June 28 - Sunday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

June 28 - Sunday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

(2Kgs.4:8-11,14-16a; Ps.89:2-3,16-19; Rom.6:3-4,8-11; Mt.10:37-42) "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." The Lord encourages us today to "take up [our] cross and follow [Him]," to place Him first in our lives to find the reward He holds. And in our second reading Paul says the same, reminding us that "we were indeed buried with Christ through baptism into death," that we have "died with Christ… to sin once and for all" – this is our cross – and that laying down our lives before the Lord we now find ourselves "living for God in Christ Jesus"; we now find ourselves "raised from the dead by the glory of the Father [that] we too might live in newness of life" with Him who is Life itself. And Jesus sends us forth as His disciples, saying, "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." Thus, by our lives we call others to die with Christ that they too might live with Him in eternity, that they too might be blessed as we. Others should see in us the Lord and be prompted to give of themselves as we do, as He does – that in Him all might rejoice. In our first reading we find a woman who has proven the truth of Christ's statement, "Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward." Quite literally does she give her "cup of cold water" to the great prophet Elisha, feeding him "whenever he passed by" and even making a place for him to stay in her home. She has recognized "that he is a holy man of God" and is drawn to him, desiring to have his godliness near her life. And by sharing her food and her home, she is laying down her life; by serving this "righteous man" she is serving God, and so she will know the blessing of God. "This time next year you will be fondling a baby son," is the holy man's promise to the woman; and no greater blessing could she hope for. Here is life to her. Here is that "newness of life" of which Jesus speaks so well exemplified in our sight. And we should know that the same will be our own. "In the light of [His] countenance" we shall "know the joyful shout." "At [His] name [we] rejoice all the day." "The praises of the Lord [we] will sing forever," for His Son has been born in our midst; our life has come to us, has suffered and died, and now sits with the Father on high. And to Him do we come with all we are. Before Him do we lay down our lives… and all we give freely He blesses. Written, read, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Coat of Warmth" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, if we lose our lives for your sake, we shall never die. YHWH, let us receive your Son into our homes, and all those He sends; thus we shall be receiving you and have your Word alive in us. Thus we shall come to newness of life in your eternal kingdom. And how do we receive your Son, O LORD, but by laying down of our lives and taking up the Cross He bears? Only by giving what little we have to Him for your sake will we find ourselves so blessed as to rejoice forever in your presence. We are blessed insofar as your Son dwells with us. We are blessed insofar as we die with Him. For having died with the Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him, and what should we desire but this eternal life? O let us live for you alone, dearest LORD and God! This day, dear God, let us give all we own to those who come in your Name; let us put all our lives at the service of your kingdom. Leaving this world behind, we shall be exalted in Heaven.

June 27 - Prayer to St. Cyril of Alexandria

O great defender of the Mother of God and of the faith itself, courageously you declared that Jesus is God indeed, become Man in Mary His Mother; this you made plain for all to see, O shepherd of the people of God, that truth might reign and the Virgin might find her proper place among us – pray, O brave teacher, that we shall not be afraid to proclaim the truths inscribed by the Spirit upon the heart of the Church and in her inspired writings; and may indeed our Mother, the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of God, be recognized for her preeminence amongst the saints, that the Word of the Lord might be fulfilled and all generations call her blessed.

June 27 - Saturday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

(Lam.2:2,10-14,18-19; Ps.74:1-7,19-21; Mt.8:5-17) "It was our infirmities He bore, our sufferings He endured." And oh how deep are those sufferings; "great as the sea is [our] downfall." And graphically are they seen in the destruction of Jerusalem; sharply they pierce the flesh of the Son. Yes, the Lord "has torn down in His anger the fortresses of daughter Judah… On the ground in silence sit the old men of daughter Zion; they strew dust on their heads and gird themselves with sackcloth. The maidens of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground." And the children and infants "faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, and breathe their last in their mothers' arms." And so the prophet Jeremiah is "worn out from weeping"; and so his "gall is poured out on the ground because of the downfall of the daughter of [his] people." And is this weeping not Jesus' own? Does He not shed tears over Jerusalem for the suffering it has known, and its suffering to come? Does He not indeed die for our sins? Listen to the description of the destruction of the holy city offered by our psalmist today: "With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary." Are these not the blows Jesus suffered; are they not the nails which pierced His hands and feet and side? "They set your sanctuary on fire; the place where your name abides they have razed and destroyed." Is not Jesus the Temple of the living God, crucified by the hands of lust and greed and jealousy? Have we not done such violence to our Lord? And has He not endured all for our salvation? Let the priest and all the children note the cause of such destruction of God's chosen ones, the suffering of His only Son. Is it not the prophets who proclaimed "false and specious visions," who "did not lay bare [the people's] guilt, to avert [their] fate"? And note the Lord's own words and attitude toward those who follow Him, to the children of Israel who press upon Him: "The natural heirs of the kingdom will be driven out into the dark. Wailing will be heard there and grinding of teeth." Does Jesus fail to show those in His care the narrow gate? And so should we continue to coddle faithless hearts unto their destruction? He indeed bears all our infirmities, all the sickness our sin has wrought. But we must indeed see ourselves as the centurion's servant boy, "in bed paralyzed, suffering painfully," to find His word of healing. We must come with the faith of the centurion to know His saving touch. For destruction indeed awaits the land, and so we must cry out to Him, "Turn your steps toward the utter ruins; toward all the damage the enemy has done in your sanctuary," if we hope to be redeemed by His blood. ******* O LORD, only Jesus could heal our ills, only He could bear our suffering, for our guilt is great – only He could take it away. YHWH, how dire is the condition of your city this day; your people waste away on its streets, and none is there to help them. Should we not call upon you; and would you not be faithful in carrying away our afflictions, in saving us from the destruction that surrounds us because of our sin? We lie paralyzed before you; lift us up from our bed of pain. Does not death surround us this day, O LORD? Is there not little hope among your people – are not the walls of our city torn down? Yet your Son would bear all our suffering; our infirmities He would take away. Let us come to Him for healing. Let us cry out to you for grace, for you are faithful to all sincere prayers… Look upon us in our desolate state. O LORD, the sanctuary has been torn down – your Son has been crucified in our midst. But we know this death He endures with us will bring us new life if we but pour out our hearts like water in your presence. O let us come to your banquet in the kingdom!

June 26 - Friday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

(2Kgs.25:1-12; Ps.137:1-6; Mt.8:1-4) "Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, led into exile the last of the people remaining in the city." And so the exile is complete. Not a soul remains in the holy city. And their captors "burned the house of the Lord, the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem." Not a stone is left standing one upon another. Not even the government appointed by the king of Babylon could remain. And they even "tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem." Now she is utterly exposed. Now she who was his precious pearl is cast out and trampled underfoot. And so our psalmist can but lament, "By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept, when we remembered Zion." And so his songs of joy are silenced in this "foreign land." But in his lament today do we not find a kind of hope? Does not his abiding love for the holy city of God bring expectation of a better day? Listen to his faith: "If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten! May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not, if I place not Jerusalem ahead of my joy." Even as we hear of the utter destruction of the temple and the city of God, we are given a sense of the faith that will build it up again. And on the day we hear of the completion of the exile of Judah and Jerusalem to Babylon, we hear of the healing of one who is completely ostracized by society. The leper comes begging for a cure, seeking to join his fellow men upon the land, and the Lord answers him: "Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him and said, 'I do will it. Be cured.'" Should this not give us hope in all our travails? Does this not signal not only the return of the exiles in seventy years, but our utter redemption and return to the Lord in the coming of the Person of Jesus? For upon heeding the Lord's instruction to "show [himself] to the priest and offer the gift prescribed," the leper will be welcomed into the Church and society – his exile will be ended. We all stand exiled by sin. We are all utterly bereft of the blessing of the Lord. But there is hope. We are told that even in this exile to Babylon "some of the country's poor" remained to till the land. And has not Jesus just come from the mountain where He has taught His disciples, "Blest are the lowly; they shall inherit the land"? If we humble ourselves before Him as has the leper, if we remain meek in His sight as have the poor of the land, the blessing of the Lord shall come to us and never leave. For He indeed wills it so. He indeed desires our return from exile. Do we have a heart to come to Him? Do we remember where we have been? ******* O LORD, it is your will that we be whole and living in peace; keep us poor in spirit that we might not be removed from your sight. YHWH, save us from our sin this day, even as you healed the leper; bring us back from our exile to dwell again in the holy City of Jerusalem. Are we not temples of your Spirit? Let us remember and return to them. O LORD, come down from the mountain to walk amongst us, for we are in need of your presence. We live as though far from you in a land of darkness and exile. Is there yet hope for our beaten souls? May we yet be cured of our disease? Only if you are here with us, and we recognize you and call upon your love. Why should your children remain apart from you? O LORD, why can we not sing of your glory? You are just and we deserve our punishment, but let us call upon your mercy this day. Then you will reach out to us; then you will speak your Word over us. Then your will shall indeed be known – that we be saved from the evil of this day.

