Ordinary Time

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

Chapters 40–55 of Isaiah, which emerged out of the late exilic period, insist that God is bringing an end to the period of judgment and will restore Israel beyond its former glory. This judgment came about because of Israel’s persistent refusal to believe that God alone, and not other gods, could provide all that Israel needed. In other words, they offered to other gods worship and sacrifice and received nothing in return. Now they are being offered a chance at real bread, at true satisfaction. All that is required is trust and fidelity that God, and God alone, is the source of life for Israel.

Paul has assured the Romans that they are the recipients of God’s gracious plan to bring them into conformity with the image of Christ, fulfilling their destiny to be God’s adopted children and heirs with Christ to glory. Knowing this, and that “all things work for good for those who love God,” they have nothing to fear. They have been baptized in Christ because of God’s own plan, and God will not allow that plan to go awry. They are secure in Christ and thus in Christ’s love. Absolutely nothing on earth, not angelic or other powers, not death itself can separate Christians from God. (Height and depth, as creatures, may refer to hostile forces associated with zodiacal signs.)

When Jesus hears that Herod’s impulsiveness and pride have led to the death of John the Baptist, his response is to withdraw in solitude. Yet when the crowds pursue him his pity for them recalls him to ministry. This is, after all, what he has come to do. The miracle of the fish and loaves reflects the abundance of God’s care and provision for the people, seen in Israel’s history and often imagined as a banquet in the eschaton (end of time). God’s abundant generosity is seen in the fact that they have more left over than they began with. Scholars note that the word for “fragments” here is the same as the word used in early Christian sources for the broken bread in eucharistic celebrations.

Jan 12 2025

What Really Matters?

What does it mean to you, on this day, to hear Jesus say to sell all that you have for the kingdom of heaven? Does it might mean that you empty your bank account, give your resources to the poor, and go become a missionary in a far-off place? Does it mean that you once more offer breakfast (kindly) to an unappreciative teenager when every bone in your body wants to do otherwise? Does it might mean that you put all your cans of green beans and crushed pineapple into a box and drive down to the St. Vincent DePaul Center and leave it on their doorstep before they open?

Not as a pious platitude, but in a concrete-and-practical-everyday sort-of-way, what does “sell all you have for the kingdom of heaven” actually mean? I am guessing, since you are reading this reflection on a hot day at the end of July (when you could be doing so many other things), that this is a question that matters to you.

For that’s what it boils down to, doesn’t it: What matters? Jesus calls us to be single-minded about what matters. If you find a treasure in a field, buy the field; if you find a pearl of great price, buy the pearl. Distractions swirl around us; clutter kills clarity. Focus clarifies. Single-mindedness simplifies. Figure out what matters. Solomon asked God for a listening heart so that he could discern carefully. We ask for that, too. Before we even get out of bed in the morning, we pray, “Lord, make it clear what matters today.” Then in the power of the Holy Spirit, when you discover today’s treasure, with unstinting resolve, go for it! Lay down your life, in matters great and small. Passionately. Totally. For the glory of God.

Consider/Discuss

The morning offering is a prayer in which we give God our upcoming day so that we are conformed into the image of Christ. What most richly brings about our daily transformation?
Where is the clutter? Look at time, thoughts, emotions, activities, possessions, relationships. What can you clean today?

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, come and rule the ordinary days of our lives. Give us the grace of discernment to see what really matters. We want to follow where you guide us. Transform our clutter into focus. We don’t always see clearly, but in our heart of hearts, we want to follow you wholeheartedly. Wonderful are your ways! Show us. Lead us. Transform us to be the people you want us to be.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

King Solomon is known in the tradition for having unparalleled wisdom. The Bible affirms that wisdom comes from God, it is not a human creation. Accordingly, Solomon became wise because he asked for the divine gift of wisdom. God, who might have expected a human king to grasp for wealth or long life, instead receives a request from Solomon for the wisdom to rule justly. Nothing could be more pleasing to the divine will than a desire to serve God and God’s people well and with integrity. Thus God readily accedes to Solomon’s pious request. (And because Solomon did not ask for it, God throws in wealth and the promise of long life.)

Paul has been writing to the Romans about the hope of glory they have as adopted children of God in Christ. This destiny has been part of the divine plan from the beginning, and is achieved through conformity to Christ, the exemplary human being. Those who are called to this glory are first justified, the divine accomplishment in Christ that has been the subject of much of the earlier part of the letter. The point of this short section is to emphasize that God has had things securely in hand from the beginning. All things work for good for those who respond to the divine call to be conformed to Christ, and thus justified, one day glorified.

