07.19.08
Posted in Daily Mass Readings, Got Grace? at 6:20 am by Brian Schuettler
Mi 2:1-5
Woe to those who plan iniquity,
and work out evil on their couches;
In the morning light they accomplish it
when it lies within their power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
houses, and they take them;
They cheat an owner of his house,
a man of his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the LORD:
Behold, I am planning against this race an evil
from which you shall not withdraw your necks;
Nor shall you walk with head high,
for it will be a time of evil.
On that day a satire shall be sung over you,
and there shall be a plaintive chant:
“Our ruin is complete,
our fields are portioned out among our captors,
The fields of my people are measured out,
and no one can get them back!”
Thus you shall have no one
to mark out boundaries by lot
in the assembly of the LORD.
Ps 10:1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14
R. (12b) Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
Why, O LORD, do you stand aloof?
Why hide in times of distress?
Proudly the wicked harass the afflicted,
who are caught in the devices the wicked have contrived.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
For the wicked man glories in his greed,
and the covetous blasphemes, sets the LORD at nought.
The wicked man boasts, “He will not avenge it”;
“There is no God,” sums up his thoughts.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
His mouth is full of cursing, guile and deceit;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
He lurks in ambush near the villages;
in hiding he murders the innocent;
his eyes spy upon the unfortunate.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,
taking them in your hands.
On you the unfortunate man depends;
of the fatherless you are the helper.
R. Do not forget the poor, O Lord!
Mt 12:14-21
The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus
to put him to death.
When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.
Many people followed him, and he cured them all,
but he warned them not to make him known.
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I shall place my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not contend or cry out,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope.
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Commentary:
Today’s readings refer to evils and misfortune. The prophet Micah rails against land fraud, and “those who plan iniquity” and cheat people out of the land allotted to their ancestors. And today we have our own troubles concerning land and property and mortgages. Greed and fraud distort our use of the world’s natural resources – especially oil and water. Today’s Psalm sings about bad people and their victims, the “afflicted … caught in the devices the wicked have contrived.” Today, too, we suffer because of those without conscience or compunction, whose mouths are “full of cursing, guile and deceit .. mischief and iniquity.” .”
The Gospel also opens with wickedness. Jesus has just cured a man with a withered hand, and now the Pharisees, supposedly the upright leaders of society, are considering how “to put him to death.” Moving on, he heals people who follow him, but he tries to avoid publicity. Matthew cites the words of another Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, who proclaimed that God’s chosen servant “brings justice to victory.”In recent days I’ve experienced two kinds of misfortune. First the Omaha area suffered a major storm of high velocity winds (over 90 mph), rain and hail, causing at least two deaths, widespread damage to trees, homes, cars and gardens, and for some, many days of no electricity. But with the bad results of natural forces, we also saw charity, courtesy and patience – and neighbors helping neighbors.
Then came the afternoon when we returned home to find our back door broken and many items stolen from our house. The worst losses belonged to a colleague: a laptop computer and a paper file of business reports that had been brought to us for delivery the next day to our campus. The laptop held notes from several weeks of research abroad and the draft of a professional essay – files not backed up anywhere. We felt hurt by the damage to our house and the loss of our own possessions, but the blow to our colleague, who had entrusted his work to us, was most painful, most unjust. Where’s Jesus now, the one who “brings justice to victory”?
“Do not forget the poor, O Lord,” sings today’s Psalm refrain. Victimized by evildoers, collectively or individually, we feel “poor” even though we’re not literally so. Having our door broken and losing family heirlooms makes us feel poor; getting the door fixed and replacing necessary items makes us actually somewhat poorer. Our friend’s loss of both property and ideas means also a loss of time and perhaps opportunity – things far more valuable than can be tallied on a police report.
In times of misfortune, in the face of genuine evil, our faith and the Scriptures tell us: the Lord is with us. Jesus Christ moves among us and heals. This, our faith, is not a dream of magic to prevent or revenge burglaries and other crimes, or even to hold back storms or floods – or death. The Scriptures and our faith in Christ offer no false promise against the bad things that do happen to good people. Any one of us can be the victim of crime, or suffer some other bad thing – the traffic accident, the house fire, the miscarriage.
Yet I also have felt the healing power of the Risen Christ in the sympathy of people who heard about the burglary in the days following. I pray that my colleague will be supported by both his Christian faith and the concern and kindness of good people as he labors to replace the research and writing stolen from him in my home.