June 25 - Thursday of the 12th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II

(2Kgs.24:8-17; Ps.79:1-5,8,9; Mt.7:21-29) "The rains fell, the torrents came, the winds blew and lashed against his house. It collapsed under all this and was completely ruined." Yes, "the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege," and "Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother, his ministers, officers, and functionaries, surrendered to the king of Babylon, who… took him captive… None were left among the people of the land except the poor"; and these, too, shall soon be struck. Yes, the nations "have defiled [the Lord's] holy temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins." And why has such destruction come? Our first reading tells us simply of Jehoiachin, "He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his forebears had done"; and now finally the day of reckoning has come. And now the nations "have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them." Now does the Lord's "jealousy burn like fire." And what shall be left when that fire is passed? Who shall stand on that day of reckoning that shall come to all souls, to peoples of all nations? Will you stand before the Lord and recount the great deeds you have done before Him who holds all the world in His holy hand? Will you attempt to justify yourself before Him who justifies all? Will your heart truly be set upon such vain pursuit? Truly then the Lord will "declare to [you] solemnly, 'Out of my sight, you evildoers'"; for all you have done will be as a grain of sand in His sight, and that grain will be blown from His hand for your lack of humility, for your pride before whom none can stand. How shall it be then that your house be "solidly set on rock"? How will you avoid the fate of His chosen city Jerusalem? If it has been destroyed, do you not think that you, too, are liable to be struck from His sight? Or do you find yourself perfect? You must cry out as our psalmist, "Deliver us and pardon our sins for your name's sake." You must heed the words of Christ and consider yourselves unworthy servants (Lk.17:10), unfit as you are to stand before His eyes, to dwell in His light. Then He may have pity on your wretched soul. Then He might make you strong. Your tongue silent before His majesty, there will be hope that you shall remain. Remember, brothers and sisters, this is He who "taught with authority" before whom you stand. Do not lose the awe of His presence. And perhaps the great collapse of your house will not be necessary; perhaps you shall find His great love which washes away all sin. Let the rains He sends but be cleansing. Endure them gracefully. ******* O LORD, the gold of the temple does not endure, but only a humble soul set on your will. YHWH, let us do your will, that we might stand humbly before you on the Day of judgment. You cannot help but judge, dear LORD; you cannot help but condemn the pride and wickedness of an evil heart and a vain life. You would give us food to stand strong, your command that gives life indeed… but we would follow our own ways, and so, how can we end but removed from your sight? You make us as temples, LORD, temples of your Holy Spirit feeding on the Body and Blood of your Son… but how faithful are we to the call to be as your Son, to listen to His words and the guidance of the Spirit – are we truly obedient to your will for our lives? If we are not humble, LORD, then we know you not. If we expect return for works done in your NAME, then we understand not the great blessing of being your sons, and how unworthy we are to carry out your will. O LORD, come back to us and help us because of the glory of your NAME. Let us make our home in you and in your Temple, and so find strength in you on the Day you return.