Fourth Monday of Ordinary Time

"Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, please, and lop off his head." But the king replied: "What business is it of mine or of yours, sons of Zeruiah, that he curses? Suppose the LORD has told him to curse David; who then will dare to say, 'Why are you doing this?'"

We don’t always know why someone says or does something to us. We might make assumptions and fill-in-the-blanks, but these are based off of guesswork and could be completely wrong. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding that led to the problem, perhaps we said or did something that hurt the other person. Or maybe we are just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Only God knows. Our initial instincts when someone treats us poorly are to want to strike back at them just as David’s servant wanted to do. However, this is not the response we should have if we want to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Instead, like David, we should turn the other cheek and make no assumptions about the other person’s actions. Then, perhaps we can converse with the person mistreating us and find out what the heart of the problem is and address it.

Are there people in our lives who mistreat us? How can we not only tolerate them, but also seek to reconcile with them, too? Are there people whom we have hurt and need to seek forgiveness from?

O Lord, help us to be reconciled with you and all your children.

Amen.

Sixth Tuesday of Ordinary Time

Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?

It is hard for some of us to admit when we do not know or understand something about the faith and so we start assuming. These assumptions get us into trouble because they are based off of our own flawed interpretations of the Gospel and not on those handed down to us through the collective wisdom of the Church. When Jesus makes his comment about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, he is pointing out how they have puffed themselves up through their interpretations of the Law. Christ does not want his disciples to do the same thing. He is not preaching a holier-than-thou lifestyle, but rather one of trust in the Lord and service to others, as evidenced by his multiplication of the loaves.

Do we not yet understand this message? Are our hearts hardened to its demands on our lives? Do our eyes not see, our ears not hear God’s warning against prideful assumptions?

O Lord, grant us an understanding of your Words in the light of your life and the collective wisdom of our Church.

Amen.