Homily for Wednesday, 5 July 2017– Ferial

Wednesday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time

Optional Memorials of St. Anthony Zaccaria and St. Elizabeth of Portugal

Readings of the day: Genesis 21:5, 8-20a; Psalm 34:7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Matthew 8:28-34

“Which of you desires life, and takes delight in prosperous days”? This question is asked in the last verse of our Responsorial Psalm today. Unless somebody is truly not of sound mind, who would not desire life and prosperity, both for him or herself and for one’s nation?

Yesterday we celebrated across this nation a lovely Fourth of July, Independence Day. We have celebrated our nation’s deep desire for life and prosperity. And our first reading today, from Genesis is, at its heart, a story of desire for life and prosperity. Prior to the events of today’s reading, God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of “a great nation”; of descendants to number as the stars. After a long wait—Abraham is already one hundred years old by the time “Isaac [is] born to him”— Abraham finally has a son, Isaac, with his wife Sarah. The problem is that Abraham had also had a son, Ishmael, with the slave Hagar. Could we not imagine that, like Sarah for Isaac, Hagar would have had great dreams for Ishmael: Dreams of “a great nation” of her and his family lineage; dreams of life and prosperity?

But those dreams of Hagar for Ishmael seem to become all but crushed as Hagar is banished through the jealousy of Sarah. Then again, we may ask, why does God not intervene on Hagar’s behalf here? Why does God not defend Hagar and Ishmael against this act of injustice by Sarah against them? If we are troubled by this question, we are not alone. Abraham, Genesis says, “was greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael.” Instead of defending Hagar and Ishmael, though, God says to Abraham, “Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you.” Why does God seem to go along and even encourage this injustice of sending Hagar and Ishmael away? Did God not know that Hagar’s and Ishmael’s water supply would quickly run out under the desert heat, putting Ishmael’s life in danger? Of course, God finally intervenes on Hagar’s and Ishmael’s behalf, giving them water, but only when Ishmael is near death from thirst.

Yet almost hidden in the middle of this reading from Genesis is God’s reassurance to Abraham that, as he had promised of Isaac, God “will make a great nation of [Ishmael] also.” God’s justice, it would seem is not always our justice. Here, though, God’s way of assuring justice for Hagar and Ishmael, that Ishmael and Isaac both will give rise to great nations because they are both Abraham’s sons, seems simply bizarre.

Might God’s promise to Hagar and Ishmael, though, be an invitation to us? We rightly celebrate this “great nation”; these United States of America. We, like the Psalmist, desire “life and [take] delight in prosperous days.” But do peoples of other nations not also desire “life and [take] delight in prosperous days”? The invitation to us is to aid peoples of other nations both abroad and those who seek refuge among us, as God came to the aid of Hagar and Ishmael thirsting in the desert, to realize most fully their God-given human dignity; their desire for life; for prosperity; for peace. May we not impede them in their pursuit of life; of prosperity; of peace, desires God has given peoples of other nations just as he has given us.

Homily for Friday, 4 July 2014– Ferial

Friday of the 13th week in Ordinary Time 

Independence Day (USA)

Readings of the day: Amos 8:4-6, 9-12; Psalm 119:2, 12, 20, 30, 40, 131; Matthew 9:9-13

“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God,” we pray in our Responsorial Psalm. On this Fourth of July, what is the word “that comes forth from the mouth of God” to our ears and our hearts? How are we living by the word of God, both as individuals and as a nation? How are we being called to live better than we do by the word of God?

Jesus invites us all, whether rich or poor; powerful or not, to one mission: “Follow me.” This command to Matthew and then to all of us in our Gospel today, I think, does not mean, “Follow the way of money, social influence, military might; build an increasingly powerful nation at all costs… and then follow me.” No, Jesus says simply, “Follow me.” Following Jesus is our first priority as Jesus’ disciples.

While being as powerful and influential a nation as is the United States of America is not in itself wrong, we are invited especially today in this country to ask to what end our nation’s power and influence is directed. Is it directed toward power and influence for its own sake; toward living “by bread alone”; by power alone; by influence alone; by military might alone? Or is it directed toward the well-being of those most in need, in our world and right in our own country; in our own city; in our own communities; in our own parish? Are our hearts and ears directed toward hearing and living first “by the word of God”?

The word of God by which we are called to live is the word of a God who is “divinely obsessed” in a sense with the needs of the least well-off; a God whose priority; whose “preferential option” is “for the poor.” This God; our God calls rich and poor alike, us as individuals and as “one nation under God,” to share this same divine obsession. This obsession; this divine priority runs counter to an obsession with power, influence, and military might; to an obsession with ideological divisions that have marred our great nation and distract us from our one God-given mission.

This mission is the same mission given to the people of Israel whom the prophet Amos admonishes in our first reading: If you oppress those in need; if you are obsessed with building your own power and influence at all costs, your relationship with God will be broken. This is the same mission given to the Pharisees in our Gospel: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

This mission is the same mission that Jesus gives to the tax collector-turned-apostle Matthew and now to us, as individuals and as a nation: “Follow me.” Live first so that those in greatest need may also live “by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”