Wednesday

25th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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Today’s Gospel reminds us that the Gospel is meant to be good news. Do we treat it as such? Sometimes we may think of it as old news, or maybe even bad news for our lifestyle. Just as the Twelve were told to shake the dust off their feet in towns that did not welcome them, we need to shake off those things that keep us from living the Gospel as good news that we want to share. Pessimism is contagious. Optimism is seen by many as sentimental and insubstantial, but the Gospel is something much more: it is a message of hope. Hope goes way beyond optimism; it means that, in the end, something good, something wonderful will come of our trials and struggles. With God that something good and wonderful will last forever and put those trials and struggles into perspective.

The Twelve were sent to heal as well. This did not just mean physical maladies, but spiritual ones too. When we don’t seek this healing it’s because we don’t really believe healing is possible. There are lots of people who’d like physical and mental healing and put their faith in every sort of therapy, treatment, and medicine, but the spiritual affliction must be addressed too, if there is one. If they’re healed spiritually they’ll be able to face any physical or mental trial and see its spiritual fruitfulness.

Let’s make the Gospel good news for us again today and share the news. Let’s reach out to the afflicted and help them come to Our Lord for healing. And let’s shake the dust off our feet of anything that gets in the way of those two goals.

Readings: Ezra 9:5–9; Tobit 13:2–4b, 4e; Luke 9:1–6.

24th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord laments that the public square in his time had been reduced to two polarized parties whining at each other: the ascetic, traditional types, who saw life as an extended funeral, and the hedonistic, progressive types, who saw life as a party. Each party had some valid points, but each also sought simply to absorb the other into its own way of thinking and feeling and to ignore any merits it may have had. When John the Baptist and Our Lord enter the public square, the parties try to do the same thing to them. Our Lord reminds them that the true goal is to seek wisdom: they are receiving John and him as if they were other children on the same level who should just get with one program or another.

The world today works very similarly: people want us to think, to feel, to act in a certain way, to either spend all our time making waves and partying, or to stay quiet and just suffer through life like everyone else trying to make a living. Wisdom, as Our Lord describes today, is recognized by all as something not worthy of criticism: it goes beyond opinion to the question of a truly fulfilling way of life. There is wisdom in moments of joy and moments of duty, but neither can be excluded. Wisdom keeps the bigger picture always in mind, and based on it we know that there are moments of feast and of famine in life. Jesus is the Wisdom of God, and he seeks to help us to break out of lifestyle stalemates and to embrace life, with its lights and shadows, in all its fullness and truth.

Let’s pray today for the Wisdom that breaks us out of any ruts or stalemates in which our lives are stuck.

Readings: 1 Timothy 3:14–16; Psalm 111:1–6; Luke 7:31–35.

23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord gives encouragement to some and a warning to others. If we’ve experienced hunger, poverty, or derision in our lives, we know how much more wonderful each meal, each bill paid, and each affirmation feels. At the same time, if we’ve enjoyed a full stomach, some surplus income, and being liked by everyone, we face the temptation to just keep working to have more and to be kept more in mind–we may be full, but we never feel satisfied. Whether we’re experiencing feast or famine, glory or persecution, we have to keep our sights set on where we’ll truly be satisfied: in Heaven.

As St. Paul reminds us in the First Reading, we have to keep our sights set above. That’s what reminds us that earthly things are meant to be means to achieve heavenly ones, not just for us, but for others as well. Material wealth and honor will not last forever: as the saying goes, you can’t take it with you, and all of us have visited monuments to people who are all but forgotten. The real glory we earn will be determined by how we invested our talents and treasure in the light of eternity. If we fall into the trap of living a lie for the sake of fame and celebrity it’s just a matter of time, either here or in eternity, when we’ll be revealed for who we truly are.

Let’s not focus on how full our stomach is, how full our bank account is, or whether we’re popular. Let’s focus on living a life in Christ that will one day blossom into glory with him.

Readings: Colossians 3:1–11; Psalm 145:2–3, 10–13b; Luke 6:20–26.

22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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Today’s Gospel reminds us that Our Lord intended to spread his Gospel from the beginning. The miraculous healing of Peter’s mother-in-law draws attention: instead of just a fever breaking and the need for more rest, she is completely restored and able to attend to the needs of others. Soon others are bringing their sick, and Our Lord casts out more demons who, like yesterday, continued to try to spoil the surprise that Our Lord was gradually revealing to the people of Israel.

After a night of excitement, Our Lord withdraws to pray, alone and quiet. People are coming to him, and news is starting to spread. The people want him to stay with them and go looking for him for fear he might leave. They soon learn that the Gospel is meant to spread; Our Lord cannot just remain in one house or one town–he wants to personally deliver the message. As the First Reading reminds us, the Gospel continues to bear fruit and grow throughout the entire world.

The Gospel is meant to spread. Let’s examine ourselves today to see whether we’re keeping it all to ourselves or sharing it.

Readings: Colossians 1:1–8; Psalm 52:10–11; Luke 4:38–44.

21st Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord points out the irony that the Pharisees on the outside try to appear squeaky clean, but on the inside are hypocritical and evil. The Jews whitewashed tombs because if a Jew came near one or trod on one, he would be ritually defiled, even if he was unaware of it. In using this image Our Lord is warning his listeners that the whitewash the Pharisees have placed on themselves should put them on their guard as well if they don’t want to inadvertently defile themselves.

Hypocrisy even today is one of the greatest sins a person can commit, even for people who have no concept of sin–no one likes a hypocrite. People can try to present themselves as something more or something better than they are, and they seek legitimacy in any way possible. How many people through the Internet either try or imagine themselves to be what they’re not? Jesus reminds us today that God knows our hearts. If God knows us as we truly are, there’s no point in deluding ourselves into thinking that we can live a double life, to be one thing on the inside and another on the outside.

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help be who we are. When we stop trying to be what we’re not he can help us to explore the wealth of who we truly are.

Readings: 1 Thessalonians 2:9–13; Psalm 139:7–12b; Matthew 23:27–32.