Word to the Wise
Friday, July 14, 2017 - Friday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 46:1-7, 28-30 and Matt 10:16-23]"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves......When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." [Matthew]
JULY 14 SAINT KATERI TEKAKWITHA
Sheep and wolves, serpents and doves! Jesus' 'missionary discourse' to the disciples calls on images familiar to them. No doubt there were stories about serpents and doves that would circulate as moral fables and sheepherding would have been a regular sight of the times. These images do describe the practice of being a missionary! Since the Gospel According to Matthew was put into writing probably after the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., there is an element of "I told you so..." in the description. The community had already gone through some of the trials mentioned in the discourse, and Matthew is reminding them that Jesus predicted all of this, and provided the blueprint for the work of a disciple.
Pope Paul VI wrote a wonderful "apostolic exhortation" under the title of Evangelii nuntiandi in which he pointed out the people are more likely to respond to living witness than they are to words and lectures. And now, Pope Francis, in The Joy of the Gospel built on that by reminding us that there is no room for "sour pusses" in the work of being a baptized missionary of mercy. Our lives and our words will be the Lord speaking through us. It helps to remember who it is that we represent by our faith. The wisdom of the serpent has to give integrity and depth to the innocence of the dove! AMEN
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