Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 6, 2011

Following the Beatitudes, Matthew records a host of sayings from the Jesus tradition beginning with the metaphors of salt and light. The metaphors were easily understood by the people and they had a number of different interpretation. Salt is both a spice and a preservative, just as a good teacher imparts memorable pieces of wisdom to a student. A teacher also provides the means by which a student receives insight and light. Light imagery points to God as it primary source.

Through the repeated use of the word "you," Jesus is personally addressing the crowds of disciples whom he has given a vocation for the world. They are to fulfill it in times of persecution. With the confidence of faith, the disciples are not to shrink from their mission. Salt ceases to be salt if it has no taste anymore and light is not light if it is extinguished. "You" are not to be concerned about the taste or brightness because "you" are not the source of it. Only God is. God will provide the necessary elements for your discipleship. The disciple no longer lives for himself or herself, but for God and others.

With that in mind, one has to balance the gifts one has been given with the one who has provided the gifts. If one does good works, the credit does not belong solely to self. One is not to act with pride or to take all the credit because God is the one who has provided those gifts for a specific purpose. Discipleship does not lead one to arrogance but is to help others turn towards the creator, saving God.

It is a good idea for us to do a self-assessment every once in a while. Each of us has gifts and special favors particular to ourselves. The way I respond to these gifts will cue me in as to whether I have an poor self-image. They are to be received graciously. Ignatius of Loyola tells us that love is manifested more in deeds than in words and that love consists in a mutual sharing of gifts. We pray for gratitude because we realize that God dwells in each of these gifts and that I am a gift of God.

My life is presented as a gift. Just as God, the Father, gave Jesus life in the Resurrection, God gives us life as a gift. We are to receive this gift with magnanimity. When we see ourselves this way, we begin to give our gifts freely as Christ has given them to us. We know that God labors in these gifts, and as we give them away, we join our specific gifts to labor in Christ. We join in his mission.

This is what is happening when Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount. He is helping the people see themselves as gifts and God as the source of those gifts. God is the salt and light that helps people share their bread with the hungry or shelter the oppressed as Isaiah beckons to the people. Our care and concern for one another comes because we see how much God has care and concern for us. Christ wants us to live radically for God who will provide all we need. The proof we are doing it is that we administer a justice that is God-like to others. We learn the see the world as God sees it. God sees it as good. Christ redeemed it. Go, then, and share yourself with others that way God has shared life with you. Give your most precious gift to others - the gift of yourself - not your actions or your accomplishments - just yourself. Rejoice in the gift you are to God. Share it well.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: The readings shift to Genesis and the creation of the world by God. The purpose of this first chapter is to declare that God is one. One God created the world and declared that it was good. God also created humans in his image and gave them stewardship over all living things in the world. On the seventh day, God rested and delighted in all creation. After creating man, God created a garden in Eden in the east and there he placed the man he had formed. God planted many trees and in the middle of the garden, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God created a companion for the man and brought her to him. The man named all living things, but the woman had a special place with him. They joined to become one flesh. The serpent came and enticed the woman to eat of the tree of knowledge. She and her companion ate and their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. God punished the serpent, man, and woman and banished them from the Garden.

Gospel: Jesus comes to Gennesaret where people immediately recognized him. They brought their sick and many who touched the tassel of his cloak were healed. Pharisees assail Jesus for their disregard of cleanliness before meals. Jesus lashes out at them saying they disregard God's commandment, but cling to human traditions. Jesus declared all foods clean. He reminded them that what comes out of a person's words and actions can be unclean. He traveled to Tyre and did not escape notice from a woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon. He exorcised her because of her mother's faith - even though she was a foreigner. En route to the Decapolis by Sidon, he cured a deaf mute man. News of Jesus kept spreading throughout the region. As crowds gathered, Jesus was moved with pity for them. He fed them with the few loaves of bread and small quantities of fish his disciples produced.

Saints of the Week

Tuesday: Jerome Emiliani (1481-1537) was a Venetian soldier who experienced a conversion after his capture and imprisonment. He became a priest and devoted his work to the education of orphans, mostly war-orphans. He died during a plague when he was caring for the sick.

Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) was a Sudanese woman who was enslaved at age nine and sold to an Italian Consul who treated her well. When she became an adult, she was declared free. She was baptized and joined the Canossian Daughters of Charity in Venice. She performed many menial tasks with such gentleness and kindness that many became endeared to her.

Thursday: Scholastica (480-543) is the twin sister of Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism. The Office of Readings contain a moving account of her visit with her brother before her death. She was buried in his tomb; he died shortly afterwards. She is the patroness of Benedictine nuns.

Friday: Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated because of Mary's appearance to Bernadette Soubirous in a cave near Lourdes over 18 times between February 11th and July 16th, 1858. Lourdes has become one of the most popular tourist destinations for those who need healing or a renewal of their faith. People refresh themselves is the grotto's waters.

This Week in Jesuit History

• Feb 6, 1612. The death of Christopher Clavius, one of the greatest mathematicians and scientists of the Society.
• Feb 7, 1878. At Rome, Pius IX died. He was sincerely devoted to the Society; when one of the cardinals expressed surprise that he could be so attached to an order against which even high ecclesiastics brought serious charges, his reply was: "You have to be pope to know the worth of the Society."
• Feb 8, 1885. In Chicago, Fr. Isidore Bourdreaux, master of novices at Florissant, Missouri, from 1857 to 1870, died. He was the first scholastic novice to enter the Society from any of the colleges in Missouri.
• Feb 9, 1621. Cardinal Ludovisi was elected Pope Gregory XV. He was responsible for the canonization of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier.
• Feb 10, 1773. The rector of Florence informed the general, Fr. Ricci, that a copy of the proposed Brief of Suppression had been sent to the Emperor of Austria. The general refused to believe that the Society would be suppressed.
• Feb 11, 1563. At the Council of Trent, Fr. James Laynez, the Pope's theologian, made such an impression on the cardinal president by his learning and eloquence, that cardinal decided at once to open a Jesuit College in Mantua, his Episcopal see.
• Feb 12, 1564. Francis Borgia was appointed assistant for Spain and Portugal.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese year 4709 begins on February 3, 2011 and will continue until the 15th when the moon is brightest. The new year holiday is the longest and most important one in the Chinese calendar. This is the year of the Metal Rabbit.

According to legend, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on the Chinese New Year and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

Today is a time of family reunions, shared meals, and a New Year's Eve feast. Revelers wear red clothes and give children "lucky money" in red envelopes called Ang Pao. Red symbolizes fire, which is thought to drive away bad luck. Fireworks are based on the custom of lighting bamboo sticks that crackled, which frightened away evil spirits.