Accepting Your Place:
The 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
June 18, 2023
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Exodus 19:2-6; Psalm 100; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8
The Exodus readings show us the instance in which God’s heart is turned toward the Israelites as a favored nation, making them a prized possession of God. In this passage, God makes the people into a nation of priests and calls upon everyone to become holy and to raise one’s priestly behavior. Each person is to think and to act as a Levitical priest does. The Gospel passage has Jesus being like God in that his heart was moved towards the people, and then calling and commissioning his Twelve favored ones. He gave them instructions on how to act in the reign of God. These first disciples were not scholars in the law, received no special pastoral or theological training, and were not called to the priesthood, but Jesus asked them to follow him and to proclaim the inbreaking of God’s rule into human history.
Both of these readings should give us a renewed sense of leadership as baptized Christians. They emphasize fidelity to God’s commandments by learning what God wills for human relationships, and they highlight that this leadership is within our grasp. These readings further support the thought of Vatican II that calls for the laity to wake up and to step up into full and active participation in their Christian duties. The time for slumber is past and the time is now to take responsibility even when we might not have the pastoral or theological training of priests and religious men and women. Remember that the Israelites did not have that training, nor did the Twelve Apostles. Therefore, we should be encouraged to step forth into this realm of discipleship that is rightly yours.
The Synod on Synodality expresses the same hopes for the laity. This is not for a special group of people, but for everyone. The Synod emphasizes that every voice should be heard. The reason for that is: You are important. You are valuable. What you want in your life with God is important to the Church. We need you to rise to this new style of being church. You are called to go into your lives to proclaim the nearness of the reign of God, and you will reach many people to whom you are connected. The people in this world are suffering. As Jesus sends out the Disciples, he sends them to cure the sick, raise the dead, heal lepers, and drive out demons. All you need in belief in Jesus and love for God, the Father. Whatever training you have or do not have, it is sufficient, just as it was for the Twelve.
When Jesus called people to follow him, he personally called individuals to his way of life. They were to follow him, to live as he did, to choose as he chose, and to discern the signs of the times. Our way of proclaiming the reign of God may be to reveal to others a way of life that reveals the mind, heart, and attitude of Jesus. His followers lived the Lord’s prayer, and their way of life was credible and authentic. In a post-truth society, we need to continue to show the effect that following Jesus has upon us. We are to be filled with gratitude, contribute to the common good, strive for positive regard, and to extend mercy and compassion in place of judgment. You. Your life is the proclamation of the reign of God as Jesus showed us. Show the world that your life is culturally different than most, for you reveal in your words and actions that the reign of God is near. Thank you, friends, for accepting your place in the kingdom.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (2 Corinthians 6) Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry.
Tuesday: (2 Corinthians 8) We want you to know, brothers and sisters, of the grace of God that has been given to the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction,
the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously, they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones
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. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.
Thursday: (2 Corinthians 11) For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough. For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these ""superapostles.""
Friday (2 Corinthians 11) Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they children of Israel? So am I.
Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person). I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death.
Saturday (Isaiah 49) The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Gospel:
Monday: (Matthew 5) "You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.
Tuesday: (Matthew 5) You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Wednesday (Matthew 6) Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others.
Thursday (Matthew 6) In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Friday (Matthew 6) Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
Saturday (Luke 1) When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.”
Saints of the Week
June 19: Romuald, abbot (950-1027), was born into a family of dukes from Ravenna and became known for founding the Camaldolese Benedictine order that combined the solitary life of hermits into a monastic community life. He founded other hermitages and monasteries throughout Italy.
June 21: Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J., priest (1568-1591), gave up a great inheritance to join the Jesuits in 1585 in his dreams of going to the missions. However, when a plague hit Rome, Gonzaga served the sick and dying in hospitals where he contracted the plague and died within three months. He is a patron saint of youth.
June 22: Paulinus of Nola, bishop (353-431) was a prominent lawyer who married a Spaniard and was baptized. Their infant son died while in Spain. He became a priest and was sent to Nola, near Naples, where he lived a semi-monastic life and helped the poor and pilgrims.
June 22: John Fisher, bishop and martyr (1469-1535) taught theology at Cambridge University and became the University Chancellor and bishop of Rochester. Fisher defended the queen against Henry VIII who wanted the marriage annulled. Fisher refused to sign the Act of Succession. When the Pope made Fisher a cardinal, the angry king beheaded him.
June 22: Thomas More, martyr (1478-1535) was a gifted lawyer, Member of Parliament, scholar, and public official. He was reluctant to serve Cardinal Woolsey at court and he resigned after he opposed the king’s Act of Succession, which would allow him to divorce his wife. He was imprisoned and eventually beheaded.
June 24: Nativity of John the Baptist (first century) was celebrated on June 24th to remind us that he was six months older than Jesus, according to Luke. This day also serves to remind us that, as Christ is the light of the world, John must decrease just as the daylight diminishes. John’s birth is told by Luke. He was the son of the mature Elizabeth and the dumbstruck Zechariah. When John was named, Zechariah’s tongue was loosened and he sang the great Benedictus.
This Week in Jesuit History
- June 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.
- June 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.
- June 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.
- June 21, 1591. The death of St Aloysius Gonzaga, who died from the plague, which he caught while attending the sick.
- June 22, 1611. The first arrival of the Jesuit fathers in Canada, sent there at the request of Henry IV of France.
- June 23, 1967. Saint Louis University's Board of Trustees gathered at Fordyce House for the first meeting of the expanded Board of Trustees. SLU was the first Catholic university to establish a Board of Trustees with a majority of lay members.
- June 24, 1537. Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and five of the companions were ordained priests in Venice, Italy.
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