The Power of Gentleness: The 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

                                                 The Power of Gentleness:

The 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 9, 2023

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Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145; Romans 8:9-13; Matthew 11:25-30

 

As we situate this passage in Matthew’s Gospel, we find that it comes after a period of healings, the call to discipleship, and then the commissioning of the Twelve. As part of his instructions, he warns them of coming persecutions and the hard conditions of discipleship. He then speaks to John the Baptist’s followers to let them know that the Scriptures are being fulfilled. He praises the preaching of repentance from John, and then launches his disciples onto their mission to go to the towns of Israel and to proclaim the good news. In a moment of reprieve, Jesus is able to take the time to praise God and to find delight in having launched his entire life’s mission. His ministry has successfully begun. You can hear the contentment in his voice as he praises God.

 

What does he value? He wants people to learn the surpassing power of gentleness. In today’s world, we often hear of news that is harsh, filled with bullying, violence, destruction, or brute strength, and gentleness stands in opposition to those forces. When we fondly remember a person, it is typically because the person has been gentle to us in some way, perhaps unexpected, but it is a memory that remains. We recognize that real power is offered through gentleness, and this is what Jesus wants us to learn from him. Gentleness, accompanied by mercy, is transformative because it changes our hearts.

 

Jesus also praises the wisdom and insights that we have from discipleship, which is wrapped up in gentleness, because it is a confusing, uncommon power to worldly leaders of influence who are caught up in a system and culture of misplaced power. For a Christian, it is extremely important to obtain the knowledge and wisdom that our schools and universities teach, and to pursue our own continuing education, but it is the wisdom from human experience of wrestling with faith questions that Jesus praises. When we begin to attain these life insights, we must communicate them responsibly and artfully.

 

Most importantly, we want to avoid styles that bring dissatisfaction to others, speaking instead in a way that we bring about positive regard. We have run into people with attitudes of know-it-all clericalism, rigorism, or elitism, and we know that these ways of speaking alienate and separate, and our wisdom teaches us to be modest and to refrain from building barriers. When we have particular knowledge, we are to speak as a teacher would by arguing from authority cautiously so that we do not lord it over others, but to respectfully lead a person to new places. We are to be considerate, kind, and very patient, and to be slow to speak. The goal in communicating is to understand and to foster mutual enrichment, and therefore, we always are reminded to keep the overall purpose of our conversation in mind. We want to contribute to the overall goal, not to further your personal plans. Ironically, as we all want to be seen, heard, and know by those who are important to us, we are better heard, better, seen, and more fully known by how well we listen to others – and reduce our speaking. The whole goal is to nourish and strengthen our relationships, and this is what Jesus is praising as he sends his disciples forth. He knows he has taught them well and that they will make many mistakes, and that they will get up and try again. 

 

Jesus’s heart is filled with gratitude. He can see his friends have learned well and that they are creating a community of diverse perspectives who can work towards the common good – that of, bringing God’s kingdom to Israel. We are part of his community where we are to bring his values of gentleness, kindness, and compassion to our closest communities. There is only one wholehearted response to this – praise and gratitude to God for the graces and blessings of accompanying one another through life. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (Genesis 28) Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God's messengers were going up and down on it. And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying: "I, the LORD, am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants.

 

Tuesday: (Genesis 32) Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.

 

Wednesday: (Genesis 41) When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them. When the famine had spread throughout the land, Joseph opened all the cities that had grain and rationed it to the Egyptians, since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.

 

Thursday: (Genesis 44) Judah approached Joseph and said: "I beg you, my lord,
let your servant speak earnestly to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant,
for you are the equal of Pharaoh. My lord asked your servants, 'Have you a father, or another brother?'

 

Friday (Genesis 46) Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, "Jacob! Jacob!" He answered, "Here I am."

 

Saturday (Genesis 49) Jacob gave his sons this charge: "Since I am about to be taken to my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hittite. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah– the field and the cave in it that had been purchased from the Hittites."

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 9) "My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live." Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak.

 

Tuesday: (Matthew 9) A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."

 

Wednesday (Matthew 10) Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus, "Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

 

Thursday (Matthew 10) "As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

 

Friday (Matthew 10) "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.

 

Saturday (Matthew 10) Jesus said to his Apostles: "No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master.

 

Saints of the Week

 

July 9: Augustine Zhao Rong, priest and companions, Chinese martyrs (1648-1930) were 120 Chinese martyrs that included priests, children, parents, catechists and common laborers. Christians were persecuted throughout Chinese history. Augustine Zhao Rong was a diocesan priest who was brought to the faith after the example of the French missionary bishop Dufresse. Zhao Rong was arrested in 1815 and died in prison. 

 

July 9: Leo Mangan, S.J.

 

July 11: Benedict, Abbot (480-547), was educated in Rome, but left after a few years to take on a life of solitude. He became a monk at Subiaco and lived alone, but his lifestyle developed followers so he built 12 monasteries for them. He left to found a monastery at Monte Cassino where he wrote his Rule that became a standard for Western monasticism. He adopted the practices of the austere Desert Fathers for community life and emphasized moderation, humility, obedience, prayer, and manual labor.  

 

July 13: Henry, king (972-1024) was a descendent of Charlemagne who became king of Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor. His wife had no offspring. He merged the church's affairs with the secular government and built the cathedral in the newly erected diocese of Bamberg. He was a just ruler who paid close attention to his prayer. 

 

July 14: Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) was the daughter of a Christian Algonquin mother and a non-Christian Mohawk chief. As a child, she contracted smallpox and was blinded and severely disfigured by it. She was baptized on Easter Sunday 1767 by Jesuit missionaries and was named after Catherine of Siena. She kept a strong devotion to the Eucharist and cared for the sick. She is named "the Lily of the Mohawks."

 

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.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• July 9, 1763. The Society is expelled from New Orleans and Louisiana at the bidding of the French government. 
• July 10, 1881. Fr. Frederick Garesche' wrote from Sequin, Texas, to his Superior: "The cowboys who had not deigned at first to lift their hat to the priest or missionary; who had come to the mission as to a camp meeting, for the fun of the thing, gave in, and their smiles and awkward salutes showed that they had hearts under their rude exterior." 
• July 11, 1809. After Pius VII had been dragged into exile by General Radet, Fr. Alphonsus Muzzarrelli SJ, his confessor, was arrested in Rome and imprisoned at Civita Vecchia. 
• July 12, 1594. In the French Parliament Antoine Arnauld, the Jansenist, made a violent attack on the Society, charging it with rebellious feelings toward King Henry IV and with advocating the doctrine of regicide. 
• July 13, 1556. Ignatius, gravely ill, handed over the daily governance of the Society to Juan de Polanco and Cristobal de Madrid. 
• July 14, 1523. Ignatius departs from Venice on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 
• July 15, 1570. At Avila, St Teresa had a vision of Blessed Ignatius de Azevedo and his companions ascending to heaven. This occurred at the very time of their martyrdom.