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Daily Scripture

+ 23rd Week in Ordinary Time – Labor Day

“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.”

Lord, give success to the work of our hands. [Ps 90:17]

I believe I first heard that quote about all work and no play in the 3rd grade at Bayley Grammar School. Sr. Paulita, SC was the teacher. She had a stock of quotes from ancient sages and current commentators. Of course anything we memorize in elementary school will remain with us for life!

As with every axiom, there is both an element of truth as well as an exaggeration of truth. This is the reason we often refer to axioms as ‘truisms.’

On this Labor Day, 2010, many folks will not be taking a weekend at the shore because the kids are already back in school. Others can’t take a holiday because they need to work. Others will not be celebrating Labor Day this year because they have no work today or tomorrow.

The optimum for any able-bodied person is to be in a situation in which work is play. These are the blessed few among us for whom ‘work’ is only an extension of their play. This doesn’t mean they are playing at work. It means rather that they are able to use their most creative talents and abilities for a greater good, not just for their own personal enjoyment.

Whatever one’s employment, Catholic social doctrine has always stood strongly for the ‘right to work’ and for the ‘right to a just wage.’

The jobless rate in the private sector continues rise but alas, all too slowly while the politicking and debate over bailouts continues. The large crowds at malls do not tell the whole story. People are looking but not everyone is buying. Gainful employment for everyone has become the great equalizer. It means that those who have will need to give more and those who have not will have less to give until the economy stabilizes.

‘Lord, direct all our actions by your holy inspiration and carry them on by your gracious assistance so that every prayer and work of our may begin in you and through you be happily completed. Amen.’

Feast of Mary Mother of God

Thursday January 1, 2009

Where do we go from here?

Readings: Numbers 6:22-27 Psalm 67 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you! May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth reverence God! [Psalm 67:5-6]

At the ‘sign of peace’ at Mass, I invite the congregation to “extend to one another and to the world through one another, some sign of peace and blessing.” I don’t recall what occasioned that phraseology but I believe it makes a great deal of sense. Our weekly or daily participation at Eucharist is a privilege that is not just for our own spiritual wellbeing. We participate in order to be sent forth. The word “Mass” is rooted in the old Latin words sending forth the congregants back into the world: “Ite, missa est.” Go, be sent…”

On this first day of 2009, we honor Mary as the Mother of God. Strange title, for sure. How can Mary be the Mother of the infinite God who exists from all eternity? It is a title based on theological reasoning that if Mary was the mother of Jesus and Jesus was the Son of God, Mary must also be the Mother of God.

Why not honor Joseph as ‘foster father of God?’ After all, it was through Joseph that Jesus was born “in the line of David.”

And if Paul’s letter to the Galatians be theologically sound, then as ‘coheirs’ with Christ, we must also be sons and daughters of God. Awesome thought, isn’t it?

But today is also New Years Day and the readings are also appropriate for new beginnings. I like new beginnings because they provide an opportunity to put the past to rest.

Today I will clean my refrigerator and dispose of ‘junk foods’ that have accumulated over the holidays, scan the closets, bookshelves and storage areas of my apartment and dispose of items that have outlived their usefulness. It’s a therapeutic exercise, to be sure but with spiritual ramifications.

Would that we could scan the globe and cast away words of hate, weapons of war and engage one another—person-to-person, nation-to-nation, religion-to-religion—in a dialogue that would lead to a new truth that all might accept. God is truth!