Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 14, 2019
Today, in Mercy, dear friends, we have heard this Gospel from our youth. Even those without faith know the story.
Let us deeply examine our daily lives today as we pray.
What more is there to say? This is what I hear in my prayer today:
Always be the neighbor.
Just do it.
This is Mercy.
Music: I Will Love You, Lord! – Dale Sechrest
This wonderful mantra! Let yourself sing it!
‘For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.’ (Hosea 6;6). The Hebrew word for mercy in this verse is ḥe·seḏ which literally means “loving kindness”. I’m deeply saddened when I notice almost all the parishioners at the church I go to in Uzbekistan ignore the poor beggars (including single mothers with children) standing outside the church after they have just offered up the sacrifice of thanksgiving together with the priest in Holy Mass. Unless we are loving and kind to others, especially strangers and people of other religious faiths and social status, without any conditions or prejudgements, we are unworthy to offer up our sacrifice and receive Holy Communion, which signifies God’s establishment of being in communion (koinonia) with His people in the New Covenant and our fellowship with each other in the body and blood of Christ made visible in Holy Mass. How can we commemorate the passion and death of our Lord at the altar of sacrifice while ignoring the passion of our destitute brothers and sisters in whom the suffering Christ is manifested? Certainly, we couldn’t be keeping our new covenant with God by ignoring the plight of the poor. Our living in fellowship with each other extends outside our parish doors. And unless we do live in fellowship with everyone without any discrimination, the blood of Christ will not cleanse us of our sins, so John warns the faithful in his First Epistle.
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