Fr. Roger J. Landry
Chapel of the Vincentian Seminary, Krakow
Tertio Millennio Seminar
Friday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Votive Mass for Persecuted Christians
July 8, 2022
Hos 14:2-10, Ps 51, Mt: 10:16-23
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in the homily:
- The Lord tells us through Hosea at the end of the first reading, “Straight are the paths of the Lord.” That’s surprising, at least paradoxical, or seemingly contradictory to what was happening in the prophet’s letter, as the people to whom he was preaching were about to be defeated, destroyed and brought into exile. The paths of the Lord are straight not because their paths weren’t crooked, but because the Lord always makes a b-line to us with his mercy, as we see him promise through Hosea. He shows them how to turn to him, what to say to him, how to sacrifice to him, how to turn away from idols and how they who have orphaned themselves will find compassion in his fatherly care. He promises to heal their defection, love them freedom, be like dew giving them new birth, blossoming like the lily of resurrection, build them as solidly as a Lebanon cedar, and blossom like the vine.
- In the Gospel, we see a similar dynamic. As Jesus sends out the 12 apostles, today he tells them that as they proclaim his kingdom, they will suffer. They would be like sheep in the midst of wolves, who are not accidentally but intentionally intent on mangling the sheep. They’ll be betrayed by family members, courts and synagogues, persecuted from town to town, and hated by all. But still straight are the ways of the Lord. He says that this betrayal will occur so that they might give “witness” before everyone together, so that they can show kingdom and its King are worth living for, suffering for and dying for. He says that when they’re in those circumstances the Holy Spirit will come to give joint witness with them, and he’ll make them wise as serpents and pure as doves. These are not contradictory terms. The Holy Spirit will fill us with his gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge and prudence so that they may be wise as serpents, the gifts of reverence and awe of the Lord so that they may be holy and pure as doves, and courage to help with both.
- Jesus himself was both serpentinely wise and pure. We see it on display in his avoiding those trying to kill him because it wasn’t yet his hour, in his retorts to the Pharisees who tried to entrap the adulteress brought before him asking if it were possible to stone her, who tried to entrap him by asking whether it is possible to pay taxes to Caesar, who asked him by what authority he was driving the money changers out of the temple. He showed it before the High Priest, before Pilate, before Herod, and on the Cross as people mocked him. Likewise St. John Paul II was both wise and pure, during the Nazi occupation with the Rhapsodic theater and clandestine seminary, as a young priest and chaplain against communist indoctrination, as an auxiliary bishop whom the communists supported to try to drive a wedge between him and Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (straight are the paths of the Lord that Wojtyla was appointed bishop!), and then as Pope in so many complicated circumstances in the world, most notably leading the world against communism and the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall. The purpose of this Tertio Millennio Seminar is to help form all participants — through the pillars of liturgical, academic, communal, apostolic formation imparted — to be as wise as serpents and pure as doves. And we have the chance to become one with the pure and wise Jesus in Holy Communion and to receive in the perpetual Pentecost of the Mass the help we need to fulfill this Mission as Christ sends us out amidst the wolves.
- At the end of the first reading, God tells us through Hosea, “Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them.” We pray for that grace!
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
“I am like a verdant cypress tree”—
because of me you bear fruit!
Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial Psalm
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Behold, you are pleased with sincerity of heart,
and in my inmost being you teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. My mouth will declare your praise.
Alleluia
When the Spirit of truth comes,
he will guide you to all truth
and remind you of all I told you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”
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