Tuesday

19th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches us that children are precious for two reasons: because they teach us about the simplicity and humility that we must all live as Christians if we are to form part of the Kingdom of heaven, and because they are all precious in the eyes of God. It’s sad that in society today things are branded as “adult” or for “mature” audiences when they contain content that isn’t appropriate for children or for adults. It’s not a society at times that fosters the innocence of children or adults, and sometimes children are forced to “grow up” before their time due to the dramatic circumstances they have to face, and certain adults need to grow up, living in a state of immaturity that’s not health for adults or children.

We must care for our children and we must learn from them: a child shows joy, kindness, simplicity, and trust. He or she reminds us that we are children of one Father and that He has given us a Blessed Mother to watch over us. Like children we can turn to God and to Mary for help in whatever we need, and let ourselves be led by Mary’s hand to her Son in order to be lead to Our Father. Anything that interferes with that, whether for children or adults, is toxic. Our Lord reminds us today that the loss of one member of the flock is not indifferent: everyone deserves care and attention, which is why we defend life from the moment of its conception to its natural death and support whatever measures help that life to grow spiritually. In today’s complex society there are so many ways for sheep to be lost, so we must be vigilant and be voice for those lost sheep who can’t speak for themselves.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us grow in child-like simplicity and humility, and pray for the protection and spiritual growth of every life in every stage of its existence so that we may all enter into the Kingdom.

Readings: Deuteronomy 31:1–8; Deuteronomy 32:3–4b, 7–9, 12; Matthew 18:1–5, 10, 12–14.

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.

17th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In order to understand the parable being explained in today’s Gospel (the parable is presented in Matthew 13:24–30, just after the parable of the sower), of weeds being sown by an enemy among someone’s wheat crop, it’s important to understand that a certain kind of weed, the bearded darnel, looked very similar to the wheat sown in the time of Our Lord in Palestine and could be mistaken for wheat. Therefore the man in the parable decides to wait until harvest time to separate them when it’s more easy to distinguish them.

With the parable of the sower that we considered a few days ago we saw some potential obstacles to God’s word bearing fruit in our lives. If we let his word take root in us, we become those wheat stalks in today’s parable that grow and bear fruit. Sadly the Devil, the fallen angels who rebelled with him, and sinful people tempt and corrupt others, and those who succumb to it are like the weeds explained in today’s parable: they grow by feeding off of others and choking those trying to grow around them, and, in the end, their lives are fruitless. Perhaps some of them don’t even realize until the end that they’ve lived their lives as weeds, not as wheat, and some evils can appear to be good. Our Lord teaches us today that evil is present and active in the world, sometimes not easily detected, and it will not be definitively overcome until he returns in glory. In the meanwhile, we must persevere in hope and virtue and not become discouraged when it seems evil is widespread and winning.

Let’s pray today for the conversion of all those “weeds” in the world today, for the courage to persevere in the face of evil, and for the wisdom to tell between the weeds and the wheat in our world.

Readings: Exodus 33:7–11, 34:5b–9, 28; Psalm 103:6–13; Matthew 13:36–43.

16th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel it may seem that Our Lord is showing disrespect toward his mother and his “brothers” (in the New Testament this expression refers to any blood relations), but he is inviting them to go from considering what it means to be a member of a family to being in communion with God and with others. When God explains his intimate being he describes it in terms of Father and Son, and even the Holy Spirit is considered often from the perspective of love, the hallmark of every good family. A healthy and happy family is not only a blessing for its members, but for those who have the grace to know them as well. One of the greatest compliments you can give a friend is to say he or she is part of the family.

We know Mary is a great mother who loved and supported her son from the Annunciation all the way to Calvary and beyond. It’s safe to say that the “brothers” were incredulous about Jesus and what he was doing; in Gospel accounts of Jesus’ visits to Nazareth he lamented how little he could do there due to their lack of faith. In his response today he is paying a compliment to his mother while inviting his “brothers” to go beyond their blood relation with him to a faith that brings them into a communion with him, his disciples, and God–to become part of the extended family of all believers, by striving to do God’s will. His mother is not only a good mother; she has lived her entire life in perfect harmony with God’s will, and therefore she’s already his biological mother and well along to path to being the mother of all believers.

Let’s pray today for all families to be healthy, happy, and holy, and for all believers to treat each other like brothers and sisters, knowing it is God’s will for us.

Readings: Exodus 14:21–15:1; Exodus 15:8–10, 12, 17; Matthew 12:46–50.

15th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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It’s not often that the Lord becomes angry in the Gospels. Like a concerned parent faced with a misbehaving child who doesn’t entirely understand the consequences of his actions, Our Lord expresses his displeasure for the good of others, not out of hate. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum had seen many miracles and received special attention from Our Lord, yet they didn’t take the first step of conversion: repentance for their sins.

In using the examples of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom, Our Lord is telling them how much more attention and preparation Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum had received. Tyre and Sidon were pagan cities that had negatively influenced Israel in the past and had led the people of God to idolatry. Sodom was destroyed for its iniquity and perversion. The first step in repentance is acknowledging that there is something for which you should repent: in contrasting the two sets of cities Our Lord is warning his audience that they needed to repent for their sins and that they risked a similar spiritual destruction if they didn’t.

Our Lord didn’t cast off his human nature when he rose from the dead: he can still be displeased with us, but for our own good. Let’s examine the blessings he’s given us in our lives to see whether we need to do something more or something differently in order to please him and to ensure our own spiritual well-being.

Readings: Exodus 2:1–15a; Psalm 69:3, 14, 30–31, 33–34; Matthew 11:20–24.