The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Zechariah 9:9-10  +  Romans 8:9,11-13  +  Matthew 11:25-30

“… for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.”

references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church cited for this Sunday by the Vatican’s Homiletic Directory:

CCC 514-521: knowledge of mysteries of Christ, communion in his mysteries
CCC 238-242: the Father is revealed by the Son
CCC 989-990: the resurrection of the body

Humility is the foundation of the spiritual life.  In Sunday’s Gospel Reading Jesus teaches us how to lay this foundation.  Jesus shows us that humility is at the heart of all progress in the spiritual life.  Note that this is more than just saying that humility is the first lesson learned by spiritual beginners.  Jesus is going further, insisting that humility is at the heart of the progress made each day by the most spiritually advanced saints.

In the portraits of Jesus painted by the four evangelists, Jesus rarely speaks out loud to God the Father.  Yet in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus not only speaks to the Father, but exclaims:  “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.”

No matter how old you are, no matter how far you have already progressed in the spiritual life, humility is the soil needed for further growth.  If you are a farmer, or even if you garden, you know that when it comes to growing things from the earth, there’s good soil and there’s bad soil.  There’s soil that’s rich in nutrients and moisture, and then there’s soil that’s dry and depleted of nutrients.

If we want to say, then, that the soil of humility is meant to be rich in spiritual nutrients and moisture, what are we saying?  Why does humility make for rich spiritual soil?  Saint Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite reformer who lived in the sixteenth century, wrote:

“While we are on this earth nothing is more important to us than humility. … In my opinion we shall never completely know ourselves if we don’t strive to know God.  By gazing at His grandeur, we get in touch with our own lowliness… by pondering His humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble” [The Interior Castle I,2,9].

St. Teresa makes plain that focusing upon God rather than upon oneself is key to fostering humility.  Yet St. Paul in Sunday’s Second Reading speaks about another key way of shifting one’s attention in the spiritual life from what is less important to what is greater.  St. Paul explains the importance of focusing upon the human spirit rather than upon human flesh.

What does St. Paul mean in the Second Reading when he states to the Romans:  “You are not in the flesh”?  Obviously, no one would deny that each Christian making his way through life on this earth journeys within, or through, a human body.  We all live with flesh and blood.  The human body is an essential part of making one’s pilgrimage through life.

But when St. Paul insists that “You are not in the flesh”, he’s shifting attention to the principle by which the pilgrim can bring focus to his earthly life.  That is to ask the following:  is gratification of the flesh’s five senses the motivating principle for the pilgrim’s choices?  Or does that pilgrim live “in the spirit”, meaning that his choices seek to allow the Holy Spirit to rule—to give order and aim—to the pilgrim’s journey?

Throughout the Church’s history, this contrast between the flesh and the spirit has led to many heresies.  St. Augustine of Hippo, a fifth-century bishop in northern Africa, spent many years before his baptism as a member of a sect based upon one such heresy.  This group believed that the difference between flesh and spirit was not only a contrast, but a sharp division between evil and good.  To grow in holiness meant to them to reject not only the flesh, but everything material.

What that heresy ignores is that “in the beginning”, God created the heavens and the earth and everything within them, both visible and invisible.  Within the first chapter of Genesis, we hear that God “looked at everything He had made, and found it very good” [Genesis 1:31].  Material things cannot be made evil.  Only persons and their actions can be evil, by putting last things first.  Material things are among the last that matter in life, because they will not last.  Knowing this truth and ordering one’s choices according to it foster humility, disposing oneself to abiding “in the spirit”, which is to say, abiding more fully in God.

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
Amos 7:10-17  +  Matthew 9:1-8
July 2, 2020

“The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”

Amos, the Old Testament prophet from whose book we hear in today’s First Reading, was considered obnoxious because he preached the need of repentance on the part of everyone in Israel, including the king and the priests.  Amaziah tried to get the king to get rid of Amos:  not only because he took offense at Amos’ preaching, but also because he held Amos in contempt.