And as today’s readings remind us, as Matthew and Isaiah have said, in the name of Jesus Christ we will have – no, not insulation from the world’s evils – instead, we have HOPE.
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07.18.08
Posted in Daily Mass Readings, Got Grace? at 6:34 am by Brian Schuettler
Is 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8
When Hezekiah was mortally ill,
the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him:
“Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order,
for you are about to die; you shall not recover.”
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:
“O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly
I conducted myself in your presence,
doing what was pleasing to you!”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: “Go, tell Hezekiah:
Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David:
I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.
I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD’s temple;
I will add fifteen years to your life.
I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria;
I will be a shield to this city.”
Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken
and applied to the boil, that he might recover.
Then Hezekiah asked,
“What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?”
Isaiah answered:
“This will be the sign for you from the LORD
that he will do what he has promised:
See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun
on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz
go back the ten steps it has advanced.”
So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
Isaiah 38:10, 11, 12abcd, 16
R. (see 17b) You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Once I said,
“In the noontime of life I must depart!
To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned
for the rest of my years.”
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
I said, “I shall see the LORD no more
in the land of the living.
No longer shall I behold my fellow men
among those who dwell in the world.”
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent,
is struck down and borne away from me;
You have folded up my life, like a weaver
who severs the last thread.
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Those live whom the LORD protects;
yours is the life of my spirit.
You have given me health and life.
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Mt 12:1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,
“See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”
He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Commentary:
Ironically the Pharisees managed to turn the sabbath law of rest, which forbade the bearing of burdens, into a burden. What was their thinking? They felt that the Law was so holy that (as they put it) they needed to “build a hedge (or fence) around it,” so that no one would inadvertently break the Law. This “hedge” was the “traditions of the elders,” a body of oral law later written down by rabbis in the 2nd century, comprising thousands of rules, and later to form the Talmud. The idea was that if you kept the oral law, you couldn’t help but keep the actual Mosaic Law.
What Jesus and his disciples did on that day was quite lawful. The Law said, “If you enter your neighbour’s grain-field, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain” (Deuteronomy 23:25). The Pharisees could not object to that. What they objected to was that it was done on the sabbath. They saw it as ‘work’. The Talmud lists some rules about this. “If someone rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is considered as sifting; if he rubs the heads of wheat, it is considered threshing; if he cleans off the side-adherences, it is sifting out fruit; if he bruises the ears, it is grinding; if he throws them up in his hand, it is winnowing.” The ‘fence around the law’ had been breached in five places! With a little ingenuity you could keep counting: it was also “bearing a burden,” and “preparing a meal”!
When religion becomes a matter of obeying rules, the danger is that the true religious spirit fades from the picture; one’s own righteousness becomes the main focus. Because it is so rational and manageable, law is always in danger of becoming an end in itself. This is what Jesus charged against the Pharisees. “You have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Mt 23:23), thereby “making void the word of God through your traditions” (Mk 7:13).
This seems to be true everywhere. I once heard a lawyer defending a manifestly unjust decision by a judge: “It’s a court of law,” he said, “not a court of justice.” What is the law for if it is not for justice? What is religious law for if it is not for “justice, mercy, faith?”
http://www.goodnews.ie/news.php?dt=2008-07-18
©2002-2008All images and information, unless acknowledged, are copyright of Dominicans, Ireland. Four Evangelists reproduced with permission: “© The Trustees of The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. www.cbl.ie”
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07.17.08
Posted in Daily Mass Readings, Got Grace? at 7:17 am by Brian Schuettler
Is 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
The way of the just is smooth;
the path of the just you make level.
Yes, for your way and your judgments, O LORD,
we look to you;
Your name and your title
are the desire of our souls.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you;
When your judgment dawns upon the earth,
the world’s inhabitants learn justice.
O LORD, you mete out peace to us,
for it is you who have accomplished all we have done.
O LORD, oppressed by your punishment,
we cried out in anguish under your chastising.
As a woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,
so were we in your presence, O LORD.
We conceived and writhed in pain,
giving birth to wind;
Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,
the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.
But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise;
awake and sing, you who lie in the dust.
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the land of shades gives birth.
Ps 102:13-14ab and 15, 16-18, 19-21
R. (20b) From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
You, O LORD, abide forever,
and your name through all generations.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion,
for it is time to pity her.
For her stones are dear to your servants,
and her dust moves them to pity.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
Mt 11:28-30
Jesus said:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
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