Saturday, August 8, 2009
Feast of Dominic
“Shema, Israel!” This is the creed of Israel: “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” Islam’s creed is much the same: “The Lord our God is one.” Moses enumerates many of the mercies of God in leading the people, urging them to pass on this creed to their children. Jesus meets a tormented child after he returns from the mount of transfiguration. The boy is an epileptic, throwing himself in the fire and in the water. Jesus casts out the demon and when the disciples ask why they couldn’t do this exorcism, Jesus is blunt: “Because of your little faith.” Dominic was a defender and teacher of faith as he wandered a beggar. Our faith has been enriched and preached by his followers, both men and women.
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Friday, August 7, 2009
“You way, O God, is holy,” sings the psalmist. The word holy and the word just are the same in both Hebrew and Greek. Moses asks the people to be in awe that the holy one has shepherded the people with such mercy. Has any other god chosen a nation? Moses asks them. Jesus too speaks of holiness, the giving of one’s life for Jesus’ sake in order to find life. Then he promises that when the Son of Man comes at the end of time, “he will repay everyone for what has been done.”
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Thursday, August 6, 2009
Feast of the Transfiguration
Your celebrant may choose the reading from Daniel, but whether that or this, from 2 Peter, we have apocalyptic hope in our first reading. Apocalypsis is Greek for revelation, the drawing back of the veil which covers the last things, the majesty of Christ’s final coming. 2 Peter offers a powerful image: “You will do well to be attentive…as to a lamp shining in the dark, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” Not only is Jesus transfigured, but we too carry the morning star, the risen Christ, to others. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians: “We are being transformed from glory to glory.”
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Wednesday, August 5, 2009
At God’s command, Moses sends spies to survey the promised land, and while it flows with milk and honey, the scouts tell of giant inhabitants. So of course, the people weep and complain! God is so angry he promises that they shall wander for 40 years and die in the desert. In the psalm, Moses again stands in the breach, as we pray the antiphon: “In your love, remember us, Lord!” In the gospel, Jesus is cruel too. A Canaanite woman begs for healing for her demon-tormented daughter and Jesus calls her a dog. She reminds him that the dogs can eat the scraps. Here Jesus praises her faith and heals the girl. In Mark’s version he says: “Woman, for saying that, I will heal your daughter.” Jesus needs his consciousness raised. Jews do not take favorably to Gentiles, and she undercuts his unconscious bigotry.
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Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Feast of John Vianney, priest
Again, our readings can fit the feast of this simple French priest whom Pope Benedict has named patron of “The Year of the Priest.” John barely had the rudiments of doctrine when he was ordained, somewhat like Peter who began to walk on water simply because Jesus summoned him. John did walk on water, becoming so well known as a confessor that people flocked to his small parish in Ars. He received them in the confessional sometimes for 16 hours a day. The first reading is about Moses’ prayer that God heal his sister Miriam. The psalm is about the forgiveness of sin, and some lines are well worth memorizing:
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Monday, August 3, 2009
The people are hungry, weeping, complaining, and Moses is weary of his “leadership.” Moses offers God an ultimatum. “If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once.” God responds through the psalm: “Oh if only you would listen to me…if only you would open your mouths I would feed you with the finest wheat and honey from the rock!” Jesus puts flesh on God’s desire to feed us. With meager supplies, Jesus feeds 5,000 men (not women and children).
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Sunday, August 2, 2009
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ephesians picks up last Sunday’s call from Jesus to come apart and rest awhile. The author warns: “do not live in the futility of your minds. That is not how you learned Christ…” Even when we rest, so often our minds keep racing, planning, comparing, evaluating. The Greek word for futility is “vanity.” In vain do we work and slave and save. God’s abundance feeds us. Ah, but we ask with the crowds, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus responds: “This is the work of God that you believe in the one God sent.” The work of God is to trust Jesus. We cannot save ourselves. It is futile to keep examining our spiritual life; it is vain. Jesus grows our spiritual life, and we are to rest awhile.
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Saturday, August 1, 2009
Feast of Alphonsus Liguori
A third time this week, what have the readings to do with the saint we celebrate? Alphonsus was noted as a confessor and moral theologian. His own integrity led him to resign the law after he lost a case because he missed a bit of evidence. Yet this master of law is noted for his kindness and mercy. So is the Law promulgated in the Leviticus reading today one of mercy. Israel kept slaves rather than prisoners. If someone should rob, for example, instead of going to prison, the offender and his whole family was enslaved to the victim for a time. Today the year of jubilee is proclaimed when all slaves are set free, all debts are cancelled, all land is returned to its original owner.
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