Word to the Wise
Monday, July 21, 2014 - Monday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Mic 6:1-4, 6-8 and Matt 12:38-42]You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord require of you: only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. [Micah]
MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014 MONDAY IN THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
[Micah 6:1-4, 6-8 and Matthew 12:38-42]
You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. [Micah]
When the Jerusalem Bible was first published in English back in 1966, I acquired a copy and when I came across its translation of the passage from MIcah, quoted above, I resolved to let it be one of the most important in my life. That translation went this way: "To act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God." I have included it in many a wedding homily or in counseling because I think it sums up what Jesus would later teach. Justice, love and faith are powerful foundations for any Christian spirituality!
If we apply this to our current political or "culture wars" situation, it is hard to understand how many well-intentioned folks behave! The dignity of every human being was established when God made the human person in God's own "image and likeness." Yet the life in the womb, the life of the immigrant, the lives of innocent persons caught in an armed political conflict all seem "disposable" at the decision of a human power. It is the intensity of the hatred that I see displayed in the news media that especially alarms me as I mourn the loss of the gift of life. If more and more of us can follow the words of the Lord given to MIcah, we can make an enormous difference! AMEN