Wednesday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 23, 2025

Matthew 13, 1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

I had a very hard morning, with the vertigo especially strong at Mass.  I felt much better in the afternoon, but have been in a fairly steep decline since before dinner.  I am grateful for your prayers.  I feel that I am getting better overall.

The Lord himself is sowing seeds with this Parable.  The crowds to whom he was speaking would not have understood its full meaning as is clear from the fact that even the Apostles felt compelled to ask for an explanation of it.  The image the Lord sowed in the minds of the crowd would have remained with very many of them.  They would have wrestled with its possible meaning as with any tricky puzzle — simple in appearance, and thus deceptive, but deep in its implications.  Later, as the Apostles formed the Church after Pentecost, they would have opened the mystery of the sower and the seed to them.  Later, that is, when they needed to understand why the Pharisees and their leaders in Jerusalem rejected and killed the Lord, and why others gave up their precious gift of faith under threats or actual persecution.  Also, the mystery of how they held on despite all the forces arrayed around them.

While tomorrow’s Gospel Reading will consist of the Lord’s explanation of his Parable, we can wonder now at certain of its aspects which he does not cover.  For instance, the sower sows seeds in all directions.  He does not try to keep his seeds for one particular part of the field or for particular quality of soil.  He broadcasts his seeds in all directions.  A seed sown even in an unlikely seeming area might still sprout, grow, and produce fruit.  Thus, the Lord offers his Gospel and his grace to everyone.  He does not hide it from some and reveal it to others.  It is not his fault or the seed’s fault if the soil does not allow a plant to grow and to bear fruit.  It is the fault of the soil, that is, the person to whom the Gospel and the grace of God are offered, who rejects these.

We also notice that the sower has abundant seed.  Every part of the field receives seeds.  The Lord does not cease sowing until the whole field of the world is covered.  People even receive more than one opportunity to accept the Gospel and grace.  

The sower works for the landowner.  The sower seeks “fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” for the profit of the landowner, the Father, not for himself.  And when it comes time for the harvest, the sower becomes the harvester, who gathers the wheat for the heavenly barns of the Father.

Finally, the Lord uses the phrase, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  This was an idiom used to inform the listener that the story is over, and when the Lord Jesus uses it, he means that all who hear need to think hard about what he has said so that they might learn something valuable for themselves. 

The Lord speaks in this way, using parables, because he can teach us more, and teach us more effectively, than if he delivered a treatise on the subject to us.  His manner of speaking and teaching using ordinary things teaches us about how well he knows us and how much he wants us to know him.

The Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Tuesday, July 22, 2025

For the feast of today’s saint, I thought we might do something a little different by way of reflection.  I have translated the first section of a Life of St. Mary Magdalene written by a Benedictine monk and abbot named Rabanus Maurus (d. 856).  It is a beautiful work and while perhaps not strictly historical, what it does offer us today is the love the people of this and earlier ages had for this Saint, and the lessons they derived from what they knew or surmised of her life.  This is only the first section.  If anyone is interested, I could post more of it.

(My health is about the same but it is not worse, and I hope to feel better soon.  Thank you for all your prayers).

The Life of the Blessed Mary Magdalene and of her Sister Martha

Where and from what lineage were born the friends of the Savior, Mary and Lazarus and Martha. In the territory of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, fifteen stadia from the holy city, towards the rising of the sun, is situated Bethany, the most famous of the Jewish towns, the village of Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and Martha, the most noble in bodily attendance of the Lord Saviour (John 11, 4) dedicated to hospitality, celebrated at feasts, illustrious in miracles, memorable in tears, magnificent in procession, distinguished in footsteps, spectacular in ascension. From this municipality arose the venerable hostess and most devoted minister of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.  the most blessed Martha. Her most noble mother, named Eucharia, descended from a royal lineage of the Jewish nation to an illustrious family. Her father Theophilus, a Syrian by nation, not only distinguished by lineage, but also by a distinguished title and most illustrious by administration, descended from a line of nobility. Indeed, holding the primacy among the Satraps of the province, which the children of this world consider great, he was the illustrious leader and prince of all Syria and the entire maritime region. Later, however, as many others did, he became a disciple of Christ and for the preaching of Christ, left behind the falsities  of the world, and humbly followed the footsteps of Christ. 

