Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
June 27, 2023
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062723.cfm
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, both our readings express a desire for equanimity and reasonableness in our dealings with fellow human beings.
Rich old Abraham and rich young Lot can’t seem to get there unless they move away from each other. As we know from life, that’s sometimes the only and best route to peace (even though Lot ended up in a pretty bad neighborhood!)
Thus they separated from each other;
Genesis 13:11-12
Abram stayed in the land of Canaan,
while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain,
pitching his tents near Sodom (uh oh!).
In our Gospel, Jesus gives us some snippets of common sense and mutuality too:
Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
Matthew 7: 6;12
This is the Law and the Prophets.
However, the even-steven tone of these passages is countered by the Gospel’s closing verse:
Enter through the narrow gate;
Matthew 7:13-14
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few.
Jesus seems to be telling us that “even-steven” is not so “easy-peasy”!
It is a huge challenge to live in sacred balance with our sisters and brothers, and with all Creation. That Balance was lost in Eden but redeemed on Calvary. For us to allow its redemption in our own lives, we must live in the pattern of Christ’s sacrificial love. That pattern is “the narrow gate”. May we be among the few who find it!
Poem: The Narrow Way – Anne Brontë, one of the noted three sisters in a famous literary family. Their stories attracted attention for their passion and originality immediately following their publication. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was the first to know success, while Emily’s Wuthering Heights, Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and other works were accepted as masterpieces of literature later. Anne’s famous poem The Narrow Way, while seeped in the weighty tones of Victorian literature, makes a powerful point for any generation. (ref:Wikipedia)
The Narrow Way
Believe not those who say
The upward path is smooth,
Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way,
And faint before the truth.
It is the only road
Unto the realms of joy;
But he who seeks that blest abode
Must all his powers employ.
Bright hopes and pure delights
Upon his course may beam,
And there, amid the sternest heights
The sweetest flowerets gleam.
On all her breezes borne,
Earth yields no scents like those;
But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.
Arm—arm thee for the fight!
Cast useless loads away;
Watch through the darkest hours of night,
Toil through the hottest day.
Crush pride into the dust,
Or thou must needs be slack;
And trample down rebellious lust,
Or it will hold thee back.
Seek not thy honor here;
Waive pleasure and renown;
The world’s dread scoff undaunted bear,
And face its deadliest frown.
To labor and to love,
To pardon and endure,
To lift thy heart to God above,
And keep thy conscience pure;
Be this thy constant aim,
Thy hope, thy chief delight;
What matter who should whisper blame,
Or who should scorn or slight?
What matter, if thy God approve,
And if, within thy breast,
Thou feel the comfort of His love,
The earnest of His rest?
Music: Narrow Road – Josh Baldwin
Lavish Mercy 