and soul; he not only leads by example, but empowers our charity through his act of love on the Cross.

In today’s Gospel the scribe shows wisdom in seeing that love for God and for neighbor are the path to fulfillment in life. He just wants to know one point of fine print: who should we consider our neighbor? The answer is not hard: everyone is our neighbor, as the parable of the Good Samaritan demonstrates. The man waylaid on the way to Jericho was heading from a “good part of town” to a “bad one” (Jericho often symbolized turning your back on Jerusalem and heading into sin); anyone could have rationalized that when you head to a bad part of town you deserve what you get. The Samaritan was overcome with compassion at the sight of his neighbor bleeding and half dead alongside the road.

In Luke’s Gospel the scribe asks in the context of asking what he needs to do in order to inherit eternal life. That Samaritan’s goodness and compassion, by extension, despite all the bad blood between Jews and Samaritans, won him eternal life. It’s not complicated. We make it complicated. Strive to love God and every neighbor and you will accomplish something in life and achieve everything truly worthwhile.

Readings: Deuteronomy 30:10–14; Psalm 69:14, 17, 30–31, 33–34, 36, 37; Colossians 1:15–20; Luke 10:25–37. See also 3rd Week of Lent,Friday,  9th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday and 20th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, and 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

14th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Isaiah experiences the Lord’s enormity and his own unworthiness to be his messenger. It is a recurring theme in the Old Testament that anyone who should look upon the Lord’s face would die. Isaiah thinks his moment of judgment is at hand. Imagine his surprise when the angel declares him cleansed from his sin and Isaiah eagerly offers himself to be the Lord’s prophet.

In today’s Gospel we see Our Lord encouraging his disciples to be his messengers and to not be afraid of the treatment they’ll receive when they share what they’ve heard and stand up for him. The Lord’s enormity does not mean only transcendence or distance from his creatures: he is close to us, by becoming man, but also because he cares for all of creation and especially us, his most beloved creations.

Through the Lord’s loving care, in his Providence and in Person through his Son, we have nothing to fear. Let’s be his disciples with the same enthusiasm we’ve seen today in Isaiah.

Readings: Isaiah 6:1–8; Psalm 93:1–2, 5; Matthew 10:24–33. See also 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

14th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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There are still many places throughout the world where Christians must follow Our Lord’s admonition to flee persecution. Believers in some countries are ostracized by their family and friends for being Christians, and in others are subjected to violence, imprisonment, and death, even at the hands of their loved ones, for what they believe. Imagine a culture where the Good News is seen as bad. When there is no societal support, either in public or in private, we must be prudent, and also entrust ourselves to the Holy Spirit in order to persevere.

Shrewdness and simplicity don’t seem to go together, but Our Lord expects us to show both. Christians are accused at times of being mindless sheep, but if we consider the impressive cultural contributions made by Christians throughout history this caricature simply does not stand. It is our simplicity that ensures we don’t turn our shrewdness into a lack of charity and concern for others; it keeps us from becoming jaded in the face of persecution and ridicule, as well as helping us to maintain a healthy dose of common sense that is so necessary when facing outlooks on life today that are more and more sophistical.

The Holy Spirit helps us maintain a balance between shrewdness and simplicity, even when our convictions are on trial. Let’s ask the Spirit to give us the words that proclaim the Gospel in good times as well as bad, and to watch over Christian refugees suffering throughout the world due to their faith.

Readings: Hosea 14:2–10; Psalm 51:3–4, 8–9, 12–14, 17; Matthew 10:16–23. See also 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday and 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.