Month: July 2022

  • The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

    The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    At first glance, it all seems so simple, doesn’t it? “Go and do likewise.” Easy enough. But when a command like “go and do likewise” comes at the end of one of Jesus’ parables, we really ought to suspect it’s going to stretch us a little bit, and today is no exception.

    So let’s take a step back and look at today’s first reading to get some background for what’s happening in today’s Gospel. Moses is exhorting the people to keep the commandments of God. But which ones? The Ten Commandments? Perhaps. But the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus give the fullness of the Jewish law. There you can read over six hundred laws pertaining to everything from hospitality to the treatment of slaves, and then some. I often think the people had to be overwhelmed when they thought about that many laws. They may even have been fearful that they would have accidentally broken one of those laws in the course of daily life. But Moses is telling them that they don’t have to be reaching to find the laws they need to follow. Those laws aren’t remote or mysterious. They don’t have to cross the sea or search the sky. Because the law they need to follow is very near to them: on their lips and in their heart. They have only to carry it out.

    This is almost exactly the same thing Jesus is saying in the Gospel today. The scholar of the law who approaches Jesus today isn’t really seeking further knowledge. Rather, he is showing off and testing Jesus to see what he would say. He wants to know what it takes to inherit eternal life. Which is the right question, but for the wrong reason. In other words, he really isn’t concerned about his salvation – he probably thinks that a scholar of the law like him has that all wrapped up anyway – instead he is trying to trap Jesus and make him look foolish. 

    As Jesus often does, he answers the question with a question: “What is written in the law?” The scholar feels on good, solid, comfortable ground with that question, and responds correctly for a good Jew in that time and place: Love God with everything that you are, and love your neighbor. Loving God and neighbor, as Jesus tells us elsewhere, is the Law and the Prophets all wrapped up in a quick little elevator speech. So Jesus commends him, and says that if he does this he will live. But the man wants to justify himself a little more, and so he asks, “Who is my neighbor?” And this is the ten-thousand-dollar question of the day.

    There are a few Greek words that translate to “neighbor” for us.  The Greek word for “neighbor” in this particular parable means something a little more than a person living near you.  The word for  “neighbor” here is something a little higher. This word is almost a verb. It’s not just someone nearby, but instead the dynamic of coming near to another, of approaching and drawing close.

    I think we all have an idea in mind when we hear the word “neighbor.” I remember the neighborhood where I grew up, the neighborhood in which my mother continues to live. I had friends who went to school with me, and even to our Church. When we were growing up, we would spend hot summer nights together outside, playing “kick the can” and other kids’ games. Later, we attended our youth group together. Our parents kept an eye not just on their own kids, but on all the kids in the neighborhood. When my sister was little, she used to like to climb trees, and as soon as she did, the neighbor would call to let my mother know so she wouldn’t fall out of the tree and break her neck, which thankfully never happened. When someone had an illness or death in the family, there would be food brought to the house. If there was work to be done, someone would always lend a hand. We were neighbors to each other.

    But again, as nice as this picture of “neighbor” is, Jesus is calling us to go deeper. He is asking us to step outside ourselves, and to see a person in need and respond, no matter where that person is, no matter his or her race, color or creed. This is a real challenge in every time and place.  The person in need is always our neighbor. Listen to that statement again, because it’s crucial to what we’re hearing today and I don’t want you to leave this holy place without coming to understand it: the person in need is always, always, always our neighbor.

    Before we come down too hard on the priest and the Levite in the story, let’s give them a bit of a break. In telling the story, Jesus doesn’t condemn the priest and the Levite.  They were doing what people in their position would probably do, because they had to be concerned about remaining ritually pure so that they could lead worship. But Jesus says to them that they cannot be so concerned about the finer points of the law that they miss responding to the needs of a neighbor among them.

    And we have to hear that too. Because we too can get so caught up in our own laws that we end up as self-righteous as that scholar of the law. We may claim to respect life if we have never been involved in an abortion. And that’s a great start, but respecting life also demands that we care for the poor and needy, that we care for the health of every person, that we honor our elderly brothers and sisters, and that we repent of our racism and refuse to honor stereotypes that are an affront to human dignity. We may claim to honor the sixth commandment if we have never committed adultery. But honoring that commandment also means that we live pure lives and strive always to purify our hearts. It means we don’t take part in off-color jokes and that we refrain from watching television or movies, or visiting internet sites that lead us down the wrong path. We may claim to be thankful for our daily bread when we say grace before meals. But being thankful for our blessings means also that we share them with those who are hungry. Because Jesus is leading us to a deeper reality today, we can no longer get caught up in the self-righteousness that the scholar of the law brings to his encounter with Jesus.

    The person in need is always our neighbor. We don’t need to search far and wide to figure out what to do for that person. We have only to see the generous and self-giving response of the Samaritan in today’s Gospel and, as Jesus commands us, to “go and do likewise.” The Law and the Prophets are as near to us as that.

  • Saturday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

    Saturday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    I think it’s amazing to let your imagination wander to this vision that the prophet Isaiah had in today’s first reading.  Looking upon God in all God’s glory would be awe-inspiring, perhaps even terrifying.  Seeing that, Isaiah is inspired to do a kind of examination of conscience, where he sees how sinful and unclean he is, living among people who are sinful and unclean, and realizing that having seen God’s greatness, he is doomed.

