13th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Readings: 2 Kings 4:8‑11,14‑16a    Romans 6:3‑4,8‑11    

 Matthew 10:37‑42

            In this Sunday's Gospel Jesus identifies himself with his disciples whom he sends on mission.  They are called to heroic sacrifice but are assured that those who welcome them also welcome Jesus and the Father who sent him.  Later in Matthew, we learn that those who welcome Jesus' lowly disciples will be invited into the Father's kingdom (see Matt 25:31‑46).

            The story of Elisha's visit to the Shunanmite woman in 2 Kings is paired with the gospel reading.  Both emphasize hospitality to God's messengers and God's gracious reward for such kindness.  This story is very similar to the tale of Abraham and Sarah's hospitality to their three mysterious visitors (Genesis 18).  Not only does the woman urge the prophet “to dine with her,” but she also provides “a little room on the roof” furnished “with a bed, table, chair, and lamp” for whenever he visits.  The reward for such gracious hospitality to a "holy man of God" is the same as in the Abraham‑Sarah story: the barren old couple will be given a child by God.  Elisha promises the woman: “This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.”  

            The second reading is taken from Romans 6 in which Paul, in a diatribe fashion, raises and answers a possible objection to the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ.  The objection is: does Paul's gospel encourage converts to continue in sin "that grace may abound" (Rom 6:1)?  Paul's answer is a definitive "No!"  He substantiates this by a reflection on the effects of the baptism which Christian converts received.  Paul explains Christian baptism as an entrance into the death and resurrection of Christ which leads to walking in a newness of life (6:1‑4).   Christian baptism involves an ethical conversion: a "death" with Christ to enslavement to sin and a "resurrection" into a life in which Christians "have become slaves of righteousness" (6:18). 

            The Gospel reading is the conclusion of Matthew's second  great discourse in which Jesus sends his twelve apostles on mission “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 10).   This section reflects two of the characteristics of Matthew's Christology.  First, Jesus‑‑ as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, and the Son of Man‑‑ is bringing about the war and division expected in the Messianic Age.  His apostles will also experience the sufferings predicted for that age (see 10:16‑25).  In the midst of persecution, however, they are assured of the Father's loving protection (10:26‑33).  But radical choices are demanded of them; they must choose between family loyalties and fidelity to Jesus' message.  They must be willing to take up the cross and lose their lives in order to find them.  Second, the disciples represent Jesus and the Father who sent him (10:40‑42; see 18:5; 28:16‑20).  This principle is similar to a rabbinical tradition that "the representative of a person is like himself" (m. Ber  5:5).  Just as those who welcome prophets and holy men receive  their rewards (see the first reading from 2 Kings 4), so those  who welcome Jesus' disciples, even with something as ordinary as  "a cup of cold water," will not want for a reward.      

            Another important feature of this text is the way Jesus describes his disciples.  He refers to as "one of these little ones" (hena ton mikron).  Children and "little ones" is a favorite Matthean designation for the disciples (see 18:1‑9; 19:13‑15; 25:31‑46).  In fact, in Matthew's famous last judgment  scene, the nations are judged and rewarded with entrance into the Father's kingdom on the basis of the way they have treated Jesus'  brethren: "the least ones" who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, ill and imprisoned (see Matt 25:31‑46).  For Matthew, the authentic disciple is the one who becomes "least" in following the master even to the cross.

12th Sunday of Ordinary Time A

 12^th Sunday of Ordinary Time A 

Readings: Jeremiah 20:10‑13  Romans 5:12‑15  Matthew 10:26‑33

  

            This Sunday's readings challenge us to acknowledge our commitment to Christ and the gospel, even in face of insult, betrayal, and persecution.  When we are near despair over the apparent failure of the gospel, let us have the faith to pray the words of the responsorial psalm: "Lord, in your great love, answer me" (Ps 69).  

            The first reading is one of Jeremiah's laments in which he cries out to God for justice against his enemies who have denounced and persecuted him because of the horror of his message.  Jeremiah has just been imprisoned, beaten, and put in stocks for announcing that the city of Jerusalem is going to be destroyed for its crimes against God and neighbor.  His message to all has been "Terror on every side!"        

            In this lament we are taken into Jeremiah's own heart where he struggles with the unpopularity, isolation, and vulnerability that his mission has brought him.   He hears “the whisperings of many” who denounce him for his message and watch for any misstep on his part.  In his agony Jeremiah's only consolation is his faith in the Lord as a mighty warrior who will rise up to vindicate him against his persecutors: “But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion:/ my persecutors will stumble; they will not triumph.”  By the end of the lament, Jeremiah is already praising the Lord for rescuing him.  “Sing to the Lord,/ praise the Lord,/ For he has rescued the life of the  poor/ from the power of the wicked!”  