Now blessed Martha had a sister by her mother of wonderful beauty, named Mary, and a brother of excellent character and flourishing youth, named Lazarus. In these three there flourished genius, together with good industry, and a full knowledge of Hebrew letters acquired in childhood. Honesty was added to the good nature and industry of the arts; for in each of them was found a wonderful beauty of body, and a most acceptable grace of manners, and a most pleasing lucidity of speech; so much so that they seemed to compete with each other in appearance, manners, and grace, excelling each other in probity, a wonderful beauty of body, a most pleasing charm, a honey-flushed mind; whose beauty and grace of mouth (Prov. xxii, 14) were like the whiteness of lilies mixed with roses. Finally, the grace of form and beauty shone so brightly that it was said to be a unique and wonderful workman of God. She shone forth, with a befitting conduct of her limbs, a beautiful face, wondrous hair, most charming in her beauty, with honeyed speech;  the charm of her mouth and the grace of her lips (cf. Proverbs 22, 11) were like the whiteness of lilies mixed with the blush of roses. The beauty and form of her figure shone with such charm that she was admired by all as a marvel of the handiwork of God, and said to be a masterpiece of the divine Craftsman.

But because beauty rarely remains uncorrupted by lust, and prosperity is usually an enemy to self-restraint, the young girl—abounding in delights (cf. Song of Songs 8:5)— as her age inclined her, began to delight in nobility of soul, yet also to be drawn to bodily pleasures. Youthful age, attractive form, and a wealth of possessions are able to corrupt good morals. The beautiful body, a wanton spirit, a sweet but poisonous charm, a love for display—all these can uproot the modesty of the heart. The heat of youth, the provocations of the flesh, the weakness of sex, and the frailty of the body can completely overturn chastity. Alas, how great the sorrow! “The gold has become dim” (Lamentations 4, 1), the highest of her goods was darkened by love of earthly things. “The finest color is changed”—the excellence of her diligence was spoiled by the stench of carnal desires. Swayed by seductive passions, she drifted in spirit toward unlawful acts, and turned to the enticements of a dissolute life everything God had given her for virtue and honor. The sweetness of her spirit was abused, the charm of her body and soul’s dignity became tools of destruction to her virginity. “All her beauty is gone out from the daughter of Zion” (cf. Lamentations 1, 6) — all that divine generosity had given her. And she offended her Lord the more grievously as her sins became graver. 

But did He delay long in His mercy? Did the soul of this young woman wander far? She wandered in heart, she was deceived by the fleeting goods of the world, and she returned (cf. “she departed into a far country”) to the land of unlikeness— far from God she had journeyed, becoming the prodigal daughter (Luke 15, 13), squandering in a short time the natural and industrious goods she had been given. But soon, as she found herself suddenly deprived of divine virtues, remembering how precious were the things she had lost, and from whom she had received such great gifts, she hastened quickly to return to grace.

Indeed, already the time of grace had come, already the Virgin had given birth, already Emmanuel had descended from heaven, that he might accomplish His work upon earth. But that work was to be a strange work — “His work is a strange work, his act a strange act” (Isaiah 28:21) — for He came to be wounded that He might heal, and to die that we might live.

Already at that time, Jesus, advancing by natural growth, had reached His youthful years. Already baptized through the ministry of His forerunner, He had fasted for forty days, and afterwards was hungry (cf. Matthew 3, 16); for He did not bear our sufferings in appearance only, or in illusion, or as a phantom, but truly He Himself bore our infirmities (Isaiah 53, 4). Already he had chosen many disciples for himself from the surrounding province; already, being more than thirty years of age,he had changed water into wine. By these signs and miracles, as befitted the Son of God, he was most nobly made known; acting diligently in that for which He had come: to heal the sick, and to save sinners. “For I did not come,” He says, “to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2, 17). “The healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ill” (Matthew 9, 12). “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19, 10). And His fame went out through all Syria, and through both Galilees, and as far as the coastland, and Tyre and Sidon (cf. Matthew 4, 24). And so it happened that on one of those days, while He was preaching the kingdom of God in Galilee, He compared the Jews to those about whom the children playing in the marketplace cry out: “We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we mourned for you, and you did not weep” (Matthew 11, 17). Then, explaining why He said this, He added: “John the Baptist came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold a gluttonous man and a wine-drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’” (Luke 7, 32–34).

