Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
“…[N]ight and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you…Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us.” 2 Thessalonians 3:8b, 9b
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.” Matthew 23:27-28
Piety
Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands, this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy. Amen.
(A favorite prayer of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta)
Study
In these days of the Little League World Series, the height of the Major League pennant races and the start of NFL pre-season games, forgive me if I see today’s readings as a match between the good and wholesome Nazareth Disciples against the Gehenna Pharisees, that brood of vipers from [New York, Sodom, Dallas, or fill in name of some other despised city].
We see a picture of two options for the behavior of leaders. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians sets forth another example of the Christ-center servant leader, willing to work and show a good example to those who would follow (imitate) him. In opposition to these leaders, Matthew relates Jesus’ critique of the scribes and Pharisees whose means do not measure up to their message.
The temptation to be like the Pharisees is ever-present. Even Paul admits that. He implies that the leaders of the church have a right to take food for free. However, they resist the lure of easy living knowing that their followers would learn a better lesson from acting like the servant-leaders which Jesus modeled for them.
Action
Another week brings another round of political primaries to dominate our news cycle. Another week brings another round of stories of millionaire athletes fighting with their coaches and colleagues over playing sports. Another week brings another round of Hollywood celebrities and “fashionistas” fighting for the attention of the paparazzi that they pretend to despise.
Too often we learn that leaders from Wall Street to Capitol Hill or from Madison Avenue to Wilshire Boulevard, turn out to be cut from the cloth of “Do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do.” That is why we must look elsewhere for the ideal to model. And there is not better, more complete ideal of love-in-action than Jesus and the saints and soon-to-be saints.
Thursday would have been the 100th birthday for Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania). Once the news media get over the latest spat of primaries, hyper paid, hyper egotistical athletes, drugged out celebrities, and corporate-welfare-seeking Wall Street fat cats, they will probably get around to naming Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity who carry on her legacy as the person of the week or some such moniker.* “God doesn’t ask us to do great things. He asks us to do small things with great love.”
Mother Teresa did not do her work for the attention of the editors at Time magazine or the Nobel Peace Prize committee. She did it for all the right reasons noted by Jesus and St. Paul. “I see the face of Jesus in the poor, and I do it for Him.”
So go out and buy a cake…or a cupcake and put a candle on it Thursday night. Light the candle and say a little prayer for the sainthood cause of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Then, go out into the world and feed someone who is hungry, give some money to someone who is poor or take care fo someone who is ill. Because that is what Sister Teresa would be doing if she were still with us on her 100th birthday.
“A beautiful death,” she said, “is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—loved and wanted.”
(c) Photo by Michael Collophy from www.motherteresacause.info/novena
