Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 48 (47):10‑11 Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple. Your praise, O God, like your name, reaches the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with saving justice.
Collect O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, for on those you have rescued from slavery to sin you bestow eternal gladness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Scripture today: Hosea 14:2-10; Psalm 50; Matthew 10:16-23
Jesus said to his Apostles, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 10: 16-23)
Difficulty When a company, university, government agency or department, or a corporation in society sets out to gain a big share of the market, it seeks the right people to do it. It advertises attractive pay and conditions and hopes to entice the best applicants. It does not blazon before all viewers the downside elements of the position — the stress, the precarious nature of the position if there is not a notable performance, and so forth. In fact, the successful applicant may be disappointed in what it turns out to be. In July 2005, after an extensive search by Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, Solomon Trujillo was appointed its chief executive with a salary of millions plus bonuses. There were high hopes and Sol Trujillo exuded confidence on his arrival from the United States. During the period of his tenure, Telstra's share price underperformed the market by around twenty percent, losing over $25 billion in value while customer complaints rose 300 percent. Major factors in the company's share price decline were the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 and being disqualified for submitting a non-compliant bid to the National Broadband Network tender issued by the Rudd Government. Four years into his appointment, Trujillo resigned and returned to the U.S., embittered. The point I am making is that the position involved great difficulty, and of course nothing of this was included in the job description because, probably, no-one foresaw it. Even if it had been foreseen, it would probably have been played down in order to get the best man. I have seen a similar lack of clarity as to difficulties and sacrifice in some programmes promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life. But what does our Lord say to his Apostles about their involvement in his mission? “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:16-23). It will be a very difficult work.
This point should be borne in mind at the very outset of the Christian life. A non-Christian thinking of becoming a Christian ought be helped to see clearly that Christ does not call disciples to a soothing and comfortable life. There will be difficulty and trouble, and he himself is the exemplar. We read in Mark 8:34 that Jesus called the crowds to him together with his disciples — the crowds, and not just his disciples! — and told them plainly that “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Did Socrates or Aristotle say such a thing to their disciples? We do not read in the book of Isaiah of that prophet saying this to his disciples, nor do we read of John the Baptist saying this to his disciples. We do not read of Mahomet saying this to his followers, nor Buddha to his — in fact, Buddha’s way was towards freedom from suffering. Our Lord makes it plain that difficulty and suffering is at the heart of the following of him. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means carrying the cross, and all knew, and had seen what carrying the cross meant. This point would seem to be almost unique to Jesus Christ. Suffering is the terrible burden of man and it is the cause of much rebellion against God — just as rebellion against God was its primordial cause. But Jesus Christ has made suffering — that suffering that is associated with love for him and obedience to God — central to his way. There is no avoiding the issue of difficulty: “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” There is one glorious element in this, and it is the constant assistance of the Spirit of God. “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that it was by the power of the Spirit that Christ offered himself as a victim on the Cross. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we shall do this too.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of life, to enable us to embrace the true way of Jesus Christ. That way is the way of the Cross. Somehow we must learn this, and it requires the grace of God. It is the true Christian mind, the mind of Jesus Christ which St Paul exhorts us to make our own. Let us begin by considering it. Let us pray to be able to appreciate it. Then let us set out on the path, accepting with gratitude the crosses that come our way and asking the Holy Spirit to guide us, to speak through us, and to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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A Second Reflection: Matthew 10:16-23
Witnessing to Jesus We often hear it said — or we should often hear it said — that all of Christ's faithful are called to bear effective witness to the faith. This is a serious duty of the laity, and an essential component of being a "good Catholic". Yet so often we do not wish to do this. What is behind this reluctance? One reason is the seeming difficulty of the task in a very secular culture and society where religion is regarded as a strictly personal matter. So it is difficult. We can admit that, and our Lord often describes the difficulties that his own disciples will face in bearing witness to him, in their day and age. They were going out like sheep among wolves.
But whatever be the difficulties in giving effective witness to Jesus, there is one great help that our Lord promises. It is the active involvement of the Holy Spirit: "it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you." This active involvement of the Holy Spirit in the witnessing work of the Church's members is described in the Acts of the Apostles. This brief book describes the beginning of a 300 year process which culminated in the victory of the Faith over the Roman Empire. The Holy Spirit was the primary agent in this process. Let us, then, depend on the Holy Spirit in the daily witness to Jesus that we are all called to give.
(E.J.Tyler)
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