Hospitality and Faith

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to honour our sacred celebrations even as we extend our hospitality to all in the guidance of the Spirit.

Family and Faith

The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians identifies abuses at the Lord’s Supper and recalls the Institution of the Lord’s Supper.

* [11:17–34] Paul turns to another abuse connected with the liturgy, and a more serious one, for it involves neglect of basic Christian tradition concerning the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Paul recalls that tradition for them and reminds them of its implications.

* [11:19] That…those who are approved among you may become known: Paul situates their divisions within the context of the eschatological separation of the authentic from the inauthentic and the final revelation of the difference. The notion of authenticity-testing recurs in the injunction to self-examination in view of present and future judgment (1 Cor 11:28–32).

* [11:23–25] This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The narrative emphasizes Jesus’ action of self-giving (expressed in the words over the bread and the cup) and his double command to repeat his own action. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 40 is a thanksgiving for Deliverance and Prayer for Help.

* [Psalm 40] A thanksgiving (Ps 40:2–13) has been combined with a lament (Ps 40:14–17) that appears also in Ps 70. The psalmist describes the rescue in spatial terms—being raised up from the swampy underworld to firm earth where one can praise God (Ps 40:2–4). All who trust God will experience like protection (Ps 40:5–6)! The Psalm stipulates the precise mode of thanksgiving: not animal sacrifice but open and enthusiastic proclamation of the salvation just experienced (Ps 40:7–11). A prayer for protection concludes (Ps 40:12–17). (Psalms, PSALM 40 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant.

* [7:1–10] This story about the faith of the centurion, a Gentile who cherishes the Jewish nation (Lk 7:5), prepares for the story in Acts of the conversion by Peter of the Roman centurion Cornelius who is similarly described as one who is generous to the Jewish nation (Acts 10:2). See also Acts 10:34–35 in the speech of Peter: “God shows no partiality…whoever fears him and acts righteously is acceptable to him.” See also notes on Mt 8:5–13 and Jn 4:43–54.

* [7:2] A centurion: see note on Mt 8:5.

* [7:6] I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof: to enter the house of a Gentile was considered unclean for a Jew; cf. Acts 10:28. (Luke, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Vivian Amu comments that the centurion in the gospel sought healing for someone who worked for him, someone he valued so much that he humbled himself to ask Jesus for help. In my opinion, that is where faith begins. Faith begins at the point of humility.

Faith is not just about believing in God or going to church. Faith is when you have nothing, but you know God will provide it, and you refuse to have a doubt in your mind. Faith is when you lose the function of your legs, but you can still imagine yourself dancing and even hear the music in your mind. Faith is when you wait for someone to say, “I forgive you” or “I love you.” Faith is when seemingly simple things like sitting outside or looking out the window fills you with joy and gratitude instead of worry. Faith is when you go to sleep at night knowing that God will gently wake you up in the morning. Faith is when everyone tells you "No," but somehow, you believe that your "yes" is on the way. Faith is when we can still eat together, pray together, attend a church service together, wait for each other, and pray for each other, even when we feel a slight contempt for the church or the human condition. Faith is when, even though you have not been to church in a while, somehow, when your loved one is sick or dying, you run to Jesus.

Loving God, we humbly approach you with our needs. Please help us heal. Amen. (Luke, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The power of Divinity and the grace of humility,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"How great is the sign of divine humility, that the Lord of heaven by no means disdained to visit the centurion's servant! Faith is revealed in deeds, but humanity is more active in compassion. Surely he did not act this way because he could not cure in his absence, but in order to give you a form of humility for imitation he taught the need to defer to the small and the great alike. In another place he says to the ruler, 'Go, your son lives' (John 4:50), that you may know both the power of Divinity and the grace of humility. In that case he refused to go to the ruler's son, lest he seem to have had regard for riches. In this case he went himself lest he seem to have despised the humble rank of the centurion's servant. All of us, slave and free, are one in Christ (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11)." (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 5.84) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 7:1-10 comments that the elders of the Jews emphasized the centurion’s good works. But the man himself knew that his deeds didn’t make him worthy to come to Jesus (Luke 7:4-6). In a similar way, we don’t come to Jesus and offer to him our acts of devotion or good deeds; we leave them at the door. We are all unworthy. We simply present to him our heartfelt need, confident not only that Jesus can help us, but that this is precisely what he is eager to do. What we “deserve” never enters into Jesus’ calculations because grace, by definition, is unmerited.

