Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a kaleidoscope presents a constantly changing view of colors, forms, and designs.

Today's Mass Readings

Today’s liturgy opens with an antiphon that is a plea for God’s help: “O Lord, hear my voice, for I have called to you; be my help. Do not abandon or forsake me, O God, my Savior!” (Ps 27:7, 9). In the first reading, we hear St. Paul’s assurance that this petition has already been answered: “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you…behold now is the day of salvation’” (2 Cor 6:1-2). God is making known his salvation (see responsorial refrain, Ps 98:2a) through us, his ministers. Our endurance of affliction, hardship, beatings, imprisonments, and labors is possible only through the grace of God by our display of purity, patience, kindness, and truthfulness. The Christian life is a paradox: we are sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, we are poor, yet enrich many, we have nothing, yet possess all things.

The gospel from St. Matthew further explains this seeming contradiction: “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well” (Mt 5:39-40). Whereas the instinctive response to injury is to lash back with an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” Jesus calls us to counter mistreatment with unfeigned love: “Give to the one who asks of you; and do not turn your back on the one who wants to borrow” (Mt 5:42).

Jesus’ invitation to detachment from pride and possessions is well-summarized in today’s communion antiphon: “There is one thing I ask of the Lord, only this do I seek: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (Ps 27:4). The antidote to greedy self-satisfaction is to shift our focus from the passing glimmer of the things of this world to the “prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14).

For today: Am I able to let go of injuries to my pride? Can I respond with an equal measure of kindness rather than revenge? Can I give freely when someone asks for something I possess? Am I really detached from the things of this world?

Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB