Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

 

St Ephrem
Patron of Deacons and Hymn Writers

Lectionary: 360

Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel!" Saint Paul declared:

It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”

Without going into the deep and complex dimensions of his expression, "...for Jew first, and then Greek." we might remember the disapprobation the Jews have suffered from time immemorial. Ever since the fall of Jerusalem in 587 bc, they have been a nomadic nationality without a nation. Up to that point, the world had never seen a stateless, monotheistic religion. Why would anyone worship a god which rules no particular territory? And what kind of god would dare to say, "I am God and there is no other!" How could anyone believe in such a god when they had no political, economic, or military power to show for it? 

When the Christian religion became the official religion of the Roman empire, Jews became neither Christian nor pagan, but a curious other when there seemed no other hand but right and left. However, before that happened, when a gentile signed onto faith in Jesus he became the "odd man out." They were neither Jew nor gentile, suspected by former friends and family, and despised by Jews who wanted no part of Paul's innovation! 

But that stigma is a curious sign of God's blessing, and we dismiss it at our peril. Just as powerful persons and administrations prefer their policies to the truth; and ideologies prefer their baseless opinions to to the truth, so do the nations despise God, who is Truth. And His people. 

Nor can Catholics pretend to a relativism like, "All religions are good" and "All opinions are true." As H.L Mencken, the notorious skeptic who despised all religions observed, 

“We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.”

Our recent celebration of Easter has reminded us again that we have been sent to make disciples of all nation, and we are not ashamed of the Gospel:

"Just so, your light must shine before others,

that they may see your good deeds

and glorify your heavenly Father.”

If they do not, if they neither glorify our heavenly father nor despise us, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.