Ordinary Time

29th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord is teaching and someone from the crowd suddenly asks him to be a mediator in a dispute between him and his brother. When inheritances divide families it is never a good thing. Our Lord, rightly, points out that he’s teaching, not holding court, and warns the man not to make possessions the purpose of his life. As he reminds us in the parable today, and we all know, you can’t take it with you. Amassing a fortune for yourself, and just yourself, is an exercise in futility. The rich man in today’s parable doesn’t think of family, or friends, or community: he just wants a big barn of grain to provide for himself. Whether he was thinking of a long retirement, early or otherwise, God had other plans and expectations.

Today’s First Reading reminds us that as believers in Christ we have become heirs to the only fortune that really matters. We receive a pledge of it in this life, and, after our death, we come into our full inheritance, an inheritance that lasts forever: the justification and righteousness Paul describes is a communion of life and love with God. We begin it in this life through faith and baptism. We amass its wealth through leading a holy life and seeking to help others to inherit it as well, and we enjoy its fruits together with those we love in eternity. It reminds us that we are sons and daughters of the greatest Father imaginable, with the greatest big brother to boot, a brother who is not shy about sharing his inheritance with us, even when we don’t deserve it.

Let’s focus today on the true inheritance for which we’ve already received a deposit: life in communion with God and with others. Let’s ask Our Lord to show us how we can share this inheritance with others as well.

Readings: Romans 4:20–25; Luke 1:69–75; Luke 12:13–21.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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In today’s Gospel James and John are seeking glory, but they don’t entirely understand the path to it or the kind of glory to be won. Our Lord works with them; he doesn’t simply tell them they’re being ambitious and should focus on other things. Followers of Christ will be glorified if they persevere in the faith, but it’s the Lord who sets the terms as to what that glory consists of and how to get there. We can contemplate earthly glories and they pale in comparison to what awaits us in eternity. James and John think they know exactly what they want, but it is a vision of glory tainted by their ignorance and by visions of earthly glory.

When Our Lord asks them if they’re prepared to do what it takes to achieve glory, he speaks of a cup to drink and a baptism to receive. At Gethsemane we see that the cup is the Passion: it is suffering, just as it was foretold in today’s First Reading, which speaks of the Suffering Servant. Suffering has a purpose in this case: through Christ’s suffering, his “descendants” will receive a long life, the Lord’s will is accomplished, and many are justified. He too shall “see the light in its fullness.” In the Second Reading we see the glory that Our Lord received for drinking the cup of suffering: our High Priest in Heaven, a reward for enduring the trials that were sent his way. Suffering and trials are the path to glory for a disciple of Christ, but not senselessly: through suffering and trials we too serve others and give our lives for them to be “ransomed” from sin.

James and John were bold in seeking glory, and we have an advantage over them: we have seen the path to glory that Our Lord has traced out for us. Let’s seek the glory that not only benefits us, but others as well: a glory only won through suffering and trials for the sake of others in imitation of Christ.

Readings: Isaiah 53:10–11; Psalm 33:4–5, 18–20, 22; Hebrews 4:14–16; Mark 10:35–45.

28th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord continues to encourage the disciples and warn them not to fall into the mistakes of the Pharisees and scribes who don’t believe in him, as in yesterday‘s Gospel. Today he speaks of the protagonism of the Holy Spirit in helping us all to be a “Church which goes forth,” as Pope Francis encourages us to be in Evangelii Gaudium. It’s true that we can’t do it on our own, but we’re not on our own. As Our Lord reminds us today, when we’re put on trial for our faith, whether in a court or in the public square, we shouldn’t be afraid of becoming tongue-tied: the Holy Spirit will help us get our message across.

In the first generations of Christianity non-believers were amazed that even Christian children, by repeating the catechism they’d received, showed an amazing solidity in their arguments that reflected a sound philosophy and way of living. The first chronicles of martyrs show them to express conviction and radiate peace in the face of impending torture and death. The Holy Spirit helps the Word take root in our hearts and become virtue and conviction, but only if we are open to what the Spirit invites us to do, even in little things. Jesus warns us today about the fate of those who ignore or insult the Holy Spirit in big things. A Christian under fire will invoke the Holy Spirit for help, but that shouldn’t be the only moment he or she does: the Holy Spirit is always working in our hearts, in little and hidden ways, and by listening to the Spirit and letting the Spirit shape our lives, we’ll become those witnesses to Christ that the world needs.

