Living With a Single-Minded Focus (25th Sunday - Cycle C)

One significant theme in the writings of the Old Testament prophets, a theme we see in this Sunday's first reading as well, is the condemnation of the exploitation of the poor. Dishonest business practices are immoral in any situation, but they are especially reprehensible when the people defrauded lose everything. Most people in ancient times lived in a subsistence-based agricultural economy, with very little margin to protect against starvation. The passage from Amos lists several business practices that were used by some unscrupulous merchants to take advantage of such vulnerable families. Then, once a family's livelihood was destroyed, those who exploited them could force them into slavery, causing them to work for the benefit of others on their own ancestral lands. Amos and the other prophets decried such exploitative practices in no uncertain terms.

The Psalm for this Sunday goes further. In this passage, we see the depiction of a new social order, in which the poor are lifted up and are seated with princes. We see the creation of a new social order without the stratified economic divisions that have characterized most societies in history, where birth determined one's economic condition for life. The fullness of the vision might only come to fruition in Heaven, but God wants us to strive for bringing about a more just society already here on earth.

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Photo Credit: Parable of the Unjust Steward by A. Mironov, from Wikimedia Commons.

The Cross Alone Gives Meaning In This Life (Exaltation of the Holy Cross - Cycle C)

This year, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross falls on a Sunday, the 24th in ordinary time. The feast supplants the regular Sunday readings and prayers, which very rarely happens. The change underscores just how deeply the Church honors the Holy Cross.

As we look at the feast, we see that the assigned Gospel Reading contains perhaps the single most famous passage from the Bible in American culture - John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." The passage is often quoted especially by fundamentalist and evangelical Christians and is a favorite verse to hold up on signs at sporting events. How does the Catholic Church interpret this passage?

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Photo Credit: Wayside cross in Baroña, Galicia, Spain, from Wikimedia Commons.

Why Did Jesus Speak of Hate? (23rd Sunday - Cycle C)

The message of the Gospel passage for this Sunday might seem shocking at first sight. What could Jesus possibly mean by this statement: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Matthew 14:26)? Doesn't Jesus want us to love our families? Doesn't he want us to have a healthy sense of self-love? How should we interpret his words?

To understand his words in this passage, we need to bear in mind two important aspects of the society in which Jesus proclaimed the Gospel. Ancient Israelite culture relied greatly, as do many cultures today, on the use of hyperbole, which entails deliberate and often excessive exaggeration in order to drive a point home. The manner in which Jesus spoke very much reflected the conventions of his culture.

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Photo Credit: Conversion of St. Paul by Michaelangelo from Wikimedia Commons.