Division for the Sake of Unity: The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                     Division for the Sake of Unity 

The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 14, 2022

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Jeremiah 38:4-10; Psalm 40; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53

 

          There is a lot of division being recounted in these readings, but it both cases, the disguised appeal to unity is the message. In Jeremiah, when the three men throw their anger at the prophet, they give him a death sentence by throwing him into a cistern with the expectation that he will starve because the kingdom hungers. The king ordered a court official to take the three men who accused Jeremiah to the cistern to retrieve him and to pull him to safety. Those who were instrumental in sending him to death were enrolled to bring him to safety. 

 

          In the Gospel, Jesus talks about the divisions that will happen in the family because some will believe in him and others who appear to be believers serve another god. It is not enough for a person to say that she or he is a Christian or to have a superficial belief, the testing will prove where one stands. If we don’t believe the veracity of these statements, let’s look to our political situation. If we mention the name of our current President or his predecessor, we see that just because we are from the same genetic stock, that we share the same beliefs or worldviews. We may be stunned when we realize each other’s viewpoints, and we will be dismayed when we realize we cannot save another person. The good news in this story is that there is great unity in our family. It may not be our biological or adopted family, because the family of faith is much larger and is the one to which we primarily and ultimately belong.

 

          Pope Francis last week asserted that, at its core, the Church is a family, a person’s spiritual home, even though it has many flaws. As we look to our families of origin, we find many disagreements, hardline positions, and aggressive or passive-aggressive behaviors, and yet we remain family to one another and find common ways of relating. The same goes for the Church. Some have spiritual and ideological ideals that will butt heads against the positions of another member, but we remain in the same family, and it is hard to leave the church. It just stays with you for life, and the thought of leaving makes it perplexing, even when we are disappointed and our hearts are broken.  We cannot quit. 

 

          The church is not an ideology though we have certain core doctrines and our beliefs matter. Instead of treating each other as opponents, it is far better for us to treat each other as brother or sister. Okay. Well maybe we can treat each other better than we treat our siblings. We will have disagreements and fights, and it is our family ties that hold us together. The division Jesus sought was done to strengthen and support the union that exists among his believers. What we believe, what we have in common, is far richer and more exciting than our differences. Let’s leave ideologies behind and discover in the other person the passionate desire to worship Christ who calls us to be our very best selves. Let’s celebrate the many ways Christ calls us from where we are so we can recognize what we are finally meant to be. 

 

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 14: Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr (1894-1941), was born in Russian-occupied Poland. He entered the Franciscans in 1910 and preached the gospel with his devotion to Mary in Poland and Japan. When the Nazis conquered Poland in 1939, he ministered to thousands of refugees. He was arrested, sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. When a prisoner escaped and retaliation was sought, Kolbe offered himself to replace one of the ten randomly chosen men to be executed.

 

August 15: The Assumption of Mary is the principal feast of Mary with her Queenship celebrated at the end of the octave. This feast celebrates that she was taken up to heaven, body and soul, at the end of her earthly life. The Council of Ephesus in 431 proclaimed her Mother of God and devotion of her dormition followed afterwards. 

 

August 16: Stephen of Hungary (975-1038) tried to unite the Magyar families and was able to establish the church in Hungary through Pope Sylvester II's support. Rome crowed Stephen as the first king in 1001 and he instituted many reforms in religious and civil practices. He built churches and trained local clergy.

 

August 18: Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, S.J., priest (1901-1952), was a Chilean Jesuit priest, lawyer, writer and social worker who was born in the Basque region in Spain. He established Hogar de Cristo, that housed at-risk children, whether orphaned or not, and provided them food and shelter. Hurtado also supported the rise of labor union and labor rights in Chile.

 

August 19: John Eudes, priest (1601-1680) preached missions, heard confessions, and assisted the sick and dying. He founded a new religious order for women, which includes Our Lady of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters. He eventually left the Oratorians to found the Congregation of Jesus and Mary.  

 

August 20: Bernard, Abbot and Doctor (1090-1153) became a Benedictine abbey in Citeaux because of its strict observance. He was sent to set up a new monastery in Clairvaux with 12 other monks. He wrote theological treatises, sermons, letters, and commentaries that dominated the thought of Europe. His writings had a tremendous influence of Catholic spirituality.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• August 14, 1812. Napoleon I and his army arrived at Polosk, in White Russia. They plunder the property of the Society and violate the tombs of the Generals. 
• August 15, 1821. Fr. Peter DeSmet sailed from Amsterdam to America. He hoped to work among the Native Americans. He became the best known missionary of the northwest portion of the United States. 
• August 15, 1955: The Wisconsin Province was formed from the Missouri Province and the Detroit Province was formed from the Chicago province. 
• August 16, 1649: At Drogheda, Cromwell's soldiers shot Fr. John Bath and his brother, a secular priest, in the marketplace. 
• August 17, 1823: Fr. Van Quickenborne and a small band of missionaries descended the Missouri River to evangelize the Indians at the request of the bishop of St. Louis. On this date in 1829, the College of St. Louis opened. 
• August 18, 1952: The death of Alberto Hurtado, writer, retreat director, trade unionist and founder of "El Hogar de Christo," a movement to help the homeless in Chile. 
• August 19, 1846: At Melgar, near Burgos, the birth of Fr. Luis Martin, 24th General of the Society. 
• August 20, 1891: At Santiago, Chile, the government of Balmaceda ordered the Jesuit College to be closed.