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel Jesus has warned that entering the kingdom of heaven is a challenging undertaking, and few persevere. Yet persevere they must. Like a great treasure or a valuable pearl, the kingdom is worth giving up everything else to “obtain.” The invitation is open to everyone. Like a great net, it sweeps through the world capturing everyone. Only those who refuse to conform their lives to it will find themselves cast out. The kingdom is a gift but, paradoxically, one that comes at a price. Those who understand this are able to accept both his “new” teaching and recognize that it is a reflection of the “old” teaching of the law and prophets (Matthew 5:17–20).

Jan 12 2025

Who Knows?

It was early spring. The master gardener was really busy. A kind friend offered to weed her perennial garden while the weeds were still small. She was very grateful. He was an expert on tulips. He knew what tulip leaves looked like. So he diligently weeded that garden clean. When he was done, the tulip leaves proudly stood out from the bare soil that surrounded them. As spring unfolded in the garden, though, there were no forget-me-nots. The coreopsis was gone. There were no more buttercups. The tulips grew strong and died back. The next year, that same friend offered to help. “Let me do the weeding,” the master gardener said.

We really don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes we assume that we know ourselves and others. The research, however, reveals that we create stories in our minds based on partial pieces of information. We do not have all the evidence on anything. If you and I had the job of weeding out the good and the bad in a group of people, we may see the acts that a person does and judge accordingly. But moral theologians tell us that moral blame is based on act, circumstance, and intention. We can and must judge acts as morally wrong or right, but we do not have enough information to pass further judgment on a person. Only God knows the circumstance and intentions behind an act.

Why doesn’t God ask us to do the weeding? Little leaves that come up in early spring do not look like the flowers they will be when they are mature. We would often pluck out the wrong things if it were up to us. We don’t know what we don’t know. Jesus offers today’s parable so that we will practice mercy, not judgment.

“Let me do the weeding,” the Master Gardener says.

Consider/Discuss

The most beautiful flower in a garden may look like a dead stick in early spring. Think back to some of the ugly things you may have done in your life. How has God helped you to grow so that you mature and blossom?
We tell stories about people in our minds. Have you ever had an “aha!” moment when you’ve said, “How could I have been so wrong about that person?”

Living and Praying with the Word

Good Gardener of us all, sometimes we look just like dead sticks or tiny weeds. But you have a vision of what we can become. Affirm our strengths. Challenge our weaknesses. Never let us stop growing. And today, assist us in revising our story about someone. Reveal to us where we are impatient or unmerciful or unkind or uncharitable, for we want to see others as you do.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

Because of God’s unparalleled and unchallenged power, the wicked are given opportunity to repent; divine forgiveness is not coerced (“Neither out of fear for anyone did you grant release for their sins” [Wisdom12:11]). God’s sovereign power ensures that God does not need to explain or justify either condemnation or forgiveness, and is “lenient to all.” There is no divine ego at stake, giving God freedom to act generously. This divine mercy is a lesson to God’s people, who learn that God’s justice is not opposed to kindness, but actually manifests itself in kindness. God’s absolutely free justice is ground for hope in God’s mercy.

Paul reminds the Romans that through the Spirit they have been adopted as God’s children and now “groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). The guarantee of this hope is the gift of the Spirit, who not only leads and transforms the faithful, but also helps them pray. Human beings, as the agents of God’s redemption of all of creation, are called to intercede with God, but as they are (for the time being) subject to corruption and death, they are weak and do not know exactly how to intercede. The Spirit dwelling in each believer makes up for this weakness by expressing the groaning of creation and “the holy ones,” and is heard by God.

Three parables illustrate the kingdom of heaven. At least on this side of eternity, it is a mix of the good and the bad. Readers have taken the weeds and the wheat to represent either individuals or the tendencies within each heart. In the first case, the warning is to let God sort out the sinners from the saints; judgment is God’s prerogative (Matthew 7:1–5). In the second case, the assurance is that while there are within us both the good and the bad, God is patient and, in God’s way, removes that which needs to be removed. The other two parables reflect the biblical insistence that God’s greatest works have small, hidden, unlikely beginnings. The kingdom (God) works in ways that we often cannot appreciate.