Tenth Week of Ordinary Time: June 10 - 16, 2007

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Authors

Alexander, Andy, S.J.

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2007-06-10

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en_US

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"So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Luke 7
The Tenth Week of Ordinary Time|Sunday in the U.S. is the The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. For the rest of the world it is the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time and in the gospel Jesus shows his compassion for the Widow of Nain by raising her son from the dead.|Monday is the Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle. Wednesday is the Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the Church. Friday and Saturday are two beautiful celebrations of the Church: Friday is the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Saturday, we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary.|We begin a two-week cycle of readings from Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians, as he confronts the challenges to this early Christian community.|This week we also begin reading the Matthew's Gospel, starting with the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is the new Moses, and offers us a new and radical teaching. It begins by his telling a small group of followers that they are blessed - not because they have their acts together, but because they are spiritually poor, meek, those desiring justice, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted. Salt and light explain who they are as disciples. They are to obey the law and prophets which Jesus came to fulfill. Whereas the law forbad killing, Jesus calls his disciples to be reconcilers.|On the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time and in Luke's Gospel we hear of the Pharisees who criticize Jesus for allowing a sinful woman to wash his feet. He tells them of two debtors who are forgiven. "Which of them will love him more?" Simon said in reply, "The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven. "He said to him, "You have judged rightly."
Daily Prayer This Week|This week we are invited to explore the depth of the love Jesus has for us and the powerful call each of us is given to love each other. The Sermon on the Mount can help us be contemplatives in action this week. The Beatitudes are not eight new commandments. Rather, Jesus saw those following him and saw their weakness and their need, their goodness and their desire, even the cost they are paying for following him. He looked at them and called them "Blessed."| We can all begin this week letting Jesus look at us this way. Each morning we can practice choosing to focus our attention on some way we are spiritually poor or desiring justice, some way we are merciful or a peace maker, some way we might be experiencing the cost of being a believer, and simply asking our Lord to convince us of our blessedness there. It is likely that each of us, every day, can be attentive to some aspect of our daily lives, some part of our relationships or responsibilities, that place us right there in a place for Jesus to tell us that we will be comforted, satisfied, blessed beyond our imagining.|Some day this week, each of us will have the opportunity to be the salt that makes relationships, faithful living, have its flavor. We will have our chances to be light in the midst of the darkness that crosses our paths. We can ask Jesus those days - whether in the morning, or in brief background moments during the day - to have us not lose our flavor or to cover our light. And, all of us will face the greater responsibility of a disciple of Jesus, to avoid anger and find the path to reconciliation, to love genuinely and honestly.|The feasts of Jesus and Mary - focusing on the image of their loving hearts can help our gratitude all week. We are not loved and transformed by ideas, but by lovers, who give of themselves to help us be sacred, immaculate, self-sacrificing hearts for others.

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University Ministry, Creighton University.

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These prayer guides may not be sold or used commercially without permission. Personal or parish use is permitted.

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