Being a Christian
The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 7, 2022
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Wisdom 18:6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11:1-19; Luke 12:32-48
The readings speak about the responsibilities of the faithful People of God to use their skills and abilities well for the sake of the faith. Having just returned from a month in the Holy Lands, I had a chance to reflect upon the duties of Christians especially as I was in a land in which Christians are a minority. The Islamic world is vast and has a center of influence in places where the West seldom interact, and it would be easy to get concerned about the future of Christianity as it continues to evolve, especially as it examines moral issues and updates itself. The role of the Christian seems to be crucial in reshaping the face of the world.
Perhaps the greatest value of a Christian is the way one silently lives with integrity and wisdom that comes from the faith. Christians are known for their contribution to the common good, which can be perplexing to some people, even to other people who call themselves Christian, especially for those who pursue selfish desires. As the trite song goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love,” but there really is a truth to it when it permeates one’s way of being. For people of other cultures, it is quite remarkable and bewildering that a person chooses to be known for being in service to others.
A great gift that Christians offer is the grace to accompany and walk with another person and to see the goodness and dignity in that person. It is an outward sign that God chooses to be with them, and to find themselves worthy of being visited. We must first see other people and to acknowledge their importance because they are gifts of God to themselves and to others. Being willing to listen to their stories without trying to solve them or take them on as your own problem is also a gift. People come to us because they are stuck and are trying to find a way out, and they need to hear themselves tell their stories to someone who will simply listen, not judge, not offer advice, not make recommendations, but simply listen. They need to trust that you will be there to accompany them as they make their better choices. When Christians communicate that we genuinely like other people, a lot of unexpected goodness results as trust is formed through bonds of humanity.
A Christian does not have to talk about faith or morals or values; a Christian has to live them and to let their lives silently speak of their trust in God with God’s care for all humanity. How we live is more important than who we are, and it is those small insignificant ways that people notice and form opinions. One’s attitudes are conveyed through tiny gestures, and we are known by how we well or poorly we treat people.
A Christian’s attitude must be one of openness, a mind and heart open to new ideas and ways, even if it challenges what we’ve been taught earlier in our life. A Christian ought to adapt to the signs of the times and find God’s will in the present moment. It is often with palms open to receive new insights rather than with clenched fists holding onto an illusion of the past. One needs to refrain from snap judgments, but to do further research that might shed light on one’s long-held beliefs. We will be judged not on what we know, but how loving we are to other people, especially those people we do not know well or seem quite different from us.
We have been given a great responsibility and each day we have to learn the depths of that responsibility. Being a Christian permeates our being, and things makes us different to the world, and very attractive. The world hungers to see the possibilities that being a Christian brings to them.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First Reading:
Monday: (Ezekiel 1) As I looked, a storm wind came from the North, a huge cloud with flashing fire enveloped in brightness, from the midst of which (the midst of the fire)
something gleamed like electrum. Within it were figures resembling four living creatures
that looked like this: their form was human.
Tuesday: (Ezekiel 2) The Lord GOD said to me: As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.
Wednesday: (2 Corinthians 9) Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Thursday: (Ezekiel 12) Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house;
they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.
Friday (Ezekiel 16) As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were neither washed with water nor anointed, nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes. No one looked on you with pity or compassion
to do any of these things for you.
Saturday (Ezekiel 18) I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you who will repeat this proverb in Israel. For all lives are mine; the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine; only the one who sins shall die.
Gospel:
Monday: (Matthew 17) As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were overwhelmed with grief.
Tuesday: (Matthew 18) “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Wednesday (John 12) “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Thursday (Matthew 18) Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
Friday (Matthew 19) He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”
Saturday (Matthew 19) "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." After he placed his hands on them, he went away.
Saints of the Week
August 7: Sixtus, II, pope and martyr with companions (d. 258), died during the Valerian persecutions in 258. They were killed in the catacombs where they celebrated Mass. Sixtus was beheaded while speaking in his presidential chair and six deacons were killed as well. Lawrence, the Deacon, is honored on August 10th. Sixtus is remembered during the 1st Eucharistic prayer at Mass.