Amaziah considered Amos a “nobody”.  Amos actually admitted that he was not a prophet in his own right.  Nor did he belong to the official guild of prophets, which was a considerably large group.  Amos was just a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.  On top of that, Amos was not even from Israel:  he was from the southern land of Judah, which had not yet been combined with Israel into one kingdom.  So he was a foreigner in Israel.

But in spite of all appearances, Amos had credentials of the highest order.  It was the Lord Himself who had taken Amos from the south, to be a prophet in the north.  Amos’ worth was not due to his own wisdom.  It was due only to the fact that the Lord had called him.  As the old saying goes, “God does not call those who are qualified.  He qualifies those whom He calls.”

In other words, we trust that when the Lord gives us a job to do, He’s also going to give us the grace needed to complete that job.  This is true of any small, daily job the Lord might hand one of His sons or daughters.  God probably has such a job in mind for you this day.  So expect that job, but also trust that God will grant you the grace to complete it.

Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
Amos 5:14-15,21-24  +  Matthew 8:28-34
July 1, 2020

… when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.

While some in our day and age dismiss the possibility of demonic possession, suggesting that reported cases of possession are only psychological disorders, the Church takes today’s Gospel passage at its word.

One striking point in this passage is the reaction of people to the swineherds’ report:  “they begged [Jesus] to leave their district.”  Why do the people react this way?  One might expect the people instead to express gratitude to Jesus, and invite Him to stay as their protector.

Perhaps the people were in shock, never before imagining that demons might dwell among them.  However, demonic possession in the Holy Land was not uncommon in Jesus’ day.  The reaction of the people might reflect a belief that demonic possession only happens to “other” people, much as people in our own day think that tragedy only strikes others.  Some people today, when tragedy strikes in their own lives, react by blaming God, regardless of who truly—if anyone—was to blame.  Some people even stop practicing their religion after being struck by tragedy, so difficult is it for them to understand God’s providential Will.

While each of us needs to practice prudence in order to deter sin, violence and death in our lives, we should have no illusions of escaping them altogether.  Instead of praying to avoid suffering, we need to stand fast with Our Savior on Calvary, knowing that suffering is an essential part of achieving freedom from evil.

Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
Amos 3:1-8;4:11-12  +  Matthew 8:23-27
June 30, 2020

“What sort of man is this … ?”

Today’s Gospel passage offers another example of the disciples not seeing the forest for the trees.  Their question at the end of the passage is sincere and understandable, not rhetorical:  “What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?”  They admit their ignorance of the deeper identity of Jesus.  They do know that he is more than just a fisherman or carpenter.  They do know that he has miraculous powers.  But what exactly does that knowledge reveal?

All told, today’s Gospel passage is just a snapshot.  There’s no way to perceive from this single event that this man is the divine Word made flesh, much less that He will die on a cross for the salvation of all mankind.  You and I, of course, know the rest of the story, but these disciples do not, and are understandably perplexed.  But where does that leave our reflection on this passage?

Perhaps we can relate to these disciples in this specific instance by attending to the dialogue between the disciples and Jesus in the middle of the passage.  In our own lives, we also cry, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  The difference is that these disciples faced mortal danger, while we often face concerns that are much less significant, and are often of our own manufacture.

Nevertheless, what we and these disciples have in common is the same gracious Lord Jesus.  To each of us, no matter what our supposed dangers and no matter their origins, He responds by offering the “great calm” that is ours through faith.

Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
Acts 12:1-11  +  2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18  +  Matthew 16:13-19
June 29, 2020

“I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.”

Peter, whom Jesus in today’s Gospel passage entrusts with the care of His Church, was very different than Paul.  Peter’s personality was rough and impatient.  He was poor and uneducated.  Now if Jesus had thought as worldly people do, He never would have chosen Peter as the first pope.  Instead, he would have chosen someone like Paul, refined and educated.

Regardless of their differences, Peter and Paul came to the same end:  martyrdom for the Holy Name of Jesus.  In the year 67, Saint Peter was crucified upside-down in the circus of Nero, and buried nearby in an out-of-the-way cemetery on a hill called the Vatican.  Saint Paul, after being held a prisoner in Rome for many years, was beheaded just outside the walls of the city.

As with their Lord, these two men came to what seemed to be shameful deaths.  Unfortunately, unlike their Lord, there was no report of Peter or Paul rising from the dead.  They were simply failures.  That’s surely how they were sized up by many around them, both in the Roman Empire and perhaps even among some members of the Church.  What kind of foundation had they laid for the Church?

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the Roman Church, the church that spread from that city throughout the world.  Twenty centuries later, the Church certainly is universal, with more than one billion members across the globe.  But are we really any holier than those first members of the Church?  Are we willing to put our lives or even our names on the line for Christ?

Our spiritual lives are never a “done deal.”  They are always under construction.  The Mass we share in is a continual source of strength for us, as each week we struggle to be faithful disciples of Jesus.  Each day is a building block of faith, in which, by our daily sacrifices, we build up others as well as our own spiritual lives.

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
Lamentations 2:2,10-14,18-19  +  Matthew 8:5-17
June 27, 2020

“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.”

Many blessings have come from the new English translation of the Roman Missal that the Church began to use in 2011.  One such blessing that comes from greater fidelity to the Latin original is the transparency with which Scripture quotations appear.

For example, in the old translation of the Missal, shortly before Holy Communion those assembled would say, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”  Now they say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”  Which of these more accurately reflects the words of the centurion in today’s Gospel passage:  “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed”?

The fidelity to the words of today’s Gospel passage highlights the centurion’s point:  authority.  The centurion understands the authority that Jesus bears because the centurion himself bears authority.  Because he bears it, he is willing to submit to a higher authority.  The centurion’s humility in the face of Jesus prepares for his faith, and in this he is a model for each of us to follow.

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time [II]
II Kings 25:1-12  +  Matthew 8:1-4
June 26, 2020

“When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.”

After Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount, today’s Gospel passage might seem meager.  What is the focus of this brief passage?  Is it the healing itself?  Jesus’ divine power?  The leper’s faith before the miracle occurs, or Jesus’ instructions following the miracle?

The focus of the entire Gospel, of course, is the Person of Jesus Himself.  However, in this particular setting fairly early in Matthew’s account of the Gospel (the first miracle Matthew records, although at the end of Chapter 4 we hear in summary manner about Jesus healing multitudes), one detail that stands out is Jesus’ command to the healed leper:  “See that you tell no one”.  If we believe that Jesus ought to be the center of our Faith, and if Jesus Himself had preached not long before (Matthew 5:14-16) the simile of the “Light of the World” which is not to be hidden, how are we to understand such a command?

While Jesus is the center of the Gospel, He came into this world to bring about man’s salvation.  Relate His command to the healed leper to His overall mission.  He did not want worldly fame at this point, because fame would have hindered the growth of His mission, as people would inevitably have misunderstood who Jesus was, wanting the blessings of following Jesus without the burden of the Cross.  A lesson for us as His disciples is always to be willing to grow in the virtue of faith, loving Jesus for who He is rather than what He does for us.

The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
II Kings 4:8-11,14-16  +  Romans 6:3-4,8-11  +  Matthew 10:37-42

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church cited for this Sunday by the Vatican’s Homiletic Directory:

CCC 2232-2233: to follow Christ is the first vocation of the Christian
CCC 537, 628, 790, 1213, 1226-1228, 1694: baptism, to die to self, to live for Christ
CCC 1987: grace justifies through faith and baptism

+     +     +

Whenever we hear of Jesus’ teaching and miracles, we have to be mindful that Jesus isn’t just wandering from town to town randomly.  He’s a man on a mission.  His mission is the Cross on that hill just outside Jerusalem.  Jesus wants each of us to follow Him there.

