Profits and Losses

Gospel:  Matthew 16: 24-28

What do we gain if we spend our entire lives seeking to amass riches and possessions?  Consider the house and storage sheds of those who hoard possessions.  At some point these items will mean nothing at all.  The possessor of these things will die, leaving to someone else the possessions.  Or consider the wealthy person who has amassed billions of dollars.  Upon death that money has no meaning, and the possessions, the money become a millstone, not a life line.  

Was it really worth it to spend one's life this way? Do the rich and powerful have any satisfaction at all upon their deathbed?  How many people could have benefited from their money and possessions in having just basic necessities that were deprived them by those who hoard treasure to the detriment of others.  The wealthy lose their life, for their life was their possessions and money, all of which are left behind when death comes for them.

But those who have given up such wealth and treasure have lived for the sake of others.  They have provided care and mercy for others.  They have lived a truly free life. not bound by the slavery to possessions and money.  If we find ourselves in the grip of the demons of wealth and possessions, today is a day to let them go that they may be used to help others in their need.  This is the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, the way to resurrection and life. 

Transfiguration Moments

 

Gospel: Matthew 17: 1-9

The work of the kingdom can be tiring.  The needs of the vast multitude are many and never seem to end.  Wherever we go there are people in need of healing, people struggling to overcome their demons, people hungry for food and for attention.  The mission of mercy is a constant one like the tending of a garden, and very often it can be overwhelming.  We need rest and we need perspective.  The crowd and the people fill us with all sorts of thoughts - from delusions of grandeur to feelings of inadequacy.  

From time to time we are invited up to the mountain by the Lord.  If he had not invited us we likely would not stop to take the rest.  At this invitation we go with him to the mountain, and we hear again the words of baptism.  We are reminded that we are beloved children of God, reminded of our identity, of our rich tradition, of the promise of a future resurrection one day.  These are moments of transfiguration, of renewal God provides us in the midst of the work.  

Today's feast comes in the midst of the heat of summer.  It is hot and the work seems all the harder in this time of year.  Yet, we are given this moment of renewal, this moment that reminds us of our identity as children of God, of our great tradition of faith stretching back millennia that inspires us once again to continue the work of the kingdom, the work of mercy to a world that needs healing, reconciliation, liberation from its demons, and nourishment at table.

Send Her Away!

Gospel: Matthew 15: 21-28

The disciples are annoyed by this foreign woman who asks Jesus for help. She is a Canaanite and woman - doubly unclean!  The male disciples don't like women too much.  They didn't like Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman either.  To be sure this conversation Jesus has with the woman is not particularly warm, but it is a conversation.  Jesus rejects the suggestion of the male disciples who suggest that Jesus send her away.  He does not do that.  He engages with the woman in conversation.

In the encounter Jesus discovers a great faith in the woman doubly unclean, a faith he has not seen among his fellow Israelites or in his disciples.  The woman goes away with healing for her daughter and transformation for her own spirit, and hopefully so do we.  How often have we engaged in this behavior of the male disciples.  How often have we sent people away or written off entire groups of people because of our biases and pre-conceived ideas of them.  How often did we reject the path of encounter in favor of our own versions of the path of the fortress.  

Imagine what would have happened had Jesus taken the advice of his male disciples.  The woman's daughter would still be in the grips of her demons.  The woman herself would not have been transformed, and neither would we.  We would remain in our biases and fortress mentalities.  We would use Jesus to defend these biases and fortresses.  Now, we cannot do so.  Jesus takes the path of encounter, the path of transformation every single time, regardless of the person's gender, race, socioeconomic background, or status in society.