Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time |
| Matthew 18:21–35 |
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable that illustrates God’s mercy. The Latin word for mercy is misericordia, which designates the suffering of the heart, or compassion—cum patior (“I suffer with”).
Bishop Robert Barron |
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Matthew 1:1–16, 18–23 |
Friends, today we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And our Gospel declares that she will be the mother of Jesus, who would be “God with us.” Mary is a rich and multivalent symbolic figure in all of the Gospels. In Luke’s infancy narrative, she emerges as the spokesperson for ancient Israel, speaking, in her Magnificat, in the words and cadences of Hannah. In Matthew’s Christmas account, she is compelled to go into exile in Egypt and is then called back to her home, recapitulating thereby the journey of Israel from slavery to freedom. She is thus the symbolic embodiment of faithful and patient Israel, longing for deliverance. In John’s Gospel, she is, above all, mother—the physical mother of Jesus and, through him, the mother of all who would come to new life in him. As mother of the Lord, she is, once again, Israel, that entire series of events and system of ideas from which Jesus emerged and in terms of which he alone becomes intelligible. Hans Urs von Balthasar commented in the same vein that Mary effectively awakened the messianic consciousness of Jesus through her recounting of the story of Israel to her son. Bishop Robert Barron |
Summer
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
In celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), it is not uncommon for individuals to list among their sins that they have been “judgmental.” Sometimes I am left wondering if they have truly committed a sin.
Human beings have a right to make judgments. We have a right to have opinions, even negative ones! But, how do we exercise that right in a way that is consistent with our desire and commitment to act morally, to act as Jesus did? Of course, as Christians the answer to that question is crucial because the fact is that although we have a right to have (negative) opinions/judgments, we cannot exercise that right in such a way that we denigrate someone else or dismiss them as simply evil. They may do evil things, in our judgment, and may have qualities and attitudes which we might reasonably consider to be obnoxious. We may also perceive that they make decisions which are self-serving, insensitive, foolish or even cruel. All of that may be true, in our judgment, BUT we do not as Christians have the right to use our own opinions, judgments and words as weapons to destroy someone else. Jesus himself could be quite critical at times of the behaviors and attitudes of others, but he did not equate what they did with who they were as a son or daughter of God.
So, what guidelines should apply to the Christian exercise of judging? First, of course, our opinions must be, as best we can determine, true and accurate. We do not have permission to lie or gossip! Also, we must bring a certain humility to our opinions. Others have the right to make judgments, and often those are inconsistent with our own. We should not assume that our opinions and judgments contain total and absolute truth. There’s one more criterion, and for me at least, it’s the toughest one. Even when I am certain that my opinion is accurate, and even when I am being careful to separate the behavior from the person, I must keep in mind the most basic of Christian principles… My words and actions should be motivated by love. If I cannot sincerely say that the sharing of my opinions will serve the cause of helping a person or the world be better, the most loving option is usually to keep my judgments to myself – my mouth shut!
Fr. Frank Reale, S.J.
Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time |
| Luke 4:38–44 |
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares his mission: “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he continues to pursue his mission among us in our efforts to do the work of evangelization. Do we need evangelization? The statistics couldn’t be clearer. Did you know that the fastest-growing category in polls of religious affiliation is “none”? And did you know that there are far more nones than Catholics in this country? So, Catholics cannot avoid the demand of evangelization, proclaiming the faith. Vatican II couldn’t be clearer on this score, seeing the Church itself as nothing but a vehicle for evangelization: It’s not so much the case that the Church has a mission, but rather that a mission has the Church. St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II made this idea central to their teaching. In fact, John Paul famously called for a new evangelization. Bringing people to Christ is not one work among many; rather, it is the central work of the Church, that around which everything else that we do revolves. Bishop Robert Barron |
