Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Our no-nonsense teacher St. James continues to guide us through the brambles of temptations in the first reading again today. Finding excuses for our faults and weaknesses is our first reaction when confronted with our blunders large and small. Deflecting the guilt seems to come so naturally as we search for answers as to why we fail to meet our own expectations or the expectations of others. St. James bluntly says, “Don’t be deceived.” He points out that the blame, as well as the answer, lies within. Each person dearly loved by God has been given the gift of a living truth, active and available, if we but turn to it with courage and the desire to be fruitful. We can call it our conscience. We can choose to neglect or distort our conscience or use it as that emerging truth fueling our yearning to be fruitful.
Could this consideration of our conscience be a clue to understanding the deeper meaning of what Jesus was talking about in today’s Gospel? Jesus said, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” To swallow and absorb the attitudes of deceit, selfishness, and arrogance is a yeast that swells up within a person and constricts the conscience from being alive and fruitful. The disciples had only one loaf of bread in the boat. Did it represent the potential of a healthy and joyful sharing in their poverty, or the potential of a hidden and deadly yeast which had lost its true purpose?
Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections