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Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

GREGORY OF NANZIANZUS:

It is a sad thing that we watch for opportunities against each other and having destroyed our fellowship of spirit by diversities of opinion have become almost more inhuman and savage to one another than even the barbarians who are now engaged in war against us, banded together against us by the Trinity whom we have separated. We are not foreigners making forays and raids upon foreigners or nations of a different language, which is some little consolation in the calamity. But we are making war upon one another, and almost upon those of the same household. Or if you will, we the members of the same body are consuming and being consumed by one another. Nor is this, bad as it is, the extent of our calamity, for we even regard our diminution as a gain. But since we are in such a condition and regulate our faith by the times, let us compare the times with one another; you your emperor, and I my sovereigns; you Ahab and I Josiah. read more

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Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Rule following is part of human life.  Any just society has rules – just ones.  The rules and following the rules all have some greater purpose.  Any adult member of a community or society has a responsibility to know what the rules of their group are, to follow them, and to realize the potential harm that can be done if they or other members do not follow the rules.  They also must understand that no rule is perfect, and if they are Christian the commandment to love others as Jesus Himself loved us is higher than any rule.  We don’t have the right to hide behind rules and avoid true and authentic acts of love for our neighbor.  Jesus reveals the hidden meaning behind his disciples plucking the grain on the Sabbath.  They are the priests of the new covenant and they must feed on the true bread to offer fitting worship to God on the Sabbath.  After all, the Sabbath was made for man to worship and listen to God – that’s the first purpose of the Sabbath.  Relaxing from work on the Sabbath is meant to allow us to find true rest in God: for this we must do the things that He has told us are important, not simply refrain from the things we think are important. read more

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Our Lady of Mount Carmel

What is the rest Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel?  We know that rest is what happens when movement stops.  Taking up a yoke or bearing a burden certainly does not imply physically stopping – the load must be carried all the way to the destination.  The rest that Jesus is talking about cannot be the rest of stopping and taking a break – it can’t be something physical.  The rest, He explains, is rest “for the soul.”  That means our souls endure a kind of motion or movement that Jesus wants to stop.  Interior movements can cause a kind of exhaustion that Jesus wants to eliminate.  Faith, on the one hand, gives us rest from the interior motivations that would move us in meaningless and exhausting directions.  On the other hand, faith impels us to continue moving towards our final destination with Jesus. read more