Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
June 23, 2023

Today’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062323.cfm

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Today in God’s Lavish Mercy, our dear Apostle Paul is pretty much around the twist with the Corinthians. As the Church grows and the faith spreads, many “Christian” teachers arise. Some are truly called to the mission and ministry. They engage it and discharge it with humility and grace.

But some get their motives all mixed up with their own agenda for aggrandizement. They are flashy eloqutionists who can mesmerize an audience with their practiced charms. But they have missed the point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead they make the mission all about themselves – their wealth, success, prosperity and power. . These are the ones who are driving Paul “nuts” – to the point of speaking “insanely” in verse 23:

Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.) 
I am still more,
with far greater labors, far more imprisonments,
far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death.

2 Corinthians 11:23

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Living the Gospel is not easy, and preaching it with integrity may be even harder. The Gospel contradicts everything our unredeemed human nature craves. To demonstrate this, Paul says that he too will boast like the errant preachers boast. But Paul contradicts them by boasting not of his personal gifts and powers, but of his sufferings, weaknesses, anxieties and catastrophes. He shows that he loves the Gospel and the Church so much that he will suffer for it to keep it aligned with the Truth of Jesus Christ.

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Kelly Latimore Icons – Mr. Rogers ( a truthful preacher himself)

When I read 2 Corinthians, I realize that Paul was no Mr. Rogers humming soft philosophy to his followers. Paul could be a fiery hot head unafraid to show his anxious love and indignant frustration for a dense yet beloved community. When they were “stupid” enough to be infatuated with a worldly teacher, Paul suffered intensely for their loss of the Gospel:

And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me
of my anxiety for all the churches.
Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?

2 Corinthians 11:28-29

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In our Gospel, Jesus paints an ominous metaphor for those who distort truth for their own purposes. If we allow ourselves, as individuals or as a culture, to normalize dishonesty, we are doomed to an incomprehensible darkness. When we practice such normalization, we eventually forget how to even discern the truth and we become convinced of the lie we have become.

“The lamp of the body is the eye.
If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness.
And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

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These are powerful readings and have much to say to us and to our socio-political institutions. If we truly are people of faith, we will listen.

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Poetry: We Grow Accustomed to the Dark – Emily Dickinson

We grow accustomed to the Dark –
When Light is put away –
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Good bye –

A Moment – We Uncertain step
For newness of the night –
Then – fit our Vision to the Dark –
And meet the Road – erect …

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Music: The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel