WARNING!
May 23: Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
All of today’s readings continue from yesterday,1 but each strikes a much more cautionary tone. Jesus brings us the Good News, but we shouldn’t fall into the trap of believing that Christianity is always free and easy.
There are dangers, too.
Reading 1
Jas 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance.
This life, and everything in it, is temporary. Our next life will be forever. How we treat the other souls around us determines how that latter one will go. We should also focus on that long term, rather than on those things that will fade away.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 49:14-15ab, 15cd-16, 17-18, 19-20
R. (Matthew 5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
This is the way of those whose trust is folly,
the end of those contented with their lot:
Like sheep they are herded into the nether world;
death is their shepherd and the upright rule over them.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Quickly their form is consumed;
the nether world is their palace.
But God will redeem me
from the power of the nether world by receiving me.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Fear not when a man grows rich,
when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
"They will praise you for doing well for yourself,"
He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light.
R. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
While yesterday’s Psalm reminded us how much we depend on God for our health and well-being, today’s tells us (like James) that those things don’t matter much in the end. After all, you can’t take it with you.
Instead, we’re the ones that get taken, up into Heaven, thanks to God’s mercy.
Alleluia
See 1 Thes 2:13
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Receive the word of God, not as the word of men,
but as it truly is, the word of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
While we don’t believe God literally wrote or dictated the Bible, we have faith that it is divinely inspired.
Gospel
Mk 9:41-50
Jesus said to his disciples: "Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
"Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."
I don’t know anything about cooking, so I always assumed, based on this and other verses,2 that salt sometimes loses it’s taste. Chemically speaking, this is impossible. Salt always tastes like salt. Like the Parable of the Good Shepherd, the absurdity is the point.
Of course, salt can be made impure when mixed with other things. That happened a lot in ancient times. It’s not the salt that goes bad, but rather the other stuff that we’ve added. That’s why Jesus wants us to be worried about our sins.
He has blessed us with the Holy Spirit; He’ll reward us for even the smallest act of kindness. But we also must be on guard for even the smallest impurity, as well.
Including the Psalm, which isn’t usual.
For example, Matthew 5:13.