Then behold, the Savior was invited to dinner by a certain Pharisee, whom our Evangelist names Simon (Luke 7:36). I believe he was a citizen of Magdala, closely united to the blessed Martha by great affection and by blood relation. In his house, as Jesus reclined at table with many who had come together, the report of his arrival immediately filled the whole city.  His reputation was this: that he was a holy and kind man, gentle and modest, devout and merciful; moreover, friendly to the humble, approachable to sinners, dear to penitents, a supporter of sobriety, a lover of chastity— and, as some believed, the Son of God and the Christ.

This saving rumor also came to the ears of the young woman previously mentioned—Mary, who, from Magdala, her own estate (which means “Tower”), was called the Towered Woman. She—who, as I said, had lost her own chastity through the exceptional beauty of her body, and had overthrown the chastity of others as well — with her attractive form, youthful age, and overflowing wealth, had waged war against good morals on every side. So much so, that due to the multitude of her vices, she was said to be possessed by seven demons.But she, drawing faith from the report she had heard about Him who was said to have come—this most gentle Prophet— turned inward upon herself, and fixing her inner eyes upon herself, placed herself before her own judgment. She recalled the transgressions of all her past pleasures — “all the desirable things which she had from the days of her youth” (Lamentations 1, 7) — that is, her natural and industrious gifts. Pondering all this in her heart (Lamentations 3, 21), she found that she was far from God, and alienated even from herself. She was very far from God — and began to weep. She drank the wine of compunction (cf. Mark 14, 72). God, as He always does, opened the path of mercy and said, “Unless you are converted,” He says, “He will brandish His sword, bend His bow, and prepare His instruments of death” (Psalm 7, 13–14).

Then, freely and suddenly, by the instinct of the Holy Spirit — who blows where He wills and when He wills (cf. John 3, 8) — she was inspired to speak to herself: “Know yourself,” she says, “Mary — remember who you were, and what you are now, and what you are to be.” She blushed at having so shamefully degenerated, she grieved that she had lost her chastity, and she mourned the scandal she had given to others. “Weep, for you have long offended the Lord! Be ashamed of your wicked thoughts, because you responded badly to God’s gifts. You’ve done nothing worthwhile. What is life but a moment? Death is certain, the hour unknown. False beauty and empty charm— a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (cf. Proverbs 31, 30–31). “So you, Mary, while you still have time, consider the judgment to come, anticipate the accusation of the Lord, and hate your former self so that you may become better. So then: ‘Through wisdom the winged ones take flight, spreading their wings toward the south’” (cf. Job 39, 26).

Rising quickly, Mary took aromatic ointment in an alabaster jar — alabaster being a kind of marble, white, translucent, and veined — and she filled it with choice ointment, carefully selected and of marvelous fragrance, very costly, to anoint the feet of Jesus, whom she believed to be the one praised by report, whom she longed for in her heart, and whom she thought worthy of being honored with the most precious of offerings. She gathered there not only spikenard but other spices too: balsam, and all manner of fragrant oils. From her infancy she had been surrounded by sensual perfumes and abundant fleshly indulgences, but now she brought those things in her hands as a burnt offering. She had read that no one should appear before the Lord empty-handed (cf. Exodus 23:15 and elsewhere). She opened her heart, and the more she thought of her sins, the more her heart was pierced with sorrow and inflamed with repentance. She heard gently within herself the words: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am wretched.”Wretched indeed was that young woman, corrupted by her adolescence. “Lord, Lord, remember how I have been utterly ruined,” she cried (cf. Lamentations 1, 11). “My God, all that I have done until now has been vile.” She renounced all pleasures of the flesh and delights of the senses, and shunned worldly pomp. She resolved firmly to amend her life. 

