Tuesday

14th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel we see in brief the concern Our Lord has for every soul, a concern he describes as like a shepherd toward his sheep. Throughout Church history this has been seen as “pastoral” concern for others: the Good Shepherd has entrusted his sheep to Peter, to the Apostles, and, throughout history, to bishops and priests. Deacons, consecrated persons, and the laity have helped them in this mission from the beginning. The pastoral mission includes teaching, healing, and guiding, in imitation of the Good Shepherd, who, as today’s Gospel describes, went about preaching the Gospel (teaching), curing (healing), and seeking to help the lost and abandoned who needed direction, like sheep without shepherds (guiding).

Today we describe this as the teaching office, the ruling office, and the sanctifying office of pastors. Our Lord reminds us in today’s Gospel that there are many people in need of instruction, guidance, and healing, and he seeks help in giving them the attention they need. All the pastoral solicitude of the Church strives to fulfill this wish of Jesus, and he tells us we need to pray that Our Heavenly Father call people to help in this mission. There is a lot of work to be done.

Let’s pray for the workers already laboring in the harvest, and that more respond to Our Heavenly Father’s call with generosity. Let’s also ask ourselves today how we can help all those souls out there in need of instruction, healing, and guidance. Not all are called to be shepherds, but every Christian is called to help those who are.

Readings: Genesis 32:23–33; Psalm 17:1b, 2–3, 6–7b, 8b, 15; Matthew 9:32–38.

13th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel the disciples ask themselves what sort of “man” Jesus is with the power to calm storms. When God chose to become flesh he also chose to be a teacher; if we consider the story of God’s wrath in today’s First Reading it’s no surprise that he wouldn’t immediately reveal himself as God–they’d be more terrified of him than the storm. It was a gradual process. If the disciples at this point had completely understood him to be God, they’d not have been afraid. After the Resurrection there was little room for doubt, and even then they doubted.

We are taught about Our Lord throughout our life of faith, but he is also within us, revealing himself gradually to the degree he thinks we’re ready. We’re often not as ready as he wants us to be, and that rocks our boat. In faith, little by little, we’ll gain a deeper understanding of him if we trust in him.

When our boat is rocking today let’s ask him to help us grow in faith.

Readings: Genesis 19:15–29; Psalm 26:2–3, 9–12; Matthew 8:23–27.

12th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord warns us that not everyone is enthusiastic or necessarily open to receiving the Gospel message. Some are openly hostile to the Christian message. Sharing the Gospel requires slow and patient work as well as prudence, and it is not easy, because we imitate Christ, and his earthly ministry culminated on the Cross. It’s a fine line between not shying away from martyrdom and deciding whether sharing something holy and valuable with those who not only don’t appreciate it, but may be openly hostile about it, will really achieve the results we’d hope.

The things of God are both holy and valuable, as represented by the pearl in today’s Gospel. Dogs and swine in the Bible often represent anger, obstinacy, and impurity and represent people who are hostile or impure. Not only will angry, obstinate, and impure people not appreciate holy things or valuable things, but may react violently if such things are offered. Jesus’ teaches us to do to others as we’d hope they’d do to us, and for some souls that is the way to help them draw closer to God: a kindness and consideration that may win them over instead of going straight to doctrine. We have to be on guard against taking the approaches of “dogs” or “swines” either.

Let’s pray that we find and stick to that narrow road and narrow gate Our Lord points out to us and ask him to enlighten us as to the best way to help each soul find them as well.

Readings: Genesis 13:2, 5–18; Psalm 15:2–4b, 5; Matthew 7:6, 12–14.

11th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s First Reading Paul gives the Corinthians a way to measure whether their love is genuine: by their concern for others. As Our Lord reminds us in today’s Gospel good people and evil people receive gifts from God so that they can live a good life: the sun warms them, the refreshes them, together they provide the conditions for the food we need, etc. God’s concern is not conditioned by whether someone is a saint or a sinner: he provides for them and gives them the means to be holy. Droughts, natural disasters, and other calamities don’t just target the good or just the wicked. God really doesn’t need to intervene in that way: a sinner’s punishment is largely self-inflicted, and if a sinner doesn’t use God’s blessings wisely, it’ll only get worse, even eternally worse.

When evil stares us in the face, not some nebulous force or Hollywood B movie caricature, but real evil done by real people and to real people, we must combat it for the sake of others, but we must not lose our concern for the people who are on that path to misery and failure by their misdeeds. That is the sign of genuine love, a perfect love, like our Heavenly Father’s love. It’s not a love conditioned by the love we expect in return or have received; otherwise we’d only care about those who care for us. That is the secret to overcoming the damage any lack of love on the part of others may have caused in our lives. Love can triumph if we let it. Society, a difficult family situation, an evil done to us can only conquer our love if we let it.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to strengthen our love by growing in our concern for others and praying for sinners to take up the path of life again.

Readings: 2 Corinthians 8:1–9; Psalm 146:2, 5–9a; Matthew 5:43–48.

10th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches us that Christian life is like salt and light. Flavorless Christianity is like putting sand on your french fries: something is different about the taste, but it’s not something good. Some people have already written off Christianity as sand on the fries, as something that robs life of its flavor, but those people have either never experienced it or have only met the flavorless variety of Christian that Jesus is warning against today. Christianity, like salt, is not meant to be just any flavor; salt is a staple in many recipes, in many cultures, and it is not easily replaced. Neither pepper nor chili powder, for example, would have the same effect. Christianity is meant to make a unique contribution to society and culture, even for those who do not believe in Christ. For believers, like that salt shaker on the dinner table, it is indispensable and we can accept no substitutes.

Salt subtly contributes to many recipes and is only appreciated at times when its absence is noted. It’s meant to blend in and contribute, but we have to make sure it receives the credit it is due, which is why Our Lord also reminds us in today’s Gospel that Christianity is meant to be a light on a high place or a lamp stand: it is meant to shed light on many things, even things not directly considered Christian, because ultimately the Gospel is a message of truth and goodness that contributes to every level and sector of society, directly or indirectly. There are ethical and philosophical truths that any reasonable person can consider, even if they don’t believe any or some of the tenets of Christian faith, and those ethical and philosophical truths can open the door to their conversion.

Let’s pray today for the flavorless Christians to put some “spice” back into their Christian life, and also for all those Christians trying to be the light of world while being treated like sand in the fries.

Readings: 2 Corinthians 1:18–22; Psalm 119:129–133, 135; Matthew 5:13–16.