Saturday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio

    Matthew 14:1–12

Meditatio

“… he feared the people …”

    Whoever is attentive to the daily liturgy will come across this horrible story of the death of John the Baptist three times during the year, including its memorial on August 29. You would think once would be enough. Why does the Church repeat it? Perhaps it is because we need to face it. It’s a sad story of a pointless death, and we don’t want to think about it too much. But if we look at it honestly, we might see something of Herod in ourselves.

    Matthew’s account has an interesting difference from Mark’s version. Mark says that Herod imprisoned John on account of Herodias, but didn’t want to kill him and in fact had a strange attraction to listening to him. Matthew ascribes different motives to Herod. He says that Herod wanted to kill him but feared the popular outcry that might result, because the people regarded John as a prophet. Herod did not want people to regard him as a prophet-killer.

    Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great and tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, seems to be a powerful person. He has the power to imprison John and even to execute him. But who is actually more powerful—John bound and in prison, or Herod who acts first from pressure from Herodias, then out of fear for what people will think, and then to save face in front of his guests? Herod is pitiable. He is like the “reed swayed by the wind” (Mt 11:7) that Jesus contrasts to John. John only moves where the Spirit blows. His power comes from an interior freedom to fearlessly do what he is called to do.

    Who are we more like? How interiorly free are we? How often do we make decisions based on our values and what we discern God is asking of us? And how often do we instead look outward—at what people will think, or whom we want to get even with, or how to make a good impression?

Oratio

    Jesus, Herod is such a despicable character that I don’t even want to think that I might be like him in some way. But sometimes I let popular opinion and currents sway my choices. I want to be more like John the Baptist. I want to have the interior freedom to live as who I am—a child of God. Where can I find the self-confidence and faith to live this way? Where can I find the courage? Implant in me the firm conviction of being loved and called by you.

Contemplatio

    In making choices today, I want to be interiorly free.

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)

St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

St. Peter Chrysologus was born in Imola, Italy, in about 400, and in about 431 he became bishop of Ravenna, at that time the imperial capital of the West. He was an acquaintance of Eutyches (371?–455), the originator of the Monophysite heresy (i.e., that there are not two natures, divine and human, in Christ, but only one, divine). When Eutyches asked Peter to speak out in his favor, Peter wrote to Eutyches insisting that in the matters of faith it is always necessary to adhere to the teaching of the Bishop of Rome. Eutyches’s teaching was eventually condemned at the Council of Chalcedon (451). During his life, Peter gained a reputation for being an exceptional preacher, as today’s opening Mass prayer affirms. There are 183 extant sermons attributed to him, and many of them deal with Christ’s Incarnation. Because of his eloquence, he was given the additional name Chrysologus, or “golden-worded.” This epithet first originated in the seventh century and most probably in imitation of the epithet given to St. John Chrysostom (see September 13), that is, “golden-tongued.” Peter Chrysologus is thought to have died, perhaps at Imola, on July 31, in about 450. Pope Benedict XIII proclaimed him a doctor of the Church in 1729.

Friday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio

    Matthew 13:54–58

Meditatio

“… their lack of faith.”

    This Gospel scene presents Jesus to us after he has traveled around Galilee gaining fame and popularity by teaching with authority and performing mighty deeds. Jesus might have hoped for a warm, supportive welcome from the people of his hometown, who had known him since his youth. But any hope of comfort or sympathy quickly disappears when he is faced with their suspicious questions and lack of faith.

    What is this lack of faith? What exactly are they lacking? What is it that his neighbors cannot believe? Could it be that they are stuck in their own narrow ideas of God? Are they so convinced that they know how God should reveal himself that when God does reveal himself in a concrete, visible way in Jesus, they can’t recognize him?

    Perhaps they haven’t lived in a relationship with God. To be “in relationship” with someone means that the parties continually reveal themselves to each other. It would be unreasonable to think I really know anyone through and through. The other person always remains somewhat of a mystery to me, no matter how long we have known each other or how much of ourselves we have shared. How much more true is this of God, who is totally other!

    Perhaps Jesus’ admonition regarding their lack of faith refers to their lack of a living, growing relationship with God. Perhaps Jesus is inviting them to realize that no one has the last word on how God should be, act, or reveal himself. It is we who must remain open, longing to understand who he is and how he acts in our lives and in the world, ready to assent to what he does show us about himself, because he is God.

Oratio

    Jesus, sometimes I think I know you. I also think I know who the Father is and can recognize how he acts in my life. But how often I limit you because of my human and somewhat narrow vision. How often I may be lacking in faith because my relationship with you is based on my self-constructed image of you. Help me, instead, to see the reality of yourself that you are revealing to me day by day. Help me to live today open to what you will teach me about yourself, about the Father, about my relationship with you.

Contemplatio

    “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24).

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)

St. Martha

Martha lived together with her sister Mary and brother Lazarus in Bethany, a town about two miles distant from Jerusalem. Our Lord loved these three very dearly (John 11:5) and often visited their home (Luke 10:38), where Martha, perhaps the elder sister, welcomed him with her usual gracious hospitality and ministered to his needs, as the second of today’s Gospel readings (Luke 10:38–42) narrates. It was, however, at the time of their beloved Lazarus’s death, as the first of today’s Gospel readings (John 11:19–27) tells the story, that Martha made her powerful confession of faith in Jesus, a confession very similar to that made by Peter, when he and Christ were near Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:16). Our Lord asked Martha whether she believed if he were “the resurrection and the life.” “ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world’ ” (John 11:27). The prayers of the Mass today allude to the service of Christ, a service similar to that which Martha had shown him.

Thursday of Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio

    Matthew 13:47–53

Meditatio

“Do you understand all these things?”

    In this chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus explains the kingdom of heaven. He has taken the Twelve aside to offer a more intense explanation, first of the weeds and wheat, then of the mustard seed, the buried treasure, and the fine pearls. Now he speaks to them of the wide net thrown out by the fishermen. The Twelve are to be fishers of men—in fact, most of them are fishermen by profession—and they will have to use a large net, throw it out over the waters and haul in as many fish as possible. When they proclaim the kingdom they will have to reach out to as many people as can hear. An attempt will be made to include everyone in the kingdom, but not all will be chosen. As with the fish, a division is made: they “put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.”

    Jesus is explaining not just the kingdom of God on earth, but also the Last Judgment, when the good and bad will be separated. The wicked will be taken by angels to the “fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth,” in other words, the sufferings of separation and regret.

    Jesus paints a vivid picture for the disciples of the urgency of their mission. They must bring his message to everyone—preach it as far and wide as possible so that many people (ourselves included) will accept the Good News and be ready for the great judgment. “Do you understand all these things?” Yes, they say. Then, he says, you must be “like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” Distribute to your hearers all knowledge: the wisdom of our tradition and the spirit of the Good News. How often do we thank the Master for sending these fishermen, and those others throughout history, to share the heart of his message with us?

Oratio

    Dear Master, thank you for providing fishermen who would pursue the catch down through the ages of your Church. Let us docilely receive your word, humbly submit to what you desire, and intelligently live it out in our lives. And may we, inspired by the head of the household in your story, embrace what is new, and treasure what is old in our tradition. Enrich us, mind and heart, so we, too, will become fishers of the men and women of today.

Contemplatio

    My mind and heart await your word.

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)