WHEN BOASTING IS APPROPRIATE
Catholic Homily/Sunday Reflection 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 4, 2010 The readings today are a study in contrasts. We hear a call to rejoice to those who previously were mourning. We hear St. Paul ’s readiness to boast, but this boast is associated with the “marks of Jesus on [his] body.” We hear the Lord exhorting us to ask the harvest master to send more laborers to his fields, but we also are made aware of the danger attached to the work of reaping, a danger not unlike that of lambs sent in the midst of wolves. We have today a very sobering reality check for all followers of Christ! Reality … that which so many people in our times try their best either to ignore, gloss over, or deny altogether. When reality gets too painful, when it strikes too close to home base, the common tendency for people is to pretend “everything will be alright.” But no amount of denial can reverse the hard facts of life. People suffer. People die. There are gross imbalances in the world, and ...