I very much appreciated the optional readings proclaimed on EWTN Friday for St. Dominic’s feast day.  The end of the first reading (2 Tim 4:1-5) is quoted above.  It is in this passage that Paul exhorts us to “proclaim the word” boldly in truth since many will be deceived by false teachers.

Then in the gospel (Mt 5:13-16) Jesus starts off by saying: “You are the salt of the earth.  But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?  It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”  He goes on to tell us we are the light of the world and that light is to shine forth our good deeds thus glorifying God.

So what happens when we become apathetic in our response to God?  We lose our “saltiness.”  We are good for nothing.  By our deeds we can glorify God or we can draw others away from God.  Do we proclaim the Good News by our lives and words making our faith attractive to others or do our behaviors and utterances betray a carelessness serving to lead astray, like the false teachers Paul warns about, those whom we encounter?  We certainly do not want to be in the number of those who are to be “trampled underfoot” on judgment day.

Let us pray to God that we will retain or regain (with God all things are possible) our saltiness so that we will always henceforth be in His good graces, spreading the truth of His Word, Jesus, in every thought, word, and deed for His greater glory and to combat those, as prevalent as ever, who would draw God’s children away from Him.

Today’s scripture passage comes from the first reading at Mass (1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12).  Solomon has just been made king of Israel when God appears to him in a dream asking him what he wants from God.  He asks for wisdom (“an understanding heart” — v. 9) to handle the awesome task of leading the Chosen People.  God responds approvingly, granting him this (” a heart so wise” — v. 12) as well as much more (this we come to know in the verses immediately following this reading) —  riches, glory, and long life (the latter if he is obedient).

Two gospel passages quickly came to mind upon hearing the Old Testament reading proclaimed.  First, from Matthew 6: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (v. 8). God did not ask Solomon what he wished in order to help God Himself with the decision regarding what gifts to bestow upon the king.  Rather, the Lord desired to hear from Solomon what He already knew.  Would God have granted a selfish desire of Solomon’s?  He may well have.  And then Solomon would have learned the hard way what it means to not align his will with his Lord’s will (as so many subsequent kings did).  The same is true for us.  Our Father knows what we need.  The Holy Spirit, working through His Church, is available to enlighten us.  We have the means, especially through the sacraments, the ordinary channels of grace, to properly discern God’s will and, with this grace, the ability to follow it.

Which leads to the second saying of Jesus that is evoked by Solomon’s nighttime encounter with Yahweh.  This comes at the end of the same chapter as above in the gospel of the first evangelist in the New Testament: “Seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (v. 33).  (In fact, I was pleasantly surprised when Mass closed with this song.) Solomon realized, as we should, that to aspire to eternal goods surpasses by far any material or temporal goods.   And, guess what, all the earthly things were given to him as well due to his faithfulness and his desire to emulate the Almighty, in turn, seeking to emulate heaven on earth by ruling justly as God does.  Every time we pray the Our Father, we also ask that “thy kingdom come” (again Matthew 6, this time verse 10).  As Christians we long for the fullness of God’s reign to be made manifest.

So let us pray for the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, these seven gifts of which the first enumerated is wisdom (see Is 11:2-3).  Whole books of the Bible are dedicated to wisdom (thus the so-called “wisdom books” of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, and Sirach).  You are invited to work through these books prayerfully with me this year.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.” (Jas 1:5)

Coincidentally, today’s gospel (Mt 12:38-42) reading just happens to tie in well with my musings in yesterday’s post.  Jesus, asked for a sign by some scribes and Pharisees, recalls Jonah’s three days in the whale (prefiguring Jesus’ three days in the tomb).  But, speaking of Jonah, Jesus gives an ominous warning: unlike Nineveh which repented at Jonah’s warning, the scribes and Pharisees are part of an unbelieving, unrepentant group that will be accused by those same Ninevites at the time of judgment.

Consider Jonah (see the book of Jonah).  He was not interested in preaching repentance to the Ninevites.  He wanted them destroyed.  The giant fish episode only happened because God used that means to drive Jonah back to Nineveh to carry out His will.

Yesterday, I wrote about the suddenness of transformation from evil to good that can only happen when God is called upon.  Hezekiah was a willing participant in that time, Jonah not so willing in his time.  We are to imitate the former.  We are not to be Jonahs: reluctant, excuse making, bitter, complaining, vengeful.  Rather we are called to do what Hezekiah did willingly and Jonah did through compulsion: call for a turning to the Lord.  Let us never shy away from the command to evangelize.  Our Nineveh might be our own homes, our circles of friends, our parishes, our workplaces.  Does a sudden transformation of a bad situation seem impossible?  “For God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).  Let us be the ultimately obedient Jonah, whether we have always been open to the promptings of the Spirit or even if we have already weathered storms and sea monsters running away from God.  The time for action is now!

