The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate being thankful in our struggle for truth, beauty, and good even as we encounter the paradox of discord resulting from our efforts.
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| Family peace |
The reading from the Prophet Isaiah urges the people to “cease to do evil, learn to do good;”
* [1:10–17] A powerful indictment of the religious hypocrisy of rulers and others who neglect just judgment and oppress the weaker members, yet believe they can please God with sacrifices and other external forms of worship. The long list of observances suggests the Lord’s tedium with such attempts. Sodom…Gomorrah: the names are picked up from v. 9, but now to emphasize their wickedness rather than the good fortune of escaping total destruction.1
Psalm 50 celebrates “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me.”
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20).2
The instructions of Jesus to His disciples in the Gospel of Matthew warn that not peace, but a sword may show division in families over their teaching.
* [10:40–42] All who receive the disciples of Jesus receive him, and God who sent him, and will be rewarded accordingly.3
Mike Cherney is reminded that there are differences within families. As we mature, we start to establish our own identities. We start to have different thoughts and feelings from some family members. We have distinctive experiences and might not possess similar values. In short, our biological family may not be as homogeneous as we had imagined. This is perhaps clearest when politics or religion come up as topics at the Thanksgiving dinner table. We have our beliefs and they are not uniformly shared among those with whom we share DNA. He finds consideration of his attachments to his family, home, and the various “tribes” to which he gives his assent is part of today’s Gospel challenge. He closes with how St. Ignatius expressed this in prayer.
Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me.To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will.Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.4
Don Schwager quotes “How peace requires a sword,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"What sort of peace is it that Jesus asks them to pronounce upon entering each house? And what kind of peace is it of which the angels sing, 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace'? And if Jesus came not to bring peace, why did all the prophets publish peace as good news? Because this more than anything is peace: when the disease is removed. This is peace: when the cancer is cut away. Only with such radical surgery is it possible for heaven to be reunited to earth. Only in this way does the physician preserve the healthy tissue of the body. The incurable part must be amputated. Only in this way does the military commander preserve the peace: by cutting off those in rebellion. Thus it was also in the case of the tower of Babel, that their evil peace was ended by their good discord. Peace therefore was accomplished. (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.1)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 10:34–11:1 comments that we all have crosses to bear; it comes with living in a fallen world. We could grudgingly resign ourselves to them. Or out of love for God, we could accept them with peace and trust and try to be as loving and merciful to those involved as Jesus is to us. So if we are caring for a family member with a mental illness, we can do it lovingly and with prayerful trust in the Lord. If we have to relate to a difficult boss each day, we can do it with forbearance and kindness. If we are serving in a ministry to the poor or the homeless, we can serve even on days when we would rather be doing something else.
The late superior general of the Jesuit order, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, once wrote, “What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.” Being in love with God will decide everything in our lives, including how we take up and respond to our crosses each day. The world’s greatest love story is our story as well. Because God loved us first, we are able to bear our crosses with the love and joy of a lover—and that makes all the difference!
“Lord Jesus, help me to take up my cross and follow after you today with a heart full of love.”6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the social justice called for from Isaiah. Widows and orphans are symbolic of those who have no one to take their side. Friar Jude proposes a mental test to determine if we place someone over God in our lives.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Dorothy Day (1897–1980) gives us a clear example of a contemplative activist. In her case, she began with activism, converted to Catholicism around age 30, and eventually lived out her two callings in a powerful and effective way. Fr. Richard’s friend, John Dear, himself a contemplative activist, writes this about Dorothy Day.
Dorothy Day’s spirituality and her social witness were equally rooted in the radical implications of the Incarnation. In Christ God assumed our humanity. And we could not worship God without honoring God’s image in our fellow human beings. We should feed them when they are hungry; shelter them when they are homeless. We should not torture them; we should not kill them.
In the 1950s Day and the Catholic Worker took on a more activist profile. She was repeatedly jailed for refusing to take shelter during compulsory civil defense drills in New York City. In the 1960s her activities reflected the turbulence of the times—protesting the Vietnam War, fasting in Rome during the Second Vatican Council to advance the cause of peace. She was last arrested while picketing with the United Farm Workers in 1973 at the age of seventy-five.7
The struggle for justice and care for our 21st Century “widows and orphans” is particularly needed in these Covid 19 days. We are aware of opposition and persecution from those in fear of loss of power, privilege, or wealth as we work as Jesus disciples.
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