June 1, 2010
Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter:17-18)
Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech …So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” (Mark 13, 17)
Piety
Let us be present to the now. It’s all we have and it’s where God will always speak to us. The now holds everything, rejects nothing and therefore can receive God too.
Help us be present to the place we are the most afraid of, because it always feels empty, it always feels like it’s not enough.
Help us find some space within that we don’t try to fill with ideas or opinions.
Help us find space so you loving God, can show yourself in that place where we are hungry and empty. Keep us out of the way, so there is always room enough for you.
Good God, we believe that you are here and your presence gives us hope. We thank you for each day of our lives. We thank you for so many further chances to understand, to forgive again, to trust again and to love. We thank you that we live now, that our problems are soul sized. We ask that you teach us and lead us and that you put the thoughts into our mind that you want us to think, the feelings into our hearts that you want us to feel.
Reconstruct us O Lord. Put us together because we don’t know how to do it ourselves. We trust that you are hearing this prayer, and that you care for the answer more than we do. We pray therefore not alone, but with the whole body of Christ in Jesus name, Amen.
(By Richard Rohr, OFM)
Study
Mark’s Gospel shows us a series of encounters in which Jesus is increasingly challenged by the temple leaders. He is more and more threatened as he moves toward Jerusalem and the Cross. But he cannot be “ensnared”. Peter encourages his followers to … grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ as they await the coming of the day of God (2 Peter 12). In fact, in reply to the Jews, Jesus does not truly respond to their small, spiteful questions but rather reveals Himself as He truly is: God and Man.
It is in growing in grace and the knowledge of Jesus that shows us, also, how to maneuver through the often rocky waters of our daily lives which are also threatening in many ways. God’s grace overcomes sin, threat, separation and evil. Grace brings us back to that life which God gives. In Peter’s day, the coming day of the Lord was thought to be immanent. Today, 2,000 years later, the day of the Lord is immanent within our hearts. The day of the Lord is coming now in our hearts and enacted through our Christian response to the world. Jesus’ response to every challenge was love – love of God who sent him, love of those the Father gave to him, love of life given by God.
Action
Pope Benedict spoke on fraternity, justice and peace in a recent address to Benin’s new ambassador to the Vatican.
“Fraternity, justice and labor are key elements to building a peaceful society… A concrete expression of the equal dignity of all the citizens, fraternity is a fundamental principle and a basic virtue for the development of a truly flourishing society, as it allows for the appreciation of all human and spiritual potential," Pope Benedict said. … Fraternity must also lead to the pursuit of justice whose absence is always the cause of social tensions and gives place to numerous harmful consequences. … The political, economic and social actors of a nation constitute its 'vigilant conscience,' which guarantees transparency in its structures and the ethics that animates the life of the whole society," the Holy Father stated. "They must be just.” (http://www.zenit.org/article-29409?l=english)
What action are you taking to respond to the challenges that face fraternity, justice and peace here at home and in the world?
