Daily Readings Reflection for 6/18/10

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Scripture: Lectionary # 369. II Kings 11:1-4, 9-18.20. Psalm 1432:
11.12.13-14.17-18. Matthew 6:19-23:

"Texts of Terror" by Phyllis Trible helps us to interpret the difficult
readings such as we have for our first reading today. There are texts
that are violent because our ancestors were also violent and these
stories about murder, war, and cruelty are part of the human history of
all humankind; the Bible just gives us a mirror of our own times which
seem to have continued with violence and war. How are we to read such
texts? Realistic by not putting our heads in the sand and judging what
is happening each day in our own culture we realize we have in our
newspapers similar stories as those in the Bible. The Bible is both a
mirror for us and a window of opportunity that also tells us what not to
do. Yet, we are horrified, stunned, and are led to wonder will there
ever be a time when we are at peace on this globe called Earth. God
nevertheless works through our crooked and lines of behavior and the
recordings about them and makes them straight through the subtle but
powerful presence of God in salvation history. God is ever present as a
God of loving-kindness, mercy, and forgiveness.

Psalm 132 is a royal psalm which centers on God and God's loving
kindness to David and those who were faithful servants of the Lord as
Kings--usually those from Judah. God responds to the fidelity of David
the servant king and promises perpetuity to the Davidic line of kings
provided the covenant is observed on the part of Israel's leaders.

Jesus in the continuing of his sermon on the Mount reminds us that our
heart is where God's treasures can be found. We have an opportunity each
day to store and treasure the good things the Lord does for us; the
graces that surprise us and the people who help us to be better and to
be hopeful in a chaotic world. Saint Julie Billiart, the foundress of
the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur always said "O how Good is God" and
this is lived up to by her sisters. They all have this saying in French
as their motivational motto. Jesus helps us to have such a disposition
as he emphasizes the gifts given to our bodies especially our heart and
how we should treasure the good things we have there. Our eyes are also
referred to by the Lord to help us see how good God is. Yet, we do this
amidst the texts of terror that are realities in our own times. Amen