2 September 2022
Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
The Jews fasted in preparation for the joyous coming of the Messiah. When he appeared, fasting would be an obstacle to the spirit of celebrating the event. Jesus’ disciples did not fast because he, the Messiah, was already with them. The Pharisees remained unbelievers. Fasting for them was an end, not a means to the end.
With two short examples, Jesus expands his teaching. Jesus’ teaching was difficult for the Jews to accept because it meant debunking some traditional practices. Read the history of the Church and learn that this has also been a challenge for her from the beginning: hanging on to some traditions for the sake of tradition and thereby blocking the working of the Holy Spirit to changing times.
In our modern society, the tendency has been to throw the baby out with the bathwater with the result that some excellent traditional practices have been discarded, and tensions between the so-called liberals and conservatives have intensified, atrophied.
This fact emphasizes the truth that if a practice leads to Jesus, keep it. If it is an end in itself, junk it. Meanwhile, a long meditation on today’s first reading might enable us to weather with faith, patience, and humor the present waves of disagreement that rock the boat of Peter.
Resolve: On this first Friday of the month, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, I shall pray to the Lord for bishops, those “servants of Christ and administrators of the mysteries of God”, who deal with controversial matters, that they will take the Sacred Heart as their inspiration in all that they do.