16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 23

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Our first reading describes the ways of God, or perhaps better expressed, the patterns of grace that impact our lives. No wonder it’s complicated. God is mighty and powerful, but judges with clemency and governs with leniency. Putting the two together—power and restraint—is difficult for us. How can we combine justice based on law and order with clemency and patience expressed as kindness?
Only God can put it all together, it seems.
Today’s parable gives us a start. It counsels patience and warns us against the rigidity that is the seed bed for intolerance and does so much harm in the world. But then there are other parables, too, the express the opposite truth.
If meeting this high challenge of divine discretion is daunting, Paul’s assurance in the middle reading should encourage us. As Paul reminds us, the Spirit prays within us and inspires us to discern where God is calling us.
—Walter Modrys SJ

This Sunday’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 9

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

When President Trump visited France a few years ago, he was greatly impressed with the military parade celebrating Bastille Day. He came home wanting our own military to stage something similar—as a sign of national power and prestige.
Unfortunately, in Ukraine and other places we’ve seen lately a lot of military armor riding down city streets, and not in parade formation, but in battle readiness.
Today our first reading gives us a similar scene—but in reverse, as a demonstration against the usual display. Not horse and chariot—the military vehicles of the day, but the king riding on a farm animal. It’s a peace protest—a very different kind of parade.
The reading should be familiar to us. It’s the reading that’s used in the liturgy to introduce the Palm Sunday procession, marking the beginning of Holy Week. The gospel writers invoke this Old Testament prophecy to describe Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
It’s a symbol of Jesus’ opposition to the ways of the world—the same opposition Jesus expresses in today’s gospel, perhaps the most tender expression of Jesus’ affection for people who are hurting and in need.
In our second reading, St. Paul expresses this same contrast between the two sides, two value systems. He calls it the world of the flesh, and the world of the spirit. Ultimately, it’s the contrast between life and death—our choice, Paul warns us
—Walter Modrys SJ

This Sunday’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 25

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Of all the characters we encounter in the Bible, no one is more emotionally distraught and fully expressive than the prophet Jeremiah. No one had to endure more distressing circumstances. A battle raged all around him. The nation was on the verge of catastrophic defeat, which only he foresaw. He called for absolute allegiance to the God of Israel. For doing so he was condemned as a traitor, accused of providing aid and comfort to the enemy.
In the gospel, Jesus will send his apostles into conflict, much like what Jeremiah was forced to endure.
In our second reading, St Paul draws his famous contrast between the first Adam, the first man created by God in Genesis and Jesus, the second Adam in Paul’s theological terminology. The argument is intricate, but the point is clear. Jesus Christ is the source of all grace, the generous gift of God’s love to us.
—Walter Modrys SJ

This Sunday’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.