Matthew Williams – Page 12 – Meditation on Daily Mass Readings

March 9, 2021February 23, 2021

Forgiven Debt

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Although the Old Testament is superficially considered by some to portray God as severe and unyielding, over and over, we see passages like today’s first reading. Azariah–otherwise known as Abednego, one of the three whom Nebuchadnezzar cast into a white-hot furnace–offers God the sacrifice of a contrite heart. He knows that this abundantly merciful God will see his repentance and look with love not only on him, but on his entire people.

The king in Jesus’ parable in the gospel is no other than the God of the Old Testament. He is abundantly merciful to his indebted servant and forgives him the massive amount that he owes. But he expects the same mercy to be mirrored in the servant, who instead treats a fellow servant with a debt to him, a much smaller debt, severely. The king’s reaction is to withdraw his offer to forgive the massive debt of the first servant.

And this king is also none other than the God of the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

God conditions our salvation on our acceptance of it, and our willingness to let Him transform us into something purified and exalted–something much greater than our sinful selves. Part of that transformation is our kindness and mercy toward those who fall short in our lives. It is well to remember that our forgiveness of others is cited over and over in the Gospels, and throughout the Bible, as a condition of our forgiveness by God.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to send His Spirit to transform your heart profoundly from one that harbors resentment, momentary or extended, into one that forgives immediately, conscious of what you yourself have been forgiven.

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March 8, 2021February 23, 2021

Ho-Hum

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

The first reading is a breathtaking illustration of how obedience to God, even when all He asks of us is the ordinary, brings about miracles. We see over and over again through salvation history how this simple obedience in trust brings about disproportionately great results. The best example of this in any creature is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose obedience led to her role as active and powerful collaborator in the furthering of her Son’s infinitely powerful act of salvation.

It is hard to obey, when the ordinary is involved. Just as in the first reading Naaman found it hard to submit to the ordinary command to bathe in the river for the cure of his leprosy, so Jesus’ hearers in the gospel find it hard to accept that Jesus, who has grown up in an ordinary way among them, has anything extraordinary to bring to the table.

If we wish to obtain miraculous results like Naaman in the first reading–and even better, like the Blessed Virgin Mary–we must learn to submit in trust to the ordinary duties of love that God introduces into our lives, and know that it is precisely in the midst of those ordinary duties, with all their stresses and challenges, that He will perform the miracle.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you to trust that the ordinary that surrounds you, with all its challenges, is precisely the stage where Providence will perform its wondrous miracles. Tell Him that you are not attached to some false context that you may dream of, but to the gritty reality that He has given you–because it is He who has given it to you.

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March 7, 2021February 23, 2021

God’s Whip

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

“For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation.”

This quote from the first reading sounds so–well, so Old Testament. This notion of a jealous God has been superseded in the New Testament, has it not?

Or maybe it has merely been superseded by late-twentieth-century superficiality and wishful thinking.

The Gospel passage from today does not contradict the theme of the first reading, but reinforces it, just as Jesus has not come to abolish the Law, but fulfill it (cf. Mt. 5:17). In this passage, Jesus is the very Incarnation of the jealous God depicted in the first reading.

There is a great lesson to be learned here if we ask ourselves: What is it that God, that Jesus, is jealous of? What stirs up His wrath? What leads Him to fashion a whip and start using it?

He is jealous of the welfare and happiness of His people. In His zeal for His Father’s house, He is zealous for the role that house plays in uniting the people of God to His Father, and He will not suffer that house to be turned into a stumbling block for that divine-human nexus.

We can forget that the human race has not been created for fulfillment in technology, nature, human friendships alone, with God as the stern overseer with His arms folded above, making sure we all play by the rules. The entire story arc of the Bible, which climaxes in Jesus’ mission, is about insertion of the human person into the dynamic of the Trinity–self-giving of divine persons, acceptance of that gift, union. It is from insertion into this dynamic, and this alone, that the human person is destined to find fulfillment.

Such was His jealousy for the exalted destiny of the human person, that Jesus became human to bear suffering and death.

Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus “did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.” God, who created our nature, established its destiny. And He is jealous of the fulfillment of that destiny.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Thank Jesus for your friendship with Him. Thank Him for the price He paid to establish it. And ask Him to help you to fulfill your role, and all the powerful potential He has given you upon gifting you with freedom, to help others reach that friendship as well.

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March 6, 2021February 19, 2021

Can You Spare Some Change

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

There are two sins that are at particular risk of never finding forgiveness. The first is despair; the second, presumption.

When we despair, we determine for ourselves that we are beyond the reach of Jesus’ salvation. We are in such a bad state, we think, that we cannot be saved. Thus, through a lack of trust in the power of God, we effectively reject our salvation.

When we are presumptuous, we believe that any sins on our part will be forgiven even if we do not repent and convert. God is merciful, we think, so we can remain in our sin without concern.

Despair and presumption display a common characteristic–a very nasty one: Attachment to one’s state of sin. He who despairs and he who is presumptuous both spurn Jesus’ invitation to conversion.

Today’s readings are all about what happens when a sinful soul eschews these two tendencies, and returns full of humility and self-awareness, but also hope and trust, to the Lord.

The souls in today’s readings are ready to change. Hoping for something brand new, they detach themselves from their current state of sinfulness.

Lent is all about this detachment, this conversion. Conversion is not an achievement, but rather a grace, one that we do well to request in prayer immersed in self-awareness and trust in God’s ability to change us.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus for the grace of a wholly renewed conversion during this lent. Ask Him to jar you out of your haze of complacency, out of any presumption you may be experiencing, and on to a new level of union with Him.

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March 5, 2021February 17, 2021

The Christian Cycle

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Of the many servants of God throughout history represented by the servants who came to the vineyard in Jesus’ parable in today’s gospel, Joseph was certainly one.

The pattern Jesus describes holds with Joseph. The vineyard tenants beat one servant, stoned another…In the case of Joseph, his own brothers cast him into a pit and then sold him into slavery.

And the son killed by the tenants in the gospel passage, of course, represents Jesus Himself.

But note the way the gospel passage ends. Jesus quotes Psalm 118:

    The stone that the builders rejected
       has become the cornerstone;
   by the Lord has this been done,
       and it is wonderful in our eyes.

And we know, of course, that this psalm perfectly prophesies Jesus’ own destiny. Though rejected and killed by His enemies, Jesus is to become the cornerstone of history itself.

But wait! There’s more. Let’s look back at Joseph’s life as well, in the light of Jesus’ own destiny. We see that for Joseph, things work out similarly, in a sense. After being sold into slavery, Joseph ultimately becomes a ruler in Egypt, with decision-making authority over those same brothers who exiled him. He is even restored to his father, whose particular love for him was the cause of his brothers’ envy and resentment in the first place.

Rejected by his family, Joseph becomes the cornerstone of his family.

Now, we may think of Joseph as a foreshadowing of Jesus, because he came before Him, and we would of course be right. But consider the inverse as well. Jesus sheds light on Joseph–He explains him.

So it may be said that He sheds light on our lives too, and explains them. For every Christian, this reality, the stone rejected by the builders rising to become the cornerstone, is repeated as well. Our destiny, even on this earth, like Joseph and like Jesus Himself, is not to descend into a deeper and deeper pit of humiliation and ignominy. It is to descend in self-sacrifice out of love for our brothers and sisters, and then to see ourselves raised up by God Himself, exalted–and endowed with the very power of salvation itself. Maybe once, maybe multiple times, maybe in different ways. But this is the Christian cycle.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to infuse holy excitement and enthusiasm into your heart for your Christian mission, replacing any fatalism or hint of despair. Ask Him to help you to see your life as He sees it; indeed, as He saw His own. Tell Him you entrust your destiny wholly into His care.

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March 4, 2021February 16, 2021

Dogs Licked His Sores

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

There are those who posit that Jesus favored the poor over the rich; there are even some who would claim that Jesus’ entire mission centered on rectifying social inequities.

The gospel from today is one of those that seems to come closest to substantiating those claims.

And indeed, Jesus came to bring “good news to the poor.” (cf. Lk. 4:18) Also, the entire Bible is full of admonitions from God to look after the poor, widows, orphans, etc.

