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Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 4 1999
Cycle A Readings: Zec. 9:9-10 m Rm. 8:9:11-13; Mt. 11:25-30
Outline:
1) Alexander a great military leader
2) Zechariah’s vision of a king of peace
3) The power of the savior
4) Spiritual people’s loyalties to Christ and nation
5) Yoked to Christ and working for peace and justice
OUR first reading is taken from the book of Zechariah and probably was written some time after Alexander the Great smashed the Persian empire. Alexander was the king of the small nation of Macedonia. Macedonia first conquered Greece and under Alexander’s leadership managed to fight its way first to Egypt, then through Persia and finally all the way across Northern India. Alexander from a military perspective truly deserved his title, “the Great.”
The inspired author of our first reading, however, extols a different type of ruler and king. One who comes not to destroy but to save, not to conquer but to convert. The author portrays this king coming on an ass rather than a horse. The horse was used for warfare while the ass was used for construction, farming, and leisurely riding. Riding on the ass showed that the envisioned king was one of such absolute power that he did not need to show force.
This king would be unarmed and yet be able to banish the weapons of war. This king would have a domain that would extend even farther than that of Alexander the Great. This king would be the cause of universal joy rather than tears and grief. The joy would extend to the ends of the earth and the end of time.
People of all nations are invited to be citizens of Christ’s kingdom of love. It is a kingdom that demands and deserves absolute loyalty because the king is totally trustworthy and unfailing. Participators in the reign of God are also citizens of earthly kingdoms. They are faithful to their homelands insofar as the policies and the laws of their native countries do not conflict with the demands of God’s reign. When necessary, disciples of Christ take prophetic stances against their own nations when the freedom is denied, the innocent are killed, the poor exploited, neighboring nations unjustly attacked.
Disciples of Jesus are filled with the very Spirit of God as Paul attests in the second reading. This Spirit of God burns away the deadly states of arrogance, greed, sloth, envy, violent anger, lust, and hatred. With these deadly tendencies themselves slain, the believer rejoices in life. Death is conquered. The same spirit will raise us beyond death’s power.
In the gospel passage of today, we read a beautiful prayer of Jesus to his heavenly Father. He affirms that all things were given over to him in heaven and on earth. In this prayer, Jesus touches upon the extent and nature of His kingdom. It is a kingdom in which knowledge of the Father is critically important. It is a kingdom which offers rest, peace and renewed strength to its citizens.
In our lives, all of us have to bear many burdens. There are times, however, that we feel that we are on top of the world and everything goes our way. At times like those, our thoughts of Christ and His presence might evaporate from our minds. In the good times, it is possible to deceive ourselves and believe we can get along without the Lord of life.
Jesus realized that the good times are fleeting. Life as a whole has a way of wearing us down. At times, life seems to crush us. It will weary us. It saps our strength. Jesus realized how the, trials of life can tempt us to death. He understands how the young are tempted towards suicide, the elderly towards despair.
To all he gives his command “Come! Come to me and we will be— yoked together. Alone you will not be able to -pull the load life has given you. Yoked to me you will find that your burden is light.” As we find our own trials more manageable because we are yoked to the Lord, we will also find our capacity will increase to help others in their needs. When our own trials become more manageable we will begin to understand how they are connected with the struggles of those around us.
It is some years since the bishops issued their famous Peace Pastoral to the People of the United States. This is just one of the documents that have been issued by Church leaders around the world. The bishops of the various nations and regents throughout the world have consistently proclaimed the need for justice and peace. They have done this in order to inspire a more humane world. As religious leaders they understand that an earthly utopia is impossible. But as human beings they realize that without a serious effort to make the message of Christ truly incarnate in our lives, the life of our species itself is being jeopardized.
On this fourth of July weekend, the people of the United States celebrate the birth of a nation dedicated to the rights and freedoms of the individual. On this weekend is celebrated a great experiment in democracy that has for over two centuries inspired a world that is tyranny prone. Other nations that are blessed with liberty should rejoice in that freedom that is rare in our world.
Freedom, however, demands responsibility. The free peoples of the world have a special obligation to work for peace and justice. The free peoples of the world must say no to tyranny in all of its forms and work against injustice with the instruments of peace. This was the inspiration behind John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris, Paul VI’s “War Never Again” speech at the United Nations and John Paul II’s entire ministry to the people of the world.
By working for a peaceful and just world, we yoke ourselves to the gentle Lord of life and together lift the burdens that weary our species
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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 11, 1999
Cycle A Readings: Is. 55:10-11; Rom. 8:18-23 Mt. 13:1-23; or 13:1-9
Outline:
1) Spiritual nutrition
2) The rain of God’s word upon the earth
3) Paul and the life of Grace
4) Our type of soil and the word of Jesus
A popular nutrition book for athletes is called Eat to Win. The author offers an approach to eating that he is confident improves the physical performance of people. As believers we know that to be spiritually strong requires a special spiritual diet. We need to feast on the word of God
The great prophetic passage in the first reading from Isaiah speaks of God’s word settling on the earth like rain from the sky. This word, the prophet assures us, brings forth life, that life is grace. Grace is a sharing in the life of God. It is a gift freely given to us by the Creator. It is a gift that makes our lives truly human.
