July 27 through August 2, 2025
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(July 27, 2025: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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"I must see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them. I mean to find out."
Today's Scriptures show us that God's judgment is both righteous and compassionate.
The Book of Genesis describes God's outrage over the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. However, before taking any action, God intends to personally determine whether or not the outcry has a basis in fact.
God's judgment is never rash.
St. Francis de Sales says in his Introduction to the Devout Life: "How offensive to God is rash judgment. It is a kind of spiritual jaundice that causes all things to appear evil to the eyes of those infected with it." (IDL, Part 3, Chapter 28)
Rash judgments have far less to do with the behaviors of our neighbor and a great deal more to do with the machinations and moods of our own hearts. Rash judgments are signs of the presence of arrogance, self-satisfaction, fear, bitterness, jealousy, hatred, envy, ambition and condescension within the person whose judgments are rash.
Rash judgments seldom deal with facts. Rash judgments are founded upon appearance, impression, hearsay and gossip. Rash judgments are made in an instant (hence the term "snap" judgments), based not on reason, but on emotion.
Rash judgments do not promote reconciliation and peace; rather, rash judgments produce division and injustice. Francis de Sales wrote: "Rash judgments draw a conclusion from an action in order to condemn the other person." (Ibid)
Finally, rash judgments seldom - if ever - result in compassionate action.
Francis de Sales wrote: "Whoever wants to be cured (of making rash judgments) must apply remedies, not to the eyes or intellect, but to the affections. If your affections are kind, your judgments will be likewise." (Ibid)
To be like God - to live like Jesus - to be instruments of the Holy Spirit - requires that our judgments of one another be righteous:
· based in fact, not fiction
· rooted in sense, not suspicion
· focused on behavior, not bias
Divine judgment is always consumed with truth, committed to justice, and characterized by compassion.
Today consider how do our judgments stack up?
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(July 28, 2025: Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…”
Today’s Gospel helps us to keep things in perspective. Make no mistake – we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We are charged with a tremendous duty - advancing the kingdom of God. The most effective means to accomplish this great calling is to pay attention to detail – that is, by doing little things with great love.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales made the following exhortation:
“Put your hand to strong things, by training yourself in prayer and meditation, receiving the sacraments, bringing souls to love God, infusing good inspirations into their hearts and, in fine, by performing big, important works according to your vocation. But never forget…those little, humble virtues that grow like flowers at the foot of the cross: helping the poor, visiting the sick, taking care of your family, with all the responsibilities that accompany such things and with all the useful diligence which prompts you to not stand idle.”
“Great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves, but little ones are frequent…you will profit greatly in God’s sight by doing all these things because God wishes you to do the.” (III, 35, pp. 214 – 215)
God gives us a rich abundance of means proper for our salvation. By a wondrous infusion of God’s grace into our minds, hearts, attitudes and actions the Spirit makes our works become God’s work. Our good works - like planting miniscule mustard seeds here or like scattering small seeds there - have vigor and virtue enough to produce a great good because they proceed from the Spirit of Jesus.
Many a day, we may feel that our attempts at growing in the ways of the kingdom of God are small and insignificant. However, if we all did just a little bit each and every day to build up that Kingdom, it would add up to become quite a lot!
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(July 29, 2029: Martha, Mary and Lazarus)
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“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died…”
Of this event of the life of Jesus, Scripture commentator William Barclay wrote: “Here is one of the most human interactions in all the Bible. Martha spoke with a reproach that she could not hold back: ‘If you had been here,’ she said, ‘my brother would not have died.’ It’s not a stretch to hear the reproach behind the words: ‘When you got the message about Lazarus, why didn’t you come at once? And now that you finally show up, you’re too late…’” But after all that, Martha somehow found the wherewithal to add, “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
Put yourself in Jesus’ place…and let that “greeting” sink in. (Pause) Tough enough to hear, but clearly compounded by the whispering around him of which I suspect he was painfully aware: “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?” We are told that Jesus became perturbed, deeply troubled…and wept.
We don’t know what delayed Jesus’ coming to heal his friend. But in the fullness of His humanity, Jesus couldn’t be in two places at once. And despite His best efforts, it wasn’t always possible for Jesus to simply drop whatever He was doing then-and-there when someone asked for His help somewhere else. A humbling experience, indeed.
To which we can all relate, especially when it comes to the people we love the most.
Rather than engage in shoulda, woulda, coulda, Jesus did not succumb to the feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment and self-recrimination. He regrouped; He recentered Himself and did His friend Lazarus and his sisters one better: He raised Lazarus from the dead.
From my perspective, the takeaway is that we need to remind ourselves from time to time that we are human, not superhuman. We can’t always do everything everywhere every time when others need us. But as Jesus clearly demonstrates in today’s Gospel, we must not allow our acceptance of what we can’t always do for one another get in the way of what more frequently than not we can do for one another.