Tormented by her conscience and stirred by grace, she entered the banquet where Jesus was reclining and secretly loved by her heart. The Latin Church sings of her: “No one approached Him in secret, except the woman drawn by the Spirit of the tomb,” who came “from the place of blessing and holiness” (cf. Psalm 65, 5), and drew near to Him reverently. She was already disturbed by seven demons — but now, pierced with holy compunction, and utterly withdrawn from worldly things, she was filled with the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit. Being made fruitful in faith, she conceived a new spirit of love and bore forth a devout flame of charity. The ointment she poured out was the outward sign of an inward offering: a burnt offering of deep compunction. With a conscience full of grace, through perfect repentance, and weighted with the heaviest gifts of God’s mercy, her soul now full of hope for pardon, she came to the banquet of the Savior.

Monday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 21, 2025

Matthew 12, 38-42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

The Pharisees and scribes act in bad faith by asking for a sign from the Lord Jesus since he has offered them many signs in his healings, exorcisms, and in how he has fulfilled the Scriptures.  But to give them one, he points to an event from the past as a sign for what is yet to take place.  He speaks explicitly that this “sign of Jonah” shows that the Son of Man will abide in the “heart of the earth” for three days and three nights.  The Lord goes on to speak of how the men of Nineveh would rise up against “this generation” and condemn it.  While we who believe see the “sign of Jonah” as meaning the Lord’s Death and descent to the dead, any sign which he gives us is going to abound in riches.  In order to know them, let us look closely at the story of Jonah.

 

We ought to pay close attention to Jonah’s time on the boat.  He was a stranger, from another country than the sailors with whom he sailed.  They were Gentiles while he was a Jew.  When the boat was assailed by the storm and all seemed lost, Jonah offered to sacrifice himself to save the sailors.  The sailors were unwilling to let him do this, saying that his blood was innocent, and he had to persuade them that his death was their only hope.  After he was thrown overboard, a giant fish swallowed him up.  The fish then carried him off into the sea with him in its belly.  Once in the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed to God.  In his prayer, Jonah equates his place in the fish with the place of the dead: “I called to the Lord, out of my distress, 

and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried” (Jonah 2, 2).  The tone of his prayer is confident, and it ends with thanksgiving.  After the prayer, we are told that the fish vomited him up on the land.  Jonah then went on to Nineveh, at that time the chief city of the world, and preached, proclaiming that the city would be destroyed in forty days.  Thereupon the king of the city declared fasting and penance, and God spared it.  We can see the Lord Jesus in all of this: the Son of God comes down from heaven to travel among “foreigners”, that is, men.  Realizing the shortness of this life and that their souls are in danger of hell, they implore the Lord to help them.  He sacrifices himself by their reluctant hands (those of the Gentiles, who declared him innocent).  The Father saves him and he descends into the place of the dead (where he sets the just free).  The “fish” vomits the Lord onto the Land — that is, Death cannot not hold the Author of life and rejects him as with violence.  He then preaches to the Gentiles (through the Apostles) for “forty days” (forty years being the space of a generation, signifying the final age of the world).  The Gentiles convert and are saved from destruction.  

The reluctancy of the prophet at the beginning of the book and his unhappiness at its end only help us to understand that, as the Lord says, “there is something greater than Jonah here” in him.

What would the Pharisees and scribes have understood from the Lord speaking of Jonah as a sign for himself?  Remarkably, although they ask for a sign, they do not seem to have asked him to explain it to them.  Even the hint that he gives them of its meaning, telling them that the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth for three days and nights, might not have meant anything to them.

I had a really bad episode with my pituitary mega adenoma (tumor) on Saturday night which has severely affected me.  I’d very much appreciate your prayers at this time.

