{"id":19441,"date":"2015-06-01T15:02:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T21:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=19441"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:58:40","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:58:40","slug":"will-you-leave-them-for-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/will-you-leave-them-for-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Will You Leave Them for Dead?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Monday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time, June 1st, 2015
Memorial of St. Justin<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

FEAR<\/b>, brothers and sisters, is silencing the Church in many places and thus imprisoning truth<\/i>. The cost of our trepidation can be counted in souls: <\/i>men and women left to suffer and die in their sin. Do we even think in this way anymore, think of the spiritual health of one another? No, in many parishes we do not because we are more concerned\u00a0with the status quo<\/i> than quoting the state of our souls.<\/p>\n

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In today\u2019s first reading, Tobit prepares to celebrate the festival of Pentecost with a feast. He says,<\/p>\n

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\u2026a fine dinner was prepared for me<\/em>\u2026 the table was set for me<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But Tobit was aware that the blessings he received were meant to be shared. And so he asks his son Tobiah to \u201cgo out and try to find a poor man\u201d to share his meal.<\/p>\n

As Catholics, we have been given a veritable feast of truth,\u00a0<\/i>entrusted with the fullness of Revelation, the \u201cwhole\u201d truth, so to speak, on matters of faith and morals. But it is not a feast for just \u201cme.”<\/p>\n

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How could the idea have developed that Jesus\u2019s message is narrowly individualistic and aimed only at each person singly? How did we arrive at this interpretation of the \u201csalvation of the soul\u201d as a flight from responsibility for the whole, and how did we come to conceive the Christian project as a selfish search for salvation which rejects the idea of serving others?<\/b> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Spe Salvi (Saved In Hope)<\/em>, n. 16<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tobit asks his son to bring \u201ca sincere worshiper of God\u201d to share his meal. That is, our mission as a Church is not to force the truth upon those who don\u2019t want it, to wield the Word of God like a bludgeon. But through our timidity, even those who are open to truth today are being deprived and starved of that \u201cfood.” They are being deprived because we are afraid to be rejected and persecuted, and thus we seal our lips. \u201cA\u00a0person in fear,\u201d says Pope Francis,<\/p>\n

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…does nothing, doesn\u2019t know what to do: is fearful, frightened, focused on herself so that something harmful or bad won\u2019t happen to her\u2026 fear leads to selfish egocentrism and it paralyzes us.<\/b> \u2014POPE FRANCIS, Morning Meditation, L’Osservatore Romano<\/i>, Weekly ed. in English, n. 21, 22 May 2015<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tobit was not afraid to open his heart to the poor. But his son Tobiah returns and says,<\/p>\n

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Father, one of our people has been murdered! His body lies in the market place where he was just strangled!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Without hesitation, Tobit sprang to his feet, carried the dead man from the street, and put him in one of his own rooms in order to bury him the next morning. He then ate his meal \u201cin sorrow.\u201d But you see, Tobit did not do this without cost. For his neighbours mocked him saying,<\/p>\n

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He is still not afraid! Once before he was hunted down for execution because of this very thing; yet now that he has scarcely escaped, here he is again burying the dead!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

All around us are the spiritually poor and \u201cdead\u201d today, particularly the casualties\u00a0of sexual immorality. The constant promotion of alternative forms of marriage, lust, sexual abberations, graphic\u00a0sex education, pornography and the like are \u201ckilling\u201d the soul of man, most alarmingly\u00a0the youth. And yet, fear, political correctness, and the desire to be approved are neutering and silencing the Body of Christ<\/i>. Homilies often placate our egos, stop short of calling us to repent, and avoid the \u201chot button\u201d issues that would stir controversy if not persecution. Bishops issue sweeping and elegant statements from behind their gates that are mostly ignored by the media and rarely \"Aime-Morot-Le-bon-Samaritain_Fotor\"<\/a>read by the laity. And laymen close their mouths in the workplace, schools, and marketplace in order to \u201ckeep the peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

My God, are we not like the priest and Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, walking once again on the \u201copposite-side\u201d of the road in order to avoid personally confronting, dressing, and healing the wounds of our dying brothers and sisters? We have forgotten what it means to “weep with those who weep.”\u00a0<\/em>[1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Rom 12:15<\/span><\/span>