Word to the Wise
Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - Tuesday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
[Prov 21:1-6, 10-13 and Luke 8:19-21]To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Do these words from Proverbs ring a bell? They should, because we find this very teaching in Jesus' ministry when he tells the scribes and Pharisees, "Go and learn the meaning of these words: It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice." And there, Jesus is quoting from the prophet Hosea! In other words, the relationship between worship and justice/mercy is woven throughout the Old and New Testaments. For Catholics, the relationship between Eucharist and justice/mercy is often lost because we forget that the sacraments are all oriented toward witness and simply "obtaining" grace!
Perhaps a classic example of how conditioned we can get about this is the person who comes into the sacrament of Reconciliation and confesses that they missed Sunday Mass because they were assisting a neighbor in some kind of crisis! The whole point of gathering on Sunday is to strengthen us to do what is right. Jesus' own ministry called our attention to this when he healed on the Sabbath!
I don't mean that people should go looking for a way to avoid Sunday Mass by hunting for a convenient good deed to do! My hope is that we understand that the "Sunday obligation" is not an isolated requirement that has nothing to do with the rest of the week! These are both sacred and our very lives in Christ depend on this understanding. Reading Matthew 25:31-45 [the final judgment scene] should convince us of this if nothing else! AMEN
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