for July 20
Monday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Prophets often urge us to look at parts of our lives and conditions in the world that we generally prefer not to think about most days. The prophet Micah in today’s first reading is concerned with people’s rejection of God and their failing memories of how God intervened to literally save them at various times in their history. Micah, like many prophets, presents a warning that their ongoing sin will lead to punishment and judgment. Prophets can make us uncomfortable, especially when we recognize the truth of their teaching.

While today’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew warns against seeking after “signs,” this part of the text is itself rich in signs and symbols about Jesus’ own identity and mission. Like Jonah who was in the belly of the whale for three days and comes forth alive (preserved by God’s saving grace), so too will Jesus spend three days in the tomb beneath the earth before his glorious resurrection from death. Jonah, a reluctant prophet, eventually follows God’s call and preaches repentance to the people of Nineveh. But here in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus—like many of the prophets—is rejected by his own people. Many of the Jews of Jesus’ own time refused to hear and respond to his preaching to them. A key message here is that listening to Jesus and responding to him is the way forward toward life. The reference to the “Queen of the South” refers to the biblical story of the Queen of Sheba traveling a great distance to hear the wisdom teaching of Solomon. This passage in Matthew connects Jesus with the biblical figures Jonah and Solomon—well known to the Jewish people—and makes clear that Jesus is more important than both of them.

The scriptures today encourage within me the desire (at times willingly, at others less so) to see and hear the prophets of our time—often very near to us in life. I want to open my own heart and mind more to their message to live with greater honesty and authenticity. The readings today remind me of the famous song by the American artists Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and in particular the stirring words from their song The Sound of Silence (1965). The verse especially seared into my memory over the years, “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls” leads me to think of the prophets in the lives of the poor we encounter around us. The words of this famous old song often move me to at least desire to hear more and respond to (often in ways yet unknown) to the prophets in our midst, especially in the lives of the poor in the wider society and those closer to us in our very own city. The poor and people on the fringes of society in Jesus’ time were often the first who heard his message and believed in him. It may be that their own need and a recognition of their weakness led them to see human and social reality more honestly and accept that they really needed healing and salvation. Their lives of struggle and suffering are often visible to me—and to us—as we walk the streets of our own city. Micah and Jesus even now urge us to greater love and compassion—and justice—for them. These prophets with us now—and also Jesus, the great prophet who has risen from death—call us each day to deeper and lasting life with the Creator of all and also to lives of peace, love, and justice with one another.
—Francis T. Hannafey SJ

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website.