Breaking the Word

18^th Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 11^th August 2023 — Gospel: Mt 16,24-28

Road none Traveled

These five sayings are of Jesus’ most concentrated ethical teaching, which move from the cost of discipleship in the present to the reward for discipleship at the final judgement. For the evangelist, discipleship is not an abstract ethical program; it is a personal response to the call received from and to the person of Jesus. Just before this section, Jesus explains to his disciples that he has already made his decision to take the road no one ever traveled (16,21), a road completely antithetical to natural human thought (16,22-23). Now Jesus challenges his disciples to make the same decision for themselves personally, i.e., to suffer the consequences of being his disciple. This paragraph that demands the life and death of the disciples follows the preceding paragraph on the life and death of Jesus. Both show the same sequence: decision, suffering, rejection, death and future glory (16,21 & 16,24-28). What is set for the Son of Man in Jerusalem is set for the disciples of the Son of Man in the world.  However, his discipleship is kind and uncoercive, for the condition that underlies is: “If anyone wants“. It involves the free character of the disciple. No one is compelled, but if any one wishes, than he must submit to the condition. Only those who give up their little projects and who surrender their lives to God in imitation of and for the sake of the crucified Jesus will receive the fullness of life, as a gift from God.

St. Lawrence, Deacon, Saturday – 10^th August 2023 – 2 Cor 9,6-10;  Jn 12,24-26

Generosity and Sacrifice

When Sixtus became Bishop of Rome and Pope in 257, Lawrence was ordained a deacon. He spent his diaconal ministry in taking care of the poor and sick believers in Rome. He was also in charge of administering church goods. As a deacon, he was known for his generosity and service. To him, the outcast and lowly were the riches of the church. He was willing to give his life in order that the faith of the church may grow. He was martyred by being “roasted” to death over hot fire and coals. St.Lawrence remains a model for generosity and sacrifice.

The first reading speaks about being generous when giving. We are generous to others not because we want God to reward us, but because we have already received so much from God. We should share with others from the richness the Lord Jesus has lavished on us so that they, in turn, might experience God’s generosity.  In the Gospel, we find the comparison of the death of a grain of wheat to the lives of the disciples. It is only when a grain of wheat gives up its own life that further grains can grow. Jesus equates service of others with a dying of self, just as he himself performed service, including the ultimate service of his dying on the cross.