The 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 20, 2025

Luke 10, 38-42

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

St. Luke tells us here a very touching little story about the Lord Jesus that does not involve startling miracles or engaging and thought-provoking parables.  It is a story about Jesus and two women.  Nothing like it can be found in the other Gospels.  

Much was made of this story by the Fathers and medieval writers who used it to show the two ways of religious life: the active and the contemplative.  Martha was held up as an exemplar of the active life — living out the Christian life in the world.  Mary was pointed out as the exemplar of the contemplative life, giving up worldly occupations in order to dedicate oneself entirely to listening to the Lord and to prayer.  Since in this story the Lord praises Mary as having chosen “the better part”, the contemplative life has been understood as the higher calling, and so it is.  But focusing only on this aspect of the story may cause us to miss its truly remarkable context.  

“Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.  She had a sister named Mary.”  St. John also tells us of a pair of sisters named Martha and Mary, who lived with their brother Lazarus in the town of Bethany, near Jerusalem.  It is usually assumed that Luke’s Martha and Mary are identical with John’s.  However, when John talks of Martha and Mary, he includes their brother Lazarus as well.  It seems odd that Luke does not do this, if it is the same Martha and Mary.  He might have been present throughout the occasion and Luke, wanting to tell his simple story in the simplest terms, does not mention him.  We might note also that Luke does not mention the Apostles, who certainly must have been with the Lord.  We would naturally like to know if these are the same folks, but not knowing does not hamper us from drawing out the riches Luke provides us.

Again, “Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.”  This verse does not raise eyebrows in twenty-first century America, but it would have done so in first century Israel.  If Jesus had entered a house belonging to two unmarried women in that time and place — and because Luke tells us that “Martha welcomed him” and not her husband or brother, we can come to this conclusion — scandal would certainly have erupted.  Luke does not tell us that it did, leaving us to wonder.  Also, we note the unusual circumstance that Martha and Mary (or, at least, Martha) owned the house and appear to not have been married at the time.  One or both may have been widows.  If Martha was a widow, Mary might have lived with her as yet not old enough to marry.  This is assuming their parents were dead.  Still, the arrangement is odd in that time and place.  Had they no other living relatives with whom they could live?  We do not know.

“She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him.”  This is more literally translated as: “Mary sat down beside the Lord at his feet, listening to his word.  Martha, greatly troubled with much serving at table, being urgent, said.”  This helps us better understand the situation Martha was facing.  Knowing that “Martha welcomed him”, we are assured that she had invited the Lord, and that she was in some way already prepared to offer him and his Apostles hospitality.  All the same, even with servants, anyone would struggle to oversee the cooking, roasting, baking, providing of wine, the serving, and making comfortable of so many guests.  

“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”  Martha expresses her distress emphatically in the Greek: “She has abandoned me alone to serve at table.”  If Martha herself is serving at table, this indicates she lacked servants and was overwhelmed with supervising what servants she may have had and also with physical labor.  At this point, she is distraught.  Now, Mary was sitting beside the Lord, at his feet, listening to his word.  Luke uses logos for “word”, and so we see that Mary was listening to the logos spoken by the Logos of the Father.  And she was not merely listening but hanging on the Lord’s every word, oblivious to all else as the smells of roasted calf or goat, and the noise of the bustle of her sister and perhaps a few servants filled the room.  In all her world, there was only the Lord.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.”  The Greek word translated here as “worried” really means something stronger, as “agitated”.  All Martha can see is that she is failing in her hospitality.  Her dinner is falling apart, and the help she had counted on from her sister is a big reason for this.  The first part of the Lord’s reply to her does not seem to help.  It only states what she is painfully aware of.  It may have exasperated her that he did not speak to Mary, and that Mary, for her part, did not leave the Lord in order to fulfill her responsibility as co-hostess.  