At Sunday Mass, the Church’s Sacred Liturgy will be marked by Ordinary Time for the next twenty weeks or so until the end of the Church year in November.  Over the course of these twenty weeks our Gospel Reading each Sunday will follow this journey of Jesus towards Jerusalem.

Consider two points about this journey.  Each relates to your own spiritual life, which is meant to mirror Jesus’ public ministry.

First, reflect upon the sort of strength you need to persevere in the journey.  There are two types of strength that are needed.  There is moral strength on the natural level, which we can develop into moral virtues, especially the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.  Then there is the spiritual strength that comes only from God’s supernatural grace.

But think about how these two interact with each other.  Atheists who want to be virtuous will rely only on the moral virtues, rejecting the idea of turning to God for His grace.  Then on the other hand is the opposite, but also wrong-headed approach.  This is the belief that only through God’s spiritual strength can we make it through life.  This false belief negates the need to cultivate the human, moral virtues.  In other words, this second wrong-headed approach claims that a Christian can just receive the sacraments frequently without the hard work of cultivating the human, moral virtues.

The middle approach, which is the path that Holy Mother Church commends to us, is to integrate these types of strength.  We need human, moral strength that comes from cultivating the virtues.  We also need the divine strength that comes only from God’s grace.

In theology, there’s a basic principle that sums all this up.  It asserts that “grace builds upon nature”, or that “grace presupposes nature”.  Our human nature, including our human formation in all the virtues, is the foundation of our lives as persons.  When God gives us His grace, even as powerful as grace is, it presupposes nature.  If the natural foundation is not there, the supernatural grace washes away, so to speak.

Or to use a different analogy, think of a one-hundred story skyscraper.  If its foundation is made of sand, it doesn’t matter if you build the upper stories with the strongest steel beams on the market.  The whole building will eventually teeter, and then totter, and then the whole thing will collapse, including those strong, steel beams.  This is the risk that each disciple faces in connection with God’s grace, which must build upon the natural qualities that we do or do not have through human cultivation.

Given all that, reflect upon a second point.  Reflect upon the peace that comes from following Jesus instead of following the call of the world.  Jesus at the Last Supper said, “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you” [John 14:27].

So how can we know this peace in our lives?  It emerges when you focus your earthly days upon the two most important moments in your life.  Whenever you pray the “Hail Mary”, you speak of those two most important moments:  now and the hour of your death.

Some live as if death will never arrive.  Many live only for “now”.  Yet every “now” of our life bears a direct impact on which eternal dwelling God will send us packing for at the hour of our death.  Everything we do now, or don’t do now, bears on that moment at the hour of our death.  Cooperating with God’s grace at each earthly “now” will bring us peace not only at the hour of our death, but also during the eternity that inevitably follows death.

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 7:21-29

“… only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven …”

Today the Church proclaims the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, has at the beginning of His public ministry proclaimed this great sermon in order to move those listening to follow Him all the Way to Calvary, where He will accomplish our salvation.  Jesus did not come into this world primarily to teach, but to save.  Nonetheless, His teaching serves His saving mission.  How can we be saved if we don’t know that we need saving?  How can we be saved if we don’t accept Christ as Our Savior, and follow Him as the way that leads to salvation?

His Sermon on the Mount is often considered the masterpiece of Jesus’ teaching.  As such, this sermon could serve as a template for any teacher.  One example of its brilliance is the way in which Jesus, in the sermon’s last section, brings to a head what He’s been focusing upon throughout.  As any good teacher does, His last words sum up and reiterate a major point of His lesson.  What point do we hear in today’s final words from this sermon?

Twice in this passage Jesus firmly declares the disciple’s need to unite his will with God the Father and God the Son.  Jesus says first that “only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” “will enter the Kingdom of heaven”.  A few moments later Jesus says that “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”  “The will of [Jesus’] Father” and “these words of [Jesus]” are, therefore, where each of us needs to concentrate our prayer and moral efforts.