Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 6:7-15

“Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”

“Familiarity breeds contempt.”  You’ve heard that saying before.  If that saying is absolutely true, then the fact that Christians pray the Our Father so often suggests that we ought to be cautious regarding this prayer which is the only one that Our Lord taught to His followers.

The danger, however, is not in the content of the prayer, but in how we pray it.  The danger is not recognizing the Our Father for what it truly is.  The Our Father is like a jewel, but with an infinite number of facets.  We can turn it in any direction, and the light of faith shines through it to reveal to us new depths within the words of this prayer.

Put another way, if we pray the Our Father often, yet find that it does not move us, then the problem is the person praying, not the prayer prayed.  So to focus on this gift that Jesus gave to us during the Sermon on the Mount, consider just one point that this prayer ought to bring to our minds each time that we recite it. 

Today’s Gospel passage does not conclude with the last line of the Our Father.  Instead, Jesus follows up the Our Father by making a point.  He declares:  “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

Out of all the themes of the Christian life that the Our Father touches upon, why is forgiveness the topic that Jesus speaks to immediately after gifting this prayer to His disciples?  Certainly there are loftier topics within the prayer than that of forgiveness?

The answer is that just as humility is the first virtue of the Christian life, although not the most important, so forgiveness is the first “business” of the Christian, if you will.  Sin—both our own and that of those who have sinned against us—is the debris that blocks our path forward.  Dealing with sin is like clearing the brush from a path that leads to treasure.  The most important virtue of the Christian life is love, but without humility, our hearts cannot accept God’s gift of love.  Likewise, until we forgive others as the Father has already forgiven them, we cannot grow further as an authentic child of God the Father.

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

“And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

Today’s Gospel Reading has three parts, but all three have one thing in common.  In fact, these three parts have something in common with the Gospel Readings of several recent days.

When we first listen to today’s Gospel Reading, we might consider it a good program for our spiritual lives.  The first part concerns the performance of “righteous deeds”:  in the Church, we might call these the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  The second part concerns the offering of prayers.  The third part concerns fasting, which is but one type of self-denial or self-sacrifice, many types of which are important to the spiritual life.

However, what these three have in common is that they’re not about what Jesus is talking about.  Jesus is not preaching to us here about righteous deeds, prayers, and works of self-denial.  What is He preaching to us about?

Go back to the preaching of Jesus that we’ve heard at the past few weekday Masses.  Within the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus in last Wednesday’s Gospel Reading declared:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  Then He gave a series of examples, beginning each by saying:  “You have heard that it was said…”, and then declaring, “But I say to you: ….”

In that light, consider again what Jesus preaches about in today’s Gospel Reading.  Were any of these three—righteous deeds, prayer, and self-denial—unknown in the days of the Old Testament?  Of course not.  The Old Testament is full of a variety of examples of righteous deeds, prayers, and self-denial.

So in commanding His disciples to carry out righteous deeds, prayers, and works of self-denial, Jesus was not preaching anything new.  Instead, Jesus is preaching today about why we carry out these three.  Do we carry them out to impress others?  Do we carry them out to feel better about ourselves?  Or instead, do we carry them out from love for God the Father?  In tomorrow’s Gospel Reading, Jesus will give His disciples the only prayer He ever taught:  the Our Father.  This prayer crowns everything that Jesus has been preaching about in the Sermon on the Mount, and sums up everything we need to know about following Jesus and acting in His Name.

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:43-48

“… pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father ….”

Today’s Gospel passage concludes Jesus’ set of contrasts between the commands of the Jewish Law and Jesus’ commands to love.  Each contrast uses a variation of the form, “You have heard it said … but I say to you.”

You could argue that Jesus saved the hardest for last. The question that Jesus tackles concerns how we are to love our enemies. The simple answer is: “As Jesus did on Calvary.” This helps us understand Jesus’ final words in the fifth chapter of Matthew (that is, the end of today’s Gospel Reading): “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

If we want to go further, we might ask how our enemies got to be our enemies in the first place.  We ought to be mindful that we sinners often gain enemies because of our sins.  So one way to shorten the list of our enemies is to sin less.

Jesus, of course, was sinless, but still had plenty of enemies.  In fact, Jesus had enemies for just the opposite reason that sinners do:  because of His unwillingness to compromise with evil.  To whatever extent we may, through God’s grace, bear holiness in our own lives, we will win enemies for this reason also.  Nonetheless, we must love all of our enemies as Jesus loved on the Cross.  On Calvary, Jesus gave His life in sacrifice not only for His Blessed Mother, the Beloved Disciple, and Mary Magdalen.  He just as willingly offered up His life for the salvation of those who drove the stakes through His sacred Body.