    It’s a useful reflection for us disciples, I think.  Because sometimes I think we are overly familiar with God, and don’t remember his greatness and power and glory.  God is our intimate friend and loving redeemer, but he is also the creator of all the universe who holds all of us and everything in being by his own power.

    So I get why Isaiah felt like he was doomed.  But God will not have that; he has chosen Isaiah for the task of prophecy to the nations.  So he purifies Isaiah’s lips and asks who he should send.  And purified of his wickedness, Isaiah is able to say, “Here I am, send me!”

    We too have been purified by Holy Baptism, and in that ritual the minister touches the lips and ears of the infant, opening them to the praise and glory of God.  Not by a burning ember from the altar, but by the sacrifice of Our Lord, we have been purged of sin and called to holiness and ministry.  Today and every day, we are asked by our awesome God, “Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?”

  • Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

    Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time

    Today’s readings

    Today’s Gospel underlines the failure of the Jewish leaders of the time.  Jesus was casting out demons from many people, which was what they were supposed to do but could not.  They were too busy attending to the the Law instead of seeing to the salvation of souls, which is what the Law was intended to accomplish. So instead of fixing what was lacking in their faith, they accuse Jesus of being in league with the devil. Kind of a “best defense is a good offense” sort of thing.  But Jesus sees the vast number of people who long for spiritual care but are not getting it, and laments the lack of laborers for the harvest.

    The issue is just as pressing now as it was then.  Too many times, we are distracted by whatever issue and miss tending to the people around us who need God’s presence.  The needs aren’t different: people need to know God loves them and is present to them; they need to see and experience God’s infinite mercy; they need healing; they need to be accompanied in their pain; they need to see the value of living for God.  It’s up to all of us disciples to make that life real and attractive, so that everyone can come to know the Lord.  You might be the Jesus that someone needs to see today.  You might be the laborer God is sending into some situation today.  Don’t be afraid to follow the Master of the harvest!

  • The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Blessed be the Name of Jesus

    The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Blessed be the Name of Jesus

    Today’s readings

    “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.”

    I don’t think we really understand and respect the power of the name of Jesus in our day to day lives.  Very often people take the name of the Lord in vain, violating the second commandment of the Decalogue, and even if we bristle about it a bit, how often do we challenge it?  How often do we ourselves take the Holy Name in vain?

    Here is some context.  In Judaism, the second commandment was taken so very literally that the name of God (the one is abbreviated YHWH) was never pronounced.  That very abbreviation was made without vowels, so that when it came up in a text, the reader would not pronounce it.  They would substitute with the word “Adonai,” which we translate as “Lord.”  Interestingly, for some time in the Church, it was commonplace to hear that Y-word in Catholic Liturgy, for which we should be ashamed.  There were even hymns (which have since been revised) that used the word.  The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a directive in 2008 that this practice was forbidden.  So we can see here that names used to refer to the Divine Persons are sacred and not to be thrown around lightly.  Not even in the Sacred Liturgy. 

    We echo this slightly in Catholic worship.  You will often see the Presider of Liturgy bow his head when the names of Jesus, Mary, or the saint of the day, are mentioned.  This is a practice that is given in number 275 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.  It says, “A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.”  The instruction doesn’t say who does that, but clearly the Presider at least should, but even the faithful can do that as well.  In fact, in older times in very Catholic areas, whenever someone heard or used the name of Jesus in conversation, believers would bow their heads.  I once heard a homily in my young days from a priest who recommended that we should consider bowing our heads whenever we heard someone take the name of the Lord in vain, and it’s not a bad idea.

    And for good reason.  “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.”  Did you catch that?  The name of Our Lord terrifies demons!  So just as Jews don’t pronounce the name of the Lord, we should be very careful how we use it.  When we use the name of the Lord, it has to be with utmost respect and reverence.  Because His Name has power.

    Taking a cue from this very Gospel reading, there is a tradition of deliverance for those who are dealing with some kind of oppression.  It’s just short of an actual exorcism.  In that process, the oppressed persons are encouraged to name the things they are struggling with and to renounce them in the name of Jesus, and, in the name of Jesus, to claim blessing and victory over sin.  And believers are absolutely entitled to do that, yet we hardly ever think to do so.  Jesus sent the seventy-two out to claim victory over sin and illness and everything that oppressed people in his Holy Name.  They were to take nothing “extra” with them, because they could depend on the power of his Name to provide for them.

    We can do that too, but perhaps we need to be reconciled with his Holy Name.  We need to repent of using his name in vain, and repent of not knowing the power that His Name holds.  Even the demons know better.  We can claim victory over everything that oppresses us, whenever we do it in the name of Jesus.

    Say these with me if you know the prayer.  If you don’t know it, google “Divine Praises” and memorize the prayer.  It’s wonderful to have it in your prayer toolbox.

    Blessed be God.
    Blessed be his holy Name.
    Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
    Blessed be the name of Jesus.
    Blessed be his most Sacred Heart.
    Blessed be his most Precious Blood.
    Blessed be Jesus in the most holy Sacrament of the altar.
    Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
    Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
    Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
    Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
    Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
    Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
    Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.