November, 2005
Benedict XVI's general prayer intention
for the month of November is: "That married people may imitate
the example of conjugal holiness shown by so many couples in the
ordinary conditions of life."
His mission intention is:
"That pastors of mission territories may recognize with constant care
their duty to foster the permanent formation of their own priests."
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Thirty
first Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Today let us think of St. Marcellus and St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
(Saints)
Malachi 1:
14b-2:2b, 8-10; Psalm 131:
1,2,3; 1 Thessalonians
2: 7b-9, 13; Matthew 23: 1-12.
“Nor must you allow yourselves to be
called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, Christ.”
(Matthew 23: 1-12)
In the Gospel for today (Matthew 23: 1-12)
our Lord
reminds us that we have only one Master and Father, and he is in
heaven, and that we have only one Teacher, and he is Christ - that is,
himself. What our Lord is saying is a variation of the first
commandment that there is only one God, and we are to serve him alone.
From him comes all authority and those exercising authority and those
subject to it must all be striving to acknowledge and serve God alone.
On one occasion our Lord was asked which is the first of the
commandments. He said that this is the first, that we are to love the
Lord our God with all our heart. If ever we are to learn how to live in
society we must learn how to live this commandment. If God is
forgotten, so will man be.
There can be all sorts of difficulties in achieving this focus,
the focus that puts God at the centre of our life and all our actions.
Our Lord himself alludes to this at the start of our Gospel passage (Matt 23: 1).
He tells the people and his disciples that “The scribes and the
Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they
tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they
do.” Here our Lord is addressing those who were subject to authority.
He says that even though those exercising authority were not worthy
incumbents
of their office, their authority had to be respected for it
involved the chair of Moses. That is, it came from God. In fulfilling
our duties we are answerable to persons who exercise authority,
and who may be unworthy. The temptation will be, especially in a
democratic society as is ours, to disregard and have little respect for
the authority itself. Rather we must try to find God in all things,
and, to the extent possible, in the authority being exercised over us.
In social life and of course in the life of the Church we must strive
to make God the object and motive of our actions. This can be
difficult, but it is part of our sanctification.
Our Lord not only addresses those subject to authority. He also
addresses those with authority.
To some extent that will include most
of us. He tells those who are in some sense a master or a teacher or a
father to remember that God is the only Master, the only Father, and
the only Teacher. Most people have
some position of influence, and a lot have some authority. It could be
authority in the home or to some extent in the workplace. It could be
some influence and position among others due to a greater knowledge of
some field, or due to some other attainment or personal gift. But
whatever be our position and influence and the good we may have done
and are currently doing, we must remember that God is its ultimate
source and to him we must give the glory. To him also we ought also be
referring others who are disposed to give us the glory.
Whoever we are, whether in authority or subject to it, whether
influencing others or being influenced by them, whether we are a master
in some sense or a pupil in some other sense, whatever be our
situation, we ought be striving to love and serve God and him alone -
others as well, yes, but others in God and according to his will. It is
God who
is the Master, the Teacher, the Father. He is the all. The
danger of our modern age is to accept and aspire to moral goodness
while not aspiring to religion. We are tempted to a humanism without
God, to the attempt to make man
central while regarding God as absent, of banishing God from life and
society. The danger is that we shall fail to recognise and serve God in
what we do, and instead accept the prevailing cultural and social
assumption,
which is Morality without Religion. Our secular society thinks that it
is
right and proper to be free of the thought of God and to build
our civilization as if he were not. The reality of
God is quietly and politely denied, and we can be infected with this
attitude. The virtue of religion, that virtue whereby we give homage to
God, is deemed to be a purely private and unnecessary feature of the
human personality. It is looked on as a prop or a function of something
else.
Rather, Our Lord makes it clear that no-one and nothing is to
usurp the reality and supreme position of God in everything. Religion
is not just a
private matter. It is also public and objective, for God who
is our Creator and Lord as well as our Redeemer, is the fundamental
Reality. Let us make that part of the mission of our life, to do
all we can to ensure that in all things God is served above all else,
and
glorified.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.2095-2109 (Serve God alone)
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“If I washed your feet –– I who am
Teacher and Lord –– then you must wash each other’s feet.”
(John 13:14) Commentary by St Paschas Radbert (? ––
around 849), Benedictine monk
Commentary on the Gospel according to
Matthew, 10:23
“Whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” Christ not only told his
disciples not to let themselves be called masters and not to love the
places of honour at table or any other honour, but in his person, he
himself gave the example and model of humility. Whereas the name of
master is given him not through kindness but by his natural right, for
“in him everything continues in being” (Col 1:17), by taking on flesh,
he communicated a teaching to us, which leads us all to true life, and
because he is greater than we, he “reconciled us with God.” (Rom 5:10)
As if he were telling us: Do not love the highest honours, do not
desire to be called masters, just as “I seek no glory for myself; there
is one who seeks it.” (Jn 8:50) Keep your eyes fixed on me, “for the
Son of Man has come, not to be served by others, but to serve, to give
his own life as a ransom for the many.” (Mt 20:28)
Most certainly, in this passage of the gospel, the Lord is not only
teaching his disciples, but also the heads of the Churches, commanding
everyone not to allow themselves to be driven by greed in seeking
honours. On the contrary, may “anyone who aspires to greatness” be the
first to become like him, “serving the needs of all.” (Mt 20:26-27)
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Pause to consider the holy wrath of the Master, when he sees his
Father’s honour abused in the Temple at Jerusalem. What a lesson for
you! You should never be indifferent, or play the coward, when the
things of God are treated without respect.
(The Forge, no.546)
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Monday
of the thirty first week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Quentin and St. Wolfgang (Saints)
Scripture today:
Romans
11: 29-36; Psalm 69: 30-31,
33-34, 36; Luke 14: 12-14.
“God never takes back his gifts or
revokes his choice.” (Romans 11: 29-36)
In everyday life opportunities come our way and consequences flow from
our responses to them. A young man is dating with a fine young woman
whom perhaps he does not adequately appreciate. He suddenly decides to
bring the relationship to an end. Consequences will flow from this -
the girl leaves him and finds someone else whom in due course she
marries. He will never be able to start again with her, and perhaps he
will never find another like her. It may even come to pass that he
never finds a wife.
It is not quite the same with God. There are always consequences that
flow from our actions, but at every point during this life we can start
again with God. St Paul assures us at the beginning of today’s first
reading (Romans 11:
29-36) that “God never takes back his gifts or
revokes his choice.” If we have failed God and disobeyed him (which of
course we have), nevertheless we can repent and start again knowing
that God’s choice of us stands. St Paul tells us elsewhere that before
the foundation of the world God chose us, chose us in Christ to be holy
and full of love in his sight.
God’s choice of us to belong to him is an everlasting choice with its
origins in eternity, and the gift that accompanied and constituted this
choice is that of being “in Christ.” We are incorporated into h im, and
this gift is the source of all the other heavenly gifts we can enjoy.
St Paul tells us in one of his letters that in Christ we receive every
heavenly blessing. Every day, then, let us remind ourselves that
whatever be our response to God and his gifts, God never takes back his
gifts nor revokes his choice. So then, now I begin! The path to
holiness in Christ is before me.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“You taught your people by these deeds
that those who are just must be kind” (Wisdom 12:19)
(Luke
14: 12-14) Comment by Saint Gregory Nazianzen
(330-390), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
(On love of the poor, 4-6)
The first and the greatest of the commandments, that on which the Law
and the prophets are based (Mt 22:40), is love, which it seems to me
brings its greatest proof in love of the poor, in tenderness and
compassion for one’s neighbour. Nothing gives as much honour to God as
mercy, for nothing is more like him. “Mercy and truth go before him,”
(Ps 89:15) and he prefers mercy to judgment (Hos 6:6). Nothing attracts
the kindness of the Friend of humankind as much as kindness towards
human beings (Wis 1:6); his reward is just, he weighs and measures
mercy.
We must open our heart to all who are poor and to all who are unhappy,
whatever their suffering might be. That is the meaning of the
commandment which requires us to “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep
with those who weep.” (Rom 12:15) Since we are also human beings, is it
not right and proper for us to be kind towards those who are like us?
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Fall in love with the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ. Aren’t you glad
that he should have wanted to be like us? Thank Jesus for this
wonderful expression of his goodness.
(The Forge,
no.547)
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The
Solemnity of all Saints
(November 1) Today we celebrate the feast of all the unknown
saints who are now in heaven. The Church reminds us that
sanctity is within everyone’s reach. Through the communion of saints we
help one another achieve sanctity. (Saints)
Scripture: Revelation 7:
2-4, 9-14; Psalm 24: 1bc-2,
3-4ab, 5-6; 1 John 3:
1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12a
“They shouted aloud, ‘Victory to our
God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”
(Revelation 7: 2-4, 9-14)
Today we celebrate the holiness of all those in
heaven and their triumph over the evil they encountered during their
lives on earth. The most significant issue in the life of every human
being is the call to goodness and the temptation to moral evil. One or
the other will gain the victory. In the case of all those in heaven,
the good gained the victory.
But as our first reading (Revelation 7:
2-4, 9-14) makes vividly clear, the victory is God’s
- and it is those in heaven who testify to this. From the first instant
of our lives God involves himself intimately with us and fights on our
side. He endeavours to unite us to himself in Christ, and to make us
one with his resistance to evil and struggle for the good. However
strong evil may be, he is by far the stronger, and we have every reason
to be confident in his power and mercy. The saints in heaven are the
evidence of it, and they themselves are constantly interceding for us.
Let us be inspired by their example and call on the help of their
prayers.
Let us then, here and now on this feast of all the saints, make our
choice for God once again. To work! The call of conscience - the
special dwelling place of the Holy Spirit within us - summons us to the
work God has given us to do. In and through this work of every day will
lie the outcome of the struggle for good or for evil. Let us do our
work in a holy manner, doing it well and for God. It will sanctify us
to the measure we sanctify it, and through it others will be
sanctified. Our work, thus sanctified, will take us to the company in
heaven of those we celebrate today.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“I believe in the communion of saints”
Comment by the Orthodox monk, Silouane (1866-1938) (Writings)
Many people have the impression that the saints are far away from us.
They are far away from those who have distanced themselves, but they
are very close to those who keep Christ’s commandments and who have the
grace of the Holy Spirit. In heaven, everything lives and moves by
means of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is the same on earth as
well. He is present in our Church: he is at work in the sacraments; we
feel his breath in Holy Scripture. He enlivens the souls of those who
believe. The Holy Spirit unites all human beings, and that is why the
saints are close to us. When we pray, they hear our prayers by means of
the Holy Spirit, and our souls then feel that they are praying for us.
The saints are alive in the other world, and there, by means of the
Holy Spirit, they see the glory of God and the beauty of the Lord’s
face. In the same Holy Spirit, the saints see our lives and our
actions. They know our troubles and hear our fervent prayers. So long
as they lived on earth, they learned from the Holy Spirit to love God.
The person who remains in love on earth passes over with him to eternal
life in the Kingdom of Heaven, where love grows and becomes perfect.
And if already here below love cannot forget the brother, then how much
more do the saints not forget us and do they pray for us!……
The saints were human beings like all of us. Many of them were great
sinners. But by means of their repentance, they came to the Kingdom of
Heaven, where they are all alive now there where the Lord and his most
pure Mother are. That is where my soul is drawn, to that marvellous and
holy assembly that the Holy Spirit gathers together.
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Advent is here. What a marvellous time in which to renew your desire,
your nostalgia, your real longing for Christ to come - for him to come
every day to your soul in the Eucharist. The Church encourages us: He
is about to arrive!
(The Forge, no.548)
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The
Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed
(November 2) The Church, after rejoicing yesterday with our brothers
who are in heaven, today prays for all who, in the purifying suffering of purgatory,
await the day when they will join the company of the saints. The
celebration of the Mass, which is the sacrifice of Calvary, renewed on
our altars, has ever been for the Church the principal means of
fulfilling the great commandment of charity towards the dead. We can
also relieve their sufferings through our prayers, suffrages, and
penances. Even after death, links with our fellow-travellers and
brothers are not broken.
(Saints)
Wisdom 3:
1-9; Psalm 23: 1-3a,
3b-4, 5, 6; Romans 5: 5-11;
or Romans 6:
3-9; John 6: 37-40.
“On this mountain he
will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples” (Isaiah 25:
6.7-9)
Yesterday we celebrated the feast of all saints, all those now with God
in heaven. The sense of the Church’s liturgy is that very many are now
in heaven with God. Great numbers are there, and they inspire us by the
fact of their being with God and help us by their prayerful
intercession. Today we think of all those who are saved, but who are
not yet with God in heaven. They are being purified by God’s action in
purgatory. There must be great, perhaps unimaginable numbers, in
purgatory. Perhaps the number exceeds many times the present population
of the world because we do not know how long is required for a soul to
be purified after death. Let us think of all those baptised who require
this purification, and all those who are not baptised. What numbers
there may be! They cry out for our assistance - they cannot assist
themselves as the possibility of acquiring merit ceases with death. But
we can merit for them, and hasten their entry into the presence of God
by our prayers, Masses, penances, almsgiving, and indulgences.
We know that we can help the dead because of the doctrine of the
communion of the saints. Because we are in Christ, and because those in
heaven are in Christ, and because those in purgatory are in Christ,
there is a great communion between us all. We can share our goods with
one another. Those in heaven can help those in Christ who are as yet
not there. We here still below can pray to those in heaven, and we can
help by our prayers those who have died and who are being purified of
the stains of their sins. Let us then resolve to help the faithful
departed. Imagine how those in purgatory who go to heaven more quickly
as a result of our prayers and Masses will help us from heaven when we
in our turn are in purgatory being purified of the results of our sins.
They will be our friends for we will have been their benefactors. There
are vast numbers to be helped - perhaps many times over the number to
be helped at this point on earth.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“All creation groans and is in
agony… We ourselves… await the redemption of our bodies”
(Rom 8:22-23)
Comment by St Ephrem
(306 –– 373), Deacon and Doctor of the Church (Hymns on Paradise, no.
5)
The contemplation of Paradise delighted me by its peace and beauty.
There, spotless beauty abides, there peace without alarm dwells. Happy
the one who will deserve to receive it, if not through righteousness,
then at least out of kindness; if not because of works, then at least
out of pity……
When my spirit returned to the shores of earth, the mother of thorns,
pain and evils of every kind presented themselves to me. Thus, I
learned that our region is a prison. And yet, the captives who are
locked in there weep when they leave it. I was also surprised by the
fact that children cry when they leave the womb. They cry although they
are going out from darkness towards the light, from a narrow space
towards a vast universe. In the same way, for human beings, death is a
kind of birth. Those who are born weep when they leave the universe,
the mother of pain, in order to enter the Paradise of delights.
Oh Lord of Paradise, have pity on me! If it is not possible for me to
enter into your Paradise, make me at least worthy of the pastures at
its entrance. At the centre of Paradise is the table of the saints, but
the fruit from its interior falls outside like crumbs for the sinners,
who even there will live by your kindness.
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Christmas. The carols sing, “O come ye.” Let us go to him. He
has been
born. After contemplating how Mary and Joseph took care of the Child, I
now dare to hint to you: Look at him again, gaze at him without ceasing.
(The Forge, no.549)
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Thursday
of the thirty first week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 3) St
Martin de Porres (1579-1639) Born in Lima (Peru), he was the son
of a Spanish father and a coloured mother. As a young man he learnt the
art of a dispenser of medicines, and afterwards when he joined the
Dominican Order as a lay brother he practised this for the sake of the
poor. He lived a
life of fasting, prayer, and penance, and was
very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and the sick
and the poor. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Romans
14: 7-12; Psalm 27: bcde,
4, 13-14; Luke 15: 1-10.
“There will be more rejoicing in
heaven over one repentant sinner” (Luke 15: 1-10)
It has been said that while youth is the time of great hopes,
maturity is the time of regrets. This may be the case in terms of what
people at different stages of their lives tend to do, but that ought
not be the end of the matter. Just as the idealism of youth has to be
assisted
with prudence, so the regrets that come with extended experience must
be tempered and transformed by the great prospects always ahead.
That is to say, regrets must be transformed into life-giving repentance.
At whatever stage of life we choose to take stock and begin again, we
ought remember who the God is in whose hands lie our prospects. He is
a God of love who always pursues us with his offer of mercy. Our
Lord tells us in our Gospel today (Luke 15: 1-10) that
God is like the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness
and goes after the one who is straying until he finds it. If there are
many things a person regrets as he looks back, let him look on his
regrets as
a sign that God has begun to reclaim him with love. St Paul tells us
elsewhere that nothing can come between us and the love that God has
for us. Our Lord gives us another parallel. God is like the woman who
finds the drachma she has lost, and she rejoices in her find (Luke 15: 1-10).
Being
found by God and brought back to union with him is something that
transforms mere regrets into joy and hope for the future. Indeed, as
our Lord tells us in the Gospel passage, it is a joy and a hope
possessed by God and all in heaven.
Let us be striving for continual repentance, weekly, daily. Our
repentance ought be a repentance from deliberate venial sin and from
all lack of generosity with God. God is
seeking to bring us back from the daily pathway of sin, for if we
continue to
follow it, holiness will be impossible. Our regrets will be nothing
more than regrets. By the grace of God let us transform regrets into
repentance, with the joy it brings.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Rejoice with me because I have found
my lost sheep.” (Luke 15: 1-10)
Comment by Isaac of the Star
(? –– 1171), Cistercian monk (Sermon 35, 2nd Sunday of Lent)
When the time of mercy had come (Ps 102:15), the Good Shepherd came
down from the Father……, as had been promised from all eternity. He came
to seek the one and only sheep, which had gotten lost. For her, the
promise had been made since the beginning, for her, he was sent into
time; for her, he was born and was given, eternally predestined for
her. She is the only one, taken both from the Jews and the nations……,
present in all peoples…… She is unique in her mystery, many in persons,
many in the flesh according to nature, one through the Spirit according
to grace. In short, one single sheep and a countless crowd……
Now what this shepherd acknowledges as his own, “no one shall snatch
them out of his hand.” (Jn 10:28) For true power cannot be forced,
wisdom cannot be deceived, charity cannot be destroyed. And he also
speaks with assurance when he says: …… “I have not lost one of those
you gave me.” (Jn 18:9)……
He was sent as truth for the abused, as way for the lost, as life for
those who were dead, as wisdom for those who are without sense, as
medicine for the sick, as ransom for the captives, and as food for
those who were dying of starvation. For all of these, we can say that
he was sent “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24), so
that they might not be lost forever. He was sent as a soul into an
inert body, so that at his coming, the members might be warmed and live
again with a new, supernatural and divine life. That is the first
resurrection (Rev 20:5). And he himself can say: “An hour is coming,
has indeed come, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who have heeded it shall live.” (Jn 5:25) And thus he can say
of his sheep: “The sheep will follow him because they recognize his
voice. They will not follow a stranger.” (Jn 10:4-5)
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Although it pains us to admit it - and I ask God to increase that
sorrow in us - you and I have our share in the death of Christ. For the
sins of men were the hammer-blows which stitched him to the Cross with
nails.
(The Forge, no.550)
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Friday
of the thirty first week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 4) St
Charles Borromeo, bishop (1538-1584) Born in Italy, he was a
doctor in law, a cardinal and Archbishop of Milan. He was one of the
chief agents of the successful conclusion of the Council of Trent and
the drafting of the Catechism. In his diocese, he zealously applied the
spirit of the Council, established Sunday schools, houses for orphans
and the poor, and renewed the moral life of the clergy and religious.
He established diocesan seminaries, for which he wrote rules that
became the model.
(Saints)
Scripture readings:
Romans
15: 14-21; Psalm 98: 1,
2-3ab, 3cd-4; Luke 16: 1-8.
“I am to carry out my priestly duty by
bringing the Good News to the pagans”. (Rom 15: 14-21)
Especially since the
Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church has constantly
insisted on the distinctive
character of the ministerial priesthood. The ministerial priesthood is
essentially
different from the universal priesthood of all Christ’s faithful.
Nevertheless the universal priesthood is immensely important for the
Church and the world, and must be appreciated and constantly lived if
God’s saving plan is to have its effect. All the faithful are called,
in their own fashion, to share in Christ’s priestly work of offering
sacrifices to the Father. Their whole life and work with its fruits are
the spiritual sacrifice which they offer as members of Christ.
St Paul makes a remark in today’s first reading (Romans 15:
14-21) that throws light on this matter. He has, he
writes, his work of "performing the priestly service of the
Gospel of God", and the offering
he is to make to God is the pagan peoples to whom he has the duty of
bringing
the Good News. By means of the preaching of the Gospel he makes “them
acceptable as an offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit.”
Since that is
a priestly work, the
laity share in it then, in their measure and
according to their
own vocation, by bringing the Good News to those around them
in the world. In this way they too are priests of Jesus Christ and
share in preparing a holy offering to God. Being apostolic is a
priestly work. Let us all, whatever be our vocation, strive by our
daily work and
apostolic activity to prepare a holy offering to God our Father in
union with our High Priest his only Son, by the power of the Holy
Spirit. Holiness is the acceptable offering to God. So let us live in
holiness ourselves and bring the
holiness of Christ to all around us.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The good use of riches (Luke 16: 1-8)
Comment by Saint
Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897), Carmelite,
Doctor of the Church
(Autobiographical Manuscript
B, 4r)
Oh Jesus, I know that love is repaid only with love, and I have sought
and have found the way to soothe my heart by returning to you Love for
Love. “Make friends for yourselves through your use of this world’s
goods, so that when they fail you, a lasting reception will be yours.”
(Lk 16:9) That is the advice you gave your disciples, Lord, after
telling them that “the children of darkness are more capable of looking
after their affairs than the children of light.” As a child of light, I
understood that my desire to be everything, to embrace every vocation,
was a wealth that could easily make me unjust, so I used it to make
friends for myself. I remembered Elisha’s request of his father Elijah
when he dared to ask him for a “double portion of his spirit” (2 Kings
2:9), and I came before the angels and the saints and told them: “I am
the smallest of creatures, I know my destitution and my weakness, but I
also know how much noble and generous hearts love to do good. So I beg
you, oh blessed inhabitants of Heaven, I beg you to adopt me as your
child. To you alone will be the glory that you let me acquire, but
deign to hear my prayer. It is foolhardy, I know, however I dare to ask
you to obtain for me a double portion of your Love.”
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Saint Joseph. One cannot love Jesus and Mary without loving the Holy
Patriarch.
(The Forge, no.551)
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Saturday
of the thirty first week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Sylvia (Saints)
Scripture readings:
Romans
16: 3-9, 16, 22-27; Psalm 145: 2-3,
4-5, 10-11; Luke 16: 9-15.
“My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my
fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked death”
(Romans 16: 3-9,
16, 22-27)
Consider the picture of the Church that shines through in Paul’s letter
in our passage today. Paul thanks various persons whom he highly
praises. Prisca and Aquila were fellow workers of his. They risked
their lives to save his. All the churches among the pagans knew them.
Others are mentioned who had been Christians a long time - Epaenetus,
Andronicus and Junias. Others were Paul’s friends, such as Ampliatus
and Stachys. They are unknown to us, mere names. They were ordinary
Christians giving themselves generously for the Church and the spread
of the Gospel. They had a burning appreciation of the saving power of
what they had embraced. During the first four centuries the Church grew
largely because of the apostolic spirit of the ordinary laity. The
little person has great importance in the saving plan of God for the
world.
We too in due course will be mere names. Our lives will have passed and
little record of us will be present. But God will know. Our lives every
day are hastening towards their end. All that will matter then will be
degree to which we, like those St Paul mentions in our passage from
Romans today, have given over our lives to Christ and his revelation.
We do have faith in him and true conviction as to the truth of the
Gospel. What we must do, though, is be lovingly dedicated to it in the
work God has placed before us in life. Do we have the dedication of
these unknown persons St Paul mentions today? Paul mentions them
and they stand as heroes for the little people. The time will
come for our Lord to mention us to his heavenly Father. He will do this
if our names are found written in the book of life.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You cannot serve both God and money” Luke 16: 9-15
Commentary from Clement
of Alexandria (150 –– around 215), Theologian
There is a wealth that sows death wherever it rules. Free yourselves of
it and you will be saved. Purify your soul. Make it poor so as to be
able to hear the call of the Saviour who repeats to you: “Come and
follow me.” (Mk 10:21) He is the way on which the person with a pure
heart walks. God’s grace does not slip into a soul that is encumbered
and torn by many possessions.
The person who considers his fortune, his gold and his silver, his
houses to be God’s gifts, shows God his gratitude by using his
possessions to help the poor. He knows that he owns them more for his
brethren than for himself. He remains the master over his riches
instead of becoming their slave. He does not lock them up in his soul,
nor does he make them his life; rather, without tiring, he pursues a
divine work. And if one day his fortune disappears, he accepts his ruin
with a free heart. God declares that person to be “happy”; he calls him
“poor in spirit”, a sure heir to the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 5:3)……
On the other side, there is the person who nestles in his heart his
wealth rather than the Holy Spirit. That person keeps his lands to
himself, he endlessly accumulates his fortune and is only concerned
with getting ever more. He never raises his eyes to heaven; he gets
bogged down in what is material. In reality, he is only dust and will
return to dust. How can the person who carries within himself a field
or a mine instead of a heart feel a desire for the Kingdom, he whom
death will inevitably take by surprise in the midst of his passions?
“For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” (Mt 6:21)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are many good reasons to honour St Joseph, and to learn from his
life. He was a man of strong faith. He earned a living for his family -
Jesus and Mary - with his own hard work. He guarded the purity of the
Blessed Virgin, who was his Spouse. And he respected - he loved! -
God’s freedom, when God made his choice: not only his choice of Our
Lady the Virgin as his Mother, but also his choice of Saint
Joseph as the Husband of Holy Mary.
(The
Forge, no.552)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirty
second Sunday of Ordinary Time A
Today let us think of St. Leonard and St. Bertile (Saints)
Wisdom
6: 12-16; Psalm 63: 2, 3-4,
5-6, 7-8; 1 Thess 4: 13-18
or 4: 13-14; Matthew 25: 1-13
“But at midnight there was
a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him!”
(Matthew 25: 1-13)
In his parable in today’s Gospel our Lord
speaks of the sudden arrival of the bridegroom. At midnight there was a
cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” (Matthew 25:
1-13) These words are quoted by the Catechism of the
Catholic Church in its discussion of those who choose a life of
virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. This is what the Catechism says:
“From the very beginning of the Church there have been men and women
who have renounced the great good of marriage to follow the Lamb
wherever he goes, to be intent on the things of the Lord, to seek to
please him, and to go out to meet the Bridegroom who is coming. Christ
himself has invited certain persons to follow him in this way of life,
of which he remains the model.” (No.1618). It is a beautiful thing to
find a spouse and to marry, and both family and the Church celebrate
it.
