Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

In my youth, the rap culture of the time had a catchphrase: “More money, more problems.” Jesus said something similar when Rich Young Man could not sell all that he had to be His disciple: “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23). The prophet Hosea gives a likeminded assessment: “Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth. The more abundant the fruit, the more altars he built.”

More altars may sound good to us, but democratizing and increasing access to worship do not imply right religion. Instead of sacrificing and making the effort to travel to the Temple, the Israelites have set up pagan shrines. The peoples around them had fertility gods, and they turned into opportunists: if the fertility gods work for pagans, maybe they would work for the Hebrews too.

This newfound religious open-mindedness might sound enlightened. However, Hosea sees different fruits. Their cavalier treatment of religion has led them to run roughshod over the poor and the weak. Both will lead to their ruin, and God will allow the natural consequences of impiety and injustice. As the reading said yesterday, “When they sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.” Yet, it is not too late for Israel: “Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains down justice upon you.”

Too much comfort can distract us from what is most important. Jesus is always calling us to Himself. What we have to give Christ is only our hearts. Once the Lord has that, He can effect great change in us. It takes focus and commitment from us, along with trust that He may need to do some drastic work to accomplish His will. This includes, in the stunning words of Pope Francis, “We rejoice in letting God’s scalpel fashion us a face, even if it effaces certain grins we were fond of” (cf. In Him Is Our Hope).

Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB