THE GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Sunday - August 14, 2022

 

Monday - August 14, 2023

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.

-- Saint Therese of Lisieux

August 14, 2023

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

Lectionary: 413

 

Reading I     

                                                                                                Dt 10:12-22

 

Moses said to the people:

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD, your God, ask of you

but to fear the LORD, your God, and follow his ways exactly,

to love and serve the LORD, your God,

with all your heart and all your soul,

to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD

which I enjoin on you today for your own good?

Think! The heavens, even the highest heavens,

belong to the LORD, your God,

as well as the earth and everything on it.

Yet in his love for your fathers the LORD was so attached to them

as to choose you, their descendants,

in preference to all other peoples, as indeed he has now done.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked.

For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods,

the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,

who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;

who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,

and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.

So you too must befriend the alien,

for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

The LORD, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve;

hold fast to him and swear by his name.

He is your glory, he, your God,

who has done for you those great and terrible things

which your own eyes have seen.

Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy strong,

and now the LORD, your God,

has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky."

 

Responsorial Psalm                                                          Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

 

R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;

praise your God, O Zion.

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;

he has blessed your children within you.

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

He has granted peace in your borders;

with the best of wheat he fills you.

He sends forth his command to the earth;

swiftly runs his word!

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,

his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.

He has not done thus for any other nation;

his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.

R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

Alleluia         

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

God has called you through the Gospel

to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 17:22-27

 

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,

Jesus said to them,

"The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,

and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."

And they were overwhelmed with grief.

 

When they came to Capernaum,

the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,

"Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?"

"Yes," he said.

When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,

Jesus asked him, "What is your opinion, Simon?

From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?

From their subjects or from foreigners?"

When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him,

"Then the subjects are exempt.

But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,

and take the first fish that comes up.

Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.

Give that to them for me and for you."

 

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The Lord of unfair situations

The miracle in today’s Gospel — paying taxes with the help of a fish — is an example of how Jesus likes to deal with unfair situations. Did Jesus already have money for paying the temple tax? Maybe he did — how much was in that purse that Judas carried for the group? Perhaps it held only enough to buy the apostles food for that day, but this is not the explanation that Jesus gave for the miracle.

 

Jesus told Simon Peter to go fetch the tax payment from a fish because he wanted to teach a lesson. He addressed the unfairness of demanding from your own people what should have been asked of others.

 

Have you ever been called upon to do extra work because someone else didn’t do his or her job? Perhaps you’re over-involved in ministries at church because there are not enough other volunteers. Or maybe your kid is too lazy to take out the trash and you end up doing it yourself to prevent a stinky overflow.

 

How many unfair, extra demands do we have to deal with? A lot, sometimes every day, right? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us to go the extra mile and do what we shouldn’t have to do. He certainly practiced what he preached when he paid the temple tax. Why should God have to pay for his own worship? But he did. Why? To avoid “offending” or “disedifying” those who demanded the tax.

 

Jesus was (and is) just as concerned for those who are unfair as for those who are treated unfairly. He wants to build up (“edify”) — he never wants to tear down — anyone and everyone.

 

Note that the way he did it not only protected the tax collectors from being disedified, but he also protected himself from being disedified as well as his companions. The tax money did not come from his pocket, or Peter’s, or Judas’ purse. God supplied a miracle that met the needs of everyone.

 

Will he do the same for you today? Of course he will. He cares about you as much as he cared about Peter. Instead of trying to find a way out of an unfair situation, instead of demanding justice, turn to God. To be Christ-like, ask Jesus to provide a solution that will edify everyone. And then expect the unexpected.

 

This takes a great deal of trust. How did Peter feel on the way to the lake? Did he doubt Jesus while he was fishing? Knowing how easily he wavered at other times, I think he questioned the Lord’s sanity. Yet, he did as Jesus had directed him to do. That’s our example. We need to go fishing with God and be ready to find what does not belong in the fish’s mouth. That is the perfect and most loving way to deal with unfairness.

 

Prayer

 

Praised be You, my Lord, because while human justice oppresses us, Your justice helps us in unexpected and wonderful ways. Amen.

 

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”