First Reading:

But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD!

And whether they heed or resist

— for they are a rebellious house —

they shall know that a prophet has been among them. (Ez 2:4-5)

Psalm:

Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy. (Ps 123)

Second Reading:

I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,

in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. (2 Cor 12:9)

Gospel:

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

and among his own kin and in his own house.” (Mk 6:4)

Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass ©2001, 1998, 1970 CCD.

The English translation of Psalm Responses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.

FULL READINGS

July 7, 2024

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Recently I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to optimize willpower in the face of weakness. The message was: do not accept your weakness. Crush it. Dominate it. In one video, however, at the end of a rant by a willpower coach, the muscular stoic admitted, “You’ll never actually get what you want, no matter how hard you try.” Amazingly, he admitted that willpower alone is not sufficient for us weak-willed humans.

What does God want us to do with our weaknesses, if crushing them with willpower won’t work? For example, what should I do with my tendency to arrogance and self-isolation? Or my procrastination? Or my intellectual and physical limitations? Or my selfishness?

The counter-intuitive answer is clear in this week’s words from St Paul, “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses in order that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Cor. 12:9).” Boast of our weaknesses? Paul isn’t promoting weak-mindedness or laziness. Rather, he

perceives that Jesus loves us not despite our weaknesses but because of them. Boasting of our weakness means claiming human will is not all we have. It means turning to God whenever we feel weak, which–let’s face it–is almost all the time. When we do, we learn to love our weaknesses, because it’s there that we meet the strength of Christ. This week, I challenge us to find ways to boast not in willpower but in weakness.

— Father John Muir

©LPi

St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi | May 25

Born Caterina de’ Pazzi, to a noble family in Florence, St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi (April 2, 1566 – May 25, 1607), has been called the “ecstatic saint” or “The Passion Flower of the Eucharist,” because of the trance-like state, or ecstasy, she entered for long periods after receiving Holy Communion. An ecstasy is when a person’s internal and external senses are completely occupied by God, so much so that the individual is entirely unaware of anything other than God.

Caterina learned to meditate at age 9, and took her first communion at age 10, which was young for her time. She was so moved by the experience that she took a personal vow of virginity. She longed to be able to receive the blessed sacrament every day and so at 16, she entered the Carmelite convent of Santa Maria del' Angeli, which had a special dispensation to celebrate the Eucharist daily.

As a novice she took the name Mary Magdalen. In 1584, she became so ill that the sisters feared she would die and so she was allowed to profess her vows from a stretcher in the chapel. What followed was a miracle. For 40 days she would enter a state of ecstasy lasting several hours after receiving Holy Communion. She recovered from her illness and her sisters recorded the teachings she offered during the ecstasies, they are collected in “Revelations and Intelligences.” Her years of ecstasies and visions, which she saw as witness of her sins rather than a reward for her holiness, were followed by five years of temptation, doubt, and suffering.

She led an exemplary life of service as mistress of novices and postulants, and eventually the superior. She died on May 25, 1607, after a long excruciatingly painful illness. She was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1626 and canonized by Pope Clement IX in 1669. St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi, pray for us!

©LPi

A Prophet and His Native Place

By Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place.” It could be the slogan of high school reunions everywhere.

I speak from experience — I didn’t go to my high school reunion, but I do live in the same area in which I grew up. Ghosts from the past lurk in every grocery aisle and gas station. Former classmates fill my prescriptions at the pharmacy. I am always sure to see an old teacher or two at the Fourth of July parade.

If my teenage self knew that this was her future, she would be horrified. She wanted to grow up and move away, not because she didn’t like living in this town, but because she wanted to reinvent herself. And you can’t reinvent yourself in your native place. In your hometown, you’ll always be exactly what you are — no more, no less.

The same was true for Jesus, who was probably the only person actually worthy of admiration at his high school reunion. When he returned to his native place, he was what he had always been — God and man, Messiah, miracle-worker. This is not something he became, it was always within him.

But the people of Nazareth cannot accept it. Why?

Well, probably for the same reason that I wanted to reinvent myself when I was 16. We don’t often see anything worth venerating in the “right now” of our lives. We think happiness is a promotion or a pay bump away. We think we’ll finally be holy when we find the time to take that silent retreat. We think we will be beautiful when we lose ten pounds.

The Nazarenes lived with God right under their noses, and they didn’t realize it. So, when he came in all his greatness, the dissonance was too much to bear, and they rejected him. They didn’t want that God — the one they had dismissed or overlooked or ignored. They wanted a different one. A shinier one. One that didn’t look like the “right now” of their lives.

But that’s where God is, folks. He’s in the right now, and nowhere else. He’s waiting there for you, with all the happiness, holiness, and beauty your life needs.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” — Mark 6:4

©LPi

©LPi

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