The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time [B]
Job 38:1,8-11   +   2 Corinthians 5:14-17   +   Mark 4:35-41

“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

In this Sunday’s Gospel Reading, it’s asked about Jesus, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  Yet those who ask this are not strangers.  They were disciples:  people who were close to Jesus, and to whom Jesus had dedicated a lot of His time.  It’s because of Jesus’ dedication that their question seems strange.  Shouldn’t they know better?  Shouldn’t they have some idea that Jesus is more than just a teacher?

In this, these disciples are you and me.  In their ignorance of who Jesus really is, we can see a likeness of ourselves.  This is one of the sources of so much trouble, agitation and discord in our own lives.  The problem isn’t with Jesus.  The problem is with us.  These disciples ask, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Strike one, and strike two.  These disciples make two mistakes here.  Not only are they mistaken in thinking that Jesus is nothing more than a teacher.  In fact, that’s the lesser of their two mistakes.  The worse mistake is what they accuse Jesus of when they ask, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?”

Do you ever say something like this when you pray to God?  Do you ever say to Him, “Don’t You care?”  “Why aren’t You doing something?”  “Don’t You see what’s happening in my life?”

Of course, all of these questions really boil down to the same question:  “Don’t You love me, God?”

What naturally follows is our saying to God, “If You did love me, You never would have allowed things to get this bad in my life.”  Or in other words, we might pray:  “I can’t do anything about this mess, but You surely can.  Since You’re choosing not to help me, You must not love me.”

For the disciples in the boat as they are tossed and pitched about, the same dynamic is at work.  They need to answer these two questions:  “Who am I?” and “Who is God?”  Yet the first question has to be answered first before seeking an answer to the second.

The same dynamic is at work as you are pitched and tossed about in the storm that we call “life”.  In our prayers, we wonder and we ask whether God cares for us.  As we ask this question about God’s love, we in turn wonder who we are, and whether our own lives have meaning.  After all, if God does not love me, what hope—what future—does my life have?

There is only hope—there is only a future for us—if our lives are rooted in Christ.  The answer to the question of the storm-tossed disciples is given by Saint Paul in the Second Reading.  The answer to the questions of our daily lives is given to us by Saint Paul.

As he reflects, looking back in time many decades after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, Saint Paul could see what the storm-tossed disciples could not.  Saint Paul proclaims in the Second Reading:  “… even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer.  So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:  the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

The storm-tossed disciples saw only a Teacher.  They could not see a Savior.  They only knew Christ according to the flesh:  that is, with earthly eyes.  They did not see Christ with eyes of faith.

Nor did they look at their own lives with eyes of faith.  If they had, they would have seen more than just storm-tossed, weary, frightened people.  They would have seen themselves as people loved by God:  people loved by a God who protects His beloved from anything that can truly harm them.

In fact, there is a third strike made by the storm-tossed disciples when they cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  The third strike is thinking that they are perishing.

If the Lord is with you, you will not perish, for the Lord is life.  If you live your life in Christ, there is nothing you cannot endure.  Christ has not made us for this world.  He’s made us for a life that journeys through this world, drawing others into the peace of God’s presence even in the middle of storms.

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time [I]
2 Corinthians 11:1-11  +  Matthew 6:7-15
June 17, 2021

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

Putting the Gospel passages from recent weekday Masses in context, we see the theme of God the Father emerge.  These passages come from the Sermon on the Mount.  Two days ago the Church proclaimed the last section of Matthew 5, the last phrase of which is Jesus’ command to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Yesterday’s Gospel passage concerned the performance of “righteous deeds”, for which God the “Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

In today’s Gospel passage this theme comes to a head with Jesus teaching His Church to pray the “Our Father”.  This is the only “recited prayer” (or as this type is sometimes called, “vocal prayer”) that Jesus gave to the Church.

Many saints have commented on the “Our Father” by pointing out that Jesus had no need to teach any other prayer, because this prayer contains all that one might need or want to say to the Father.  Of course, other prayers are commended to us by the Church because they expand upon the phrases of the “Our Father”.  We who are slow and weak to believe use other vocal prayers, but those that are authentic lead us to the embrace of God the Father.

