Word to the Wise
Friday, July 11, 2025 - 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." [Matthew]
JULY 11 ST. BENEDICT, abbot
I once heard of a pastor who placed a noticeable sign at the edge of the church parking lot, facing inward, with the words in large print: "WARNING! YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER MISSION TERRITORY!" The words of instruction and encouragement that the Gospel According to Matthew has Jesus giving to the Apostles are not merely prospective. Those words were describing what was happening at the time of composition of this gospel! To be a Christian missionary can be risky and even life-threatening. This is as true now as it was in the days of apostolic preaching. The examples of Archbishop St. Oscar Romero, St. Stanley Rother (diocesan priest from Oklahoma, martyred in Guatemala), and the four Maryknoll sisters in El Salvador. Anyone who dares "to speak truth to power" may be subject to persecution from the "powers that be." This is true even in our own USA!
Loss of life may be the extreme to expect but those who take seriously Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount can expect negative reactions from those whose consciences or positions are threatened by those words. On the day of our baptism, we entered "mission territory." The extreme consequences predicted by Jesus in today's gospel scripture may be rare in our North American culture, but religious faith and identity can have a hard impact in families and communities. Individuals or groups of individuals may find themselves excluded from their communities ostensibly by distorted zeal or political ideology. It is a terrible irony when religious faith becomes a political weapon. In Jesus' time, politics and faith were co-extensive. This is still true in different places elsewhere in the world. We may believe, in the USA, in "separation of church and state," but our efforts to achieve that often result in persecution!!
To be a "shrewd" and "innocent" Christian is a daily difficult task, but we are called to it. AMEN