Friday

17th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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Having a life-changing experience of faith is much like taking a journey: you learn so much, but those who haven’t made the journey and haven’t had the same experience don’t share the same enthusiasm. With our family and friends we’ve journeyed together for years; for some it’s been a journey of faith, for others just lives shared along the way. So when we make this sudden “journey” and experience of faith and conversion it’s understandable that they may be skeptical, even incredulous, when we change our life and suggest they change theirs. We should all be headed in the same direction–Heaven–and we need to help each other get there on the best path possible. If we think we know a shortcut, of course we’re going to try to share it. In the case of sharing the faith, it’s not just a question of faith in God, but our friends and loved ones having faith in us as well: a lack of faith in either will be an obstacle for them.

In today’s Gospel Jesus, who’s not only been to Heaven and back, but started there before he came here, is trying to share the faith with those he’s known and loved the most in his earthly life. They didn’t believe he was any more than the carpenter’s son they’d known for years. They’d heard he’d done amazing things, but they didn’t believe. His message was to repent and believe in the Gospel, and they were offended that someone they thought they knew since he was little should suggest something like that to them, independently of whether his words were true or not.

If this happened to Our Lord we shouldn’t be discouraged if we received the same skepticism from our family and friends when we try to share our faith with them. They may see us as arrogant, judgmental, even weird, but we must continue with patient endurance to help them see how much God means to us and wants to mean to them. Let’s ask Our Lord to open the hearts of those we love who are not living the Gospel so that they can make the journey of conversion and faith as well.

Readings: Leviticus 23:1, 4–11, 15–16, 27, 34b–37; Psalm 81:3–6, 10–11b; Matthew 13:54–58. See also 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

16th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord he tells us about the obstacles that can keep us from having his Word bear fruit in our lives. As we can see, there is a lost of “noise” that can try to drown out his Word, and not all of it is self-generated. As he taught us yesterday, if we don’t understand what he is telling us, his Word stays on the surface and doesn’t penetrate our hearts, and the Evil One can easily sweep it away before it has any effect. We live in a culture today that can be shallow, superficial, and base: all of those things can form a sort of screen on our hearts that prevents God’s word from getting in. It’s also true that there is an active Evil presence out there that would like us to remain shallow and superficial and someday lose eternity with God forever, which is why we always need to watch and pray in moments of temptation and seek to understand God’s Word with profundity.

There’s a moment where an insight into his Word causes sensible consolations and warm feelings, but sentiments are often skin deep and change direction like the wind. If we only listen to feel good, when we start feeling bad we’ll stop listening–enthusiasm only lasts so long. God’s Word wants to be with us and help us in our ups and downs; he always has something to say, so whether we’re exultant about something or despondent, we need to keep listening, harder if needed. Lastly, there can also be a moment where we let our anxiety about something separate us from his Word: we become more concerning with the passing things of this world and not about the Kingdom: we worry about money, power, or pleasure. If we become attached to those things they won’t just drown out God’s Word, but they’ll make us deaf to many other things as well. A bad environment can choke out his Word in our lives, so we need to always consider whether there are certain places we should no longer go, certain people we should no longer see (if we’re too weak to change and to help them), certain things we should no longer do.

Let’s ask Our Lord to help us examine our “soil” today and let the seed of his Word fall on the rich spots, far away from thorns or rocky ground, in order to bear all the fruit we can.

Readings: Exodus 20:1–17; Psalm 19:8–11; Matthew 13:18–23.

15th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord reminds us that the true measure of a rule, law, or precept is whether it serves the Lord and serves man, especially our fellow man, but also us. Specific laws are given for specific circumstances, and sometimes it can be challenging to determine how a law is to be applied, or whether it is to be applied at all. The Pharisees saw the disciples’ behavior as a violation of the law, plain and simple. Jesus responded that if the disciples were breaking the law, so did David when he was fleeing King Saul, and so were the priests every Sabbath who attended to the things of the Temple on a day when no work should be done. In these two example we find one instance where the law doesn’t apply (priests serving in the Temple on the Sabbath), and another whether circumstances required that the law not be followed for the sake of a greater good (David needing food because he was fleeing Saul–see 1 Kings 21:1-6).

In the case of the disciples they needed to eat, because they were doing the Lord’s work, and their “Rabbi” required them to work on the Sabbath. The “Rabbi’s” interpretation of the rules regarding the Sabbath were not as strict and inflexible as the interpretation the Pharisees had followed. We know too that the Lord was providing the authoritative and authentic interpretation, because he was God. However, in responding to the Pharisees he describes the “Son of Man” as Lord of the Sabbath, and usually when he refers to himself by that title he is speaking of a human criteria being established. That is why even in the case of David we mentioned above the priest had to allow that David and his men eat the bread that was normally not reserved for them. When we are discerning in prayer whether circumstances call for the application of a certain rule, precept, or law, Our Lord has established authorities to help us make the right decision based on all the goods, greater and lesser, that are at play. The most basic criterion is whether we are serving the Lord and serving others by our actions.

Let’s ask Our Lord to foster in us a spirit of prayer and discernment in following any laws that oblige us, and to help us see the best way to serve God and serve our fellow man by following them.

Readings: Exodus 11:10–12:14; Psalm 116:12–15, 15, 16bc, 17–18; Matthew 12:1–8.

14th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord counsels us to be “shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” Sharing is the Gospel must be done kindly, but intelligently. People are more receptive to something a kind and gentle person has to say, and in the context of the persecutions that he also describes today, public opinion will also be less inclined to condemn someone who leads a kind, simple, and humble life. If people see us as sheep, harmless, humble, and not complicated, it will be easier for them to see our adversaries for what they often are: wolves who are cunning and predatory.

However, being kind and gentle is not enough. If what we do and what we share lacks substance, if it doesn’t strike a chord in our listeners, we’ll be wasting our time and theirs as well. Christianity started with a few disciples called by Christ and conquered the world, not with a militarily, but armed with a love that was not just skin deep. We’ve received love from Our Lord, a love that is profounder and more lasting than any love we could experience in this world, and it’s from the profundity and stability of this love that we share the Gospel with kindness and a desire to share the gift, no matter what the cost. The Gospel message is a message of true and lasting love, and everyone is seeking that, whether they’re aware of it or not.

Even the first apostles like Paul knew they had to be strategic: he traveled to places in the Roman empire that were the crossroads for all the cultures found within its borders, and in sharing the Gospel there he knew those passing through would take it everywhere. He also had to face difficult pastoral situations with wisdom and love: in many of his letters the passion for his communities shine through and still provide guidance for us today. Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us be neither superficial or mean in sharing his Gospel, his love, with others.

Readings: Genesis 46:1–7, 28–30; Psalm 37:3–4, 18–19, 27–28, 39–40; Matthew 10:16–23.

12th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel it may seem that a simple, albeit miraculous, healing has taken place, one of many during Our Lord’s earthly ministry, but considering the cultural attitude and Mosaic law at the time regarding lepers we are witnessing a great act of courage and faith on the leper’s part as well as a great act of compassion on Jesus’ part. Leprosy was considered a punishment by God for sin by the Jews of the time (see, for example, the punishment inflicted on Miriam when she grumbled against her brother Moses’ leadership in Numbers 12). Lepers were to avoid appearing in public and to announce they were nearby to warn off those who might come in contact with them. Because of this they were also considered ritually impure: no Jew would want to go near them, much less touch them. It’s not clear whether the “crowds” are witnessing this too, but the leper was breaking the law by approaching a rabbi in this way. Any Jew would have expected Jesus to reject him outright, but Jesus doesn’t hesitate to touch the unclean and impure leper and may him clean and pure again.

How embarrassing, even humiliating, it can feel when we go to Confession, and that just involves getting in line with maybe a few people who are more or less strangers and then, in the silence of the confessional, coming clean about our sins knowing the priest will keep it completely confidential (even to the point of martyrdom). Leprosy may not have been sin, but it continues to symbolize it even today because of its appearance in Sacred Scripture. Sin makes our lives decay and rot spiritually: if it could be seen, not only would it horrify us, but it would repulse others as well. Our Lord has the same attitude toward us, sinners, as he did toward that leper: he does not hesitate to draw near us, or let us draw near him, and to reach out and touch us with healing and forgiveness.

Let’s examine the spiritual leprosy afflicting our lives–sin–and muster the faith and courage to approach Our Lord in the sacrament of Confession and receive healing and forgiveness.

Readings: Genesis 17:1, 9–10, 15–22; Psalm 128:1–5; Matthew 8:1–4.