4 August 2023 - Friday of the 17th week in Ordinary Time - Matthew 13:54-58

    Sometimes, we can feel limited by the expectations that are placed on us or by the way people know us or perceive us. Jesus travels throughout Israel.   The people recognize him and acknowledge the special way he proclaims God’s kingdom in his preaching and in his miracles of healing. But, when Jesus starts preaching in his hometown synagogue, the people cannot see beyond the son of a carpenter whom they know, the son of Mary and Joseph.

   We can place expectations on ourselves as well.  We think we know our limits. We don’t want to push ourselves beyond that.  We think that some of God’s laws and commandments are too restrictive and beyond what we can do. Perhaps the values of the world have too much an influence on us. Perhaps the expectations others have on us place limits on what we think we can do.

     John Vianney, the saint we celebrate today, ties into our reading so well. He had very little schooling and just barely got through his seminary studies.  He was put in a parish in a rural area of France, where it was thought by the Bishop that he would do the least harm.  He was expected to be a mediocre priest at best. Arriving at his parish, he found a congregation indifferent to the faith. Through fasting and prayer, he endured and grew in his abilities and wisdom.  He became well-known for his preaching, for his compassion as a confessor and spiritual director. As his reputation grew, more than 300 people visited him each day from all over France to hear him preach and to go to the sacrament of reconciliation with him. John Vianney died in 1859.  He is now the patron saint of parish priests. 

     Many people of Jesus’ day rejected his teachings, which culminated in his death on the cross. In our modern world, we have seen people defacing religious statues, we have seen them mocking the values of Christianity.  A lot of people in our modern world call out for social justice, but what are they themselves doing to help bring about that justice?  We have a choice to follow the values of Christ or not. Let us make the choice to follow Jesus without limits and without expectations. It is easy to criticize the decisions of others, but what are we doing in our lives to follow our faith and to see Jesus for who he is?