The Surprisingly Straight Paths of the Lord, 14th Friday (II), July 13, 2018

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Sacred Heart Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan
Friday of the 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial of St. Henry
July 13, 2018
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 Prophet Hosea says “Straight are the paths of the Lord,” but the Gospel, at first glance, seems to contradict it. In the Gospel Jesus describes how his followers and apostles are being sent out as sheep among wolves, how they will be betrayed to courts, scourged in places of worship, let before governors and kings, handed over by family members to death, hated by all, and persecuted. He says they will need to be as shrewd as serpents while remaining as simple as doves. The ways of the Lord seem complicated and perilous, anything but straight. But that brings up what we understand by straight. If it means without sufferings, without hills and valleys, without having people try to get in our way, then it would seem that the Lord’s ways indeed are meandering. But if we understand by straight that the everything is intended to lead us to the destination he intends, including betrayals, hardships, sufferings, then with trust we can see how they are indeed ultimately very direct. We see this in the Gospel. All of the difficulties he describes will lead us, he says, to giving “witness,” together with the Holy Spirit who will be speaking through us in testimony. It will help sanctify us and proclaim his Gospel to the world, that life triumphs over death, forgiveness over sin, resurrection over crucifixion, fidelity over betrayal. We see this in the lives of so many of the great martyrs, like we saw it in the life of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions on Monday, how the witness of Bishop Dufresse led a soldier to go from pagan to baptized Christian to priest to martyr within months. To the world, the Lord’s ways do not look straight, but looked at from his divine intentionality, they are indeed, for the Lord’s ways are not our ways.
• Today is the last day we have the Prophet Hosea for the next two years. Throughout this week he has been giving a forceful call to conversion by focusing on God’s mercy as spousal and paternal love. Today we see the culmination of that, how the Lord will forgive all inquiry, receive what is good, heal our defections, love us freely, and prosper us in our humility. Like a verdant cypress tree we will bear fruit because of him. In the Gospel, which is parallel to this, we see how God was preparing the apostles to announce this good news of his mercy, praying to the Harvest Master, calling those who had been praying, and giving them instructions to announce that Gospel by their actions just as much as he had had Hosea announce his mercy through the prophet ôt of marrying the unfaithful former prostitute Gomer as a sign of God’s forgiving us of the adultery of multiple idolatry. And that message of God’s fidelity can be manifested the most by how believers don’t understand earthly persecution and betrayal as divine betrayal, that God is faithful to us even as we suffer for him just as he showed his fidelity first by his fidelity on Calvary.
• St. Henry was one who lived in and proclaimed the kingdom of God that was foretold by Hosea and fulfilled in Christ. The beautiful opening prayer indicates how he went from earthly kingdom to heavenly realms, and not just after his death, but during his earthly life. He and his wife St. Cunegunde lived in continence and tried to dedicate themselves to God. So great was his desire to serve God that he sought to leave the crown and become a Benedictine at the Abbey of Verdun, but he was rejected. He has become the patron saint of all those who have been rejected for religious life. After his insistence, the Abbot let him make vows as an Oblate but then under holy obedience commanded him to continue to rule the empire well. And the Lord brought great good out of that rejection, helping St. Henry in humble obedience to God’s will. As Holy Roman Emperor he sought always to welcome the poor as if he were welcoming Christ and sacrificed to care for them. He also did all that he could to help the Church carry out its task of witnessing to the Lord and to his mercy before all. He sought to help all in his kingdom, leading by example, follow the straight path of the Lord. As we prepare to be sent out by the Lord as sheep amid wolves, we ask the Good Shepherd to strengthen us with courage from the inside, and to send the Spirit of his Father so that we might indeed, in all our circumstances today, whether propitious or adverse, give testimony of his unbreakable merciful love.

The readings for today’s Mass were: