Catechism Links[1]
CCC 302-314: Divine providence
and its role in history
CCC 2113-2115: Idolatry subverts
values; trust in providence vs. divination
CCC 2632: Prayer of faithful
petition for coming of the Kingdom
CCC 2830: Trust in Providence
does not mean idleness
 |
| “The Worship of Mammon”, by Evelyn De Morgan, 1909 |
Reading 1: Isaiah 49:14-15
my
LORD has forgotten me.”
Can
a mother forget her infant,
be
without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even
should she forget,
I
will never forget you.
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Commentary on
Is 49:14-15
This reading from Isaiah is a
part of the second “Servant of the Lord” oracles. The servant has promised
salvation to the captives and light to those in darkness. The response from
Zion is the Lord has forsaken them. To which we hear the tender response: “Can
a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” God’s fidelity and
faithfulness is assured.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
R. (6a) Rest in God alone, my soul.
Only
in God is my soul at rest;
from
him comes my salvation.
He
only is my rock and my salvation,
my
stronghold; I shall not be disturbed at all.
R. Rest in God alone, my
soul.
Only
in God be at rest, my soul,
for
from him comes my hope.
He
only is my rock and my salvation,
my
stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.
R. Rest in God alone, my
soul.
With
God is my safety and my glory,
he
is the rock of my strength; my refuge is in God.
Trust
in him at all times, O my people!
Pour
out your hearts before him.
R. Rest in God alone, my
soul.
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Commentary on
Ps 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Psalm
62 is a hymn in praise of God as the rock and fortress of salvation. This song
is one of deep and abiding faith. The singer trusts only in God and is at peace
in God’s abiding love.
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Reading 2: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Brothers
and sisters:
Thus
should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and
stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now
it is of course required of stewards
that
they be found trustworthy.
It
does not concern me in the least
that
I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I
do not even pass judgment on myself;
I
am not conscious of anything against me,
but
I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the
one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore
do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until
the Lord comes,
for
he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and
will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and
then everyone will receive praise from God.
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Commentary on
1 Cor 4:1-5
This selection is part of St.
Paul’s pre-oration regarding the need for unity in the church in Corinth. In
this concluding section, the Apostle calls upon the community to be faithful to
the teachings passed on to it. He speaks of Christian wisdom with an
exhortation to the community not to pass judgment on their leaders. He
summarizes his thought with the statement: "Thus should one regard us:
as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." The words
St. Paul uses to describe the roles are, in the first instance: “servants of
Christ ,” hypēretēs, a
word that designated rowers on the lowest rank of a galley, later coming to
mean assistant or helper. The word “stewards” (or managers) was oikonomos, a name given to servants put in charge
of their master’s property.
He goes on to exhort them not to
pass judgment upon each other, rather to follow his own example of being
non-judgmental, even about his own actions. He concludes by reminding them
that, at the “appointed time” (referring to the eschaton), the Lord will reveal
all motives of the human heart and judgment will be passed.
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Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
Jesus
said to his disciples:
“No
one can serve two masters.
He
will either hate one and love the other,
or
be devoted to one and despise the other.
You
cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what
you will eat or drink,
or
about your body, what you will wear.
Is
not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look
at the birds in the sky;
they
do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet
your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are
not you more important than they?
Can
any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why
are you anxious about clothes?
Learn
from the way the wild flowers grow.
They
do not work or spin.
But
I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was
clothed like one of them.
If
God so clothes the grass of the field,
which
grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will
he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So
do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or
‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All
these things the pagans seek.
Your
heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But
seek first the kingdom
of God
and
all these things will be given you besides.
Do
not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient
for a day is its own evil.”
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Commentary on
Mt 6:24-34
Jesus continues his Sermon on the
Mount being very clear about what must be placed first in the life of his
disciples. Here the word mammon is used, an Aramaic word meaning
wealth. The Lord does not deny that people need the physical things of the
world (i.e. food, clothing, and water), but tells them that, if they have faith
in God and pursue the things of God’s Kingdom, the heavenly Father will provide
for them. He goes further to say that, if they are constantly focused on
material goods, they will not extend their lives even a little.
