The Catholic Calendar for Saturday, August 5, 2006
Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, Rome

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34
Matthew 14:1-12

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"It is not lawful for you to have her. . ."

In some ways the gospel for today is terrible. It tells us the tremendously high price that sometimes must be paid to follow God. More often than not in the United States, we don't face these penalties, but people in other countries have and still do. I think about the scene in Endo's Silence where a priest is told that the torture of his parishioners will stop if only he will denounce the faith and marry.

It is never permissible to do evil that good may result. We cannot flinch from our duty as difficult as it is. How many of us have relatives who are living in sin, or whose lives are filled with things that as Christians we cannot countenance. Sometimes we must speak to these people. How often have our politicians betrayed us, allowing this law or that--laws that undermine morality or encourage all manner of illicit behavior? We are required for the betterment of society to speak out against them.

But in speaking out against them we should take care. We are not John the Baptist; we (most of us) have not lived exalted lives of loyalty and obedience to God. Our words should address the sin and condemn it. But they should at the same time express love for the sinner. And to have this combination, we must rely entirely upon the Holy Spirit, who, when we must speak will give us the right words to do so if we ask.

- JuandelaCruz
(sriddle415 at yahoo dot com)