Let’s thank the Holy Spirit for always being with us and working in our souls, and ask the Spirit to keep helping us to be a “Church which goes forth.”

Readings: Romans 4:13, 16–18; Psalm 105:6–9, 42–43; Luke 12:8–12.

28th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In yesterday‘s Gospel Our Lord condemned the Pharisees and scribes for not listening to the Word of God or sharing it with others, and, true to form, they then directed their hostility toward Jesus and sought to discredit him publicly and silence him. Huge crowds were coming to listen to him now, and in today’s Gospel he encourages his disciples to avoid another obstacle to sharing his Word with others: fear and persecution. The religious authorities in this moment are hostile to Our Lord, and, therefore, they’ll be hostile to his disciples. Our Lord is not only preparing them for the present moment, but for the moment when he is not with them, when, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, they are locked in a room for fear of the Jews.

Throughout the world today there are still Christians who must whisper his Word, and in many cultures the predominant attitude and mentality would like Christians to stay behind closed doors and not proclaim Our Lord from the rooftops or the public square. Jesus reminds us today that we shouldn’t fear physical or social death, but losing his Word in our hearts and, in so doing, losing our souls. He doesn’t leave us alone in this; he reminds us that Our Heavenly Father watches even the individual hairs on our head. Those disciples locked in that room for the fear of the Jewsr received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and went out a boldly proclaimed the Gospel at the risk of their lives. The Father sees our struggles and difficulties. If we remain faithful to the Word, we will receive the strength to proclaim it from the rooftops without fear, just as many Christians today suffering persecution and risking their lives are doing.

Let’s pray for persecuted Christians, and let’s pray that public opinion and scrutiny in so-called “civilized”countries do not make us keep our faith quiet and locked behind closed doors.

Readings: Romans 4:1–6; Psalm 32:1b–2, 5, 11; Luke 12:1–7.

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28th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday

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In today’s First Reading Paul reminds us that the Law (the Mosaic Law observed by the Jews) and the prophets gave witness to what everyone after the Fall of Adam and Eve needed in order to be righteous in the eyes of God: God’s grace, won by the blood of Christ. To receive that grace we must believe in Christ and receive Baptism, and we become and remain “righteous” through living a life of grace. He was making this point because there were those who believed that the works of Mosaic Law were enough, but, as we know, that would have restricted salvation to the Jews as God’s chosen people. Faith in Christ and Baptism are what are needed, whether observant Jew or uninitiated Gentile, in order to being a life of grace.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord is criticizing the Pharisees and scribes because they are putting a muzzle on the witness that the Law and the prophets were meant to give as to how we can truly be righteous in the eyes of God. The Pharisees are criticized for building monuments to the very prophets that their predecessors killed: what they’re trying to present as an honorable acknowledgement of the prophets Jesus reveals as testifying to the fact that not only did they not listen to the prophets’ message, but silenced it by killing them. The scribes fared no better: they were the experts in the Law, and the Law was meant to give witness to God and to Christ, but they did not pay attention to that witness, nor did they share it with the Jews who sought the knowledge to be considered righteous in the eyes of God. As a result of Jesus’ criticism the Pharisees and scribes became an obstacle to Christ because they didn’t have faith in him, just as they became an obstacle to the prophets before him.

We can run the same of risk of not sharing the message or silencing it. It happens when Our Lord becomes simply a historical figure commemorated by a crucifix or cross on a wall and not the Lord of our life and our history who walks with us even today through prayer and the sacraments. We can muzzle the message of faith if we don’t let it transform our lives and share it with others, not only through our words, but through our example of Christian living. Let’s take off any muzzle that we make have placed on the Word in our lives today so that we can open the path to becoming and helping others to become righteous in the eyes of God.

Readings: Romans 3:21–30; Psalm 130:1b–6b; Luke 11:47–54.