8th Week of Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year II

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In the doxology, a prayer of praise at the end of today’s First Reading, Jude describes the Lord as the one who is “able to keep you from stumbling.” It evokes the image of a loving father staying close to his toddler trying to take his first steps. The father remains close, and steps in when needed to avoid a tumble. Jude encourages us to keep in mind that the Lord is always close, ready to help us get our footing should we start to totter.

Paul teaches that whoever thinks he is standing secure should take heed, lest he fall (see 1 Corinthians 10:12). Before the doxology Jude shows how important it is for us to help others who waver, helping them regain their footing or saving them from falling. We’ve all wavered or stumbled at some point of our lives, and the Lord has taken us by the hand in his mercy and guided us back onto our feet. We’re expected to do the same as well when our footing is sure. We don’t rely on our own footing, but on the Lord who, like a loving father, stands at the ready to help keep us from tottering.

Let’s ask Our Lord today for the grace to stand firm by abiding in him and to help others stand firm as well.

Readings: Jude 17, 20b–25; Psalm 63:2–6; Mark 11:27–33. See also 3rd Week of Advent, Monday and 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year I.

8th Week of Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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Peter in today’s First Reading invites us to consider how we would live if we knew the world was ending soon. With the coming of Christ, as many of the writers of Sacred Scripture attest, we’re in the last days, and age of fulfillment when he comes again. We await the Lord’s return in glory and a fundamental change in things for the better. If we are prepared and vigilant we will rejoice in that better world. Some people prepare for the end of the world as survivalists, digging in, closing themselves off, prepared to eke out an existence in a world that they foresee as even less forgiving than the world in which they live. Others simply follow the daily routine, hoping to not make waves or be caught up in anyone else’s. Some prefer to burn out rather than fade away, in Spirit of Mardi Gras debauchery before oblivion.

Peter invites us today to not face that thought with paranoia, denial, or superficiality, but with dedication and service. We don’t know the day or the hour, so it is as much as question of attitude as it is one of preparation. It will not be easy; there will be trials, and we will feel tested, but the results will make it all worthwhile. Christians live striving to outdo one another in charity and service, identifying and using the unique gifts God has given them to help edify their brothers and sisters, knowing that helps pave the way to the better world inaugurated by Christ.

Let’s ask the Lord today to help leave the old world of sin and futility behind us, and strain toward the new world of justice and love that will continue to unfold with the help of our dedication and service.

Readings: 1 Peter 4:7–13; Psalm 96:10–13; Mark 11:11–26. See also 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year I.

8th Week of Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Peter reminds us that through Baptism we have been incorporated into the Church, and are now living stones in an edifice constructed with a spiritual and priestly purpose. Our Lord described himself to the Pharisees and scribes as the stone rejected by the builders that would become the corner stone (see Matthew 21:42). They had rejected him, but the Father build the Church on him and the Apostles, and the Lord continues to build the Church through us, on the solid foundations of those living stones who have preceded us and our own efforts at holiness.

A living stone is not just edified, but edifying. We are inserted into this spiritual and social structure and helped to support it and remain solid, but Peter also reminds us of the importance of being edifying to others, even those who do not share our faith. If our works are edifying it will attract even those who don’t know Our Lord to see where that special something we have comes from and to seek it out as well.

A dead stone doesn’t edify; eventually it crumbles and the whole structure suffers. Let’s ask the Lord to edify us today so that we can be edifying to others.

Readings: 1 Peter 2:2–5, 9–12; Psalm 100:2–5; Mark 10:46–52. See also 1st Week of Advent, Friday, 33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, and 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year I.

8th Week of Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Peter reminds us all that we have been ransomed from a pointless life by the blood of Christ. It became pointless because after the Original Sin of Adam and Eve our lives became “futile”: there was no way we could escape death or sin on our own, and this evil held us captive with no one to pay for our release. The price was too high for any reasonable person: it was a ransom of not just blood, but death, and not just any death, but the death of someone worthy to make proper expiation.

That someone was Our Lord. He became man and paid our ransom. What we received through an outpouring of water and an invocation of the Trinity at Baptism gave us not only a new lease on life, but a new life. We’ve not only been rescued, but reborn. In today’s Gospel Our Lord warns the disciples about what is about to happen (his Passion), but some of them are still thinking of potential glory and not of the cross that it takes to get there. We’ve died in Christ, and now we need to live by not making the same mistake.

There’s no glory that compares to a new life. Let’s live a life worthy of the price Our Lord paid for it to be holy and happy.

Readings: 1 Peter 1:18–25; Psalm 147:12–15, 19–20; Mark 10:32–45. See also 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year I,  St. James the Apostle, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, and 2nd Week of Lent, Wednesday.

8th Week of Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Peter speaks of salvation as a grace in store for us, one worth working toward and waiting for. The disciples in today’s Gospel, the aftermath of Our Lord’s encounter with the rich young man yesterday, hear what is in store for them in terms they can understand: everything they imagine as good in this life, but in abundance. Our Lord doesn’t say it will be easy, but it will be worth it.

The disciples, at this point of the story, did everything the rich young man didn’t, but that didn’t guarantee them eternal life or its rewards. Judas was still among them and he took a wrong path that made his salvation uncertain. Salvation requires effort, and we are rewarded for our effort, but it is also a gift. Grace is not so much a wage as it is a gift, since we never merit the first grace we receive that sets us on the path to salvation, the grace that comes to us through Baptism and heals and restores us from the effects of original sin. Peter’s First Letter is considered by many to be a catechetical letter addressed to those who have just received Baptism.

Let’s continue on the path Our Lord traces out for us today. It will imply hardship and effort, but, as today’s readings promise us, it will all be worth it.

Readings: 1 Peter 1:10–16; Psalm 98:1–4; Mark 10:28–31. See also 8th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year I and 20th Week in Ordinary Time,Tuesday.