As I continue reading through the entire Bible in a year, I recently came across the verse above at the end of 2 Chronicles 29 (v. 36).  Certainly not one of the most quoted passages in scripture, nevertheless I found it particularly relevant for our times.

This line concludes the rare chapter dealing with a king of Judah in which the ruler is actually faithful to God (this chart gives a very helpful overview of the turbulent history of the monarchies of both Judah and Israel).  Hezekiah was a reformer, the son of the particularly wicked monarch Ahaz.  Immediately upon ascending to the throne, Hezekiah cleanses the temple of “filth” (29:5) (one can’t help but see him as a type of Jesus in this — refer to Mark 11:15–19, 11:27–33, Matthew 21:12–17, 21:23–27, Luke 19:45–48, 20:1–8, and John 2:13–16) and re-establishes proper worship.  Before he even restores the celebration of Passover (ch. 30) and tears down the “high places” of pagan worship (31:1), he is already hailed by the people of Judah in the words in the headline.

Why did this strike me so?  Because sometimes I look at our present age with sadness, even anger, wondering whether (when?) God might unleash on us what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:1-29).  Maybe I am too much like a son of thunder (Lk 9:54) in this regard.  But the Lord works in mysterious ways.  Literally overnight, after God installed Hezekiah as king, massive changes for the better took place.  The people rejoiced, so undoubtedly many prayers were answered in this surprise change of attitude from father to son.  “How suddenly this had been done!” the people exclaimed.

The lesson for us today is not to lose heart in this increasingly pagan world in which we live.  God is in control and will take care of matters in His time.  The key for us is to be faithful, steadfast, and prayerful so that someday we too can “rejoice” in a world turning back to God “suddenly.”

Today’s gospel reading (Mt 10:24-33) falls in the middle of Jesus’ discourse to the twelve apostles as He commissions them to go spread the gospel, heal, and exorcise throughout the land (see also Mk 6:7-13 and Lk 9:1-6).  Jesus calls on the men to be like their Teacher and then expect to be treated the same way (see the headline).  But they should not be afraid, even unto death, because acknowledging Jesus means that He, the just judge, will advocate for them to the Father.  Those who fail to do so may save their lives here but risk eternal damnation.

When one reads the headline, one immediately thinks of Jesus being attacked by the Pharisees (“He drives out demons by the prince of demons” — Mt 9:34; we see this again with great detail provided in Mt 12:22-32).  Undoubtedly the Twelve recalled this episode as Jesus said these words to them.  But they were just on the sidelines for these venomous (I use this term purposely as I recall the Garden of Eden) attacks directed at the Master.  Now they know to expect such epithets hurled at them.  And maybe worse.  Yet we know they did go out, nevertheless, speaking boldly, curing the sick, and confronting the devil’s agents (see Mk 6:30, Lk 9:10, and Lk 10:17-20).

At the end of Mass we are told: Ite missa est.  We are sent on mission (“the liturgy in which the mystery of salvation is accomplished concludes with the sending forth [missio] of the faithful, so that they may fulfill God’s will in their daily lives” — CCC 1332).  Like the apostles, we too are called to imitate the Lord, to strive to be like Him.  When we speak boldly — as did Christ and His loyal followers — should we not expect to be treated as He was (see also Mt 5:11-12)?  In an era turned upside down by the “prince of this world” (Jn 14:30) is it surprising that those who defend life, liberty, religious freedom, and marriage are to be made out to be the devil.  Now is the time for a special courage of conviction, with the help that God is ever ready to give through His Spirit (see Mt 10:19 just before today’s reading in the same speech).  “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher” Jesus says earlier in the same verse quoted in the headline.  Are we better than Jesus Christ that we should not suffer the same ignominy that He did?

“Take courage; be stouthearted” (Ps 27:14)!

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31)

Let us transform the culture and not stand idly by, or worse, let a fallen world lead to our apathy or acquiescence.

The Church continues to work through the Sermon on the Mount these days after Pentecost.  Today, Jesus provides us with the version of the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer in common use today by Christians the world over (Mt 6:7-15).

What always strikes me (and troubles me) is that at the end of the prayer, Jesus presses the point “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” by repeating it in stronger and more detailed language.  Now, anyone seriously meditating upon the Lord’s Prayer knows that one can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks (really, a lifetime) contemplating every line, every phrase, even many of the individual words in this prayer.  It is very revealing that Jesus chooses to emphasize forgiveness and the consequences to a person depending on how he handles this virtue.  The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves.  He wants to make sure His hearers don’t overlook it our bypass it.  It is very easy to miss this injunction of the prayer even though many Christians have prayed it countless times.  Maybe this happens because we’ve said it so many times that it has become too familiar.  Or maybe selective hearing causes us to mentally check out when these words are presented to us.

