Tuesday

8th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year I

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord assures us that when we give up the things that are dear to us–family, home, wealth–we’ll be blessed a hundred fold. In the First Reading we’re reminded that God rewards those who do what is pleasing to him. In the Gospel today it goes one step further. When we put Our Lord and his Gospel first, even in the sad cases where our loved ones don’t understand, we become part of a much larger family, and family that is all heading, one day, to our true home. We called priests “Father,” religious, “Brother, Sister, or Mother,” and we experience that wherever we go, there are believers, our brothers and sisters in the faith, who welcome us into their homes and share the blessings they have received from God. If we are separated briefly from our biological family and the place where we were born, we know that through serving the Gospel we are honoring God, our family, and our nation.

It’s not easy: Jesus warns us today that the persecutions will not go away. Even those we love don’t understand sometimes, much less the world that often transmits a message of looking our for number one and nobody else. That message fills the world with strangers, foreigners, and wildernesses, urban or otherwise. Neighborhoods become more of a place where isolated people or families reside rather than a community that looks out for each other. The Gospel keeps us open to everyone, keeps extending the invitation to become part of the family one smile at a time, one kind gesture at a time. And the people who have persevered on that path have not regretted it.

Let’s thank Our Lord today for all the sacrifices we have made putting his Gospel first, for all the blessings that have come of it, and pray that more people may come to be part of our family.

Readings: Sirach 35:1–12; Psalm 50:5–8, 14, 23; Mark 10:28–31.

 

7th Week of Easter, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches us that we glorify God by doing what is pleasing to him, and presents a list of things showing exactly that. In sending the Son God shows us concretely how our lives can glorify him: by following, imitating, and sharing the Gospel of and about Christ. Glory in the language of Jesus today is more than just receiving a pat on the back or a commendation to hang on your wall: it is transformation of your life into something more profound and more wonderful, even right here and now, as the first fruits of receiving the gift of eternal life.

We give glory to God by living a virtuous and holy life while at the same time giving credit where credit is due, just as Jesus in today’s Gospel gives credit to the Father, not just to his own accomplishments on earth. Our Lord has entrusted us with many gifts, not just for ourselves, but for others, and we give him the credit for that by acknowledging it before God and before others even while we share those gifts and edify others with our example of Christian living.

Let’s try to glorify Our Lord today in some act of virtue or holiness in order to give credit where credit is due.

Readings: Acts 20:17–27; Psalm 68:10–11, 20–21; John 17:1–11a.

6th Week of Easter, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord describes the Holy Spirit as the Advocate, a legal term that goes well with the language of conviction and judgment that he uses to describe the Holy Spirit’s action in the world and in each one of us. The original Greek word that describes in this passage what the Holy Spirit does (ἐλέγχω) contains multiple meanings; it can mean “to convict,” as today’s Gospel translation puts it, “to convince,” as other translations use, “to rebuke,” or “to expose” something. When we consider all these meanings it gives us a better sense of what Jesus is trying to teach us today about the Holy Spirit.

When we struggle with moral decisions sometimes we don’t realize that we’re not alone in our conscience with just our thoughts and evaluations: the Holy Spirit is there too, and is always trying to shed light on the right thing to do in our hearts, and to inspire us to take the right path in our lives, even in the little day to day decisions we make. Depending on our response we too can say that the Spirit “convicts” us when we choose evil instead of good and “rebukes” us for it, or “convinces” us that we’ve got to do the right thing. The Spirit often “exposes” things about ourselves that we’d rather ignore. In order to make a positive impact on our lives and the lives of those around us we need to work with the Holy Spirit so that instead of being convicted we become convinced of Jesus’ message.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us resolve any decision we’re struggling with today, and to “convince” us about the right thing to do so that we don’t find ourselves “convicted” due to our actions.

Readings: Acts 16:22–34; Psalm 138:1–3, 7c–8; John 16:5–11.

5th Week of Easter, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord promises to give us peace, but not as the world gives it. Peace as the world understands it can mean so many things: financial security, quality time with family and friends, good health, a lack of worries, domestic tranquility (either as a family or as a nation), a sense of fulfillment in your career, etc. The difference between these kinds of peace and the peace Jesus offers us is that all these things, even if they might last a long time, won’t last forever. Easter time is a time for thinking of eternal life and eternal peace. The peace we experience in this life is often just a glimpse of the true peace that is to come.

The peace Jesus promises today is not just a future peace: Paul in the First Reading was attacked and left for dead, and if a movie was written about such drama today, it’d probably show Paul in the aftermath as traumatized, disillusioned, bitter, or seeking revenge. The First Reading shows something different: Paul gets up, moves on, and keeps working and encouraging others. That is the peace of soul we as Christians strive for: it continues to fill us even when we are persecuted, sick, poor, or reviled. It’s a peace that is willing to sacrifice everything to show that God loves us and has a purpose for us, therefore all the trials and tribulations of this life in the end will seem like so many small inconveniences that are forgotten in the light of the more fulfilling and meaningful things of life that follow.

If we are facing trials today: poverty, illness, a difficult family situation, persecution for being a good person or being Christian, let’s ask Our Lord to help us draw from the deeper well of his peace not only to help us keep moving forward, but to be a source of true peace in others’ lives as well.

Readings: Acts 14:19–28; Psalm 145:10–13b, 21; John 14:27–31a.

4th Week of Easter, Tuesday

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Readings: Acts 11:19–26; Psalm 87:1b–7; John 10:22–30.

In today’s Gospel the Jews show they still have a lot of preconceived notions about how the Messiah (Christ, “the anointed one”) should act and how he should accomplish his mission. At the time of Jesus the expectation was that the Christ would be a strong political leader, a king who would drive out the Romans, conquer the enemies of Israel, and establish a lasting kingdom and dynasty. The First Reading reminds us that even the disciples themselves moved in Jewish cultural circles for some time before they realized the Gospel message was for all peoples of all cultures.

Perhaps those insisting Jesus say clearly he was the Christ also saw that as being the proof they needed that they should band together as soldiers behind a king who was going to help them clean house. Our Lord gives them a different image of his disciples: sheep who are cared for and protected from the wolves, but who also recognize the shepherd for who he is and follow him in meekness and humility. In the First Reading these “sheep” were called Christians for the first time: society had to acknowledge that this was not just another group, but something new, something different.

Society today also needs something new, something different, and Christianity always has the potential to infuse culture with life and meaning. Let’s ask Our Lord help us today to see how by being better Christians in his eyes we can also give that testimony to something new and different in the secularized society that surrounds us.