But the Church teaches that it is a still nobler calling to have Christ
as one’s exclusive spouse.
In the Old Testament God often referred to himself as Israel’s
Husband. Israel is his spouse by his deliberate choice. This theme
recurs especially in the prophets who time and again preach that the
people are acting as an unfaithful spouse. I am not aware of any other
ancient peoples who understood their god as their husband. I think it
is unique to what we call revealed religion. Now, our Lord took over
these inspired terms and called himself the bridegroom. Calling himself
this suggested that he now occupied the place of Yahweh, and that the
new people of God he was founding was to be his spiritual spouse.
Christ is the bridegroom, the Church is his spouse.
When we think of the great religions of the world, one notable
feature in Christianity relates to this. For instance, Islam reveres
its founder Mahomet as a prophet, indeed it thinks he is the greatest
prophet. Now apart from the obvious differences in doctrine between the
Catholic religion which Christ founded and the religion founded by
Mahomet, there is this difference too. It is that the Church sees
Christ as her Spouse and her Lord, and as not only the teacher of her
revealed doctrine. The Church loves Christ himself and sees him as her
love and the object of her whole life. By contrast, the Muslim sees
Mahomet as just the greatest prophet, and God - certainly not Mahomet -
is the object of his life. I do not think any other religion looks on
its founder as we look on ours. They revere the founder for his
doctrine. We love and obey Christ as the very object of our
religion. Christ himself is the object of our life. He is the
centre of the whole of Christian life, and our bond with him takes
precedence over all other bonds, whether they be family bonds or
social. This is because Christ himself is our God and our Redeemer.
(Incidentally,
and by way of an aside, whenever we hear of Mahomet being referred to
as The Prophet,
we ought remember that the application of the term to the person of
Mahomet is not
recognised by the Church. A prophet
in the Church's language is one who uttered God's sanctioned revelation
to the
people, and the inspired writings of the prophets in the Old Testament
make up part of Revelation. The last of the prophets - the Church
teaches - was our Lord, but of course being God he was far greater than
any mere
prophet. The Church teaches that all of Revelation was summed up in
Christ and was completed, terminated and fulfilled in him. Mahomet
lived nearly six
hundred years later (contemporaneously with Pope St. Gregory the Great)
and did not bring a further revelation
from God to the people. In fact he taught serious errors, such as that
Christ was simply a prophet and was not the Son of God. So Mahomet is
not a prophet nor is Islam is a
revealed religion, whereas Christianity and Judaism are. Mahomet was
the
founder of a world religion, and was influenced by various
Jewish and Christian teachings in interpreting and developing many
aspects of his own
profound experience of God. Because he drew on revealed religion (consciously
or unconsciously as the case may be), Islam has much in
common with Christianity and Judaism. This enables us to look on
Muslims as
our brothers under Abraham.)
In thinking of Christ the Bridegroom today, our point is this.
Countless numbers of the Church’s faithful in the past, and very many
now, receive from our Lord the invitation to belong to him exclusively,
as one would to a spouse. Their vocation and their privilege is to
forego marriage and family life for something much greater and more
beautiful, which is to belong to Christ himself. Instead of an earthly
spouse, they have a heavenly one here and now, day by day. The Church
teaches that this is a worthier and nobler and more beautiful vocation
than that of marriage, and the Church, God’s family, is more fruitful
as a result. If you are young I invite you to consider this calling. It
may be lived out in numerous ways in the life of the Church - as a
priest, as a religious sister, as a member of one or other of the
different kinds of consecrated or non-consecrated communities that
flourish in the life of the Church today. Consider giving your life to
Christ. If you are a parent I invite you to encourage this holy
ambition among their children.
(Fr. E.J.Tyler)
Suggested Reading: Catechism of the
Catholic Church 1618-1620 (Virginity for the Kingdom)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“At midnight” (Matthew 25: 1-13)
Commentary from St
Augustine (354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 93)
The ten virgins all wanted to go out to meet the bridegroom. What does
going out to meet the bridegroom mean? It is to go out with their
heart, it is to live in expectation of his coming. But he delayed his
coming, and “they all fell asleep.” …… What do those words mean: “they
all fell asleep”? There is a sleep that no one can escape. Remember the
words of the apostle Paul: “We would have you be clear about those who
sleep in death” (1 Thess 4:13), that is to say, those who have died……
Thus they have all fallen asleep. Do you think the sensible virgin can
escape death? No, whether they be sensible or foolish, they all have to
pass by way of the sleep of death……
“At midnight someone shouted.” What does that mean? It happens at the
time when no one is thinking of it, when no one is expecting it…… He
will come at the time when you are least thinking of it. Why will he
come like that? Because he says: “The exact time is not yours to know.
