Reflection for Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

July 23^rd Reflection 

Ex 14:21—15:1, Ex 15:8-9, 10 and 12, 17, Mt 12:46-50

 

Moses stretched out his hand and God parted the sea, creating a path for Israel to escape.  Moses stretched out his hand again and the waters flowed back, saving the Israelites and dooming the Egyptians.  Jesus stretched out His hand and changes the definition of mother and brothers.  There seems to be something special and powerful about stretching out a hand.  

 

Of the 71 times that somebody stretched out a hand in the Bible, this time by Jesus may be the most profound. He says, “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” With these words, Jesus brings us into the adopted family of God.  

 

That adoption by God brings great responsibility.  If we are to follows God’s will then we must also stretch out our hands. Not necessarily to do great things, but to reach out to help our fellow man.

 

Christ no longer has a physical presence in this world. We are the hands of Christ, the voice of Christ, the heart of Christ in the world today.  Let us stretch out our hands, voices and hearts to bring Christ to everyone we meet.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

My pastor asked me to write and present a reflection for the remaining Tuesdays of my assignment.

July 16^th Reflection 

Ex 2:1-14A, Ps 69:3,14,30-31,33-34, Mt 11:20-24

 

Did God change between the Old Testament and the New Testament? We often fall into the trap of thinking that God was harsh in the Old Testament and merciful in the New Testament.  Today’s Gospel clearly shows Jesus condemning entire towns just like God did in the Old Testament.  In most other New Testament passages, we clearly see the mercy of Jesus.  We hear today about God’s mercy to Moses, saving him from the Nile.

 

So what is going on here?  Did God change? Or are our perceptions in error? Our catechism teaches that God never changes, so it must be our perceptions that are in error.  God of the Old Testament certainly handed out His share of punishment, but was merciful to His people Israel again and again.

 

We get into trouble when we try to describe God as a human being.  God’s ways are so far above our ways, we cannot understand His ways.  If we try to describe God, we limit God.  As my Philosophy professor was fond of saying, “God is God, and we are not”.  In fact, he frequently reminded us that “God is”.  This simple message is good for us to keep in mind.  Jesus became man to cross that gap between God and man, but God (and Jesus) is still God.

 

Many in today’s society say that, “The Church is out of touch, it needs to modernize”.  I respond, “The Church is in touch with the unchanging God, society has changed”.  Society, as a whole, is trying to become god, to write its own set of commandments.  Our brothers and sisters in the world need our prayers to rediscover the one unchanging God.  I pray that those playing at god will find the true God’s mercy…a mercy that is full and complete…a mercy that we can never fully comprehend.

Reflection for Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

My pastor asked me to write and present a reflection for the remaining Tuesdays of my assignment.

July 9^th Reflection 
Gn 32:23-33, PS 17:1b, 2-3, 6-7ab, 8b and 15, Mt 9:32-38

In today’s reading from Genesis, we hear about Jacob wrestling with a messenger from God, all night, in a physical test.  The psalmist, likewise, talks about our hearts being tested, all night, in a spiritual test.

I’m willing to bet that none of us have ever had a physical struggle with God, or his messenger, but we have all had our share of spiritual struggles.  We may have had a crisis of faith, or wondered why God allowed evil to exist, or why a loved one had to get sick and die.  We may have questioned or completely ignored a teaching of the Church. We have all struggled with our faith or with our God at one time or another.

On the other end of the spectrum is the image found in today’s Gospel.  Christ looked upon the crowds and saw them as sheep without a shepherd.  Sheep do not struggle against the shepherd; they follow the shepherd because the shepherd knows what is best for them and cares for them.

So should we just follow God blindly as a sheep would? Or should we struggle like Jacob?  The answer lies somewhere between.  God gave us a free will, so following blindly is not the answer.  Struggling with God’s truth can be good for us.  If we do not understand a teaching of the Church, or of our faith, we should take the time to learn more about it and understand it.  This struggle towards understanding more of our faith is good for us.  The result of the struggle will frequently put us in a position of following God more closely.

Today’s Gospel calls for more laborers for the harvest.  The more we know about our faith, the more we can act as harvesters in the fields.