Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

When the Responsorial Psalm tells us “The Lord remembers his covenant forever” (Psalm 105), this is an echo of the “virtual definition of God” that God gave us when he showed his “glory” to Moses as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6; see the Jerome Biblical Commentary on John 1:14). 

Genesis 15: 1-18 shows us the beginning of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants: 

“Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able… So shall your descendants be… I am the LORD who brought you from Ur… to give you this land to possess.”   But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 

Then God told him to offer a sacrifice as a sign of the covenant. 

In the sacrifice of Calvary, made present at every Mass, we have the enduring, visible sign of the “new and everlasting covenant” God has made with his Church. Another sign is the everlasting priesthood of Jesus, a “priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (see Hebrews 6:13 to 7:25). This unfailing priesthood of Jesus is made visible to us, both in the priesthood of those ordained to preside at the sacrifice made at the altar and in the priesthood of all the baptized, consecrated to “offer their bodies as a living sacrifice” for others in everything they do. Their constant self-offering is an enduring sign of Jesus the Priest offering himself still in the members of his body. Through the ministry of their physical expression of faith, hope and love Jesus continues to offer his “flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51; Colossians 1:24). And so “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” through the priesthood of Jesus, who has “become the guarantee of a better covenant… because he continues forever” (Hebrews 6:19; 7:22-24). Our ministry is a sign that “The Lord remembers his covenant forever.” 

In Matthew 7: 15-20 Jesus warns us: “Beware of false prophets…. you will know them by their fruits.” A specific meaning of “prophet” is “someone who bears witness by embodying the Gospel in action.” But proclaiming and teaching — by word and example, in family, social and professional life — are also prophetic functions that go with priesthood. They are a special duty of all who are priests by Baptism.  

Our teaching should produce love, joy and peace (the  “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22). It should be characterized by faith in God’s word rather than by fixation on Church rules; by hope focused on God’s fidelity more than on human failures, and above all by healing, reconciling love, showing that “The Lord remembers his covenant forever.” 

Initiative: Be a priest. Show trust in God’s fidelity. Be positive by hope. 

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #373, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.