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:38-42

“Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back ….”

As we continue to hear Our Lord preach the Sermon on the Mount, it is striking how practical and down to earth His words are.  He does not speak fluff:  the sort of words that we hear from so many teachers of the spiritual life.  He gives very practical advice about how to treat others.  In doing so, Our Lord is drawing us into a deeper relationship with the Father.

Our Lord slowly tries to teach us how intimately related are the commands to love God and neighbor.  It is in Christ Jesus that the divine Word of God is made flesh.  It is in Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross—the sacrifice of the altar—that we share sacramentally in Christ’s life, in order that we might share morally in His life by loving both God and neighbor fully.

However, we must be honest with ourselves, and be mindful that we are hardly advancing in the spiritual life if repentance is the largest part of our prayer.  Our penance merely disposes us to be God’s servants rather than His rivals.  When we consider the words of Christ in today’s Gospel passage, we see how completely we are to give of ourselves to others.

If our own spiritual houses are in order, how devoted are we to helping others build theirs?  How willing are we to be patient with others, with those who cannot be patient in their own prayer?  How will others learn the need for patience if not by seeing our example?  How willing are we to accept insults in silence and pray for the one who insults?  How will others learn the need for forbearance if not by seeing our example?  As we share in the sacrifice of the altar, may Almighty God help us see in our daily lives who it is in most need of a Christian witness.  Then, may Almighty God strengthen us through the Body and Blood of Christ to be the one to offer that witness.

St. Barnabas, Apostle
Acts 11:21-26;13:1-3  +  Matthew 5:33-37
June 11, 2022

“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’”

Saturday is the day of the week dedicated to Our Blessed Mother Mary.  We ought, each Saturday morning or afternoon, spend time in devotion to her.  One way to foster such devotion is to reflect on the Scriptures from that morning’s Mass in light of Mary’s life and vocation.

In today’s Gospel passage Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount.  We could listen to the entire sermon picturing Our Lady, reflecting upon how she fulfills in her life and vocation everything Jesus is saying.

By way of example, consider Jesus’ fulfillment of this command of the Law:  “Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.”  Immediately there comes to mind the scene of the Annunciation, and the words that Our Blessed Mother spoke:  “I am the maidservant of the Lord.  Let it be done unto me according to your Word.”

As Jesus offers His teaching in today’s Gospel passage about how disciples need to be faithful to their word, we can see in Our Lady the fulfillment of the Law.  We see in Mary that being faithful to one’s word means being faithful to the Word who became Flesh for us, and who offers us that Gift in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

St. Barnabas Healing the Sick (click HERE)

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:27-32

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.’”

Jesus continues in today’s Gospel passage to give examples of the Law being fulfilled.  Today’s two examples are about adultery and divorce.  While both examples concern human sexuality, Jesus’ teachings about these two grave sins take different approaches.

Regarding adultery, in order to show the fulfillment of God’s Law Jesus takes us within the human person.  Jesus teaches us that not only outward actions can condemn.  So also can inner actions of the mind and heart.

Regarding divorce, Jesus reverses Moses’ allowance of this practice.  Not only does Jesus not permit divorce.  He also clarifies that when a divorced person enters another relationship, adultery is the result.

Undoubtedly, both of Jesus’ examples in today’s Gospel passage seem to make following Jesus more difficult than following the letter of the Law.  In our own day, there are some who find the Church’s consistent teaching that the divorced and remarried may not receive Holy Communion too difficult.  Yet in the midst of all such perceived difficulties, Jesus sets us on the right road to healing from our sins and the many negative effects of our sins.  For our part, we need to turn around and begin travelling in the right direction.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity [C]
Proverbs 8:22-31  +  Romans 5:1-5  +  John 16:12-15

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”

The Church celebrates today the central mystery of our Christian Faith.  The life of the Most Holy Trinity is the mystery from which all the other mysteries of our Catholic Faith flow.  Yet the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is difficult to wrap our heads around.

The Church, however, has learned over the centuries a simple means by which to explore this awesome mystery.  The Church reflects upon who God is by looking at what God has chosen to do.  This principle has a very technical name:  “The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree”.

This principle is readily seen in families.  You have a parent, and you have a child, and about the child you say, “That apple didn’t fall far from the tree”.  When you say that, everyone knows what you mean.  The child resembles his parent.

We hear a divine example of the “apple principle” in today’s First Reading from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs.  In this passage is a discourse given by “the wisdom of God”.  In the second half of the discourse, we hear two intriguing statements.  Wisdom not only says, “When the Lord established the heavens I was there,” but also, “then was I beside Him as His craftsman… and I found delight in the human race.”

Wisdom is the Lord’s “craftsman”, who “found delight in the human race.”  Everything God created in the universe was created with wisdom—that is, was created in an ordered way—because God Himself is All-Wise, and His apples don’t fall far from the tree.

Nonetheless, out of all of God’s creation, it’s “in the human race” that wisdom takes particular delight.  In the beginning—in the Book of Genesis—we hear the Lord say, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” [Genesis 1:26].  In other words, the apple that is the human race didn’t fall far from the tree, and in fact is the apple of God’s eye [see Psalm 17:8].

In today’s Responsorial Psalm the psalmist cries out in wonder to God, asking, “When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers… What is man that You should be mindful of him… ?  [Yet] You have made him little less than the angels…  You have given him rule over the works of your hands”.  In other words, because God created mankind in His Image and likeness, God gave mankind a share in His “rule over the works of [God’s] hands”.  Or as we might rather put it today, God entrusted to man the stewardship of the works of God’s hands.

All this, of course, begs two questions that lead us into the heart of today’s feast:  #1: what is the Image and likeness of God; and #2: what is God’s work?  The answer to both is simple, because the answer to both is the same:  to love.  The image and likeness of God is love, and God’s work is the work of love.

“God is love” [1 John 4:8].  Because God is love through and through—because God is 100% love—everything that God does is loving.  There’s no divorce between who God is and what He does.  The divine Image is to be love, and so we also are called always to do what is loving in every circumstance.

To help us in this regard, Holy Mother Church teaches us by means of the Sacred Liturgy.  We could say that last Sunday, this Sunday, and next Sunday form a triptych:  a three-paneled icon that focuses our devotion.  Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi display before us the Holy Spirit within the Church, the Father Who is the Source of the Trinity, and the Blessed Sacrament of Our Savior’s Real Presence.

Prepare for next Sunday’s feast of Corpus Christi with an eye to growing in your capacity to love:  to be love through your daily choices.  The Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, made present sacramentally through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, shows us sinners our clearest example of what it means to “be love” through a human will and heart.  Rather than love only those who are lovable, and only when circumstances make it easy to do so, Christ calls and strengthens us through the Eucharist to live and love from within His sacrificial love, and so enter more deeply into the Life of the Trinity.

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
I Kings 18:41-46  +  Matthew 5:20-26
June 9, 2022

“But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment ….”

In yesterday’s Gospel passage, Our Lord stated that He had come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  Beginning today, in the Gospel at weekday Mass we hear examples of Jesus fulfilling the Law.

Jesus uses a phrase today that He repeats several times throughout the fifth chapter of Matthew.  The phrase “You have heard that it was said…” signals that Jesus wants to present a contrast to us.  First, Jesus presents a basic teaching that comes from the Jewish Law:  for example, in today’s Gospel passage, “You have heard that it was said… ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’”

Then, Jesus explains how such a teaching of the Law is to be fulfilled.  He declares today:  “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment….”  The rest of today’s Gospel passage is Jesus’ unpacking of His new teaching, which again, is the fulfillment of an ancient teaching from the Law.

Today, then, we strive to reflect on Jesus’ specific example of anger.  What is the means by which Jesus teaches His disciples to enter into the fulfillment of this teaching?  The means is reconciliation.  Jesus, in the examples He cites, gives two commands:  “go first and be reconciled with your brother”, and “Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.”  Meditate, then, on reconciliation with your neighbor as a form of love of neighbor, and thus as a means to the love of God.

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
I Kings 18:20-39  +  Matthew 5:17-19
June 8, 2022

“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

This week we’ve begun to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, from the fifth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel account.  After the Beatitudes (in Monday’s Gospel) and the similes of the disciples as salt and light (in yesterday’s Gospel), Jesus today sets the framework for the teachings He’s about to offer the disciples.  We could sum up this framework with these words:  “I have come not to abolish [the Law] but to fulfill.” 

Having said that, in the rest of today’s Gospel passage He strictly directs His disciples to integrity in their lives.  There must be integrity between, as we would put it today, what they practice and what they preach.  With this demand Jesus issues a warning and promise:  “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven”, while “whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

Every Christian is, by virtue of baptism, called to be a teacher.  We remember St. Francis’ admonition to “preach always, and if necessary, use words.”  As each of us makes our nightly examination of conscience, we look for the integrity Jesus has asked of us, in what we’ve taught others by our actions and words.