The primary effect of grace is that it sets us free. The freedom that grace brings makes it possible for ‘us to know, love, and obey the Creator. The freedom that grace brings shatters the bonds of -sin that prevent us from being truly human.
St. Paul’s letter acknowledges that the life of grace is often filled with suffering, and sorrow. The lives of God’s followers are filled with challenges, frustrations, sickness and death. At times, believers seem worse off than disbelievers. Often evil people prosper and wholesome people are overwhelmed by injustice and hardship. Yet, believers with the faith and vision of Paul see beyond the immediate agony and try to grasp the ultimate significance of life and death in the service of God and neighbor.
For Paul, the disappointments and heartbreak of life paled before the glory of God that shines through the lives of the lovers of God and will eventually be made apparent to all the world.
Paul’s mystical vision saw that salvation was sweeping and awesome. He understood that salvation was affecting every aspect of creation and not simply the human species. The human species is saved but this is simply the first step in the reconciliation of nature as a whole. Paul felt that the earth itself was moaning and longing for the final victory when all things would be won back to the Creator. He believed that the inward agony the believers experience is a small sign of the pain creation as a whole undergoes waiting for the manifestation of God’s ultimate glory.
Just as Isaiah spoke of God’s word in terms of rain upon the earth and Paul spoke of the earth’s moaning for God, Jesus speaks of the word of God scattered over the soil. Jesus speaks of a farmer sowing seed over the land. The farmer acted in faith and love. The farmer was confident that some of his seed would grow and was not discouraged by the knowledge that some of the seed would die.
The seed of faith has been sown in our hearts but it will take a lifetime of living and loving before we can judge the yield of our lives. The first seed Jesus talked about fell on shallow soil and grew quickly but soon withered and died. People at times experience a conversion that is intense and apparently life-changing but which withers quickly and causes them to revert to their accustomed lifeless ways.
Others have faith that begins to grow well but their environment is so unhealthy, so violent, so hate-filled, that their faith is gradually sapped and they are changed by their surroundings. They cease to grow and develop. They become like the weeds that bear no fruit, steal the earth’s minerals, water and resources, and give nothing beneficial in return.
Unfortunately, we cannot be too confident that the first two types of seed do not apply to us. Trials and tribulations, disappointments in love, health, finances and friends will prove our depth. Our associates may seem for a time to be positive influences on us but prove in the long run to be deceptive, greedy, arrogant or unhealthy pleasure-seekers. Their attitudes and values at this moment may well be luring us away from the values of Christ’s kingdom.
The parables that reveal the mysteries of God and the meaning of life can inspire us or bore us. They can set us free or make us responsible and guilty for our indifference. The lure of money and the anxiety about worldly affairs threaten clergy as well as laity. Jesus knew that His apostles themselves were struggling with the things He was talking about. He reminded them of how lucky, how blest they were because of the things that they were hearing and experiencing. He wanted them to cherish the things -that truly mattered. He knew they were constantly wavering but He understood that if they responded to His message they would be people capable of changing the human species.
The apostles and first disciples proved by their lives that the word Jesus had sown in their hearts had fallen on good ground.
To be a lively Catholic requires that we nurture the seed of God’s word in our hearts and deeds. When the seed of God’s word is flourishing and growing in our parish, neighborhoods and communities are blessed.
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time -July 18, 1999
Cycle A Readings: Wis. 12:13, 16-19; Rom. 8-.26-27; Mt. 13:24-43 or 13:24-30
Outline:
1) Respecting the justice of God and being wise
2) The Spirit’s intercession
3) The good seed and the weeds
4) The mustard seed and the weeds
5) The one true tragedy
THE one God rules justly. The justice of God is impossible to fathom or to understand yet the wise accept it as a fact of life. The one God is all powerful and, precisely because of that, is able to be all merciful. The one God is not threatened by our human rebellions, but is brokenhearted by our cruelty to one another
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The book of Wisdom was most likely written outside of the Holy Land in the century before the coming of Christ. It is filled with insight and knowledge of the ways of God. In today’s reading, we see that because of God’s power He can afford to be patient and merciful towards His children. God requires that we pass on His kindness and mercy to others. He urges those He governs with leniency to show clemency towards one another. He rebukes fear in those who follow Him so that they may be fearless in loving others.
If we are wise, we accept God’s forgiveness. If we are wise, we forgive those who wrong us. If we are wise, we acknowledge that God rules all things. If we are wise, we submit to His rule. If we are wise, we turn from our sins and encourage those we love to do likewise.