            In the Romans reading Paul continues to proclaim that the death and resurrection of Jesus has brought salvation for all humanity.  He uses a typological contrast between Adam, the type for fallen humanity, and Christ, the antitype for redeemed humanity.  Just as the disobedient act of the one man, Adam,  unleashed the demonic forces of Sin and Death into the world and brought condemnation in that all fell into sin, so the  obedient act of Christ, the new man, has brought the gifts of  righteousness and grace.  Paul's emphasis is on the confidence Christians should have in the gracious gift of God.  

                                    But the gift is not like the offense.  

                                    For if by the offense of the one man all died,  

                                    much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift  

                                    of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound for all. 

            The Gospel selection is linked to the Jeremiah reading by the theme of the persecution of God’s prophets.  It continues Matthew's missionary discourse in which Jesus is sending his disciples out to proclaim the arrival of the kingdom and to heal the sick.  In this section, Jesus has just warned them that they will be hated and persecuted for the sake of the gospel, just as he has been.  In the face of that hatred, they are not to be intimidated because the truth of the gospel will be triumphantly revealed.   

                                    “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,  

                                    and nothing hidden that will not become known.   

                                    What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light.  

                                    What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops.”  

            The disciples are also not to be afraid to acknowledge Jesus before the world because its threats can only deprive the body of life but cannot destroy the soul which is protected by the Father's loving care.  To assure his disciples of the Father's providential love Jesus uses a parable drawn from nature.  

                                    “Are not two sparrows sold for next to nothing?  

                                    Yet not a single sparrow falls to the ground  

                                    without your Father's consent. As for you,  

                                    every hair of your head has been counted;  

                                    so do not be afraid of anything.  

                                    You are worth more than an entire flock of sparrows.” 

With this assurance we should have the courage to acknowledge Christ's kingdom before the world.  Jesus warns us that our judgment before the Father will be based on this. 

                                    Whoever acknowledges me before men  

                                    I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.  

                                    Whoever disowns me before men  

                                    I will disown before my Father in heaven.

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

 11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Readings: Exodus 19:2‑6  Romans 5:6‑11  Matthew 9:35‑10:8

             This Sunday's readings highlight God's special covenant with Israel, and, in Christ, with the whole human family.  Like the twelve apostles in today's gospel, we Christians are called to graciously announce the arrival of God's kingdom.  Let us celebrate God's covenant by singing the refrain of the psalm: "We are his people: the sheep of his flock" (Ps 100).

            The Exodus reading recounts Israel's arrival at Mount Sinai after its journey from Egypt.  As the community encamps, Moses ascends Sinai to hear the Lord's initial words.  They capture the essence of the Exodus story.  First, the Lord tells Moses to say to the house of Jacob that its escape from Egypt has been his gracious action in saving them and preparing them to become his own people.

            “You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings,

                 and brought you here to myself.” 

Second, the Lord invites them to enter a covenant to keep his commandments and thereby become his "special possession."

              “Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my        

covenant, you shall be my special possession,

                dearer to me than all other people, though all

               the earth is mine.  You shall be to me a kingdom

                                    of priests, a holy nation.” 

"Holy" (qadosh) has the sense of being "other" or "separate."   Israel's otherness consists in its unique status as God's people, set apart in the world to keep the Lord's commandments.

            In the Romans reading, Paul proclaims the consequences of the death and resurrection of Christ for humanity.  In the previous verses, he describes the salvation available to all in Christ through several metaphors.  Christians have been "justified by faith," made "at peace with God," and given "access to grace."  Although in one sense Christ has already achieved salvation, Paul is also aware that it is not completed.   Christ's death and resurrection have made salvation accessible, but the Christian community must endure in faith and hope until Christ's return.  The source of Christian hope in the time of suffering and testing that precedes Christ's return is what God  has already done for us through the death of Christ.

                                    While we were still weak, at the right time Christ

                                    died for the ungodly. . . . God shows his love for

                                    us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

            The Gospel is Matthew's account of Jesus' sending the twelve apostles on mission to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel."   It emphasizes both Jesus' compassion for his fellow Israelites, who are called to be God's "special possession" (recall the Exodus reading), and his apostles' share in his miraculous power to manifest God's Kingdom.  In the preceding verse, Matthew summarizes Jesus' mission in Galilee (see chapters 5‑9): "Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness."  But Matthew tells us, "At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd."   The shepherd and the abandoned sheep of his flock are traditional images for the Messiah's task of restoring the twelve tribes, especially after the tragedy of the exile (see Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34).  Jesus now turns to his disciples, and, using another Messianic metaphor, that of the farmer gathering his harvest, sends the twelve on mission to share in his work of restoring Israel.

