July 29, 2016 - Friday

For it is on your account I bear insult,
that disgrace covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my kindred,
a stranger to my mother’s children.
Because zeal for your house has consumed me,
I am scorned by those who scorn you.

But I will pray to you, LORD,
at a favorable time.
God, in your abundant kindness, answer me
with your sure deliverance. (Psalm 69:8-10, 14) NABRE)

People of faith are counter-cultural.

Ironically, when we grow in our understanding of our faith, we find ourselves confronted by our choices. We struggle with making decisions that require us to choose unpopular options rather than blowing along with the prevailing wind of popular opinion. We find ourselves negotiating with our own consciences, looking for loopholes and ways around doing what is right. And then we see the worst of ourselves as we rationalize, explain away (if only to ourselves), and justify choices that favor what we know is wrong, but which for endless reasons, are simpler and often more pleasurable to make.

Now, with that said, being counter-cultural, we also set ourselves up for external resistance. In our more righteous or enlightened moments, when we make decisions that align with our consciences, we find ourselves opposing what most people in the culture are saying and doing. We put ourselves in the unenviable position of facing insults, exclusion, and even scorn.

It is difficult to stand in the face of the ridicule, hatred, and violence that faithful choices provoke. We do, however, have some consolation in God's kindness. The Psalmist refers to this abundant kindness in today's passage. Jesus refers to it when he says, "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way." (Luke 6:22-23)


Today, on this Memorial of Saint Martha, I will joyfully ask God to answer my prayers.


Saint Martha, patron of waiters, waitresses, and housewives, pray for us.