Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 433


“To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” 

Focus is the current buzzword in spirituality, though it’s heard in such unspiritual places as sports, business and politics. And that’s precisely the point. Everyone has a spirituality whether they acknowledge it or not, and every spirituality -- even those that are wicked -- demands focus.

In today’s gospel Jesus describes his mission to the crowds who track him down. He must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. That was his focus.

People sometimes wonder What would Jesus do? It helps to remember what he did. He did not announce “I am God.” He did go around healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and healing to the leper. On occasion he raised the dead. He also stilled storms, walked on water, and fed thousands with a few loaves and fishes. But none of these wonders defined the Lord or his mission. 

He proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God. He came as a messenger or apostle, to declare that God is your king. Do not be fooled if another government agency seems to be in charge – a king, tyrant, dictator or elected government. The Lord is God!

The reign of God has an enormous leveling effect on people. We’re all created equal, we all deserve equal treatment. No one has the right to claim superiority or priority over anyone else, except the sick, the needy and the least able to help themselves.

The messenger of this good news will add, “When the just judge comes he will set all things right. Not only will he lift up the lowly, he will bring down the mighty.” He will comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Anyone who lives as if there is no God will be rebuked by the certainty of God’s kingdom. This is reality. It is as real as rock, as hard as a knock in the middle of the night, as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel.

A cow at the Fair

Our Christian spirituality teaches us to focus on the Kingdom of God as Jesus did. He could not be distracted by success or popularity or the expectations of the crowd. He would not allow others to write his job description. Obedient always to his Father, he kept his focus on his mission. As it led him to Jerusalem and certain death, he taught his followers to enter through the narrow gate and disregard the expectations of a misled society. 

Today the  Archdiocese of the Military USA commemorates the 4 September 1967, battlefield death of FatherVincent Capodanno as he administered spiritual and physical assistance to the dying Marines of the 1st Marine Division. 

Father Capodanno posthumously received the Medal of Honor, and in May 2006 the Catholic Church officially proclaimed him a Servant of God formally initiating his Cause for Sainthood. On this 46^th anniversary of his death, all are invited to attend the Mass to honor the virtuous life and heroic sacrifice of Father Capodanno.