Saturday of 14th Weeks in Ordinary Time
IN GOD’S HANDS
Isaiah (Yahweh is salvation) experienced the holiness of God and was so haunted by it that it was the central message of his prophecies – the most vigorous and beautiful of all the prophetic writings. In the name of God’s holiness, he demanded conversion, especially to end the social injustice rampant in his time.
“Do not be afraid.” says Jesus to his disciples three times. Even, when persecuted and apparently failing in their mission, like Jesus, their master, they are in God’s hands. God takes care of his own. God’s kingdom cannot be built up without crosses and sacrifices, not without being contested by a world that wants to create its own future.
First Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
“Doom! It’s Doomsday!
I’m as good as dead!
Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted—
blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I’ve looked God in the face!
The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!”
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
“Look. This coal has touched your lips.
Gone your guilt,
your sins wiped out.”
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
“Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us?”
I spoke up,
“I’ll go.
Send me!
Gospel: Matthew 10:24-33
“A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn’t make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, ‘Dungface,’ what can the workers expect?
“Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now.
“Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.
Forget About Yourself
“What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.
“Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?
Prayer
Dependable God,
you are present with us in all things,
even in our miseries,
and you take care of your own.
Deepen our trust in you
and make us afraid of only one thing:
to become instruments of evil.
Make us instead messengers of the Good News
that evil can be overcome
and that your goodness and justice will prevail.
Give us this faith and trust
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.