“There is need of only one thing.”  The Greek word translated here as the unhelpful and unspecific “thing” in fact means “need”, “necessity”, or “business”.  The Lord’s words mean something more like, “There is one need” or “one necessity”.  The compactness of the Lord’s statement seizes our attention.  In Martha’s mind, many terrible necessities clamor at one time for attention.  Mary, on the other hand, sits at peace, rapt in the Lord’s presence and his teachings.  “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”  The Greek text does not have this comparative.  It says, “Mary has chosen the good part” or “portion”.  That is, of life, in the sense of, “The man was satisfied with his portion in life.”  The implication is that Martha has not chosen the good portion.  She has chosen to be agitated and distracted, although there is one necessity for her: to sit with Mary and to bask in the presence and love and wisdom of God.  

Saturday in the 15th Week of Ordinary Time, July 19, 2025

Matthew 12, 14-21

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

This reading follows upon St. Matthew’s account of the Lord Jesus healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees “went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death” because they thought that he had broken the Sabbath by this action.  In fact, there was no justification for their view in the Books of the Law.  The Lord’s crime, in their eyes, was two-fold: he had broken the Sabbath according to their interpretation, and he was doing so in a way that undermined their “authority”, though no one with real authority had authorized them to teach anything.  Many had rejoiced at seeing the man’s hand healed, but all thePharisees could do was look for ways to keep this good from happening again.  There are always those who cannot see the good that others do, but imagine some evil is being perpetrated.  It is the poison of envy.

“When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place.”  The Lord does not remain where he is not wanted.  He leaves the envious Pharisees, but the good he has done in that town remains.  He does not take his healings back.  They remain, and continuously remind the people who received them or saw them, of the Son of Man who had come into their midst.  Jesus withdraws because his time had not yet come.  When it did come, he would not let anyone or anything get in his way, but since it had not, he would go to another town to preach.  We wonder at his meekness here.  The Lord of all retreats before men, when he could destroy the Pharisees himself, or call down seven legions of angels to do this for him.  Instead, he moves from them, giving them a greater chance to reconsider before they acted irretrievably.  

“Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known.”  We see his mercy, and we see how true it is that his joy was to be among the children of men (Proverbs 8, 31).  He continued to heal the sick, the lepers, and the lame, as pathetic a group of people as could be found, following their only hope.  And he trusts himself to them, that they would not speak about him, the one who had given them life.  

“My servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight.”  Matthew quotes Isaiah 42, 1-3 for all but the last line, which either he adds, or which his scroll of Isaiah has.  Through the Prophet, the Father speaks tenderly of his Son, in whom he delights.  “He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.”  That is, the Son will not rouse the people to arms in order to rebel.  “A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench.”  These are the ones who follow him.  

Friday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 18, 2025

Matthew 12, 1-8

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.” He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

“Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.”  The many regulations pertaining to travel on roads and highways that exist today reflect concern for public safety and efficiency of travel for all in view of the large numbers of heavy, fast moving automobiles.  In ancient times, few, if any laws — such as traveling on the right or the left side of the road — were to be found.  Even the practice of walking through another man’s grain fields and snacking from whatever grain was within reach, was permitted.  At times, the ancient traveler had little choice than to traverse farmland due to poor or non-existent roads.  Jesus, here, is leading his disciples through a field of grain as he makes his way to another town.  His disciples are hungry, naturally enough, for their meals came irregularly due to their relentlessly itinerant lifestyle.  And so they do what is permitted: they pick and eat the heads of the grain as they follow the Lord.

“See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath.”  This comes from the Pharisees, who have abrogated to themselves the interpretation of Jewish Law.  In fact, though they represent that the legal prohibition they claim is from the Mosaic Law, it is, in fact, not.  The only possible reference to a limitation on walking during the Sabbath is found in Exodus 16, 29, in which the Lord God tells the Hebrews not to go outside the camp to collect manna on that day.  Only in the hundred years or so before the Birth of the Lord was this interpreted in the way the Pharisees held as tradition.  All the same, it was not written down in any code of laws at the time nor did it gain any official approbation from the Sanhedrin.  Thus, this is a case when the Pharisees bound “heavy and insupportable burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders” (Matthew 23, 4).  

