Wednesday

2nd Week of Advent, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord invites us to learn from his example be being meek and humble of heart as a way to find rest for our souls. We see this epitomized in that empty manger we’re contemplating during the Advent season. We know the newborn Jesus is rarely depicted as crying or fussy, but we also know the humble beginnings he wished for his earthly ministry. He didn’t pick a royal family or a palace in which to take flesh, but the lowly Mary aided by the quiet and gentle St. Joseph. As human he started as a child like everyone else; as God he decided to start the work of our redemption in a childlike way.

Advent is a season that often softens our hearts, and in a world that seems harsh and cruel, softening your heart doesn’t seem the realistic or practical thing to do. In those moments where we’re tempted to exchange brusqueness for brusqueness, snide remark for snide remark, harshness for harshness,  or temper tantrum for temper tantrum we have to remember how many situations are defused by meekness and humility of heart in response. Hearts often soften and warm when an infant is brought into a room, and meekness and humility can often have the same effect.

If you have a stressful moment, consider the manger today, occupied or unoccupied, and it will help you be meek and humble of heart.

Readings: Isaiah 40:25–31; Psalm 103:1–4, 8, 10; Matthew 11:28–30. See also 15th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday.

1st Week of Advent, Wednesday

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Today’s Gospel is characterized by helping the sick and the hungry, but is also characterized by help in abundance. When we are sick or in need we don’t hope for much more than an improvement in our condition and “our daily bread.” Sometime we eke out out existence, living one day at a time, balancing our budget to alleviate our complaints without starving. The crowds were in the same situation, and suddenly everyone who comes for healing is not only given a little relief, but completely restored to health. The crowds would have appreciated simply a piece of bread to fight off the hunger pangs before they went on their way, but they ended up having all the fish and bread they could eat, and leftovers in abundance.

Advent represents that period before Our Lord’s incarnation and birth where we could hope for no more than eking out a spiritual existence: all of mankind was crippled and starved for grace and mercy, and without help all they had to expect was spiritual starvation and death. The Lord did not just bless them with more help, he came in Person in order to bless us with a grace beyond a full stomach or a clean bill of health: salvation and eternal life, to never hunger again or suffer again.

Let’s continue preparing during Advent for Our Lord’s birth, thankful for the blessings in abundance that he has already bestowed upon us, but also showing our gratitude by helping those in spiritual or material need so that they too can experience Our Lord’s abundance through us.

Readings: Isaiah 25:6–10a; Psalm 23:1–6; Matthew 15:29–37. See also 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord prepares us for when our faith is put on trial. It’s not some future eschatological and apocalyptic moment: even today Christians are ridiculed, labelled, even beheaded for professing their faith. Our Lord said we’d be a sign of contradiction in the world, so it’s no surprise that when we give witness to him there’ll be a reaction. It may not be a civil court, but it may be our family, the public square, our school, or our place of work. It’s what makes us think twice before saying grace at meals around those we don’t know well, about putting a crucifix or holy card in our cubicle or dorm where others might see, about seeing our faith as something, alongside politics, that should not be brought up in polite conversation.

Our Lord gives us the secret to breaking this little internal stalemate between a desire to share our faith and a fear of how it will turn out: trusting in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does the talking, if we are living a life that is attentive to the Spirit. Maybe we’re afraid we’ll show how little of our faith we really know and live: that’s the Spirit talking in us to work on our prayer life, examine our lifestyle, and read the Catechism a little each day to understand our faith more clearly. You may find that puts you “on trial” before your family, friends, and colleagues, but it also gives you the spiritual resources to give witness to Our Lord and a great peace knowing you’ve suffered something for the sake of his name.

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to day to help us see where and how we’re being put “on trial,” and for the insight and grace to give good testimony.

Readings: Daniel 5:1–6, 13–14, 16–17, 23–28; Daniel 3:62–67; Luke 21:12–19.

33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord responds to the expectation of an immediate manifestation of the Kingdom of God with a parable that describes symbolically how the manifestation of the Kingdom of God will take place: the Last Judgment. Our Lord is that nobleman who goes off to become king: he ascends into Heaven to be at his Father’s right hand, and, when he returns, he’ll return in glory and the Kingdom will be fully and visibly established, with rewards and sentences handed out. This parable speaks to what is expected of us in the meanwhile.

There are three categories of response. First, those who deny of any sovereignty on the part of the King, even to the point of working actively against him: a rejection of Christ and, therefore, of God, that leads to the everlasting “death sentence”of being separated forever from the only thing that matters in life: love for God and for others. Second, those who have been entrusted with something by the King in order to bear some profit for him that he’ll acknowledge and reward upon his return. Believers who do something with the talents Our Lord has given them not only benefit the Kingdom, but receive acknowledgment and trust in the Kingdom to come. Finally, those who acknowledge receiving something from the King, but do nothing to make it bear profit for him. Believers who do zero with the talents Our Lord have given them lose those talents and everything else, because they didn’t even make a minimal effort to invest them, and all Our Lord expects is some effort.

We don’t have to wait until Our King’s return to see how things turn out for us. Each one of us must see whether we’ve rejected him until now in our life, have squandered what he has entrusted to us, or have tried to make what he’s entrusted to us bear some fruit. As the parable teaches, even a minimal effort with what we’ve been entrusted is enough to bear fruit. Let’s not be afraid to improve the “verdict” in our own case.

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1, 20–31; Psalm 17:1b–d, 5–6, 8b, 15; Luke 19:11–28.

32nd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel a group of lepers ask for pity from Our Lord. Under Mosaic Law, lepers were outcasts and required not to draw near anyone not afflicted by their condition. They would also have to warn people who drew near, often shouting, “unclean, unclean.” The lepers in today’s Gospel are maintaining their distance out of respect for the Law (and to avoid the trouble they’d be in if they didn’t–people in general aren’t very warm to someone with an infectious disease). When Our Lord tells them to go show themselves to the priests, he is inviting them to make an act of faith: the Law also proscribed that when a leper was healed he should present himself to the priests, who’d certify the healing and allow him back into the community. They hadn’t been cleansed yet, but receive the miracle on the way to the priests.

The ten lepers have faith, but only one of them has the faith that goes the distance in terms of pleasing God: the Samaritan who returns to Jesus to thank him upon realizing that he’s been cured, a Samaritan, unlike the Jews, who didn’t even have all the spiritual resources at the time that a Jew would. Our Lord is merciful, so the other nine don’t get their healing taken away for not being grateful, but Our Lord’s reaction shows he was expecting something more. The nine lepers had a life of faith, but it was a little routine, and dulled to the sense of wonder when the Lord intervenes more forcefully in our lives. A vibrant faith, like that of the Samaritan formerly known as leper, responds with praise and thanksgiving when it realizes God has blessed it.

As believers we’ve received countless spiritual healings from God: through our baptism, through our sacramental life, and through our prayers. Grace sustains and restores us. Let’s get out of any spiritual rut we might find ourselves in today and praise and thank God for all his blessings, big and small.

Readings: Wisdom 6:1–11; Psalm 82:3–4, 6–7; Luke 17:11–19.