Thursday, August 12, 2010



TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR(Matt.19:16-22) make our material lives comfortable and secure, take priority. Letting them go is so difficult. We do not let go for the sake of letting go. In many cases we realize that possessions hold us back. There is a paradox. The very things which we think will make our lives full are the very things which prevent us from being who we are.

TUESDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR(Matt.19:23-30) Money is a two edged sword. It can do so much good. It can alleviate suffering, lift peoples’ lives. It can build schools, hospitals, feed people. It permits the ordinary person to enjoy the security which is necessary to lead a happy life. On the other hand, it can be a demon. Its green eyes can direct the lives of people to such an extent that their hearts become closed to the world around them. Just looking at the newspapers over the last year, we see what the desire for money has done. As money can do so much good, so the desire for money can do so much evil.

WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR(Matt.20:1-16) This is not a Gospel concerning justice. As a matter of fact the reverse can be said: it is a Gospel of injustice. Ordinarily speaking the way the landowner acted is just not right. So there must be another message. It comes down to the absolute freedom and unlimited generosity of God. He is not restricted by human ways of thinking. His justice goes far beyond what our limited way of thinking about justice is. God’s ways are not ours, and today’s Gospel calls us to a humility to accept that fact.

THURSDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Matt.22:1-14) The man with the dirty garment reminds us of the obligations we have if we are to live in the Kingdom. It is not a matter of being perfect, surely the poor and those by the wayside were not perfect. Perhaps their garments were even dirty. Why was this man singled out? It seems as though there was an expectation that he did not reach. This is a lesson for us. The Lord does have expectations of us. He is not indifferent to us. These expectations are achievable because they are done with the Lord. The garment of our lives becomes dirty, not because we fail, but because we stop trying. Stop, in our own weak ways, saying yes.

FRIDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Matt. 22: 34-40) He once again turns things upside down. They were looking for the “quick fix:” the summary of the law that would make things simple. For them the world hung on the Torah, the law. What Jesus does is to say the Torah hangs on love. He goes to the center. We can get bogged down by little things and miss the message of love. We get involved in “doing” without ever taking the time to come into contact with the person within and ask the question: are all these things which I do hanging on love?

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Matt.23:1-12) How do we serve one another? This seems to be a fairly important question in the light of Jesus’ saying about being a servant. There are many ways we are called to serve. To take care of someone who is sick, to volunteer at a ministry for the poor, these are all good. We get another viewpoint of service by looking at the sick who cannot do anything. We come to learn that being who we are is the greatest act of service. God has gifted each and every one of us: to realize that our lives are not for ourselves but for others, to serve people by sharing that life, to serve people that perhaps we do not know. To be a servant invites us to that most freeing of experiences. I do not live only for myself but for othersPossessions can become the possessor if we are not careful. It is so easy to get things out of balance. The things we see and touch, the things which.















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