The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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July 21, 2019

Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Psalm 69; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37

The events of the past week have informed my reading of this Sunday’s Scripture. As I read the newspapers and watch television, I become sensitive to the data I am taking in and I seldom know how to talk about them. Within the past week we have watched the U.S. Women Soccer Team win the World Cup and then call for equal pay, we heard about the exploitation of teens and young women by a Manhattan billionaire financier, and four women U.S. Representatives in Congress were in the headlines concerning remarks made by the President. I am aware that these are sensitive subjects that create immediate rushes of feelings and emotions. With that said, I opened Scripture this week and perhaps read it a little differently and I could not help but notice the prominence of women in these stories.

Sarah is the first woman we encounter. She is not seen, she is in a tent, but her role in salvation history is vital. The three men, who represent a visit from the divine, come to Abraham as sojourners, travelers, and Abraham provides them hospitality through his own and Sarah’s activities. God’s promise of many descendants is accomplished when Sarah delivers her son, Isaac, though she was once barren in advanced age.

The Gospel passage shows the different ways Martha and Mary provided hospitality to Jesus of Nazareth during a visit. Martha busily prepared the meal and Mary sat and listened to every word Jesus spoke. Some theologians posit that many in the Christian community were becoming uncomfortable with the increased importance of the role of women in ministry, and Luke, one of the later Evangelists, implored women to maintain the status quo, which meant to adopt the role of Mary as the contemplative one. In a Patriarchal society, the power is supposed to rest with the men, and we know that women were the benefactors, promoters, and ministers of the early church. Martha, whose feast is in another week, is also known for her belief in Jesus as the Christ, the one through whom eternal life is given.

Tomorrow, Monday, is the Feast of Mary Magdalene, the one who told the Apostles, “I have seen the Lord” as she was weeping at the empty tomb. She is known as the apostle to the Apostles, but she has also been maligned through the centuries because her story was conflated with another story in Scripture about a sinful woman who wiped the feet of Jesus with her tears. While we know little of Mary Magdalene, we know that Jesus cared for her dearly and that she was among his inner circle. Recent scholarship is rehabilitating her reputation and providing us with questions about how these impressions occurred. We also know that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were close friends of Jesus and he sought their friendship throughout his ministry.

In 1995, the Jesuits included in their General Congregation as decree on the role and status of women in society and in the church. Earlier this year, the Pope gave Jesuits four directives, one of them which includes the promotion of equality for women. Here is an excerpt from the 1995 document, and much has happened over the intervening 24 years.

First, Jesuits are to listen carefully and courageously to the experience of women. Many women feel that men simply do not listen to them. There is no substitute for such listening. More than anything else it will bring about change. Without listening, action in this area, no matter how well-intentioned, is likely to by-pass the real concerns of women and to confirm male condescension and reinforce male dominance. Listening, in a spirit of partnership and equality, is the most practical response we can make, and is the foundation for our mutual partnership to reform unjust structures. Secondly, all Jesuits, as individuals and through their institutions, are to align themselves in solidarity with women.

As a church, we have much work to do. We have much to learn. We have many stories to hear, and then let us stand with our friends and colleagues in solidarity.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Songs of Songs 3) On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves–I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city.

Tuesday: (Exodus 14) Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided, the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land.

Wednesday: (Exodus 16) Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The children of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died at the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!

Thursday: (2 Corinthians 4) We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.

Friday (Exodus 20) I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth.

Saturday (Exodus 24) When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us."

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 20) Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him." 

Tuesday: (Matthew 12) "Who is my mother?  Who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Wednesday (Matthew 13) "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.

Thursday (Matthew 20) The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her,
"What do you wish?" She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom."

Friday (Matthew 13) The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart.

Saturday (Matthew 13) The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

Saints of the Week

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.

July 22: Mary Magdalene, apostle (1st century), became the "apostle to the apostles" as the first witness of the resurrection. Scriptures point to her great love of Jesus and she stood by him at the cross and brought spices to anoint his body after death. We know little about Mary though tradition conflates her with other biblical woman. Luke portrays her as a woman exorcised of seven demons.

July 23: Bridget of Sweden, religious (1303-1373), founded the Bridgettine Order for men and women in 1370, though today only the women’s portion has survived. She desired to live in a lifestyle defined by prayer and penance. Her husband of 28 years died after producing eight children with Bridget. She then moved to Rome to begin the new order.

July 24: Sharbel Makhuf, priest (1828-1898), joined a monastery in the Maronite tradition and lived as a hermit for 23 years after living fifteen years in the community. He became known for his wisdom and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

July 25: James, Apostle (1st century), is the son of Zebedee and the brother of John. As fishermen, they left their trade to follow Jesus. They occupied the inner circle as friends of Jesus. James is the patron of Spain as a shrine is dedicated to him at Santiago de Compostela. He is the patron of pilgrims as many walk the Camino en route to this popular pilgrim site.

July 26: Joachim and Anne, Mary's parents (1st century) are names attributed to the grandparents of Jesus through the Proto-Gospel of James. These names appeared in the Christian tradition though we don't know anything with certitude about their lives. Devotion of Anne began in Constantinople in the 6th century while Joachim gained acclaim in the West in the 16th century. He was revered in the Eastern churches since the earliest times.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Jul 21, 1773. In the Quirinal Palace, Rome, Clement XIV signed the Brief for the suppression of the Society.

·      Jul 22, 1679. The martyrdom at Cardiff, Wales, of St Phillip Evans.

·      Jul 23, 1553. At Palermo, the parish priests expressed to Fr. Paul Achilles, rector of the college, indignation that more than 400 persons had received Holy Communion in the Society's church, rather than in their parish churches.

·      Jul 24, 1805. In Maryland, Fr. Robert Molyneux was appointed the first superior by Father General Gruber.

·      Jul 25, 1581. In the house of the Earl of Leicester in London, an interview occurred between Queen Elizabeth and Edmund Campion. The Queen could scarcely have recognized the worn and broken person before her as the same brilliant scholar who had addressed here at Oxford 15 years before.

·      Jul 26, 1872. At Rome, the greater part of the Professed House of the Gesu was seized and appropriated by the Piedmontese government.

·      Jul 27, 1609. Pope Paul V beatifies Ignatius.