Christ’s Forgiving, Spousal Love and Compassion, 14th Tuesday (II), July 7, 2020

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
July 7, 2020
Hos 8:4-7.11-13, Ps 115, Mt 9:32-38

To listen to an audio recording of this homily, please click below: 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

• In the Gospel today, Jesus carries out an exorcism. He had come into the world to cast out the power of Satan and inaugurate the Kingdom of God. This possessed man had been brought to him by friends. Satan had silenced him. When Jesus cast out the devil, the formerly mute man spoke and then everyone else spoke, glorifying God and saying that they had never seen such marvels. But the Pharisees also spoke, saying that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of the devil. They did not realize that they were under the sway of the devil to proffer such a lie. The Gospel goes on to show Jesus’ passion and compassion, going to all the towns and villages, teaching, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom and curing every disease and illness. Everything about his public ministry can be summarized by St. Matthew’s phrase, “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus was sick to his stomach with mercy because we were mangled and alone. He commented that the harvest is abundant but needs laborers and begs the disciples to pray for laborers. We’ll see tomorrow that he calls twelve of those disciples to be among those laborers.
• In first reading, we encounter anew the work of the devil, we see how God’s people in the Kingdom of Israel at the time of Hosea, in the middle of the 700s BC, were being manipulated by the evil one and were lost without the Lord as their Shepherd. The father of lies always seeks to implant his lies and to destroy the spousal covenant God has made with his people, just like he sought to divide by his lies Adam and Eve, whose communion of persons in love was created to be the image of God. We  focused yesterday on the spousal imagery in Hosea 2 and how every sin against God is a one of spiritual adultery against the Covenant God has made with us. And today in the eighth chapter we get a list of those sins of infidelity. Right before today’s passage begins, God told Hosea to put a trumpet to his lips to announce how they’ve violated his spousal covenant and God begins by saying, “While to me they cry out, ‘O God of Israel, we know you,’ the men of Israel have thrown away what is good.” They claim to know the Lord, but they really don’t and show that they don’t by giving into the unfaithfulness described. Since they don’t treat God as their leader, “they made kings, but not by my authority; they established princes, but without my approval,” and they sought security not in God but in Assyria. Because they were not worshipping him as he had shown them how, “with their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, to their own destruction,” like the “calf of Samaria,” replicating the golden calf made by the Israelites in the desert, “gods,” to quote today’s psalm, that have mouths that don’t speak, eyes that don’t see, ears that don’t hear, noses that don’t smell, hands that don’t feel, feet that don’t walk. It says that “their makers shall be like them,” meaning they will become lifeless through the worship of gods that cannot give life. God continues through Hosea and says they look to Ephraim, rather than to God, for love. They treat God’s ordinances, he says, as if a stranger gave them. All of this was full of emptiness: “The stalk of grain that forms no ear can yield no flour,” he tells them. And they would experience the destruction of what they were choosing: “When they sow the wind,” God says, “they shall reap the whirlwind.” He finished by warning, “They shall return to Egypt,” which is a sign of their slavery. And he also says that he will “remember their guild and punish their sins.” They would suffer, of course, in 722, when Assyria laid waste to the land, as a natural consequence of their choices. But the real way God would punish their sins is through the work of his Son, the Lamb of God who would come to take away the sins of the world. God’s vengeance would be mercy.
• We see that mercy on full display in the Gospel, when Jesus’ guts burst with mercy on the crowds. Because they were under the sway of the evil one, Jesus came to cast him out and divide his spoils. Because they were mangled, he would heal their wounds. Because they were abandoned, he would gather them together like a Shepherd gathers his flock. Because they lacked direction, he would teach. Because they lacked hope, we would proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. Because they were sick, he would cure every disease and illness. And because so many were rotting in the fields, Jesus would entrust to us the continuation of his mission, having us first pray for laborers and then summoning us to join the work. This is the work of the love of Jesus the Bridegroom fulfilling the spousal forgiveness and commitment Hosea prophesied.
• At the end of today’s first reading, God says that in Ephraim, altars that were made to expiate sin had become occasions of sin. They were giving false worship at the altar. Christ came to teach us true worship and became not just the victim, but also the priest and the altar of expiation. As we approach him today, we thank him for his spousal love, for his gut-bursting mercy, for teaching us today, proclaiming anew the Gospel, casting out the evil one and curing us in ways he knows we need. And we pray for the grace to be able to say in trust, “We know you, O God of Israel,” our Lord and our Shepherd in whom we place our trust and love.

The readings for today’s Mass were: 

Gospel MT 9:32-38

A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
The crowds were amazed and said,
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said,
“He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”

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