Friday

21st Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul notes the contrast between wordly wisdom and the wisdom of God, a contrast revealed by Christ cruficied. In the world’s logic it seems that Christ on the cross is foolish. The Greeks, not familiar with Jewish religion but steeped in philosophy, would declare it irrational that a god would die at all, much less choose to die for humanity. For the Jews it was scandalous to think that the Messiah would be humiliated and executed as a common criminal instead of being a strong political and military leader for Israel.

Yet, according to the wisdom of God, we see how powerful the Lord truly is, a power that not only refutes the wisdom of the world, but turns it on its head. The power that a god would love his creatures so much that he’d willingly come among them and suffer and die at their hands so that they should be redeemed from the certain death that awaits them. That logic is seen as foolish only by those who have not been taught or accepted the wisdom of God.

The Gospel wants to teach us a new type of wisdom beyond the world’s. Let’s ask Our Lord to help us embrace his wisdom.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 1:17–25; Psalm 33:1–2, 4–5, 10–11; Matthew 25:1–13. See also 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

20th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading the Lord gives Ezekiel a vision depicting the degree of Israel’s hopelessness in the face of its present situation. We all have moments where we say to ourselves, sarcastically or not, “I’m dead. It’s hopeless.” The plain of bones shows a degree of death so vast that there is not even anyone left to bury the dead: it’s complete death. Yet the Lord invites Ezekiel to speculate whether such total death can be reversed, and he, as we, respond that only the Lord, the Lord of life, would know.

Ezekiel prophesies at the Lord’s command and, in the first two prophesies, something happens even as he speaks. The bones have their flesh returned to them, and then the spirit of life is breathed back into them. The prophesies that follow are phrased as promises: that the Lord would raise them from the grave itself, restore them in a stable way in the Promised Land, put his own spirit into him, and they would know that he was the Lord. These promises would be fulfilled in the future, beginning with his Son: some day we will be raised up from the grave, settled forever in the Promised Land, be filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and, with the veil of faith withdrawn, know the Lord as he is, face to face.

Even in the face of certain death we have nothing to fear. The Lord is faithful to his promises if we are faithful to him.

Readings: Ezekiel 37:1–14; Psalm 107:2–9; Matthew 22:34–40. See also 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Sunday, Cycle C, 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.

19th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading the Lord describes his relationship with Israel as that of discovering an infant abandoned at birth and marrying her when she came of age and showering every finery on her, only to have his love rejected by her adultery and insensitivity to all he had done for her. The Lord responds to this infidelity by promising to take her as his spouse not just while she lives, but forever: his response to her lack of love is an everlasting and forgiving love, a love so unbelievable that it would throw her into shame and confusion over how she had mistreated him.

In today’s Gospel the Pharisee’s are looking for ways to send away a wife, not how to save a marriage. Sadly today for many divorce seems to be the only option because what your spouse has done or failed to do seems unforgivable. That is the moment to show your love. While the Lord promised this forgiving and everlasting love in the First Reading, Jesus showed it on the Cross. We have a love to imitate and a love to strengthen us when love and forgiveness seems impossible: the love of God.

Every spouse promises unconditional love the day of their wedding. Let’s pray that when that unconditional love is put to the test can be kindled again with Our Lord’s help for both spouses through forgiveness.

Readings: Ezekiel 16:1–15, 60, 63; Isaiah 12:2–3; Matthew 19:3–12. See also 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B and 19th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

 

18th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches us that the cross is a part of our life whether we want it or not, and what matters is how we face it and why we face it. No matter how often we try to accumulate things in order to ensure  comfort, something prevents it from happening. Some people are wealthy, or healthy, or in charge of their lives, yet they feel something is missing. Our Lord reminds us today that we can have the whole world, yet not possess what is truly important: an enduring and fulfilled life. That enduring and fulfilled life doesn’t exist in this world, yet this world is the path to it. It depends on how we live in this world.

Our Lord teaches us today that the only way to achieve what we truly desire is to take up our cross for the sake of a higher cause: his cause. It’s no coincidence that in this same reading he speaks of the impending arrival of the Kingdom of God: with his very Incarnation the Kingdom has arrived, and on the Cross it begins to achieve fruition as the “conquered” becomes the conquerer of sin and death. Nahum in today’s First Reading describes the point of arrival: peace for the People of God, security forever, and the destruction of evil. He describes Israel (Jacob) as a vine that was damaged by ravagers, but not destroyed: it was pruned by sufferings, yet it endured. Our Lord was ravaged on the cross, but not defeated, and from that Tree of Life an enduring and fulfilling life is made possible, if we take up his cause and imitate him. The alternative is the ravaged world described by Nahum in the second part of today’s reading: the more we seek fleeting things, the more we flee from our crosses and suffer lasting misery, because if we put our stock only in the things of this world,. they will, sooner or later, pass away.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us see our crosses not as burdens, but as opportunities to help construct a better world in his name. Through our crosses, in his service, we can achieve a better life for ourselves and for others. Let’s take up our cross and take up the cause of Christ.

Readings: Nahum 2:1, 3, 3:1–3, 6–7; Deuteronomy 32:35c–36b, 39a–d, 41; Matthew 16:24–28. See also Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday and 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

16th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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Today’s First Reading from Jeremiah shows that a prophecy, being the Word of God, not only speaks to its first listeners, but to all its listeners. Jeremiah describes a future Jerusalem shepherded by good and holy leaders, and a future where the Ark of the Covenant would lose the prominence it had among the Israelites. Why mention the Ark? First, because in that moment of its history the Israelites were in danger of idolatrizing the Ark and the Temple as a guarantee that the Lord would be with them and defend them whether they were pleasing to him or not (he wouldn’t). Second, because the Ark was the core of their belief in the Lord being among them and the Lord interacting with them; drawing close to the Ark meant drawing close to the Lord, which is why it was kept in the heart of the Temple.

In a future renewed Jerusalem the Lord wouldn’t use an Ark; he would use all of Jerusalem as his throne, not just the top of the Ark, known as the mercy seat where the glory of the Lord used to rest while appearing to Moses. As the Ark was to Israel now the entire city of Jerusalem would be, a more majestic and imposing presence of the Lord amidst his People. The Church has been described in the Book of Revelation as the Heavenly Jerusalem. Even as Jeremiah was describing a renewed and restored Jerusalem he was also describing the Church, guided by good and holy pastors, and the Mystical Body of Christ, a presence of the Lord amidst his people unprecedented in salvation history.

The Lord has committed himself to us unconditionally. Let’s respond in kind.

Readings: Jeremiah 3:14–17; Jeremiah 31:10–12d, 13; Matthew 13:18–23. See also 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday and 16th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.