The Catholic Calendar for Saturday, July 30, 2005
Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary time
St. Chrysologus, bishop, doctor of the Church

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Leviticus 25:1. 8-17
Psalm 67:2-3,5,7-8
Matthew 14:1-12

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

Our first reading describes the Jubilee Year (which came every seven-times-seventy sabbaths; in other words, about every fifty years). It involved a whole year of special celebration, forgiveness of debt, etc. We're puzzled by this practice. Our holidays, including weddings, rarely last more than a couple of days. Enough is enough! We Americans have to get back to work!

We don't know how to relax. As a result, we miss so much of family relationships, the beauty of the world of nature, and the richness of a friendship shared through prolonged conversation. Part of the problem is found in the pressure of the work place, and part of it is found in too busy a social calendar.

And who gets cheated? God, usually, and ourselves! We don't have time for prayer and praise, we don't have time to do good things for our neighbor, and we don't have the leisure for inner growth. What a shame. We leave this world without really savoring its wonder--or the inner beauty of other people.

God forgive us our frantic pace. While summer is still here (in the northern hemisphere), let's resolve to just "waste" a whole day with our family, or with a friend. Maybe it would involve a pilgrimage to a local shrine for a day of prayer. Life will go on, our business will survive, and all the work we put off doing will probably be done better after we come back.

Msgr. Paul Whitmore
(smartins at frontiernet dot net)

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