The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today encourage us to reflect on how we are living out our mission to make Christ present in our environment through our acts of mercy, love, and compassion.
The reading from the Prophet Hosea declares God’s compassion despite Israel’s ingratitude.
* [11:4] I drew them…with bands of love: perhaps a reversal of the yoke imagery of the previous chapter, i.e., not forcing them like draft animals, but drawing them with kindness and affection. (Hosea, CHAPTER 11, n.d.)
Psalm 80 is a prayer for Israel’s restoration.
* [Psalm 80] A community lament in time of military defeat. Using the familiar image of Israel as a vineyard, the people complain that God has broken down the wall protecting the once splendid vine brought from Egypt (Ps 80:9–14). They pray that God will again turn to them and use the Davidic king to lead them to victory (Ps 80:15–19). (Psalms, PSALM 80, n.d.)
The Gospel of Matthew is the Commissioning of the Twelve.
* [10:8–11] The Twelve have received their own call and mission through God’s gift, and the benefits they confer are likewise to be given freely. They are not to take with them money, provisions, or unnecessary clothing; their lodging and food will be provided by those who receive them.
* [10:13] The greeting of peace is conceived of not merely as a salutation but as an effective word. If it finds no worthy recipient, it will return to the speaker.
* [10:14] Shake the dust from your feet: this gesture indicates a complete disassociation from such unbelievers. (Matthew. MATTHEW 10, n.d.)
Michael Cherney comments that Jesus gives a charge to his disciples. Sharing His message is not an easy task. He recognizes that certain conversations will go nowhere and perhaps in those cases stubbornly continuing is not the appropriate response. He recognizes the importance of an open heart in receiving the disciple’s message. Fortunately, God gives the disciples tools to use in the process, signs to help create that opening. For the disciples, the process requires a willingness to forego worldly rewards and the judgement to know when to move on.
I think of how often I have wasted time talking about issues with others rather than acting to resolve them. I think of how often I have stubbornly persisted when speaking to someone who was not ready to hear what I had to say. I even think about how often I found it easier to talk about God rather than talking to God.
Dear Lord,
The apostles faced a world in need of reform.
Their message met a mixed response.
Still through finding hearts open to change, their message was able to spread.
I find myself living in world in turmoil.
Opinions seem fixed and polarized.
Grant me the insight in seeing where and how hearts are open to change.
Allow me in the efforts of my daily life to be an agent of transformation. (Cherney, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The gift of power to reign with the Lord,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).
"All the power possessed by the Lord is bestowed upon the apostles! Those who were prefigured in the image and likeness of God in Adam have now received the perfect image and likeness of Christ. They have been given powers in no way different from those of the Lord. Those once earthbound now become heaven-centered. They will proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that the image and likeness of God are now appropriated in the company of truth, so that all the holy ones who have been made heirs of heaven may reign with the Lord. Let them cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out devils. Whatever impairment Adam's body had incurred from being goaded on by Satan, let the apostles wipe away through their sharing in the Lord's power. And that they may fully obtain the likeness of God according to the prophecy in Genesis, they are ordered to give freely what they freely have received (Matthew 10:8). Thus a gift freely bestowed should be freely dispensed." (excerpt from commentary ON MATTHEW 10.4) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 10:7-15 comments on the incredible trust Jesus places in us as he sends us off to do his work! He calls us to teach, to serve, to pray with people, and to evangelize—often in surprising and difficult situations. We don’t always feel as prepared or as capable as we’d like to be. But just as the apostles did, we too can learn by experience.
There’s one difference, however, between the driving example and our call to share the good news: Jesus doesn’t leave us completely on our own. He has given us his Holy Spirit, who empowers us to hear him as he teaches us, leads us, and reassures us.
So as you strive to serve the Lord, stay keenly aware of the trust he places in you. Then ask the Spirit to guide and direct you as you go about your work. Like the apostles, you too can witness to the kingdom of God in our midst.
“Lord Jesus, thank you for the trust you place in me each day.” (Meditation on Matthew 10:7-15, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the shift in Hosea from using his marriage to describe the faithfulness of God to the image of a child in rebellion loved by God. Proclamation in Word and Deed is lived in the body and soul of the apostle. Friar Jude reminds us that rejection is a decision by those who have refused the peace Jesus offers.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on the apostle Paul’s interconnected understanding of the Body of Christ. For Jesus, such teachings as forgiveness, healing, and justice are the clear evidence of such a shared life. When we do not see this happening, religion is “all in the head.” Peacemaking, forgiveness, and reconciliation are not some kind of ticket to heaven later. They are the price of peoplehood—the signature of heaven—now.
We are essentially social beings, and I am only one part of the reflection of the great mystery of God. We are each of us simply one fingerprint or footprint of God. We are essentially connected with one another. The foundation for community has to come out of Reality and What Is. The best way we can do that in community is to repattern our lifestyles on what is. And the pattern of the universe is that we are one. It’s a benevolent universe, it’s radically okay, and God is on our side. We can be at rest. We don’t have to live competitively. We don’t have to climb or succeed because there’s nothing “up there” that isn’t “right here.”
Contemplative theologian Beatrice Bruteau (1930–2014) affirms Reality as community, based in the nature of the Trinitarian God:
Being made in the “image of God” means in the image of Trinitarian “community” life. And this in turn comes about because of the nature of God, which is self-giving love. It is because of the nature of love and the nature of personhood and the nature of freedom that community has the central position it has as the very root of reality. Community is how being, even Absolute Being, and therefore all being fundamentally is. It is not something optionally added afterwards. It belongs to the essence. [1] (Rohr, n.d.)
We seek the help of the Spirit to find the path to peace and community in times when conflict and individualism challenge our mission of love.
References
Cherney, M. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/070722.html
Hosea, CHAPTER 11. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hosea/11?1
Matthew. MATTHEW 10. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10?7
Meditation on Matthew 10:7-15. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/07/07/433602/
Psalms, PSALM 80. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/80?2
Rohr, R. (n.d.). The Embodiment of God. Daily Meditations Archive: 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-embodiment-of-god-2022-07-07/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Freely Have You Received - Freely Give. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 7, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jul7
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