Monday

18th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord has just heard the new that his cousin, and his prophet, has just died on account of him. His Heavenly Father has permitted it as part of the plan of salvation, and, as all the Old Testament prophets before him, John the Baptist was condemned to death for bearing God’s message. Our Lord himself is the message of God, the Word, so he knows a similar fate awaits him. When he goes off for some silence and solitude, he seeks time with his Heavenly Father to process everything that has happened, just as we should when we’re faced with tragedy and sorrow in our life.

Today’s Gospel doesn’t say why he went off to pray, or what he said, but his actions speak volumes. Unlike Moses’ frustrated attitude today in the First Reading when the Israelites complain again and say they’re sick of the bread God is sending them from Heaven, Our Lord doesn’t ask the crowds seeking him to come back later and respect his time of prayer and mourning; he cured them, and didn’t send them off to worry about their own food, but provided for them personally. Even faced with sorrow and tragedy he had time for others, and gave himself to them completely, as one day he would do on the Cross.

We’ve also lost a loved one, someone who died because of us: Jesus. Every time we see a crucifix or celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass we remember exactly that. Let’s have the same attitude in gratitude for his sacrifice: an unconditional love and concern for others, even in moments of tragedy and suffering.

Readings: Numbers 11:4b–15; Psalm 81:12–17; Matthew 14:13–21.

17th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s Gospel one of the images Our Lord uses to describe the Kingdom of heaven is a women mixing yeast with flower to make sure the whole batch is  leavened. As bakers know, if there’s not yeast, the bread does not rise. In some recipes when the yeast is not mixed well with the flour the result is something tough and chewy. Wherever Christianity is found we know the Kingdom of God is very active, provided those believers are living their faith. Christianity has spread throughout history and had a great influence on Western and Eastern culture, independently of the spiritual benefits it has brought. It may not be always identified with society, but it elevates society and culture, much like that leaven helps the bread to rise, but also needs to spread out in order to be effective. God-willing it will help society and culture to “rise”all the way to the Resurrection.

The benefits of the Kingdom of God go beyond benefiting believers spiritually even today: good things happen as a result of good spiritual things happening, even among non-believers. When secularizing trends attempt to relegate Christianity to individuals almost in the privacy of their own home, that leaven is staying clumped together and not really helping society to its full potential. As Christians we are called to go everywhere and proclaim the Gospel; by doing so we are spreading the “leaven” throughout society that helps all of society to “rise,” spiritually and culturally.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to show us how to be better leaven in our social and cultural circles, and ask him to help us have to courage to take the Gospel out into the streets and into the world in which we live.

Readings: Exodus 32:15–24, 30–34; Psalm 106:19–23; Matthew 13:31–35. See also 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

16th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s Gospel the scribes and Pharisees were seeking a sign in the way it doesn’t normally work: signs are a gift. If you demand a sign, often you won’t get it, because signs are a gift from God and he sends them when and how he pleases. In this case, Jesus has already worked various signs regarding his mission from the Father. When Our Lord responds with the story of Jonah he is speaking of his impending Death and Resurrection, a great sign, but by connecting it to the story of Jonah he is also sending a message: destruction is at hand if his listeners, the scribes and Pharisees, do not repent. His message from the beginning of his public ministry has been that the Kingdom is at hand, and repentance and belief are expected. The people of Nineveh did penance for their sins, and in the end the Lord did not destroy them or their city.

The scribes and Pharisees had to repent and believe in order to avoid a spiritual catastrophe. When Our Lord says something greater than Jonah is happening in this case, he’s referring to a spiritual destruction, something far worse than physical death or loss. He’s also referring to an unimaginable sign: Resurrection. If he is blunt in his response it is because he knows the stakes are much higher in this instance and there’s already been a lack of repentance and faith despite all the signs he has already worked. It’s no coincidence that after his Resurrection he only appeared to his disciples: they received a confirmation of their faith in witnessing the Risen Lord.

Let’s ask Our Lord to strengthen our faith today in whatever manner he chooses.

Readings: Exodus 14:5–18; Exodus 15:1b–6 Matthew 12:38–42.

15th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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When Our Lord calls us to follow him more closely, no matter what path of life he’d like us to walk, it is often not at the same speed or in the same way as those we love. Sometimes we can feel like we’re being treated like the black sheep of the family when we’re the only white one: we have to choose between the love of God and the love of our family in questions of sin, the only scenario in which love for God and love for our family can truly be in opposition. We pray that we never find ourselves in that situation, but Our Lord warns us in today’s Gospel that he can be a source of division. However, if he does shake things up in a family it is to help the conversion of one or more members be a source of grace and conversion for the rest. Each one in the end has to welcome the gifts of grace from God, so sometimes divisions will remain, and we must continue to love and pray.

We are all responsible for each other to draw closer to God, which is why we must not only foster openness to God’s will in our own lives, but openness to his action in the lives of our loved ones as well. When God appears to be calling a son or daughter to the priesthood or consecrated life, that can be a test of whether we put God or ourselves first: suddenly it seems that son or daughter loves Someone Else, and jealousy can ensue, but if we truly seek blessings and happiness for that son or daughter in faith we support them knowing that God’s path is the best one.

Let’s pray for all those “white sheep” out there in a family of black sheep, and also for those considering any vocation to be open to God’s will for their lives.

Readings: Exodus 1:8–14, 22; Psalm 124:1b–8; Matthew 10:34–11:1.

14th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s readings we see some subtle but importance differences between the Old Testament reading and the Gospel in how prayer, faith, and expectations interact in our relationship with Our Lord. Jacob sleeps at a shrine in the First Reading and God renews the promise he’d made to Jacob’s father and grandfather: the inheritance of the Promised Land. Jacob’s reply shows an immaturity of faith and expectation that will eventually be resolved just before his confrontation with his older brother Esau (see Genesis 32:22–32): God made him a promise, and Jacob puts conditions on whether he’ll accept the Lord as his God. Only if God accompanies him and cares for him on the remainder of his journey will he accept the Lord as his God; God promised him one thing and he wanted another. God in his mercy did grant the things Jacob had requested, so Jacob accepted him as his God, but just as his grandfather Abraham had a test of faith and detachment regarding Isaac, so Jacob would need his faith to be tested as well.

Today’s Gospel takes place in that very Promised Land the Lord had promised to Jacob. Jacob’s little expectations had been fulfilled, and the people of Israel had proof that God’s big promises were fulfilled as well, and had no reason to doubt that they would be fulfilled in the future. When the official and the hemorrhagic woman approach Our Lord, they know he’ll help them: the official tells Jesus that he knows Jesus “will” heal his daughter from death itself, and the woman knows even something as simple as touching his cloak “shall” cure her. This is not a language of you scratch my back, I scratch yours: they believe firmly that Our Lord can do what they ask. In our prayer we have to pray with the faith that Our Lord is listening and can answer our prayers. Sometimes it doesn’t turn out as we’d expect, but we experience moments of grace where we know we must ask him for something big and he delivers: we experience a moment of inner spiritual conviction where our desire and God’s is the same in some concrete circumstance. The important thing is not to fall into a mentality of “if God does this, only then will I do that”: he’s free to help us or not.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us grow in a life of faith where our prayer, faith, and expectations are mature and solid.

Readings: Genesis 28:10–22a; Psalm 91:1–4, 14–15b; Matthew 9:18–26. See also 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.