Year II

24th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul presents the initial teaching that would mature over the course of Church history into the teaching of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. Through baptism we are incorporated into the Mystical Body, a Body united and vivified by the Holy Spirit. Like a body we are many, but in Christ and the Holy Spirit we are one, and, like a body, every member has a role to play for the good of the whole body, even though we don’t all have the same role. A healthy organism has all its parts working and working in harmony.

The Mystical Body explains our unity and our diversity, but is also explains our responsibility. Some parts of a body could be considered more glamorous (the face, the hands, etc.), but each person needs to determine their role, and, in the case of the Church, their calling for the good of the Church and her mission. Whether your calling is glamorous or not, the Mystical Body needs it and needs you.

Let’s pray today for unity and harmony in Our Lord’s Mystical Body today for the good of the whole Body and our mission of evangelization.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:12–14, 27–31a; Psalm 100:1b–5; Luke 7:11–17.

 

24th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year II

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Before celebrating the Eucharist together the first Christians gathered for a meal called an agape meal, agape meaning a deep love in Greek. Paul in today’s First Reading is expressing his concern that the Christians at Corinth are treating the agape meal more like a cafeteria than as a family coming together to eat. It’s not even a potluck; everyone brings their own food and eats it, and some overindulge while others go hungry. What does that say for them when they come together to participate in the Eucharist, the sacrament of love?

Today’s parishes have parishioners that come from wide areas and walks of life, enjoying plenty or facing hardship. Many parishes describe themselves as Catholic “communities.” Paul encourages us today to examine whether the good will we show to our brothers and sisters in the faith goes beyond the parish parking lot after Sunday Mass. How do we see them in our neighborhood, the supermarket, or a restaurant? Do we really know how they’re doing? The Eucharist solidifies and grounds our love for God and our love for others, but we can just go through the motions if we don’t truly try to put charity into practice.

We don’t gather for agape meals before Mass anymore, but we can show our love for Our Lord by showing our concern for our fellow parishioners. Let’s strive to be a family of faith not just Sunday, but every day.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 11:17–26, 33; Psalm 40:7–10, 17; Luke 7:1–10. See also 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul invites us to consider who or what we are idolizing. We only really have one altar in our hearts, and no matter how much we try to crowd onto it, it only has room for one. Anything else will just fill us with restlessness and unhappiness.

The Christians of Corinth faced a polytheistic culture that was woven into the fabric of their society. Banquets and even the meat from the local butcher was food that had been sacrificed to idols, and eating that food gave the impression of worship those false gods. Paul explains the danger by reminding us that when we eat the Bread of life and drink the Precious Blood we enter into communion with Our Lord. Partaking of food in any other context of worship implies desiring communion, and we are only meant for communion with God and with each other.

We may not face this danger in the same way today, but we do often risk putting others or other things on that altar in our hearts that should be reserved for the Lord alone. Let’s take a moment today to withdraw into that shrine of our souls and make sure the Lord alone is worshiped and honored there.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 10:14–22; Psalm 116:12–13, 17–18; Luke 6:43–49. See also 1st Week of Advent, Thursday, 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, and 23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday.

23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II

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In today’s First Reading Paul reminds us that, for him, sharing the Gospel is not like handing out flyers for a restaurant on a street corner: a job promoting something that people could take or leave, and nothing more. The Gospel involves a commitment and a lifestyle, often a change of lifestyle for those who have not been born and raised as believers. The more convinced you are of its importance, the more you transmit the message by wanting to share it at all.

Living and sharing the Gospel is not something that gets easier with practice either. Like the athlete, the Gospel requires discipline and hard work in order to have a chance at success. There is a chance of losing the great competition of life, even after many years. Paul didn’t consider victory to be a given; it is a gift from the Lord.

If we let the Gospel shape our lives, we will transmit a formula for success. Let’s not be shy about sharing it.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 9:16–19, 22b–27; Psalm 84:3–6, 12; Luke 6:39–42. See also 23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year II

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Today’s First Reading has something you don’t see very often: Paul giving his opinion instead of a commandment from Christ. The question is regarding celibacy and whether Our Lord commanded it for everyone. Paul’s response is that everyone is called to chastity, just not in the same way. Celibacy is refraining from the intimate relationship between a man and a woman normally done between two people married to each other. Chastity is a virtue for everyone, married or not: it means living your sexuality in accord with God’s plan.

In our highly sexualized culture chastity is a challenge to live today, and it is a challenge both married and unmarried people have to face. For the unmarried it means either awaiting that special someone with whom they’ll marry before living the intimacy that, God willing, will help them become parents as well as strengthen their love, or being sexually continent for love of the Lord. For the married it means fidelity to your spouse and honoring your spouse and the Lord in the way you live your sexuality.

Let’s pray for everyone, whatever their state and condition in life, to live chastely and in so doing to honor themselves, others, and Our Lord.

Readings: 1 Corinthians 7:25–31; Psalm 45:11–12, 14–17; Luke 6:20–26. See also 23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.