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time [I]
2 Corinthians 9:6-11  +  Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
June 16, 2021

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

Today’s Gospel passage is—to the verse—the same passage that we hear every year on Ash Wednesday.  The Church proclaims it today, in the middle of a week in Ordinary Time, because the cycle of Gospel passages for weekday Mass tends to go sequentially through a Gospel account.  This is different than the cycle for Sunday Mass, in which the Gospel passage more often jumps throughout the course of the Gospel account.

We are currently hearing from St. Matthew’s Gospel account at weekday Mass.  A week ago Monday we began hearing from the fifth chapter of Matthew, where the evangelist begins recording the Sermon on the Mount.  Today we begin hearing from Chapter 6.  The Sermon on the Mount continues through the end of Chapter 7, which we will hear at weekday Mass through a week from tomorrow.

Because today’s Gospel passage contains a wealth of spiritual teaching, you might benefit from reflecting on just one third.  In each of these three sections Jesus teaches us the right way of carrying out spiritual works.  But notice that each third ends the same way, with Jesus noting that when the act is performed from the heart—that is, with divine charity—“your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you”.  These acts are ultimately about our relationship with God our Father.

Childers, Milly; Girl Praying in Church; Leeds Museums and Galleries; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/girl-praying-in-church-38914

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time [I]
2 Corinthians 8:1-9  +  Matthew 5:43-48 
June 15, 2021

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

Today’s Gospel passage is from the first third of the “Sermon on the Mount”.  This “inaugural address” is recorded in full only in Matthew, in Chapters 5-7.  Today’s Gospel passage forms part of a series in Chapter 5 of five contrasts between the commands of the Law and Jesus’ commands to love.  Each contrast uses a variation of the form, “You have heard it said… but I say to you.”

The contrast presented in today’s Gospel passage is the last of these five.  You could argue that Jesus saved the hardest for last!  How are we to love our enemies?  The simple answer is:  “As Jesus did on Calvary.”

We might begin by asking how our enemies got to be our enemies in the first place.  In our case, we ought to be mindful that we sinners often gain enemies because of our own 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 too will win enemies for this reason also.  We must love all our enemies unto the Cross.

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time [I]
2 Corinthians 6:1-10  +  Matthew 5:38-42
June 14, 2021

   “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 down to earth His words are.  He does not speak fluff:  the sort of words that we hear from so many spiritual gurus.  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 both 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.  May Almighty God strengthen us through the Body and Blood of Christ to be the ones to offer that witness.

The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Isaiah 61:9-11  +  Luke 2:41-51
June 12, 2021

… and His mother kept all these things in her heart.

Today’s Gospel passage is proper to today’s feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  The setting is unique within the four Gospel accounts:  Jesus is twelve years old, on the verge of entering into Jewish manhood (an entrance celebrated today with the ceremony of bar mitzvah).  If those scholars are correct who suggest that Jesus was conceived at the time of Passover, than today’s Gospel occurs right on the threshold of His thirteenth year of human life.  So this narrative, like that of Jesus’ Baptism, foreshadows His vocation as the one who by His death leads the sheepfold to the Father.

The specific link between this Gospel passage and today’s feast is the final phrase, in which St. Luke notes that Mary “kept all these things in her heart.”  Yet the culmination of “all these things” that are related in the passage are Jesus’ two questions:  “Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

The setting makes Mary’s pondering all these things in her heart very poignant.  As Jesus enters into manhood, He makes clear not just “Who” His Father is (which Mary and Joseph obviously knew), but also that His Father’s Will (symbolized by the Temple) is His reason for being in this world.  With each new insight into her Son’s life, and with each of the seven swords that pierces her immaculate heart, Mary repeats time and again:  “Fiat.”

The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus [B]
Hosea 11:1,3-4,8-9  +  Ephesians 3:8-12,14-19  +  John 19:31-37

… and immediately blood and water flowed out.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the heart of her who was never touched by any sin, but rather is full of grace.  Jesus, of course, sharing in the divinity of His Father, is sinless, and so we could speak of and celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Jesus.  But today the Church celebrates instead the “Sacred Heart” of Jesus.

To be “sacred” means “to be set aside for a unique purpose”.  What, then, is the purpose of Jesus’ heart?  The heart is obviously a human element of who Jesus is.  It certainly expresses the love of God the Son, for as Saint John the Divine tells us, God is love.  As God, in his divinity, the Son of course has no physical heart—we can say only that the Godhead possesses a heart in a metaphorical sense—but in His humanity Jesus of course possesses a heart, beating within His Body, pumping His life-blood to all its parts.