Why am I (and I suspect many others) troubled by Jesus exhortation on forgiveness?  Because it is hard.  Very hard.  When we have been deeply hurt in some way, especially by persons close to us who we trusted, forgiveness does not come easy.  In fact, a certain “comfort” may be derived by keeping the fires of anger stoked.  This is not the way of the Lord, though.  In His most difficult, desperate, painful, and desolate moment on the Cross He forgave everyone who took part in His death (that means me and you, too).  God’s magnanimity in such a circumstance, one which few are likely ever to face, is the way we must follow.  The payoff is eternal happiness.  Die with a heart hardened and unrepentant and we separate ourselves from God — we spit on His offer to forgive our many sins, despise His mercy, and put ourselves permanently out of His presence because we prefer to stew in our own pride and obstinacy.  Is God a God of mercy?  Of course.  But we are free to reject it.  So, let us show mercy as we hope to receive it from others and from the Almighty.

Ordinary time always returns after the Easter season in an extraordinary fashion with the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount: the Beatitudes.  Let us make this time extraordinary by focusing on the “blesseds” in Jesus’ exhortation toward personal conversion:

• Poor in spirit: release attachment to all earthly possessions in a radical way so as to focus on our relationship with God and other persons
• Mourn: when we suffer sadness or loss turn to the Lord; when we become aware of this pain of others let us become Christ to them in being a channel of the Comforter
• Meek:humility safeguards all virtues; may we always seek to put ourselves in the lowest place, always acknowledging the truth that all our good gifts come from God
• Hunger and thirst for righteousness: may it be our overwhelming desire to be righteous in the eyes of God and seek righteousness for all God’s children
• Merciful: our God is a God of mercy — may we pay forward the mercy He has shown us to every person who harms us in any way (remember “forgive 70 x 7 times”?)
• Clean of heart: may we imitate the Blessed Mother in complete purity in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and work towards a world that eliminates all manner of filth
• Peacemakers: peace begins at home and extends to the whole world; let peace begin with our example of love and charity
• Persecuted for the sake of righteousness: we may first think of those harassed, tortured, even killed in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East — and we should pray very hard for them — but we should also implore the Lord for the same courage and fortitude to become or remain firm in the truth in our place and time so that no person and no “law” will deter us from standing up for what is right

If any or all of these seem to require an extraordinary effort, that’s okay — the reward for meeting the challenge and persevering in it has everlasting benefits.  But, I think we’ll find the extraordinary will become quite our ordinary mode of behavior with practice.  And practice makes perfect.  Let’s start today.

A sin we haven’t heard much about for a long time is detraction.  Maybe it’s because it is so easy to fall into and we prefer not to accuse ourselves of it.  Or maybe we believe we can justify it to ourselves because we find a person’s beliefs or attitudes so repugnant (objectively or subjectively).  If we are less “noble” maybe we just want to hurt that person — gain revenge — for a real or perceived slight or for no particularly good reason at all.  Let’s lay out this offense against truth:

 CCC 2477  Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury.  He becomes guilty:…

– of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them.

CCC 2479  Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor.  Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect.  Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.

Certainly in our day it has become particularly easy to spread such gossip (for that is what it is) in the blink of an eye far and wide (and anonymously, if one so chooses) via social media.  Often the person exposing another’s faults becomes a hero for doing so, so the lure is there.

But the exposer is just lifting himself up for adulation at the expense of another.  Remember the story of the Pharisee and tax collector.  May the attitude of a Christian be that of the latter: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13).

And even if we eventually, even quickly, feel remorse for our actions, it is too late.  You may have heard the oft-told story, Feathers in the Wind.  Whether or not you have come across it before, check it out here.

A wonderful reflection on today’s gospel (Jn 21:1-14) in my daily missal from Pope St. Gregory the Great (604):

“A person might inquire: why did the Lord after His resurrection stand on the shore while the disciples were tiring themselves on the sea?  Before the resurrection He walked upon the waves in the sight of His disciples.  This mystery is easily solved if we look beneath for the reason.  What else does that sea represent except the present age — an age that spends itself in upsetting quarrels on the surging waves of this passing life?  But the solid shore — is that not a symbol of the land of eternal rest?  Because the disciples were still being tossed around by the waves of this mortal life, they were tiring themselves on the sea.  But because our Redeemer had already raised Himself up out of the corruptibility of the flesh.  He stood on the shore after His resurrection.”

The first doctrine is derived from Calvin’s teaching.  The second is a quote from Luther.  St. Paul, plainly, disagrees on both counts.

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21)

“Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Rom 8:12-13)

“Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor 6:9-10)

“Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Eph 5:3-5)

“I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Cor 9:27)

“So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil 2:12)

*****

The correct answer to “Are you saved?”

As the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:18, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15).  Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13). (Courtesy of Catholic Answers)