Wisdom comes from God alone and is received through prayer and acts of love. In the selection from Paul’s letter to the Romans, we see that in our weakness we are too foolish to pray as we ought but we take comfort from the truth that the Spirit of God prays for us. In utterances that are beyond our understanding and in ways we never can fathom, the Spirit of God intercedes for the saints.
As in last week’s Gospel, Jesus today once again turns to the image of sowing of seeds to explain the reign of God. He tells how good seed, falling on good soil, can be threatened by the sprouting of weeds sown by an enemy. The farmer’s impatient and panicking helpers want to immediately pull up and destroy the weeds. The farmer wisely points out that the crop itself would be destroyed and that they will wait until the harvest time to separate the good from the bad.
In this way, Jesus answers one of our perennial, lifelong questions. How can a just God allow evil people to prosper and grow at the apparent expense of good people? Jesus reminds us that in the end weeds will be weeds and treated as such. In the end, those who have borne food for others to live on will be taken into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus does not speak of His Father’s justice to frighten us but to stimulate us to live our lives fully. He spoke of the justice of God because He knew that the one thing His Father in heaven was unable to do was to force people to accept His eternal love. The rejection of eternal love leads to eternal loneliness and is the one ultimate tragedy a being created for love can experience.
Jesus knew that though He Himself loved everyone many would despise Him. Jesus was gentle but understood the violence of sin that slays the sinner and prevents the sinner from approaching the God of life. Jesus knew that the same warmth of eternal love that comforts lovers would prove too hot for the coldhearted, the indifferent, the violent, the greedy and self-centered. The warmth of God would bum away those who were spiritually dead.
Jesus immediately followed the burning of the weeds parable with the image of the mustard seed as an analogy for the reign of God. We are confident that although there may be weeds in our life that threaten to kill us spiritually, our main stem is like the mustard tree. If it is, we will grow until others begin to find life and shelter around us. Though the mustard seed is small, the task of the mature tree is enormous. Though our faith may be at any moment small and apparently endangered, it has the potential to be a blessing to all those we know and love.
Jesus also uses the image of yeast to show the effect of faith. Even a small amount causes all of the bread to rise and be baked accordingly. He wanted His disciples to be the yeast of the species He was a part of and loved so deeply.
The disciples, when they cornered Jesus, did not ask about the mustard seed or the yeast but about the sower and the weeds. Jesus spoke to them in ways that they could grasp and He impressed on them the importance of being citizens of his Kingdom in the midst of a hostile world.
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 25th, 1999
Cycle A Readings: 1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12; Rm 8:28-30; Mt 13:44-52 or 44-46
Outline:
1) Solomon wise as a young man, foolish in old age
2) Maintaining wisdom as a goal
3) Paul’s faith in divine providence
4) Being as bold as business people
5) Risking all for the kingdom
6) Responding to the warning of Jesus
THE gift to the young Solomon was wisdom. Wisdom was given to help him assist, govern and watch over the people as a whole. The gift was supposed to make of him a just judge of Israel
As a young man, Solomon was wise indeed and ruled justly. Somewhere along the line he became a fool. His greed, laziness, absolute power, entanglement with many foreign wives, etc., ultimately corrupted his nation. Upon his death, his people were bankrupt and the alliance of the twelve tribes was ready to break apart.
At times, we see good people who begin their lives well and for years remain faithful to family and friends at some point begin to lose their sense of right and wrong. Like Solomon they at first waver and then plunge wildly down a wrong path hurting those they love and undermining communities they live in. They waste their potential and destroy their reputations. Their lives are tragic because they are wasted. At their deaths, rather than being mourned they pass on, with others giving a sigh of relief.
Paul speaks, however, of a different type of person. He tells us that, for those who love God, all things ultimately come together for their good. The blessing of God makes people just. If we are unjust, prejudiced, revenge-filled, embittered, and angry we cannot reflect the light and image of the loving and forgiving God. Our calling makes us mirrors of God on earth and magnifiers of his power.
We must take care of this gift and work to preserve the life that God freely bestows on us. Our destiny, our call is to be united with God forever. That heritage is something to be cherished and to be shared with others just as the Son shares his image with us.
St. Anselm coined the phrase that the true glory of God is humanity fully alive. When we love intensely, forgive completely, live courageously, and demonstrate our integrity to all, our special status as the adopted children of God will dazzle the world. This is the glory Paul promised the Romans and us.
In the gospel passage, Jesus speaks of the reign of God as a buried treasure. When it is discovered, a person sacrifices everything to obtain it. The same with the merchant who found a fine pearl. As a bold entrepreneur, a savvy businessman is willing to risk all to obtain it. So too, the spiritual adventuresome who puts his or her entire life on the line for the sake of obtaining the reign of God.
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