But if we look closely at today’s gospel, and consider it in light of the first reading, we see that perhaps Lazarus was not blessed in the hereafter because he was poor on earth–but rather because he trusted in God, rather than human beings and their riches. This, in contrast to the rich man, whose entire happiness was founded on the shifting sands of goods manufactured by human hands. “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings”; “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.”

And indeed, we see that Lazarus’ fate on earth was never improved in the parable. Rather, it turns out that he was was blessed in his earthly poverty, because by means of it, and the detachment from worldly goods that it facilitated, a privileged place was reserved for him in Heaven.

Jesus did not come to rectify earthly inequities and create an earthly utopia. Indeed, He tells us, “the poor you will always have with you.” (Cf. Mt. 26:11) But those of us with sufficient earthly goods–and we are the minority on this planet; the average global yearly salary as of this writing is $18,000–we who have enough, have a grave obligation before God to provide for others who do not.

This is not the same as solving global inequities. It means that the fact that we legitimately own and control earthly goods, and government should not arbitrarily take them away from us, does not mean that God has destined those goods for our welfare alone. He has destined them for the good of others as well, through the generosity of our hearts.

It is by cultivating, by the grace of God, hearts full of generosity, that actively seek creative ways to look after those less fortunate, that we avoid the pitfall of worldly attachment that decided an unfortunate eternal destiny for the rich man in today’s gospel.

This bountiful generosity is not an option. It decides our eternal fate.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to cultivate within you a generous heart that actively seeks the welfare of others, and specifically seeks opportunities to make sacrifices for the material welfare of others.

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March 3, 2021February 17, 2021

Into the Pit

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Lenten Mass readings on many days focus on repentance, purification, and God’s mercy. On some days, though, they foreshadow the events of Holy Week–specifically, Jesus’ suffering and death.

Today’s readings are of the latter type.

Have you ever felt that someone was plotting against you? That in one way or another, they were trying to get rid of you, because you were in their way? It is not an entirely uncommon human occurrence. It is dehumanizing; we feel what it is like to be treated like objects–specifically, objects in the way of others’ aims. The experience is the exact opposite of that of being loved for our own sake, of others seeking our happiness for its own sake, simply because we are human.

Jeremiah went through this experience. His contemporaries were plotting against his life because they found his words and challenges inconvenient. They imagined that they would incur no disadvantage from killing Jeremiah, because–they thought–there were other good preachers and prophets around.

It did not occur to them that Jeremiah was prophesying in direct obedience to God, and thus that they would be killing the anointed messenger of God himself.

Jeremiah cried out to God for help, with words similar to today’s psalm: “Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.”

And later, save him God did. Having been cast into a pit, he was rescued and ultimately enjoyed favor when Babylon conquered Jerusalem.

But, we may say, Jeremiah’s salvation did not come without a price. Jesus, the very Son of God Himself, would pay that price by taking the place foreshadowed by Jeremiah as He who would die to remove an obstacle for others–not the obstacle imagined by His enemies, but the obstacle of sin, barring the way into eternal life.

How unfair it feels to us when we are treated as objects, and done grave harm casually by another for the avoidance of their inconvenience. This Lent, without waiting for Holy Week, let us meditate on Jesus’ experience of this; let us drink deeply of His humiliation in prayer. And let us pledge to join Him in personal sacrifice for the eternal and temporal welfare of our brothers and sisters.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Contemplate Jesus’ passion, when He was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, who cared nothing for His welfare, but rather only for their own chance at success in getting rid of Him. Contemplate how, paradoxically, he yearned for their real fulfillment and happiness and suffered at the tragically erroneous path they were taking in its pursuit. Ask Him to share with you the innermost feelings and thoughts of His Heart as He began to suffer His passion.

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March 2, 2021February 16, 2021

Heavy Yokes, No Help

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

The first reading calls us to conversion, to return to the path of justice.

Notice, though, that it doesn’t correct the people of God for missing the small norms listed in the book of Leviticus–ritual washings, minor precepts.

Rather, the conversion to which the Lord calls the people through the prophet Isaiah is a conversion from selfish indifference, to love and charity: “Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.”

In today’s gospel, Jesus isn’t correcting the Pharisees for some brand new, novel transgression that they could not have known about from reading the Old Testament. He corrects them for the very same lack of love and charity that we see brought out in Isaiah: “They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.”

