Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Thomas Aquinas said that the mean between two extremes is virtue; the only exception to this is love. Extremes that are ultimately done in love – love being willing the good for the other – can be necessary to make the wayward amend. The Lord punishes the Israelites who murdered the prophets of the true God and fell away into idol worship. Elijah proclaims the punishment: a drought.
In order to take care of the messenger, the Lord provides ravens to feed Elijah. This is the opposite of the great flood and Noah’s Ark, in which an opposite extreme event wasted the sinful. Instead of the dove with the olive branch of peace in its beak, there is the raven. This is not a time for peace, but austerity to make the people realize that pagan gods are not responsible for their material prosperity or any other good. In fact, they may need to know that worshipping the Lord, the God of Israel, may even mean suffering in this world. Yet, he sustains them even in the worst of it.
Jesus said to the Samaritan woman coming to the well in the heat of the day due to her public shame that He, the Christ, would give anyone who asked living waters within them so that they would never thirst (cf. John 4:10). The kings of Israel were not successful mediators between God and the people; the prophets spoke truth but often could not persuade conversion. When all our strength fails and all our security is obliterated, we will find only Christ Jesus can sustain us. It might take extreme purging of interest in politics and activities of this world, of comfort, and disengaging from work or entertainment as ends in themselves to realize this. God is not outdone in generosity and the Lord offers us abundant life.
Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections