Saturday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Micah 2:1-5 | Psalm 9B:1-4,7-8,14 | Matthew 12:14-21
Yesterday, we awoke to reports of the horrific vehicular attack on helpless revelers in Nice on France’s national day. The entire Liturgy of the Word for today is similarly somber, reminding us that evildoers are always in our midst, and while they will eventually reap their just retribution, they are also often uncovered only after they’ve done their dirty deeds and inflicted unjust hurt.
We may not be able to stop devilish acts on this scale, but we can still do our part to shift the balance around us from mutual suspicion to collective respect, to “put our thumbs on the scale of love”, as it were.
Nothing in our Catholic faith says we can’t:
- greet our neighbors with good cheer and a helping hand where needed, or
- spare a smile and a grateful “Thank you!” to the cleaners and service staff at our offices, common areas and eating spots, or
- decline to pass on the “hairdryer treatment” we receive from our bosses on to our colleagues and subordinates,
or any of a thousand other things that proclaim by example our belief in the Lord of Love, whose visage we behold in everyone around us, regardless of race, language or religion.
Let us also unite with the grieving souls of Nice and other troubled places in this world, in calling upon our Lord to be with us always, our hope, our help and our shield:
Amen.