At every Mass, we echo the centurion’s words, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed.” But there’s no need to wait until Mass! The centurion’s faith-filled words are appropriate every time we approach the Lord with a petition.

Remember, not one of us is worthy to come to Jesus, but every single one of us is invited and welcomed. Don’t hesitate to lay your petitions at his feet.

“Jesus, I know I don’t deserve your mercy, but I still believe that you want to help me.” (Meditation on Luke 7:1-10, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes the need of Paul to correct the behavior of some Corinthians at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper when failure to share food was not in harmony with the oneness of the Eucharist. The consecration of the Bread and Wine makes Jesus present again. The cup in Mark and Matthew contains blood and in Luke and Paul contains covenant. Friar Jude notes how a pagan in the Gospel who has faith is a welcome to both Gentiles and Jews to the Kingdom.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, considers what it means to be a peacemaker.

Do we have any idea of all the slavery and oppression, all the killing and torture, all the millions of people who have existed around the edges of every empire so those at the center of the empire could say they had peace? Every time we build a pyramid, certain people at the top will have their peace, yet there will be bloody bodies all around the bottom. Those at the top usually don’t recognize the price of their false peace.  

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus defines peace in a different way that we call Pax Christi, the peace of Christ. In the remaining Beatitudes, Jesus will connect his peace with justice and self-sacrifice (see Matthew 5:10). The Pax Romana creates a false peace by sacrificing others; the Pax Christi waits and works for true peace by sacrificing the false self of power, prestige, and possessions. (Rohr, n.d.)

We slip into strata of rich and poor, proud and humble, protected and powerless, deluded and peaceful, to name a few, and call on our faith in the Spirit to guide our hospitality with diversity, equity and inclusion.

References

Luke, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/7? 

Meditation on Luke 7:1-10. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/09/16/1073830/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/11?17 

Psalms, PSALM 40 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/40?7 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-calls-us-to-make-peace/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Say the Word - Be Healed. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=sep16 

Choose the Narrow Gate

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us to seek direction for our actions through prayer and awareness of the fullness of life in choosing the narrow gate that restricts distraction from our mission.

Choosing the Narrow Passage

The reading from the Second Book of Kings relates Hezekiah’s prayer and Sennacherib’s defeat and death.

Psalm 48 praises The Glory and Strength of Zion.

* [Psalm 48] A Zion hymn, praising the holy city as the invincible dwelling place of God. Unconquerable, it is an apt symbol of God who has defeated all enemies. After seven epithets describing the city (Ps 48:2–3), the Psalm describes the victory by the Divine Warrior over hostile kings (Ps 48:4–8). The second half proclaims the dominion of the God of Zion over all the earth (Ps 48:9–12) and invites pilgrims to announce that God is eternally invincible like Zion itself (Ps 48:13–14). (Psalms, PSALM 48 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew teaches about profaning the Holy, the Golden Rule and the Narrow Gate.

* [7:6] Dogs and swine were Jewish terms of contempt for Gentiles. This saying may originally have derived from a Jewish Christian community opposed to preaching the gospel (what is holy, pearls) to Gentiles. In the light of Mt 28:19 that can hardly be Matthew’s meaning. He may have taken the saying as applying to a Christian dealing with an obstinately impenitent fellow Christian (Mt 18:17).

* [7:9–10] There is a resemblance between a stone and a round loaf of bread and between a serpent and the scaleless fish called barbut.

* [7:12] See Lk 6:31. This saying, known since the eighteenth century as the “Golden Rule,” is found in both positive and negative form in pagan and Jewish sources, both earlier and later than the gospel. This is the law and the prophets is an addition probably due to the evangelist.

* [7:13–28] The final section of the discourse is composed of a series of antitheses, contrasting two kinds of life within the Christian community, that of those who obey the words of Jesus and that of those who do not. Most of the sayings are from Q and are found also in Luke. (Matthew, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Tom Shanaham, S.J. (2006) comments that chapters 5 through 7, contain some key statements of Jesus given for those who would answer the call to discipleship, including the Beatitudes and the Our Father prayer. Yet the “sermon” itself is really a series of Jesus’ statements most likely said at various times during Jesus’ public life and covering a wide variety of topics.