CCC: Mt 6:24 2113, 2424, 2729,
2821, 2848; Mt 6:25-34 2547, 2830; Mt 6:25 2608; Mt
6:26-34 322; Mt 6:26 2416; Mt
6:31-33 305; Mt 6:32 270; Mt
6:33 1942, 2604, 2608,
2632; Mt 6:34 2659, 2836
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Homily:
It
seems hard to believe that spring is right around the corner, and not here
(this warm spell is a trick to get us thinking about Lent). Never the less, spring is predicted and
coincidentally Lent is almost upon us.
This Wednesday we celebrate the beginning of our season of
preparation. As we prepare mentally for
the discipline of Lent, thinking about what we will target, it is useful for us
to take a close look at what Jesus has to say in the Gospel just proclaimed.
The
passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel is part of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount
that also included the Beatitudes. It is the platform from which Jesus launched
into a discourse about how we, as his followers, are to live in God’s grace. Over the course of several sections, he
speaks about the various commandments and how we need to go further if we are
to follow the spirit of the Law.
In
the passage proclaimed today, the Lord focuses on the first commandment:
I am the LORD your God: you
shall not have strange Gods before me.
While
this language represents the typical formula for the commandment, the language
from Exodus 20:3-5a refines our understanding.
You shall not make for
yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth
below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or
serve them.
Jesus
takes that understanding further. He
tells us that we create idols in our lives without even thinking about it. In
the encyclical letter, Lumen fidei, a
letter begun by Pope Benedict XVI and finished by Pope Francis, faith is
contrasted with idolatry.
“In
place of faith in God, it seems better to worship an idol, into whose face we
can look directly and whose origin we know, because it is the work of our own
hands. Before an idol, there is no risk that we will be called to abandon our
security, for idols ‘have mouths, but they cannot speak’” (Ps 115:4). (Lumen fidei, no. 13)
I’ll
tell a little story on myself to illustrate this point. As many of you know I really enjoy
sailing. I have sailed since I was 9
years old and it is a great passion of mine.
About ten years ago I started racing in big boats (those thirty feet and
over that can be classified as a second home because they have a head
[bathroom], a galley [kitchen] and berths [beds]). The boats I have sailed and raced on were not
mine. They were owned by friends or relatives.
As frequently happens when one spends a great deal of time and emotional
capital in an enjoyable activity, I have thought about getting a boat of my
own.
As
I pondered this possibility, it became very clear to me that, when we acquire
something of value (really almost anything, for example: a house, a car, a boat,
or even wealth), whatever we own owns us as well. If that item is not just of
financial value, but also has intrinsic or sentimental value, we feel compelled
to take care of it, dedicate time to being with it, take pleasure and perhaps
even pride in ownership. In our society,
both ownership and pride in ownership are expected; they are marks of social
status.
Now
let us step back and examine what we have just observed about things. It is so easy to move from owning things out
of necessity (necessity to provide for ourselves and our families) to owning
things for the sake of ownership, pride, avarice, or as the Lord says “mammon.”
The
question that begs to be asked as we consider this is: what is enough and what
is too much? How can we tell when what we need becomes greed?
We
look at scripture first to see what God wants from us. He wants us to be thinking of him constantly,
not golf or vacations. He wants us to
expend effort to know him to seek his grace and favor, not to spend our waking
hours daydreaming about a really hot car or our vacation home up North. When we do these things, when we dream about
the huge fish we will catch instead of about how much we want to please God
through our service, we have slipped over the line and started to create an
idol, a false god which “cannot speak.”
We
must consider that, like a house, a car, a boat, or a portfolio of investments,
our relationship with the Lord requires time, energy and commitment. Since there is only so much time and energy
possible, when we prioritize, placing God first as we are instructed to do in
the first commandment, something else must take a back seat. Creating balance in our lives between God,
family, career, and things is a huge challenge.
As
we consider our Lenten journey that begins this coming Wednesday with ashes,
let us contemplate the idols we have created, knowingly or unknowingly, in our
lives and find ways to redirect our energy toward finding balance in our lives,
and building the spiritual gifts that do not perish and never go out of style.
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic
Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2]
The picture is “The Worship of Mammon”, by Evelyn De Morgan, 1909
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
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