What does it mean then to say that Jesus, as human, has a heart?  It means that He is capable of suffering.  To have a heart means to be able to be broken, to be weak, to be vulnerable.  This is the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love:  that He would carry a Cross and die upon it for us, in order to open the gates of Heaven for our darkened, sinful hearts.

Here is the unique purpose of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Here is what Jesus’ heart was set aside for:  that it would be broken and would be pierced.  But far be it from us simply to worship the Sacred Heart as an image to be given thanks.  Instead, the Sacred Heart is a person to be imitated:  or even better, whose love we were created to abide within.

We do not celebrate the feast of “the Sacred Intellect of Jesus”.  Nor do we celebrate the feast of “the Sacred Memory”.  We celebrate the “Sacred Heart” because the greatest of the capacities of God—and, since he was created in His image, man—is the capacity to will.  God’s will always chooses love, because God is love, and because love consists in this:  not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us, and has sent His Son as an offering for our sins.

The Sacred Heart is a person the Christian is meant to imitate, by means of His abiding within the Christian.  The heart pumps blood to the entire body, and as His members we share in that life-blood as we share in the offering for our sins that Christ sacrificed on the Cross and memorialized sacramentally at His Last Supper.  This sacred meal is “set aside”:  its purpose is our sanctification, that our hearts might become more capable of being broken for the salvation of others, and attain to the fullness of God Himself.

The Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time [B]
Ezekiel 17:22-24  +  2 Corinthians 5:6-10  +  Mark 4:26-34

Without parables He did not speak to them, but to His own disciples He explained everything in private.

+     +     +

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

CCC 543-546: announcing the Kingdom of God
CCC 2653-2654, 2660, 2716: the Kingdom grows by hearing the Word

+     +     +

These reflections mean to prepare you to hear the Scriptures at Sunday Mass.  Usually this preparation involves looking at the words of Scripture themselves.  But today, step back and consider a general way for preparing on your own to hear the Scriptures at Sunday Mass.  This way can be utilized every week of the Church year.

Lectio Divina is a form of praying Sacred Scripture:  not just reading Scripture, but praying it.  At first glance, we might not think there’s any difference between “reading Scripture” and “praying Scripture”.  However, there can be a radical difference.

Picture a dedicated atheist.  This atheist sees himself as doing battle against religion.  So he puts into practice one of the most basic principles of combat:  “Know your enemy.”

Wanting to understand how believers think so that he can debunk their beliefs, he takes a course at a noted Christian university in order to learn all about the Bible.  In his zeal, he might even earn a Ph.D. in biblical studies, and be able to quote at length from the Bible.

By contrast, the aim of your praying Scripture is not merely knowing about Scripture.  The aim is for you to believe in the God who wrote these Scriptures for your good, listen to Him speaking to you, and speak to Him in response by your words and actions.

There are several easy ways to prepare for Lectio Divina.  One is to purchase a hand missal, which contains the complete set of the three-year cycle of prayers and readings that a missalette covers only for part of a year.  Another way, if you’re tech-savvy, is to go to the website of the United States bishops, where you can print out the Scriptures for any day in the coming months.  Another way is to go to your parish church for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and during your visit use the missalette in the pew for prayerful reading of Scripture.

The first step of “praying Scripture” is an act of choosing:  choosing a text from Scripture.  Some saints in explaining Lectio Divina recommend choosing a single chapter of a book of Scripture.  Others recommend a single verse, while others recommend only a single phrase or even only a single word.  A single verse is a good ideal.

Wherever and whatever resource of Scripture you use, find the Gospel passage for the coming Sunday.  The other steps of Lectio Divina help one to draw spiritual fruit from one’s chosen passage or verse.  As a simplified form of Lectio Divina, reflect on the coming Sunday’s Gospel passage for at least ten minutes a day during the weekdays leading up to Sunday.  Each of these days, ask the Lord to draw your attention to one verse in particular.  Not only will you grow in your love for the Word of God, but He—the divine Person who is the Word—will open your heart and mind to accepting more faithfully the Word made Flesh in the Holy Eucharist.

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:20-26

   “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.