    “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.  Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.  Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

At the end of the Gospel will Jesus send his apostles to the other nations, and at that point he will also commission them to teach what he has commanded them.

                                    "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations,

                                    baptizing them in the name of the Father, 

                                    and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching

                                    them to observe all that I have commanded you. 

                                    And behold, I am with you always, 

                                    until the end of the age.          

 We, the Church of today, share the apostles’ mission to make the kingdom of God present and to be faithful to Jesus’ commandments.   

Corpus Christi: Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ A

Corpus Christi: Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ A  

Readings: Deuteronomy 8:2‑3,14‑16  

1 Corinthians10:16‑17  John  6:51‑58 

      

This Sunday's readings present three aspects of the mystery of the Eucharist: (1) as a remembrance of the Lord's past  care for his people, (2) as a union with Christ and one another, and  (3) as an anticipation of our eternal life through Christ in God.   In gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist, let us sing the refrain of the responsorial psalm: "Praise the Lord, Jerusalem" (Ps 147).  

 In order to understand Moses' words to the Israelites in the reading from Deuteronomy, we need to remember the genre and setting of the book.  Deuteronomy is composed as Moses' farewell to the people after their journey of forty years from Sinai to the plains of Moab, just across the Jordan from the promised land of Canaan.  Moses is about to die; he will not be able to enter the land with the people, and so in his farewell he prepares them for the dangers they will face in the land of milk and honey.  

    In this section Moses reminds the Israelites that the Lord is about to bring them into “a good country . . . a land where (they) can eat bread without stint and where (they) will lack nothing .  . .”  (Deut 8:7‑9).  The danger of this prosperity will be that they may forget the Lord who has sustained them for the difficult forty years of wandering in the desert with the gift of “manna, a food unknown to (them) and (their) fathers.”  Each will be tempted to think that “It is my own power and the strength of my own hand that has obtained for me this wealth” (Deut 8:17).  The antidote to forgetfulness is remembrance of the lessons of the wilderness, especially the manna which was given “in order to show . . . that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.”    

           In the second reading Paul is warning the Corinthians that they are not free to participate in the banquets honoring pagan deities, even though they may know that these idols are nothing.  Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians that in their Eucharistic banquets "the cup of blessing" they drink is "a sharing in the blood of Christ" and the bread they break is "a sharing in the body of Christ."  Through this sharing in Christ's covenant of sacrificial love they are united to one another.  "Because the loaf of bread is one, we, many though we are, are one body for we all partake of the one loaf."  Paul then goes on to warn the Corinthians that those who partake in the pagan banquets are united to "demons" (see Deut 32:17). "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons.  You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons" (1 Cor 10:21).  

          The Gospel reading is part of John's bread of life discourse given by Jesus after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes (John 6).  One of John's themes in this discourse is a contrast between the manna that God sent down to the Jewish ancestors in the desert (John 6:30‑33,51‑58) and Jesus who proclaims “I am the living bread come down from heaven.”  The difference between the manna and Jesus is that between temporary and lasting sustenance.  “Unlike your ancestors who ate and died nonetheless, the one who feeds on this bread shall live  forever” (John 6:58).   

          In John's theology Jesus who gives his “flesh for the life of the world” is the only link to the Father.  All of the images of Jesus in John express this same basic idea.  He is “the Lamb of  God who takes away the sins of the world” (1:29), the living  temple (2:19‑21), the Son sent to be lifted up for the world's salvation (3:14‑17), the living water (4:14), the light of the world (8:12), the “sheep gate” and “the good shepherd” (10:7,14),  the “resurrection and the life” (11:25), “the way and the truth  and the life” (14:6), and “the true vine” (15:1).  The particular focus of the image of Jesus as “the living bread” is that the Eucharistic sharing in Jesus' life‑giving death brings a unity with Jesus and the Father which stretches into all eternity.       

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has  

                        eternal life, and I will raise him on the last  

                        day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood  

                        true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks  

                         my blood remains in me and I in him.  Just as  

                        the living Father sent me and I have life because  

                        of the Father, so also the one who feed on me  

                        will have life because of me.