Ordinary Time

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches us about the power of charity and the gravity of sin. Just as the Lord poured out his Spirit abundantly on the elders in today’s First Reading, so he wants to pour out a Spirit of charity on all believers. Something as simple as offering a cup of water in acknowledgement of Christ is pleasing and powerful in his eyes. This should re-dimension the power of charity in our lives. It doesn’t mean being minimalist–just sticking with a refreshments table–but being generous, aware of the power of charity on a greater scale to move hardened hearts, jaded cultures, and cynical societies.

Our Lord also warns us about the gravity of sin. St. James in the Second Reading warns those who’ve profited at the expense of others that any gain at the expense of charity is the deepest loss for them. Our Lord also warns those who turn someone else from the path of charity to the path of sin: sin puts a spiritual millstone around our necks that one day will drown us in our bankrupt lifestyle unless we seek his help to to liberate us. When we find ourselves in a situation of spiritual life and death a radical response is necessary to survive: if may feel like we’re hacking away a part of ourselves, but in that moment that piece of us to which we’re attached could cost us our spiritual life because we want to hang onto it at the expense of the rest of us.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us make a radical response in the face of our sins and return to the path of charity in order to unleash its power for others.

Readings: Numbers 11:25–29; Psalm 19:8, 10, 12–14; James 5:1–6; Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48.

 

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord tries to prepare the disciples for the suffering he has to undergo, but they don’t understand what he is referring to. It’s something beyond simple ignorance; the Gospel account says “its meaning was hidden from them.”

If its meaning is hidden there is only one way out of their dilemma: to ask him. They’re too afraid. If they’re afraid they do know that something big is going on, something beyond their control and apparently beyond the Christ’s control, so they opt for denial. In the end it’ll make the truth even more shocking when it is revealed. Our Lord asked them to pay attention; obviously he wanted them to understand, but between God’s revelation and man’s weak response the connection was not established.

If we perceive in our hearts that Our Lord has something big to share with us, let’s not be afraid to ask him for understanding. The truth always sets us free.

Readings: Zechariah 2:5–9, 14–15a; Jeremiah 31:10–12b, 13; Luke 9:43b–45.

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s First Reading the Lord is encouraging the Israelites to not be discouraged because the Temple they are rebuilding will not have the same opulence or size as the first Temple that was destroyed when they were taken into exile. Through Haggai the Lord promises that blessings will fill it in a way that shakes up the world. The opulence of the Temple does not matter; the presence of the Lord and his Spirit is what matters, and he is with them.

When Our Lord today sounds out the disciples about the rumor mill surrounding him, and then what they think, they show an expectation of glory from whom they believe to be the “Christ of God”: the Messiah. Like the second Temple, they may experience discouragement when they realize how the Christ must accomplish his mission: it will shake them when the Messiah suffers and dies, but it will be a source of abundant fruits, just as the Lord promised through Haggai. The Lord himself will become that Temple from which the treasures of Baptism and the Eucharist flow, but only when the order of things is shaken up and in the eyes of the world a simple criminal is punished and executed.

We know in faith and hope that Our Lord will fulfill all our expectations, but also that sometimes it happens in a way we’d have never anticipated. Let’s renew our faith in the power of Our Savior today in order to weather whatever he needs to shake up in order to fill the world with his blessings. It may seem small, even insignificant in the eyes of the world, but it’ll be powerful.

Readings: Haggai 2:1–9; Psalm 43:1–4; Luke 9:18–22. See also 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday

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In today’s Gospel it’s fascinating that Herod, one of the most powerful men in Palestine, does not have a clear idea of who Jesus is and seems unable to meet him. It’s safe to say, considering what happened between him and St. John the Baptist, that this inability is self-inflicted. He’s not willing to do what it takes to know and encounter Our Lord.

Sin is a lack of communion with God; it makes him unintelligible and it takes us somewhere where he can’t go. Certain lifestyles isolate us from God, and we have to take the steps necessary to restore communion with him, to approach him once again, to try and understand him once again. Somewhere deep in Herod he knew that if he really wanted to find out about Our Lord, and see him, something in him had to change, and he wasn’t willing to do it. It’s funny that people see a virtuous life sometimes as putting a leash on your lifestyle, but a sinful life does worse: it convinces you that by accepting a leash–some vice, some destructive pleasure, some little concession to your principles–you’ll be freer. Eventually you don’t try to go beyond the limits imposed on you by the leash because, deep down, you know it’s there and don’t believe it’s possible to cast off that leash again and recover true freedom.

Herod stayed on his leash; he didn’t try to test its limits in order to get closer to Our Lord. Let’s ask Our Lord to help us cast off those “leashes” that separate us from him. He’ll help us cast off the leash and be truly free again.

Readings: Haggai 1:1–8; Psalm 149:1b–6a, 9b; Luke 9:7–9. See also Passion of St. John the Baptist and 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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Today’s Gospel reminds us that the Gospel is meant to be good news. Do we treat it as such? Sometimes we may think of it as old news, or maybe even bad news for our lifestyle. Just as the Twelve were told to shake the dust off their feet in towns that did not welcome them, we need to shake off those things that keep us from living the Gospel as good news that we want to share. Pessimism is contagious. Optimism is seen by many as sentimental and insubstantial, but the Gospel is something much more: it is a message of hope. Hope goes way beyond optimism; it means that, in the end, something good, something wonderful will come of our trials and struggles. With God that something good and wonderful will last forever and put those trials and struggles into perspective.

The Twelve were sent to heal as well. This did not just mean physical maladies, but spiritual ones too. When we don’t seek this healing it’s because we don’t really believe healing is possible. There are lots of people who’d like physical and mental healing and put their faith in every sort of therapy, treatment, and medicine, but the spiritual affliction must be addressed too, if there is one. If they’re healed spiritually they’ll be able to face any physical or mental trial and see its spiritual fruitfulness.

Let’s make the Gospel good news for us again today and share the news. Let’s reach out to the afflicted and help them come to Our Lord for healing. And let’s shake the dust off our feet of anything that gets in the way of those two goals.

Readings: Ezra 9:5–9; Tobit 13:2–4b, 4e; Luke 9:1–6.