How easily we, who have a certain desire to be faithful Christians, get caught up in externals–we want external rules so as to be able to cling to some particular righteousness, so that we can put our hope in that righteousness, and feel secure in it.

It is much harder to place our hope and our security in God’s raw and unconditional love for us, and place our own salvation and righteousness entirely in His hands–so as to pursue a deep relationship with Him and a life poured out recklessly for others.

Let’s unmoor the little craft of our lives from our sense of our own secure compliance and decency, and tie it fast instead to the person of Jesus Christ, seeking to bring Him joy in everything in our life, especially through a tireless and ceaseless focus on the eternal and temporal happiness of others.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Think about the aspect of your Christian life that makes you feel most insecure, maybe even making you obsess over yourself a little. Maybe it is a particular fault, or maybe a temptation. Place that thing with all your heart in Jesus’ hands. Ask Him to free your heart to love Him and others, and to worry over yourself less.

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March 1, 2021February 11, 2021

Forgiveness

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

We cannot escape from the fact that, over and over again, Jesus makes forgiveness of our sins depend on our forgiving others their sins.

Jesus incorporates this principle into the Our Father. He also tells the parable of the unforgiving servant, whose inability to forgive his fellow servant’s debt ultimately costs him his own forgiveness (cf. Mt. 18:21ff). And in today’s gospel, He tells us that the measure of our forgiveness will be the measure by which we are forgiven.

This theme is not one that Jesus mentions once in passing. It is one that He repeats, in different forms, again and again and again.

Why is this theme so important to Jesus?

For a clue by way of foreshadowing, we can recall how Moses, once he has become a member of the Egyptian court, sees one of his countrymen, a Hebrew, abused by an Egyptian. He is filled with rage, and he kills the Egyptian, winning for himself exile.

For Jesus, each one of us is a “countryman”–and so much more. He is passionate for our brother’s and sister’s welfare, even in small things, even when they are not in grace, more than we could know.

He does not want us holding things over our brother’s and sister’s. He wants us to love them, to forgive them. Union between persons is a priority to Him second only to the union of the Blessed Trinity, and our union with that Trinity.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus why forgiveness is so important to Him. Think of the person whom it is has been most difficult to forgive in your life. Think of that person in their weakness, neediness, and insecurity, and ask Jesus to forgive them and strengthen them. And tell Him that you let their offenses go as well.

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February 28, 2021February 28, 2021

The Ram of Sacrifice

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Abraham’s obedience and trust in God know no equal in any creature, except in the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his son Isaac–to slaughter him as an offering. Abraham was so absolute in his trust in God, the Creator and definer of all good, that he did not hesitate to obey. Unlike Adam and Eve, he did not pass God’s command through the filter of what seemed best for him. God’s commands themselves were the only filter; all else was a relative good.

We must not imagine that this was a piece of cake for Abraham, that he did not use his mind. He could not see the other side of this. He had no idea how God could possibly bring good out of such a command. The entire rest of his life appeared dark as he ascended the mountain with Isaac.

But, he trusted.

The resonance of his trust in history is incalculable. The Lord predicts to him in the first reading the distant reality of his descendants–the entire nation of Israel–defeating the Canaanites to enter and take possession of the promised land. His descendants will be countless, and will include Jesus Himself, the Son of God–and by extension, in faith, all those who follow Jesus.

All because he trusted, and obeyed.

The Blessed Virgin Mary and Abraham are so similar in this–Mary too, because of her faith and trust under the Cross of her Son, causes resounding impact down through history. She wins a massive increase in the application through the ages of Christ’s infinitely powerful sacrifice in the hearts of believers and non-believers alike. How many conversions from faithlessness, godlessness, and despair are directly attributable to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

And what about your obedience to God? Are you ready to make it absolute, that aspect of your life to which all other goods are relative? If so, the resonance of your life will be powerful like Abraham’s and Mary’s, with profound effect for the good of your loved ones and far, far beyond.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to give you obedience like His, like His mother’s, like Abraham’s. Ask Him to help you to understand how obedience was the secret of the power of His saving act, and is the secret of the power of the Christian. And ask Him to fill you with such trusting love for God, that you will obey His will no matter what the cost.

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