Ordinary Time

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

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The journey to a profound and meaningful encounter with Our God is a long one, as the First Reading reminds us today. For Elijah the Lord sent an angel as his messenger to give him food and drink in order to continue on his pilgrimage to meet God and sort out what had happened in his mission and what needed to happen. Elijah had all but given up, but he was sent encouragement and nourishment along the way. He wanted the journey to be over, but the Lord still had plans for him.

In today’s Gospel God himself, the Son, has come to encourage the faithful, and today he tries to teach them that he is the Bread of Life who will sustain them in their pilgrimage toward eternal life. It’s difficult for the crowds to understand this teaching: they know Jesus, where he is from, who he parents are, so it’s hard for them to believe he has come down from Heaven. They’re earthly knowledge and reasoning are not enough: it’s time for faith. It’s not just a faith born in a vacuum: they’re receiving grace to help them believe and be open to the Heavenly Father’s messenger. If they open their hearts to the Father, the Father leads them to take the next step. They must believe in His Son, not just as a sure guide in their pilgrimage to eternal life, but as their nourishment to be able to undertake the journey and as their “sponsor:” his self-offering makes the journey possible at all.

Let’s thank Our Lord today for helping us in our journey toward eternal life, and open our hearts to whatever he is trying to teach us.

Readings: 1 Kings 19:4–8; Psalm 34:2–9; Ephesians 4:30–5:2; John 6:41–51. See also 3rd Week of Easter, Thursday.

18th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord shows a rare case of frustration with his disciples over their inability to help a boy who is being plagued by a demon. Throughout the Gospel Our Lord is preparing his disciples to continue his ministry after his death and resurrection, but on various occasions the disciples don’t seem to be up to the task. These moments in the early Church are a reminder to us of what we can improve on when it seems some challenge we’re facing is insurmountable.

In this case, Our Lord is expecting more faith from the disciples. It’s seen throughout the Gospel that Our Lord can only work miracles based on the faith of those who need them. The disciples’ faith, just like our faith, is how we connect to God, the true source of miracles, insights, and strength. We can never lose sight of the fact that God is active, but he wants to act through us. A seemingly difficult case–a boy plagued with symptoms that are like epilepsy, are chronic and life threatening, but are actually the result of a demon–to Our Lord doesn’t seem like one that requires much faith to overcome. Evil and difficulties often try to appear bigger and nastier than they actually are: with faith Our Lord helps us to put them into perspective. The enormity of God makes other things seem tiny in comparison.

Is Our Lord asking you to move any “mountains” today? A chronic problem? An enduring evil? Ask him to help you grow in faith today in order to face them and surmount them.

Readings: Deuteronomy 6:4–13; Psalm 18:2–4, 47, 51; Matthew 17:14–20.

18th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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Today’s First Reading from the book of Deuteronomy is part of Moses’ “last testament” before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. He reminds them that all the prosperity they have enjoyed and will enjoy is a gift from God, and that God should be acknowledged as the source of all prosperity. Through no merit of their own they were liberated from Egypt and then taken to the Promised Land. Despite all their complaining Our Lord continued to be faithful to his promises, as he had throughout their history and the history of their fathers, the Patriarchs. When they lost sight of that, they got into trouble.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord encourages his disciples to practice detachment and to remember that everything they have comes from God. All things that God has created only serve us to the degree that they help us and others draw closer to God. Sometimes we lose sight of that: we want a life that does not involved self-denial and the Cross, a life where we own everything we could possibly want, not just everything we need. We seek financial security, comfort, and control, and we convince ourselves that we’ll be satisfied with having more money, more comfort, more control. But the things of this world are fleeting and we’ve all experienced that after one bill comes another, that we can’t always enjoy the health or comfort we crave, no matter how hard we try, and that there are many things that will always be beyond our control. When we get obsessed about achieving the impossible in this world–unlimited wealth (the latest and greatest and a big nest egg), complete comfort (no aches and pains, nothing unpleasant), and total control (everything arranged to our satisfaction)–those things that God created for our good become obstacles to drawing closer to him, and throw up obstacles for others as well.

Let’s take stock today of what we want in life and what we truly need, and see how we can better use the gifts God bestows on us to draw closer to him and help others to draw closer to him as well.

Readings: Deuteronomy 4:32–40; Psalm 77:12–16, 21; Matthew 16:24–28.

18th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel on face value it seems Our Lord is being very harsh with the Canaanite woman. The First Reading reminds us that there was bad blood in the past between the Israelites and the Canaanites: the first generation of Israelites were so scared of them that they didn’t enter the Promised Land and continued to journey in the desert for forty years. Jesus is not just being driven by the prejudices of his time: when the Centurion asked him for help, another pagan, he didn’t hesitate (see Matthew 8:5–13). Jesus during his earthly ministry concentrated on the Jewish people; later his Apostles and disciples would bring the Gospel beyond the confines of Judaism, as is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles. So the conversation with the Canaanite woman is very similar to the Wedding Feast at Cana when Mary asked him to do something about the wine situation and he said, “my hour has not yet come” (see John 2:4).

Our Lord is having this conversation in front of all his disciples so that they could see that even someone who’d not been prepared to believe could believe. Like his response to Mary in the Wedding Feast at Cana, here he was inviting the Canaanite woman to offer something more: greater faith and humility. The Canaanite woman rose to the occasion that Jesus congratulated her on her faith and healed her daughter, not only to her benefit but to that of the disciples as well.

We can easily fall into rash judgments about others and their actions. We can pigeonhole them into caricatures or stereotypes. But Our Lord wants to bring the Gospel to everyone in their situation, with their strengths and defects, and lead them to Our Heavenly Father. Let’s ask for the grace to go beneath the surface of those we meet and help them to know the Gospel as well.

Readings: Numbers 13:1–2, 25–14:1, 14:26a–29a, 34–35; Psalm 106:6–7b, 13–14, 21–23; Matthew 15:21–28.

18th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel we see Peter exercising a faith that was still a work in progress when things seemed difficult. When things in our life seem difficult, and God reveals himself, we too can get scared, since we often associate God with life and death, when he actually wants to be with us in fair weather or foul weather, not just in crisis moments. When he reveals himself, as he did to the disciples, it is to encourage us to continue forward in faith.

Peter shows a faith today that is uncertain, but willing to take a risk in a seemingly impossible situation: he’s not just asking for a sign from Jesus that it is him, but he is also offering to take a risk in taking a step toward him. Jesus invites him to take the risk, and, when Peter’s faith starts to falter, he helps him. Peter started focusing on the wind and water–the difficulties–instead of on Our Lord. All he had to do was fix his eyes upon Jesus again and Our Lord was ready to help him and to continue to help him grow in his faith.

If things are difficult, be on watch for Our Lord revealing himself in your situation. He may ask you to do something risky, something seemingly impossible, but as long as you keep your eyes fixed on him with faith he will enable you to take the next step.

Readings: Numbers 12:1–13; Psalm 51:3–7, 12–13; Matthew 14:22–36.