“Have you not read what David did?”  The Lord Jesus has before challenged them on the legitimacy of their interpretations of the Law and on their authority for insisting that these are normative.  Here, he as much as says, “For the sake of argument, let us grant that you are correct about the law.  But let us see how this works in the case of David.”  The example the Lord offers is enough to quash their position entirely: “He went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering.”  That is, this should have been seen as a terrible profanation beside which what the Pharisees accused his disciples of simply paled.  The Lord then referred to the Law which they professed to know so well: “On the Sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent.”  

Now, in the first case, Jesus effectively compares himself and his Apostles to David and his companions who were in flight from King Saul; and in the second case, with the priests who served in the Temple.  We can understand the first case in terms of the Lord and his Apostles indeed making great haste; however, they were not fleeing from someone, but rather to someone — to the next town, to preach the Gospel, and in that case, “the workman is worthy of his wage” (Matthew 10, 10).  And in the second case, we see the Apostles compared to the priests who go about their work in the Temple, offering sacrifices, which is certainly fitting.  The Lord declares them to be “innocent men” in that they have broken no precept but are, in fact, doing holy work.

We also strive to be declared “innocent” by the Lord on the last day when “the accuser of our brothers . . . who accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12, 10) accuse us falsely of breaking God’s laws.  Let it be him, and not us, who is “cast forth”, overcome by “the Blood of the Lamb”.

Thursday in the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 17, 2025

Matthew 11, 28-30

Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

“All you who labor and are burdened.”  It is the fate of all humans to labor in some way.  In the beginning, Adam and Eve delighted in their work in the Garden of Eden, for all things responded to their touch.  After their sin, the earth was turned against them, as it were, and it was only with difficulty that people survived.  As the Lord God said to Adam, “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat your bread” (Genesis 3, 19).  And for much of human history, the majority of people lived from one day to the next in subsistence farming.  In addition to labor, we are burdened — or we burden ourselves — with worries and anxieties over financial, health, and family matters.  Religion provided little help in ancient times because the pagan gods could not render assistance.  As it is written of the time when the priests of Baal cried out to him in desperation, “There was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed” (1 Kings 18:29).

But with the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Father began to set all things right and put them in place anew: “In the dispensation of the fullness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in him” (Ephesians 1, 10).  This includes human work and the burdens which all of us carry.  In the verses that make up the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, the Lord Jesus calls to himself “all who labor and are burdened” in order that by belonging to him their work and weights might be set right.  Ultimately, this is fulfilled in heaven, when the work of the just will consist in the joy of praising God forever, but even now, the Lord gives us his “rest”.  That is, in this world, work once again becomes service to God.  The meaning of work is restored by Christ, who took up the tools of carpentry in order to join us.  When we see work in this way, it becomes easier and more worthwhile.  Even drudgery has meaning and is a way to be with Christ.

All the same, we must work, and the cares of living are unavoidable.  The Lord himself says, “Take my yoke upon you”, indicating that on earth there will always be a yoke, but if we toil, doing our best, offering our labor to God, our hearts become like his, meek and humble.  This is the “learning” he gives us to do.  “You will find rest for yourselves.”  This brings to mind Psalm 23, 2: “He has set me in a place of pasture. He has brought me up to the water of refreshment.”  We will rest in the Lord’s arms on earth if we do his will, and if we surrender our cares to him: “Cast all your cares upon him, for he has care of you” (1 Peter 5, 7).  “For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  Love lifts all burdens.  As we read of Jacob, who worked seven hard years in order to marry his beloved Rachel, “Jacob served seven years for Rachel: and they seemed but a few days, because of the greatness of his love for her” (Genesis 29, 20).  If we are in love with Jesus, whatever he calls us to do will be sweet to us, though it cost us something physically.

Many of us burden ourselves unnecessarily, often working contrary to the will of God or desiring things which are not good for us to have.  St. Paul experienced this, and told how God revealed this to him at the time of his conversion: “It is hard for you to kick against the goad.”  That is, we cause our own suffering.  Through prayer we can see how we are doing this, and with the help of God, like St. Paul, we can work profitably for the Lord.