Wednesday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Do we find the “mystery of our faith” that Paul summarizes in 1Timothy 3:14-16 made present to us at Mass?  

We proclaim in the Introductory Rites that God was “manifested in the flesh” in Jesus and is still manifested in us who have taken on a new identity, having “become Christ” by Baptism.  

In the Liturgy of the Word, we hear him “preached among the Gentiles,” to all who have been “made disciples from all nations” and enlightened by his word.  

We profess that in our lives, Jesus has been “vindicated in the Spirit,” in the experience we have had of bearing witness by the power of the “gift of the Spirit.” This experience moves us to recommit to the Presentation of Gifts and pledge to keep fulfilling our prophetic mission.  

We “know what kind of conduct befits” us as “members of God’s household.” Because we are both in and of “the Church of the living God,” we know that Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, lives in us who have died in him. And we have celebrated that dying with him as “priests in the Priest” and “victims in the Victim” during the Eucharistic Prayer. We are committed, as “living sacrifices,” to let Jesus himself express his truth, his love in ministry in and through our human bodies. And we know our ministry will be blessed to “bear fruit” in the “posterity” God promised to Abraham and Jesus to his Church.  

During the Rite of Communion, we are given a foretaste of the “communion of the Holy Spirit” that will characterize the “wedding banquet of the Lamb” when Jesus, already “taken up into glory,” will have been “believed in throughout the world.” And as stewards of the “unity and peace” of his kingdom, we are strengthened by the Bread of Life to keep working to make that happen until we see the promise of victory realized in the “manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” for which we work and wait in joyful hope. Truly, the Eucharist moves us to shout out: “How great are the works of the Lord!”  

In Luke 7:31-35, Jesus brings us down to earth, warning us that those we want to help will resist both the message and the messengers. No matter what we do or say, no matter how we live, they will find reason to reject us.  

We piped you a tune, but you did not dance. We sang you a dirge, but you did not wail.  

Every choir director alive relates to that!  

John the Baptizer came… and you say, “He is mad.” The Son of Man came… and you say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard.”  

No matter how we live, what songs we sing, the language we use, or the topics we preach on, some will find in what they see and hear an excuse not to participate. Jesus answers, “God’s wisdom is vindicated by all who accept it!”  

Action: Look for truth, and you will find it. For life, and you will experience it.

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #445, 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.