Welcome
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.
Thursday, Week XVI, Ordinary Time
Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water. (Jer 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072122.cfm
Broken cisterns that hold no water . . . a fairly good description of us when our spiritual life runs dry. As the Psalmist reminds us: “With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.” No wonder Jesus says to the Samaritan Woman, “whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become (in him) a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Today’s picture is of the Fountain of Eternal Life in Cleveland, Ohio.
Media
Wednesday, Week XVI, Ordinary Time, Colombian Independence Day, July 20
The word of the LORD came to me thus: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. “Ah, Lord GOD!” I said,
"I know not how to speak; I am too young.” But the LORD answered me, Say not, “I am too young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD. (Jer 1:1, 4-10)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072022.cfm
As the Call of Jeremiah reminds us, God calls whom God wills . . . it doesn’t matter our age or our preparation. God promises to be with us. Today is Colombian Independence Day . . . which began on this day in 1810 and eventually led to an end of the European domination of Latin America. Today's photo is of the Basilica of Chiquinquirá, the national shrine of Colombia.
Media
Tuesday, Week XVI, Ordinary Time
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mt 12:46-50)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071922.cfm
To do the will of God means we are members of God’s new family in Christ. As someone once said, “God is my father, Jesus is my brother, Mary is my mother—with relatives like that, I can’t be all bad!”
Monday, Week XVI, Ordinary Time
You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Mi 6:1-4, 6-8)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071822.cfm
Justice and mercy are not optional—they are essential. And the prophets always remind us of what is essential.
XVI Sunday, Ordinary Time
Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." (Lk 10:38-42)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071722.cfm
Martha’s sister, Mary, chose to serve the Lord by sitting at his feet and listening to his words something only male disciples would do. Martha wanted the Lord to tell her sister that her place was in the kitchen. Instead the Lord praised Mary’s choice. Maybe one day the church will too.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16
Woe to those who plan iniquity, and work out evil on their couches; In the morning light they accomplish it when it lies within their power. They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and they take them; They cheat an owner of his house, a man of his inheritance. (Mi 2:1-5)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071622.cfm
We begin the Prophet Micah today. As with all the prophets, justice for the poor is a major theme. It wasn’t that Israel lacked religious devotion, they were very religious, but they lacked justice and so won the condemnation of the prophets. Today is the feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel which is celebrated not only by the Dominicans but by all the religious orders who celebrate this day in honor of their devotion to the Mother of God (today is also the feast of Our Lady of Einsiedeln, celebrated by Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Indiana).
Media
Saint Bonaventure, bishop & doctor, July 15
Responsorial Psalm (Is 38:10, 11, 12ABCD, 16)
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Once I said, “In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years.”
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/071522.cfm
The Song of Hezekiah is the basis of today’s responsorial psalm—one of the more hauntingly tragic poetic passages in the Scriptures. Stephen Hutchinson, a British artist, was fascinated with the stairway of Ahaz mentioned in the first reading and in response created The Stairway of Ahaz (2018). Saint Bonaventure fostered the intellectual development of the Franciscans and thought of Christ as the “one true master.”
