Fairy Tale Ending

Aug 26: Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

I have a seven year old daughter, so I watch a lot of princess stories. In fact, we just saw Cinderella at the El Capitan earlier this week.

Cinderella gets a lot of flak for not really, you know, doing anything in her own movie. She gets rescued by mice.

Here’s the thing—that misses the entire point of the first hour of the movie. The 2015 live-action remake¹ spells it out a little more explicitly.

The reason her animal friends (and the fairy godmother, for that matter) help Cinderella in the end is because she’s been good and kind to them throughout the story. She’s even been kind to her evil stepsisters and stepmother. She suffered a lot, but her goodness was rewarded in the end.

And hey, look, we’re reading the end of Ruth today.

Reading 1

Ru 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17

Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz, of the clan of her husband Elimelech. Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field of anyone who will allow me that favor."

Naomi said to her, "Go, my daughter," and she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.

Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter! Do not go to glean in anyone else's field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my women servants. Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them; I have commanded the young men to do you no harm. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels the young men have filled."

Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, Ruth said to him, "Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?"

Boaz answered her: "I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband's death; you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know previously."

Boaz took Ruth. When they came together as man and wife, the LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed is the LORD who has not failed to provide you today with an heir! May he become famous in Israel! He will be your comfort and the support of your old age, for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you. She is worth more to you than seven sons!"

Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse. And the neighbor women gave him his name, at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi. They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Boaz isn’t attracted to Ruth’s looks, nor put off by her foreign heritage. He sees her for the good and faithful woman that she is. That’s why he wants to marry her, and rescue her from poverty that most widows were doomed to.

And because of this union, Ruth and Boaz became the great-grandparents of King David. (Told you she’d be important.)

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 128:1b-2, 3, 4, 5

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
You wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Obviously, this is written from a man’s perspective, but it applies to everyone. God blesses us, especially with children. They’re good for the family, and everyone in the community.

Alleluia

Mt 23:9b, 10b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have but one Father in heaven;
you have but one master, the Christ.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Protestants like to use this passage to say we’re incorrect for calling priests “father.” It’s a dumb argument, because we call our fathers “father,” don’t we? I’ll just quote Catholic Answers: “To forbid it would rob the address “Father” of its meaning when applied to God, for there would no longer be any earthly counterpart for the analogy of divine Fatherhood. The concept of God’s role as Father would be meaningless if we obliterated the concept of earthly fatherhood.”

Gospel

Mt 23:1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

This passage sounded familiar; I assumed we had read a parallel version from another synoptic Gospel. Nope, we got this exact same reading back during Lent.

The thing Jesus criticizes her is the hypocrisy. People who seek out the titles of “Father” and “Rabbi” so they can be honored and respected. Jesus wants us to honor and respect what they teach, because what they teach is the Word of God. But the honor due to the teacher/father/master extends only so far as they practice those beliefs.

Don’t seek empty honors; seek to do what’s right, like Ruth. All good things will come from that.

1. Probably the only one of these Disney remakes that was any good.