These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
(Mk 6:1-6)
As our founding documents remind us, we are called to form a more perfect union (US Constitution, Preamble). What has always prevented us from realizing our more perfect union has been the lack of faith in the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, whose signing we commemorate on the Fourth of July: “that all (men) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I remember Barbara Jordan’s famous intervention at the Watergate Hearings:
Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: "We, the people." It's a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that "We, the people." I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in "We, the people."
Perhaps, we need to remember that the work of forming a more perfect union is never completely over. Just like for us Catholics who want to build Christian community . . . we may never fully arrive, but we keep striving to build a world of justice, where everyone can find a place at the table of the human family, and know their dignity as children of God.
You are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.
(Eph 2:19-22)
I remember that wonderful old hymn: How Firm a Foundation! Our firm foundation is the faith of the apostles, the faith of Peter and Paul, the faith of Thomas.
As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
He heard this and said,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
(Mt 9:9-13)
The Call of Matthew reminds us of the teaching of Pope Francis: the Eucharist is not the reward for saints, but is the Bread of Sinners.
God put Abraham to the test.
(Gen 22:1b-19)
The testing of Abraham is one of the great challenges of the Scriptures. Perhaps the Exultet from the Easter Vigil can help us to understand this difficult passage:
O God, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave, you gave up a Son!
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 34)
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor . . . but the question comes, will we hear their cry? The first martyrs of the Roman church celebrates all those who died along with Peter and Paul in the first persecutions.
