22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Jer 20:7-9
Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Rm 12:1-2
Mt 16:21-27
Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the “Sunday Soundbite” for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
A Franciscan story tells how St. Francis was about to send some of his brothers to preach in a hostile, pagan land. Everyone expected them to suffer martyrdom, and so those who weren’t going crowded around the missionaries, secretly hoping to boast later how they had met such saintly martyrs.
One timid friar in line was horrified when one of the missionaries told him, “So Brother Jordan, you, too, will come with us?” The young friar recoiled in shock, but then thought, “What if it’s the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that I go?” He took his dilemma to Francis himself, who advised him to follow his heart. Brother Jordan did accompany the missionaries, and survived to chronicle their exploits.
We may smile at the tale of the timid friar afraid to face martyrdom. But what would your reaction be? In today’s liturgy, the prophet Jeremiah, along with Saints Paul and Peter, are featured in Scriptural passages that evoke their own struggle with the possibility of martyrdom. What were their fears, their dilemmas, their response, in the face of God’s call?
The challenge of the Gospel for us rarely comes so directly. But it remains real. Day-to-day, there’s a lot we cling to. We want to save face, keep from rocking the boat, avoid the embarrassment of taking an unpopular stand. But at what cost?
Scripture:
•But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it. (Jeremiah 20:9b)
•…for your kindness is a greater good than life… (Psalm 63:4a)
•Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind… (Romans 12:2)
•You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. (Matthew 16:23b)•Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Matthew 16:26b)
Reflection:
•How is God’s wisdom not human wisdom?
•How do you let God find you and instill God’s wisdom?
Man’s last and highest parting occurs when for God’s sake he takes leave of God. St. Paul takes leave of God for God’s sake and gave up all that he might get from God, as well as all he might give—together with every idea of God.
In parting with these, he parted with God for God’s sake and God remained to him as God is in his own nature—not as he is conceived by anyone to be—nor yet as something to be achieved, but more as an is-ness, as God really is.
Then he neither gave to God nor received anything from him, for he and God were a unit, that is pure unity. Thus one becomes that real person for whom there can be no suffering, any more than the divine essence can suffer.
Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Rm 12:1-2
Mt 16:21-27
Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the “Sunday Soundbite” for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.
A Franciscan story tells how St. Francis was about to send some of his brothers to preach in a hostile, pagan land. Everyone expected them to suffer martyrdom, and so those who weren’t going crowded around the missionaries, secretly hoping to boast later how they had met such saintly martyrs.
One timid friar in line was horrified when one of the missionaries told him, “So Brother Jordan, you, too, will come with us?” The young friar recoiled in shock, but then thought, “What if it’s the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that I go?” He took his dilemma to Francis himself, who advised him to follow his heart. Brother Jordan did accompany the missionaries, and survived to chronicle their exploits.
We may smile at the tale of the timid friar afraid to face martyrdom. But what would your reaction be? In today’s liturgy, the prophet Jeremiah, along with Saints Paul and Peter, are featured in Scriptural passages that evoke their own struggle with the possibility of martyrdom. What were their fears, their dilemmas, their response, in the face of God’s call?
The challenge of the Gospel for us rarely comes so directly. But it remains real. Day-to-day, there’s a lot we cling to. We want to save face, keep from rocking the boat, avoid the embarrassment of taking an unpopular stand. But at what cost?
Scripture:
•But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it. (Jeremiah 20:9b)
•…for your kindness is a greater good than life… (Psalm 63:4a)
•Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind… (Romans 12:2)
•You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. (Matthew 16:23b)•Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Matthew 16:26b)
Reflection:
•How is God’s wisdom not human wisdom?
•How do you let God find you and instill God’s wisdom?
Man’s last and highest parting occurs when for God’s sake he takes leave of God. St. Paul takes leave of God for God’s sake and gave up all that he might get from God, as well as all he might give—together with every idea of God.
In parting with these, he parted with God for God’s sake and God remained to him as God is in his own nature—not as he is conceived by anyone to be—nor yet as something to be achieved, but more as an is-ness, as God really is.
Then he neither gave to God nor received anything from him, for he and God were a unit, that is pure unity. Thus one becomes that real person for whom there can be no suffering, any more than the divine essence can suffer.
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10:46 PM
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