Sr Mary McGlone writes by way of reflection on this Sunday's readings in the National Catholic Reporter:
In our history, we Christians have missed the mark on carrying out much (most?) of what Jesus tried to teach. In the name of Christ, a shameful number of men went crusading to destroy unbelievers. The Council of Trent found it necessary to prohibit such egregious abuses of the Eucharist as paying priest celebrants according to how long they could hold up the host for the people to adore.
In the U.S., some Christians saw it as their duty to carry out outlandish "proofs" that allowed them to put "witches" to death. In the name of freedom of religion, we have privatized our faith to the point that many feel free of responsibility to the common good, believing that all God desires is that we will each save our soul.
Worst of all, we have found ways to justify all of this by citing Scripture — selectively.
St. Paul warned the Ephesians about this kind of distorted theology, saying: "Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons, but as wise ... do not continue in ignorance." He said, "the days are evil."
Each of the deformations of Christianity mentioned above came from self-serving interpretations of Scripture, interpretations that employed fear and magic as well as bigoted exercises of power over others.
… How are we to know if we are following Paul's advice to seek the will of God rather than interpreting like the Crusaders? … Instead of accepting inadequate interpretations of the Gospel, Christ invites us into an ongoing, mystical spiral of tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord.
Read the rest of Sr McGlone's reflection on the readings for this Sunday here…