Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Gossip is nasty. However, the Church makes a distinction between two kids of slander. Detraction is telling information about someone that you had no right to share. Calumny is lying about someone—or more frequently, it happens when you speculate about the intentions of someone based on the actions you see. I found that as a pastor I sometimes had to over-communicate why I did this or that to not be an occasion for sin for parishioners assuming ill intent.

Calumny is the sin that the Pharisees inflict on Christ. Here He is freely giving of His time, caring for suffering people, and striving to make their lives better. I need to be humble and not speculate on their intentions too much myself! One can imagine that these totally new powers seemed too good to be true if not coming by the Jewish leaders.

Notice how Jesus does not give in to others’ sin; he does not react in kind, giving as he got. Instead, His heart is moved with pity as He discovers larger and larger crowds of troubled and abandoned souls. In fact, He does not seek revenge on His enemies, but rather He wishes others to share in His saving work.

This teaches us several things. First, we should always assume the best intentions of others – “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Second, turning the other cheek opens us up to life-giving possibilities—opportunities not only to act like Jesus, but to participate in His gracious mission. Finally, even as wretched sinners, perhaps feeling like failures, Christ the Lord never stops wanting to save us—He always provides the actual grace at hand to convert and into communion with Him.

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB