Monday

27th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

by

In today’s First Reading Paul reminds the Galatians, and he reminds us, that there is only one Gospel, one message, and changing it would make it something other than a road map for our salvation. Our Lord wanted to share a message of salvation with us, and he entrusted it to his apostles, who in turn transmitted it to their successors, century after century. The Church gives witness to this message and, aided by the Holy Spirit, ensures its accurate transmission and authentic application.

The Gospel message is not just important because it has survived two thousand years of human history, or because it contains great wisdom. The Gospel message is important because it was given to us by God. God the Son gave us this message, and anyone would agree that if you receive a message from God you should not only pay attention but also put it into practice. Our Lord today summarizes the core of the Gospel today: love for God and love for neighbor. Nothing else in the world, religious or otherwise, will save us if it is separated from that core message.

The case of the Galatians reminds us that even today people try to distort the Gospel message or simply misunderstand it. Just as the Galatians could count on Paul to keep them on track, let’s trust to Church to help us live the Gospel in a 100% authentic way.

Readings: Galatians 1:6–12; Psalm 111:1b–2, 7–9, 10c; Gospel Luke 10:25–37. 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.

 

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

by

In today’s First Reading we’re taught that we shouldn’t put off a good that we can do for another. Isn’t sharing the Gospel, the Good News, the greatest good that we can share? So why hesitate?  Keeping good news to ourselves is like putting a lit lamp in an empty closet and closing the door: it only illuminates a fraction of its potential.

Some people want to lock this light in a closet and throw away the key, but Our Lord reminds us in today’s Gospel that the Good News will be revealed, one way or another. Sometimes the Good News may not seem so good to us, when it implies renunciation and the cross, but this news is a good that never stops being new or being good, if we have faith and strive to let it truly illuminate our lives.

Let’s help the light of faith stay high and bright in our lives and in the world.

Readings: Proverbs 3:27–34; Psalm 15:2–4b, 5; Luke 8:16–18. See also 10th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday.

24th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

by

Before celebrating the Eucharist together the first Christians gathered for a meal called an agape meal, agape meaning a deep love in Greek. Paul in today’s First Reading is expressing his concern that the Christians at Corinth are treating the agape meal more like a cafeteria than as a family coming together to eat. It’s not even a potluck; everyone brings their own food and eats it, and some overindulge while others go hungry. What does that say for them when they come together to participate in the Eucharist, the sacrament of love?

Today’s parishes have parishioners that come from wide areas and walks of life, enjoying plenty or facing hardship. Many parishes describe themselves as Catholic “communities.” Paul encourages us today to examine whether the good will we show to our brothers and sisters in the faith goes beyond the parish parking lot after Sunday Mass. How do we see them in our neighborhood, the supermarket, or a restaurant? Do we really know how they’re doing? The Eucharist solidifies and grounds our love for God and our love for others, but we can just go through the motions if we don’t truly try to put charity into practice.

We don’t gather for agape meals before Mass anymore, but we can show our love for Our Lord by showing our concern for our fellow parishioners. Let’s strive to be a family of faith not just Sunday, but every day.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 11:17–26, 33; Psalm 40:7–10, 17; Luke 7:1–10. See also 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

21st Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

by

In today’s Gospel the Lord condemns a series of hypocritical practices by the Pharisees that can also help us take stock of our relationship with him and the fulfillment of our Christian obligations. The Pharisees were entrusted with doctrinal authority, hence the reference to keys. They we supposed to share that teaching and defend it in order to help people enter Heaven. Yet they didn’t and not only blocked themselves from it, but those they were supposed to teach as well. The world needs the Gospel and it needs us to share the Gospel. If we don’t we are hindering people instead of helping them get to Heaven. If we’re not living our faith well, those who look up to us will only have our bad example to follow; the Gospel can just be taught, it must also be lived.

Secondly, Our Lord condemns their way of making oaths. The Pharisees are placing value on the items themselves (gold, the worth of a gift), not on the fact that they are something sacred through being offered to God in the Temple. What gives them worth should not be that they have monetary value, but that they have been given to God. In other Gospel accounts Our Lord condemns making oaths of this type at all, but the lesson for us today is how easily we can swear by God on vain things and in a way that shows no recognition on our part that we are invoking someone. How many “Oh my God’s” do we hear in conversations by people who have little to now relationship with God? We have to always be aware of who we are invoking and why.

Let’s show Our Lord what he means to us by sharing his Gospel, imitating his example, and always have his name on our lips with love.

Readings: 2 Thessalonians 1:1–5, 11–12; Psalm 96:1–5; Matthew 23:13–22. See also 28th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.

19th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

by

After a dire reminder to his disciples of his impending Passion a conversation on taxation and a miracle pay-off seems somewhat banal, but if we scratch below the surface we see something a little deeper. The translation used in liturgy speaks of the king’s “subjects” being exempt from paying taxes, but the more literal translation of the original Greek is “sons.” Our Lord shouldn’t be expected to pay the Temple tax because it is the House of his Father. However, he knows that those asking for the tax probably don’t believe that he is the Son of God, so he accedes to their request.

The miracle to pay the tax is almost comical, but it shows that not only the Temple, but all of Creation is the Lord’s house. Our Lord knows his home down to a coin in a fish in hidden in the sea because he knows his Creation and he has made it his home. It makes the tax collectors’ request even more insignificant, but it also underscores the grandeur of Our Lord who is not shy about condescending to such a simple request.

Our Lord is so simple and humble that in his closeness to us he rarely needs to remind us of how majestic he is. Let’s not lose sight of that and adore him as he deserves.

Readings: Ezekiel 1:2–5, 24–28c; Psalm 148:1–2, 11–14; Matthew 17:22–27.