One way of understanding the “sermon on the mount” is to see it as Jesus’ way of inviting us to incorporate into our lives the way that Jesus wants us to live so that we can “enter through the narrow gate” (of heaven). Today’s gospel reading gets our attention as it reminds us that indeed the gate is narrow and “those that find it are few!”

Am I one of those “few?” I’m afraid that I will never know for certain the answer to this most pressing question. But I do have some control in the matter. That control comes from continually taking seriously the demands of treating others as I would wish to be treated.

Today’s gospel reading has with it the call (demand?) to look outside of myself towards others and the way that I am towards them, the way that I treat them. My prayer is that I can accept this call and live it out, knowing that hearing the call may be the beginning of opening myself to the work of Jesus in my heart and in my actions especially towards others. (Shanaham, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Unreadiness to receive Godly teaching,” by Augustine of Hippo, 430-543 A.D.

"Now in this precept we are forbidden to give a holy thing to dogs or to cast pearls before swine. We must diligently seek to determine the gravity of these words: holy, pearls, dogs and swine. A holy thing is whatever it would be impious to profane or tear apart. Even a fruitless attempt to do so makes one already guilty of such impiety, though the holy thing may by its very nature remain inviolable and indestructible. Pearls signify all spiritual things that are worthy of being highly prized. Because these things lie hidden in secret, it is as though they were being drawn up from the deep. Because they are found in the wrappings of allegories, it is as though they were contained within shells that have been opened.(1) It is clear therefore that one and the same thing can be called both a holy thing and a pearl. It can be called a holy thing because it ought not to be destroyed and a pearl because it ought not to be despised. One tries to destroy what one does not wish to leave intact. One despises what is deemed worthless, as if beneath him. Hence, whatever is despised is said to be trampled under foot... Thus we may rightly understand that these words (dogs and swine) are now used to designate respectively those who assail the truth and those who resist it." (excerpt from SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.20.68-69)

(1) The interpretive task is to crack through the shell of the language to its inner spiritual meaning. (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Kings 19:9-11, 14-21, 31-36 comments that psychological warfare is also the preferred strategy of our enemy, the devil. Using many of the same tactics that Sennacherib used, he taunts us for trusting in the Lord. He tries to make us think that God isn’t who he says he is, thus planting doubts in our minds that the Lord will save us. He especially tries to persuade us that we should just give in to temptation because resisting it is simply futile.

So be on your guard! When you detect a lie, counter it with God’s truths. Then turn to the Lord and pray in his presence, as the great King Hezekiah did. God will help you stand firm against the lies as well as assure you of his great love for you. He alone is “God over all the kingdoms of the earth” (2 Kings 19:15)—more powerful than any enemy—and he will always protect you!

“Lord, I turn to you in my need. Deliver me from every evil.” (Meditation on 2 Kings 19:9-11, 14-21, 31-36, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the response of God to the prayer of Hezekiah concerning the threat from the Assyrian army of Sennacherib. We need to be aware of possible mistreatment of what is holy by people who are not yet ready to accept and protect our understanding. Friar Jude reminds us that passing through the narrow gate requires discipline to say no to things that lead us away.

Barbara Holmes comments that communal lament opens the possibility for healing stories to be told. Through the voice of educator Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955), Holmes points to contemporary versions of “griots,” traveling oral historians and storytellers from West Africa.

The call for lament is not an invitation to moping or sadness. It is a call for ritual reorientation. With or without tears, lament is a communal act of cosmological engagement. Ancestors on the continent of Africa knew this…. There are griots among you in this new generation. They are poets, drummers, preachers, and singers. They are found in every walk of life, and they are waiting to write and share the stories that defy the conspiracy of silence that pervades this present age. (Holmes, n.d.)

We invoke the Holy Spirit to guide us to make choices that value the sanctity of people and the elements that assist in connecting us to the Presence of God as we seek the “narrow gate” on our journey.

References

Holmes, B. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/lament-is-healing/

Matthew, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/7?6 

Meditation on 2 Kings 19:9-11, 14-21, 31-36. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/06/25/1007588/ 

Psalms, PSALM 48 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/48?2 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Do Not Throw Your Pearls before Swine. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=jun25 

Shanaham, T. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. OnlineMinistries. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/062524.html 

2 Kings, CHAPTER 19 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2kings/19?9