June 22, 2021

June 22

June 22, 2021:  Tuesday, 12th week, Ordinary Time

See 15 connections with today
Legend below

Listen

For Psalm 15
Read
  • Gn 13:2, 5-18 Abram was rich in livestock, silver, and gold.  Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents, so the land couldn't support them both. Abram told Lot, “Let there be no strife between us or between our herdsmen.  Please separate from me; go the way you want, and I'll go the other.”  Lot chose the Jordan Plain, seeing how well watered it was, and they separated; Abram stayed in Canaan,while Lot pitched his tents near Sodom.   Sodom's inhabitants were wicked.  The Lord told Abram, “Look around; I'll give you and your descendants all the land you see.  I'll make your descendants too numerous to count.”  Abram settled at Hebron and built an altar to the Lord there.
  • Ps 15:2-4ab, 5  "He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord."  Those who walk blamelessly, think the truth, honor those who fear God, and don't slander, harm, take up reproach, lend at usury, or accept bribes will never be disturbed. 
  • Mt 7:6, 12-14  “Don't give what's holy to dogs, or your pearls to swine, lest they trample them then tear you to pieces.  Do to others what you'd have them do to you.  Enter through the narrow gate; many take the wide gate to destruction, but few find the narrow gate to life.”
Reflect
  • Creighton:  As I meditate on Jesus’ admonition to do to others what we'd have them do to us, I think the contrary also applies:  we need to let others do for us what we'd happily do for them. I see Jesus telling us to support each other, and that’s harder than it seems.  When we deprive others of the joy of giving, we risk falling into the traps of martyrdom and victimhood that lead to resentment and guilt feelings.  Jesus wants us to form healthy relationships.  We need to play the roles of giver and receiver well.  When we give, we receive, but in receiving, we give others the chance to give....
  • One Bread, One Body:  Have you ever been tempted to toss your pearls before swine?  The point is not the pearls or the swine but the timing. Do I work at church when I should be home?  Am I sharing the Gospel with strangers but not my wife?  Is my timing off because I'm not obeying God?  We should be evangelizing whether we want to or not:  those closest to us, the hardest to talk to, those the Lord assigns to us.  We toss our pearls before swine when we do the “right” thing at the wrong time, to the wrong people, or in the wrong place.
  • Passionist:  False prophets are always the greatest threat to the Church and its teachings.  Their message is successfully propagated because people seek the path of least resistance. “Old time religion” is too confining and too hard!  People who want to do as they wish seek out beliefs that have no consequences nor demand effort.  Today false prophets promote secular humanism and the prosperity gospel, smugly assuming modern intellect is superior to what came before and abandoning spiritual writers and theologians.  Paul, recognizing this thought pattern, mocks these self-professed superiors:  “Professing to be wise, they become fools.”  They give rise to a system with no God where human value is recognized by adherence to the Golden Rule, not religious dogma or requirements.  We've been programmed to place our tribe's needs above others, to provide for ourselves and our loved ones without regard for others.  Charity, empathy and compassion have no place in a post-Christian world.  True prophets lead to our Father by word, and action.  False prophets promote the idea of a Universe without an uncreated creator.  Society accepts their secular thinking, but they must be identified and confronted, for their own benefit and for our world.
  • DailyScripture.net:  "Don't throw your pearls before swine":  Pearls were of great value, worn as jewels to make one appear more beautiful.  Holiness, likewise, is a jewel that radiates the beauty of God's truth and goodness through how we think, speak, act, and treat others.  The Talmud calls something that appears incongruous an "ear ring in a swine's snout"; Jesus' "pearls before swine" and "not giving dogs what is holy" expressions are similar.  Swine were considered unclean, and wild dogs were considered unfit for close contact.  Jesus’ concern is with keeping the faith and way of life God entrusted to us.  Before Communion the early church proclaimed:  Holy things to the holy, and the Didache  stated, "Only the baptized may eat or drink of your Eucharist; the Lord has said, 'Don't give what's holy to dogs.'"
Jesus summed up and upgraded Old Testament law and prophets with the golden rule.  God's law of love requires more than not hurting others but rather seeking others' good and giving our best for them.  God's love fuels our love for others.  If we empty ourselves of what's unkind, unloving, and unforgiving, we'll have room for kindness, goodness, mercy, and charity.  May we love others and treat them like we want God to treat us.  Holy Spirit, transform my life with the fire of God's love.
Jesus reinforced his lesson about choosing the way to peace with God with the illustration of a narrow gate opening to a life of security and happiness.  Psalms begins with an image of one who has chosen to follow the way of those obedient to God's word, not those who act contrary to it.  Our choices affect our lives.  Do my choices move me towards loving and following God?  "Let me love you, Lord, and see myself as I am, a pilgrim, a Christian called to respect and love all I touch....  Help me conquer anger with gentleness, greed by generosity, apathy by fervor.  Help me forget myself and reach out." (Clement XI) 
      • Thomas More, lawyer, reformer, author of Utopia, depicting a society regulated by natural virtues, impartial judge, martyr, “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”   “May we in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation.”
      Prayer for enemies:  Almighty God, have mercy on ...., and on all that bear me evil will, and wish me harm, and their faults and mine by such tender, merciful means as your wisdom can devise; amend and redress and make us saved souls in heaven together, where we may live and love with you and your saints, for the passion of our sweet Savior Christ.  Lord, give me patience in tribulation and grace in everything, to conform my will to yours, that I may truly say, “Your will be done on earth as in heaven.”  Give me the grace to labor for what I pray for.  –St. Thomas More
        • John Fisher, bishop, martyr:  "I condemn no one's conscience: their conscience may save them, and mine must save me.  "We should remember... to treat opponents as if they were acting in good faith, even if they seem to us to be acting out of spite or self-interest."
        Dress legend
        • 'Cow' pin, silver- and gold-colored accessories:  Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold (1st reading); golden rule (gospel)
        • 'Sheep' tie bar:  Lot had flocks (1st reading)
        • 'Scales' pin:  Do justice; live in the Lord's presence (psalm)
        • 'Walker' tie pin:  Those who walk blamelessly will never be disturbed (psalm)
        • 'Heart' tie bar:  Those who think the truth in their heart...
        • 'Car with mouth' pin:  ...and don't slander with their tongue will live in the Lord's presence (psalm)
        • 'Money bag' pin:  Those who don't lend at usury won't be disturbed (psalm)
        • 'Dogs' tie:  Don't give dogs what's holy... (gospel)
        • 'Pearl' tie pin:  ...or throw your pearls... (gospel)
        • 'Swine' suspenders:  ...before swine... (gospel)
        • 'Precious feet' pin:  ...lest they be trampled underfoot (gospel)
        • 'Blood drop' pin:  SS. Thomas More and John Fisher, martyrs
        • Green shirt:  Ordinary Time season
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