August 7: Cajetan, priest (1480-1547), was a civil and canon lawyer who worked in the papal chancery. He later joined the Roman Order of Divine Love and was ordained a priest. He became aware that the church needed reform and he teamed up with the bishop of Theate (Gian Pietro Carafa) and formed a society of priests called the Theatines who lived in community and took monastic vows. They owned no property.
August 8: Dominic, priest (1170-1221), was a Spaniard who was sent to southern France to counter the heretical teachings of the Albigensians, who held that the material world was evil and only religious asceticism could combat those forces. Dominic begged and preached in an austere fashion and set the foundations for the new Order of Preachers for both men and women.
August 8: Mother Mary MacKillop, religious (1842-1909), who worked in Australia and New Zealand to assist the poor, needy, and immigrants to the country, was canonized on October 17th 2010. August 8th is chosen as the day in which she will be memorialized on the Roman calendar. I offer the following prayer:
Bountiful and loving God,
You have filled the heart of Mary MacKillop
with compassionate love for those
who are in need at the margins of our society.
Deepen that love within us
that we may embrace the mystery of the Cross
which leads us through death to life.
We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus
who having broken the bonds of death
leads us to everlasting life. Amen.
August 9: Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), martyr (1891-1942), became a Catholic convert from Judaism after reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila. He earned a doctorate in philosophy, but was unemployable because she was a woman. She taught at a high school for eight years before entering the Carmelites in 1933 where she made final vows in 1938. She moved to Holland to escape persecution by the Nazis, but was arrested when the bishops spoke out against the persecution of the Jews.
August 10: Lawrence, deacon and martyr (d. 258) was martyred four days after Pope Sixtus II and six other deacons during the Valerian persecution. A beautiful story is told about Lawrence's words. When asked to surrender the church's treasure, Lawrence gathered the poor and presented them to the civil authorities. For this affront, he was martyred. He is the patron of Rome.
August 11: Clare, founder (1193-1253), was inspired by Francis of Assist so much that she fled her home for his community to receive the Franciscan habit on Passion Sunday 1212. She lived in a nearby Benedictine convent until she was made superior of a new community in San Damiano. She practiced radical poverty by wearing no shoes, sleeping on the ground, and giving up meat.
August 12: Jane Frances de Chantal, religious (1572-1641), founded the Congregation of the Visitation with her spiritual advisor, Francis de Sales. This congregation was for women who wanted to live in religious life, but without the austerity of the other orders. Jane was married to a Baron with whom she had six children and she sought religious answers to her suffering. Her order established eighty-five convents dedicated to serving the poor before she died.
August 13: Pontian, pope and martyr and Hippolytus, priest and martyr (d.236). Pontian's papacy was interrupted by a persecution when the Roman Emperor Maximinus arrested him and his rival, Hippolytus, and banished them to Sardinia. Pontian resigned so another pope could succeed him. Hippolytus, who formed a schismatic group and claimed to be the real pope, reconciled with the church before he and Pontian were martyred.
This Week in Jesuit History
- August 7, 1814. The universal restoration of the Society of Jesus.
- August 8, 1604. St Peter Claver takes his first vows at Tarracona.
- August 9, 1762. The moving of the English College from St Omers to Liege.
- August 10, 1622. Blessed Augustustine Ota, a Japanese brother, was beheaded for the faith. He had been baptized by Blessed Camillus Costanzi on the eve of the latter's martyrdom.
- August 11, 1846. The death of Benedict Joseph Fenwick. He was the second bishop of Boston, twice the president of Georgetown, and the founder of the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
- August 12, 1877. The death of Fr. Maurice Gailland. He was an expert in languages and spent many years at St Mary's Mission in Kansas. He wrote a 450.page dictionary and grammar of the Potawatomi language.
- August 13, 1621. The death in Rome of St John Berchmans. He died while still in studies, preparing for a public disputation.
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