The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today form a background against which we can see how different our trust in God and the calculation of our response to the needy today is from the Biblical models.
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| Our search for the needy |
The passage from the Book of Deuteronomy declares the Lord’s Leadership in the passage of the Israelites to the Promised Land.
The Lord’s Leadership and the Call of Joshua1
The response from Deuteronomy 32:3-4AB, 7, 8, 9, 12 is part of a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel.
* [32:1–43] The whole song is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel (vv. 1–14) and Israel’s ingratitude and idolatry in turning to the gods of the nations; these sins will be punished by the nations themselves (vv. 15–29); in turn, the foolish pride of the nations will be punished, and the Lord’s honor will be vindicated (vv. 30–43).2
In the Gospel from Matthew, Jesus defines the qualities of the Greatest in the Kingdom and the response to those most in need in the Parable of the Lost Sheep.
* [18:1–35] This discourse of the fourth book of the gospel is often called the “church order” discourse, but it lacks most of the considerations usually connected with church order, such as various offices in the church and the duties of each, and deals principally with the relations that must obtain among the members of the church. Beginning with the warning that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is measured not by rank or power but by childlikeness (Mt 18:1–5), it deals with the care that the disciples must take not to cause the little ones to sin or to neglect them if they stray from the community (Mt 18:6–14)3
Mark Latta comments that over the span of our lives, we sometimes develop, in the language of Ignatian spirituality, “disordered attachments.”
These attachments might be rooted in our insecurities, our striving for money or status, or any number of things that can become a barrier to our openness to the full love and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Saint Ignatius encourages us to become “indifferent” to those ideas or items that bind us and prevent us from being free to accept and receive the full measure of God’s plan for us.4
Don Schwager quotes “What it means to become a child of God,” by Epiphanius the Latin (late 5th century).
"Here the Lord not only repressed the apostles' thoughts but also checked the ambition of believers throughout the whole world, so that he might be great who wanted to be least. For with this purpose Jesus used the example of the child, that what he had been through his nature, we through our holy living might become - innocent, like children innocent of every sin. For a child does not know how to hold resentment or to grow angry. He does not know how to repay evil for evil. He does not think base thoughts. He does not commit adultery or arson or murder. He is utterly ignorant of theft or brawling or all the things that will draw him to sin. He does not know how to disparage, how to blaspheme, how to hurt, how to lie. He believes what he hears. What he is ordered he does not analyze. He loves his parents with full affection. Therefore what children are in their simplicity, let us become through a holy way of life, as children innocent of sin. And quite rightly, one who has become a child innocent of sin in this way is greater in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives such a person will receive Christ." (excerpt from INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 27)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Deuteronomy 31:1-8 suggests that perhaps we too are facing a transition or an uncertain future.
In times like these, you might become consumed with anxiety. You might be tempted to dwell on the uncertain future and miss God’s invitation to dwell with him in the present. Whatever the future brings, you can be sure of one thing: God will be with you there. More important, Jesus is with you here and now. Whether or not you receive answers to the questions that seem so urgent, you can count on his loving presence. Leave your fear and confusion with him, and rest in his unconditional love for you.6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the trust of the Israelites in the Presence of God with them. The one in one hundred lost sheep is our model of how to treat the squeaky wheel. Friar Jude reminds us that the Good Shepherd is present to those who are in need.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces friend and Christian philosopher James Danaher who writes about unfiltered divine encounter as a core element in the Perennial Tradition.
The prayer of the contemplative is, essentially, an attention to the omnipresence of God. God is omnipresent not as a theological doctrine, but as the great silence that is present in every moment—but from which we are usually distracted by an overactive mind that refuses to wait in a humble unknowing for a pure wisdom from above [James 3:17]. [2]7
Trust in God, preference for the needy, and contemplative connection to the Divine stand out as areas that we may have neglected in favour of our disordered attachments.
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