Ordinary Time

30th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year II

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Christians sometimes get accused of spiritual egotism because they seem to only be concerned with their own salvation. Pope Benedict XVI addressed this in his encyclical Spe Salvi (n. 28) when addressing a conception of hope that saw salvation as nothing more than striving for “my” salvation:

Our relationship with God is established through communion with Jesus—we cannot achieve it alone or from our own resources alone. The relationship with Jesus, however, is a relationship with the one who gave himself as a ransom for all (cf. 1 Tim 2:6). Being in communion with Jesus Christ draws us into his “being for all”; it makes it our own way of being. He commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others, for the whole.

Paul in today’s First Reading is torn between just wanting to die and be with Jesus or remaining on earth for the sake of his flock, and he makes the noble choice because he knows well that he’s not going to be saved on his own, nor should he expect others to be. His flock needs him. Would it be beautiful, full of Christian hope, to die and to be with Our Lord forever? Yes, but since we won’t get there alone we should also focus on helping others to get there as well first.

Our life should be suffused with a hope that fills us with a joy no one can dampen. Let’s ask Our Lord to help us to help others to believe and hope as well so that we can all enjoy Heaven one day together.

Readings: Philippians 1:18b–26; Psalm 42:2–3, 5c–f; Luke 14:1, 7–11. See also 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C and 30th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

30th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year II

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Today’s First Reading may seem like a drastic shift in Paul’s thought, since until now he’s been speaking of married life and family, but this shift of emphasis underscores something many believers have forgotten: that while we live on this earth we are waging spiritual warfare. We can lament hunger, armed conflict, and violent persecution afflicting the world, but all these sad events have a spiritual foundation: sin. There is an active evil presence in the world, beyond the human, that seeks to separate us from God and leave us in misery forever out of spite for the paradise he lost for himself and the fallen angels in league with him.

We’re only left vulnerable and exposed to evil if we don’t fight with the weapons provided by Our Lord. Our salvation, our victory (the helmet) is assured if we keep fighting, if we live a sacramental and prayer life that help us to maintain and grow in sanctifying grace (a breastplate of righteousness), if we are alert in avoiding occasions of sin and seizing opportunities to practice virtue (feet shod in readiness), and if we not only keep on the defensive, but go on the offensive wielding Scripture, Tradition, and our faith (the sword and shield ). Sometimes we may feel like we’re bringing a knife to a gunfight, but our secret weapon is that our arms are powered by God, whom nothing can withstand.

Are you on the battlefield or parked on the couch spiritually? Defense or offense? It’s never too late in this life to take up arms and defend yourself and those you love. Christ has won the war, but we must battle to ensure a share of his victory.

Readings: Ephesians 6:10–20; Psalm 144:1b, 2, 9–10; Luke 13:31–35. See also 30th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.

30th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul continues to give advice to the Church at Ephesus on various categories of relationship, and today he focuses on the relationship between parents and children, as well as master and slave. It’s no surprise that Paul reminds children of the Commandment to honor their father and mother, but he adds that this is a source of blessing. This duty of honoring goes from the crib to eternity: as parents get older the roles often get reversed, and children should love and care for their parents with the same love and care that they received. This mutual love breaks down when the parents don’t treat their children as they should, which is why Paul also reminds parents not to lord their position over their children.

For slaves Paul encourages them to spiritually “transfer ownership” to Our Lord. Slavery is a great injustice, but in Paul’s time it was so prevalent that he didn’t see the need to question it. For Paul, we’re all slaves of the Lord anyway: he owns master and slave alike, and both answer to him, therefore neither is entitled to abuse the relationship they share. Slaves in Paul’s time could be freed as well, and even in then, as his other letter to Philemon shows, Paul’s hope was that believers would go from master and slave to brothers in the Lord, either spiritually or otherwise. Thankfully most of the world today doesn’t suffer the scourge of slavery, but we can follow Paul’s advice as employer or employee too.

Let’s ask Our Lord to help us today be a fair and loving parent, child, employer, or employee. Or all of the above.

Readings: Ephesians 6:1–9; Psalm 145:10–14; Luke 13:22–30. See also 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, and the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday and Thursday.

 

30th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul uses the relationship between husband and wife to explain the relationship between Christ and the Church, and sheds light on Christian marriage as well. Paul once again describes the Church as the Body of Christ, and evokes the passage of Genesis where it’s explained that when man and woman come together in marriage they become one flesh (see Genesis 2:24). Each spouse should love the other as his or her very self: in that logic there’s no room for abuse. Whoever is at fault, both are affected.

Some may see a disparity in the language between how the husband should act toward the wife and vice versa in Paul’s teaching, but their radical unity doesn’t exempt one or the other from total self-giving and dedication, whether in making decisions or accepting them. In that way they imitate Christ and how he loved the Church as if she were his own Body. We refer to the Church as “she” because she is the Spouse of Christ. Our relationship with Christ and our fellow believers in the Church should be the same: whether we are exercising authority or heeding it, we are doing so out of love.

Let’s ask Our Lord to help us imitate him more closely today in his loving dedication to us, and pray for every married couple to love their spouse as they’d love themselves.

Readings: Ephesians 5:21–33; Psalm 128:1–5; Luke 13:18–21. See also 30th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday,  11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B and 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.

30th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul brands the immoral, the impure, and the greedy as “idolaters.” Where’s the false god? When we idolize these things, we make them our gods, sometimes imperceptibly, because we become enslaved to pleasure, money, or power and serve them instead of making them serve us in a moral and healthy way. This is no passing teen crush or talent competition, but a real enthrallment to creatures that were meant to help us draw closer to God.

The path starts when we make light of the very things that could spiritually destroy us, because we stop taking them or the consequences of abusing them seriously. Today’s entertainment often portrays the “bad boy,” the black sheep, the shady character as something cool, funny, or simply normal. Examples of virtue seem boring or are the butt of jokes. There’s no easy solution to this problem, but we can turn that television off and concentrate on being loving toward one another and toward God, just as Paul encourages us to do today.

If we imitate Our Lord we have nothing to fear, because his love for our Father is perfect. Let’s live as children of the light and leave any past darkness behind.

Readings: Ephesians 4:32–5:8; Psalm 1:1–4, 6; Luke 13:10–17. See also 30th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.