July 12 2011
Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth De Cristofaro
Seeing that he was a goodly child, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it,
placed it among the reeds on the river bank. (Exodus 2:3-4)
Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:20-22)
Piety
Jesus, Your faith was in the Heavenly Father, Your steadfastness being my living model! Kindly grant me the richness of such faith, To embrace Your Father as my true Provider, Having staunch belief in His eminent powers And to remain loyal to Him until my last day. If my faith shifts as temporary waves, Rush to my rescue without any hesitation, Protecting others from my fleeting frailty. May Your Presence always be lively enjoyed, Enabling me to shine as a flame of faith. My faith loyally reaches out to You! ( http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=741 )
Study
On the news yesterday a woman was interviewed who, with her five children, walked days to a refugee camp from Somalia because she could no longer find water or food due to the severe drought. Animals as well as people are dying. In the story of Exodus, a Hebrew mother sets her son adrift on water; the threat is not lack of water but slavery and certain death by the oppressing culture. Parents go to extreme lengths for their children and sometimes that love results in a better life. For Moses, it meant the opportunity to grow up and meet God face to face.
Human parents choose to take extreme risks to save their children, giving us a partial glimpse of what God’s love for us might look like. Jesus is God’s greatest loving gift to us. In the Gospel, in Jesus’ harsh words, I hear not only anger, but also disappointment and sadness that God’s gift is being ignored; God’s presence is being ignored. We can wonder how people could do such a thing but then it never ceases to anger and grieve me to read about a baby shaken to death by a father, or a child left to die by his mother in a locked, hot car. We humans do an awful lot of incomprehensible things. In the midst of those of us who don’t get it, in the midst of famine or oppression, Jesus continues to teach, love and offer us hope if we are open to it. Jesus later says in this same chapter of Matthew: "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.”
Action
In what ways am I, the educated, experienced adult, not able to use the childlike eyes of faith to see God and practice repentance each day? Look for old opportunities renewed like support and help for a colleague at work in spite of competition for productivity or time spent listening to the heartbreak of someone even when their hurt comes from bad choices. Be open to God’s presence within you and within them.