St. Jane de Chantal says it rather simply and profoundly:
“God only expects what we can do, but what we can do God expects.”
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(July 30, 2025: Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)
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“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure; like searching for fine pearls.”
A traditional way of explaining these images in today’s Gospel is to place the emphasis on us. This perspective considers this Gospel as a challenge to the hearer to ‘trade up’, that is, to give up those things we most value in order to obtain that which has the greatest value - the Kingdom of God.
A non-traditional way of explaining these images – and, apparently, the more accurate one – is to place the emphasis on God. It is God who is ‘trading up’ for something better; it is God who is – as it were – cashing in all his chips for something even more valuable. What is that “treasure”? What are those “fine pearls”? We are the treasure that God pursues at any price. We are the pearls that God will leave no stone unturned to possess.
God ‘traded up’ his only Son because He wanted to reclaim us. God ‘cashed in’ his only Son because He wanted to redeem us. God gave away everything He had in order to make us his own. In these acts God clearly displayed that it’s people, not things – like possessions, power or privilege – that God values the most
Ignatius of Loyola is a great example of what happens when somebody discovers – or uncovers – a pearl of great price and value! Before his conversion to Christianity, he was arrogant, vain about his appearance, defensive in matters of honor, and much more interested in attaining worldly glory than in growing in heavenly virtue. But following a long convalescence from a crippling battle wound that almost killed him, Ignatius traded up – he discovered that the Kingdom of God was vastly more important than any passing honor or achievement, and he acted accordingly.
We are God-given treasures! We are pearls bought at the highest of prices! Do we treat ourselves – and one another – accordingly?
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(July 31, 2025: Ignatius of Loyola, Priest)
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“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full, they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.”
What should I hold onto in life? What should I let go of in life? What’s good for me? What’s not good for me? These kinds of questions are the stuff of discernment. John Crossin, OSFS offers for our consideration three aspects of any discernment process, that is, any attempt to determine God’s will.
Mind you, discernment is not an exact science. While we can come to know God’s Will in broad strokes – and sometimes even in the particular – we can’t presume to know it all. And sometimes, we may even get it wrong.
Still, some of the things that can help us to know what to keep and what to give away in life include:
· God’s Signified Will – This is the information we already have at our disposal from the Scriptures, Commandments, Counsels etc. These clearly communicate what God considers to be good, virtuous and life-giving values, attitudes and actions.
· Feedback from Others – We should make good use of the wise counsel of friends, clergy, mentors, counselors and other people whom we trust. True friends will know when to tell us what we want to hear, and when to tell us what we need to hear.
· Flexibility – Francis de Sales observed that while all the saints are recognized for their conformity to God’s will, no two saints followed God’s Will in exactly the same way. We need to remind ourselves that discernment is about what God wants us - not others - to do in any particular situation. Sometimes, this may require us to ‘think outside of the box’ - we need to be open to change.
Today, life being what it is, we may catch all kinds of things in the nets of our lives. Some things are always good for us; other things are always bad for us. However, there may be some things we catch that used to be good but no longer are. On the other hand, there may be other things once considered bad that may now actually be very good.
Decisions, decisions - What do I keep? I keep the things that promote the Kingdom of heaven! What do I throw away? I throw away the things that don’t!
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(August 1, 2025: Friday, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place, in his own house...”
It isn’t an accident that prophetic people are often most unappreciated by those closest to them. It isn’t by chance that prophetic voices encounter the most resistance from members of their own family, relatives or friends. It isn’t a surprise that prophetic movements are often far easier to export abroad than to practice at home. Recall the saying: “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
Strangers don’t see our foibles. Strangers don’t see our weaknesses. Strangers don’t experience our dark side. But as we know all-too-well, those who know us well do see those things…and much, much more.
We are all disciples of Jesus. We are all commissioned by virtue of our Baptism to preach in word (and especially in deed). So, what are we to do? Preach freely to strangers but remain silent when in the presence of those with whom we labor, live and love? No, that won’t do. When it comes to following Jesus, we know that there’s extra pressure when we are among our own. We realize that there is extra scrutiny in our own (glass!) house. We accept that there is greater expectation (and perhaps more skepticism) in our native place. So, how should would-be prophets deal with this reality?
The answer - make sure that you’re already making your best efforts to put into practice what you are pondering to preach.
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(August 2, 2025: Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in ordinary Time)
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“Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.”
Francis de Sales clearly understood and appreciated the spirit of today’s selection from the Book of Leviticus. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, he counseled:
“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbor’s place and your neighbor in yours, and then you will judge rightly. Imagine yourself the seller when you buy and the buyer when you sell, and then you will sell and buy justly. A person loses nothing by living generously, nobly, courteously and with a royal, just and reasonable heart. Resolve to examine your heart often to see if it is such toward your neighbor as you would have your neighbor’s heart to be toward you. This is the touchstone of true reason....” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 36, p. 217)
When it comes to the give and take of daily life, take fairly – and give generously!
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