The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

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July 15, 2018

Amos 7:12-15; Psalm 85; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

For the disciples of Jesus, the exciting ministry of hitting the streets and proclaiming the Kingdom of God is beginning. They are sent out in pairs and I can imagine that some are giddy and others are scared, but having a companion on the journey will make it easier. From the first reading we know that some people will be against us. In this case, a Jewish priest tells Amos the prophet to leave his land and to bring his unwanted message elsewhere.

Jesus gives his friends a gift they do not quite understand, but it will give them credibility because of their integrity. He wants his disciples to preach out of their interior poverty because it allows them to depend upon him for courage and inspiration. Their external poverty tells others that they are operating freely from their true selves. It tells others they are leaving their false selves behind, which allows them to embrace the person in front of them.

We know when we are dealing with someone’s false self because this person still believes she or he is the center of the universe. The false self does not deal with reality because it is seeking its own needs. It seeks survival and security, affection and esteem, and power and control, and it lives in a world of illusions, and illusion are simply not the truth. The false self might need to look like a compassionate person, to feel like a good Christian, and even to rack up points with God. The false self wants to look busy and productive because it is a way of getting prestige and esteem. Racism, xenophobia, bigotry, and prejudice come from people who are living out of their false selves.

However, the soul has to be free to follow the Kingdom of God. The true self seeks this Kingdom, and true souls recognize when other souls are true or false. Jesus frees his disciples from their false selves so they can give the peace of the kingdom to others who are seeking to know that God gazes upon them in love.

When we are in relationship with Jesus, and he looks lovingly and deeply into our true selves, we realize we do not just have a friendship with Jesus, but we are in relationship with all his friends, and we are responsible for one another. When we see Jesus, we see the Christ in all his people.

The whole point of the ministry of Jesus is that we love one another, but he knows this love is challenging because many people are operating out of their false selves with their unmet needs. Our challenge as Christ’s ministers is to see them, to really see others, so that our minds and hearts understand better.

As we become responsible for one another and we see someone suffering, we start to analyze what happened and why someone is in pain. We ask questions and we try to understand. We need to see the other person, to gaze in their direction long enough to understand. Cornel West, author of Race Matters, says love is not a matter of warm feelings. It is fundamentally about taking people seriously, and I’m not doing that if I’m not listening to them and trying to understand their concerns. It means that if someone has a complaint, I have no right to dismiss that complaint. Loving the other person as myself, as I love my best friend, as I claim to love Christ, means I’m not going to brush off their grievance and tell them to suck it up. Loving the other person means I do not get to dismiss anyone. Taking people seriously is a process that is complex and challenging. In fact, love means I will get involved to alleviate their suffering and bring the person to Jesus who will restore their soul.

In life, we do not only need to know who we really are, we also need to deal with others as they really are. It means we are purifying our hearts to see the face of God in our neighbor. When it is Christ who lives in us, then we are able to love others and give ourselves to others. This is the gift Jesus gives his disciples as they set out to proclaim God’s kingdom; this is same gift he is giving us as he sends us forth. Love honors God in the other person. May Jesus teach us how to love like this because our world needs it.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Isaiah 1) Your new moons and festivals I detest; they weigh me down, I tire of the load. When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean!

Tuesday: (Isaiah 7) When word came to the house of David that Aram was encamped in Ephraim, the heart of the king and the heart of the people trembled, as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.

Wednesday: (Isaiah 10) Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath. Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him To seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets.

Thursday: (Isaiah 26) 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.

Friday (Isaiah 38) When Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, came and said to him: " Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover."

Saturday (Micah 2) 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!"

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 10) “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.

Tuesday: (Matthew 11) Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.

Wednesday (Matthew 11) “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father.

Thursday (Matthew 11) "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."

Friday (Matthew 12) 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."

Saturday (Matthew 12) 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.

Saints of the Week

July 15: Bonaventure, bishop and Doctor (1221-1273), was given his name by Francis of Assisi to mean "Good Fortune" after he was cured of serious childhood illnesses. He joined the Franciscans at age 20 and studied at the University of Paris. Aquinas became his good friend. Bonaventure was appointed minister general of the Franciscans and was made a cardinal. He participated in the ecumenical council at Lyons to reunite the Greek and Latin rites. Aquinas died on the way to the council.

July 16: Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the patronal feast of the Carmelites. The day commemorates the day Simon Stock was given a brown scapular by Mary in 1251. In the 12th century, Western hermits settled on Mount Carmel overlooking the plain of Galilee just as Elijah did. These hermits built a chapel to Mary in the 13th century and began a life of solitary prayer.

July 18: Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614), began his youthful life as a soldier where he squandered away his father's inheritance through gambling. He was cared for by Capuchins, but was unable to join them because of a leg ailment. He cared for the sick in hospitals that were deplorable. He founded an order that would care for the sick and dying and for soldiers injured in combat.

July 20: Apollinaris, bishop and martyr (1st century) was chosen directly by Peter to take care of souls in Ravenna. He lived through the two emperors whose administrations exiled and tortured him, though he was faithful to his evangelizing work to his death.

July 21: Lawrence of Brindisi, priest and doctor (1559-1619) was a Capuchin Franciscan who was proficient in many languages and well-versed in the Bible. He was selected by the pope to work for the conversion of the Jews and to fight the spread of Protestantism. He held many positions in the top administration of the Franciscans.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Jun 15, 1871. P W Couzins, a female law student, graduated from Saint Louis University Law School, the first law school in the country to admit women.

·      Jun 16, 1675. St Margaret Mary Alacoque received her great revelation about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

·      Jun 17, 1900. The martyrdom at Wuyi, China, of Blesseds Modeste Andlauer and Remy Asore, slain during the Boxer Rebellion.

·      Jun 18, 1804. Fr. John Roothan, a future general of the Society, left his native Holland at the age of seventeen to join the Society in White Russia.

·      Jun 19, 1558. Fr. Lainez, the Vicar General, summoned the opening of the First General Congregation, nearly two years after the death of Ignatius. Some trouble arose from the fact that Fr. Bobadilla thought himself entitled to some share in the governance. Pope Paul IV ordered that the Institute of the Society should be strictly adhered to.

·      Jun 20, 1626. The martyrdom in Nagasaki, Japan, of Blesseds Francis Pacheco, John Baptist Zola, Vincent Caun, Balthasar De Torres, Michael Tozo, Gaspar Sadamatzu, John Kinsaco, Paul Xinsuki, and Peter Rinscei.

·      Jun 21, 1591. The death of St Aloysius Gonzaga, who died from the plague, which he caught while attending the sick.