When worldliness becomes a scandalous gaping wound in the Body of Christ, let us not forget that persecutions condemning the mystery of the Church will inevitably accompany it. When wrongs have been committed by leaders of the Church, we may be tempted to lower our hands in disappointment, disgust, discouragement, and sadness. It is important to perceive with the eyes of faith that not only are the guilty being condemned by the scandal that they caused, but the innocent one – Jesus – whose Body we are, is also being persecuted. Faith leads us forward in our attachment to Christ and to one another, recognizing the part that belongs to scandal and the part that belongs to persecution.
Tuesday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
The Lord’s command, “Do not weep,” certainly seems frustrating – as though there were a more obvious appropriate response. In the past healings we’ve seen in Luke’s Gospel, some kind of request was made – Jesus was asked to heal. In today’s Gospel, we see that the tears of a mother weeping over the death of her only son is stronger and more pertinent than the various forms of intercession. Jesus does not wait for her to ask something of Him: her tears and her devastation are enough to move Him. God does not remain unmoved by our suffering or grief until we make some kind of effort to pray. The Word became flesh so that flesh itself might become instrumental in our healing and our relationship with God. The young man is brought back to life in the flesh at the mere touch of Jesus. That contact, that physical gesture, brought the full power of the Word of Life to bear on the flesh of the dead.
Monday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“There must be factions among you in order that also those who are approved among you may become known.” St. Paul, already in the first century, has to correct the Church in Corinth whose members had allowed selfishness and bad teaching to create division. The Love of Christ does not permit us to treat someone better or worse based on their social standing. In fact, it obliges us to commune with rich and poor alike: refraining from indulging and excess when we are with the rich, and sparing no expense when it comes to using our wealth to help and comfort the poor. We should in fact extend this equal treatment even to our leaders: refraining from indulging in their authority by giving them power they ought not to have, and coming to their aid when their weakness and poverty are made manifest.