The Father has reserved that to himself.” (Acts 1:7) The apostle Paul
says: “The day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night.” (1
Thess 5:2) So keep watch during the night so as not to be surprised by
the thief. For whether you want it or not, the sleep of death will
necessarily come.
However, it will only come when a cry is heard at midnight. What is
that cry if not the one about which the apostle Paul said: “in an
instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet.
The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed.” (1 Cor 15:52) After the cry that will resound at
midnight: “The groom is here”, what will happen? “They all got up.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saint Joseph, our Father and Lord: most chaste, most pure. You were
found worthy to carry the Child Jesus in your arms, to wash him, to hug
him. Teach us to get to know God, and to be pure, worthy of being other
Christs. And help us to do and to teach, as Christ did. Help us to open
up the divine paths of the earth, which are both hidden and bright; and
help us to show them to mankind, telling our fellow men that their
lives on earth can have an extraordinary and constant supernatural
effectiveness.
(The Forge, no.553)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the thirty second week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Carina and her Companions
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Wisdom
1: 1-7; Psalm 139: 1b-3,
4-6, 9-10; Luke 17: 1-6.
“Obstacles are sure to come, but alas
for the one who provides them!” (Luke 17: 1-6)
A danger which lies before the one who has embarked on any project is
that of weariness in the face of the obstacles that are sure to come. A
young couple get married and their project is to found a family
together with the investment of their entire lives. Obstacles are sure
to arise, stemming from within them and outside of them. A person sets
out on establishing a business. He knows that most small businesses
fail and that therefore obstacles are sure to arise. Beyond the sphere
of one’s own personal life, there is the life of society and the life
of nations. Again, obstacles are sure to arise. The twentieth century
was dominated by the terrible tragedies of Nazism, Fascism, Communism,
greedy and excessive Capitalism, and many other systems. Now we are
faced with a
murderous terrorism. The danger will be that of giving in to the
weariness that accompanies obstacles.
Our Lord tells his disciples in today’s Gospel passage (Luke 17: 1-6) that
“obstacles
are sure to come.” Our Lord is referring to the obstacles that lead a
persona away from life in him and the fulfilment of God’s commandments.
We must keep alive a constant vigilance and spiritual readiness to
resist such obstacles and all weariness attendant on them. Especially
must we be vigilant lest we ourselves become obstacles to the spiritual
flourishing of others, through our carelessness and mediocrity in the
fulfilment of our daily duties. It comes down to maintaining a living
and growing faith in God and Christ, and making this faith a very
practical matter. In this way we shall grow spiritually amid the
inevitable difficulties and obstacles, and be increasingly careful not
to be obstacles to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“If you had faith the size of a
mustard seed” (Luke 17: 1-6)
Comment by Silouane
(1866-1938), Orthodox monk (Writings)
In the past, I thought the Lord only did miracles in response to the
prayers of the saints, but now I have understood that the Lord also
does miracles for the sinner as soon as his soul humbles itself; for
when a person learns humility, the Lord hears his prayers.
Many inexperienced people say that such and such a saint worked a
miracle, but I have understood that it is the Holy Spirit dwelling in
the person who does the miracles. The Lord wants everyone to be saved
and to live with him eternally, and that is why he hears the prayers
that the sinner brings before him for the good of others or for his own
good.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love St Joseph a lot. Love him with all your soul, because he, together
with Jesus, is the person who has most loved our Blessed Lady and been
closest to God. He is the person who has most loved God, after our
Mother. He deserves your affection, and it will do you good to get to
know him, because he is the Master of the interior life, and has great
power before the Lord and before the Mother of God.
(The Forge, no.554)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the thirty second week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Godfrey (Saints)
Scripture today:
Wisdom
2:23-3:9; Psalm 34: 2-3,
16-17, 18-19; Luke 17: 7-10.
“It was the devil’s envy that brought
death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover.”
(Wisdom
2:23-3:9)
Day after day we read and see news of death and destruction. There are
terrible natural disasters and disasters brought on man by his fellow
man. Evil and death roll on and on, presenting a constant threat and
struggle. There is talk of the pandemic bird flu. St Paul tells us in
his letter to the Romans that sin entered the world through on man and
with sin has come death, and death has spread through the hole human
race. In this he is repeating the teaching of the Old Testament of
which we have a specimen in today’s first reading from the book of
Wisdom. Wisdom tells us that “God did make man imperishable, he made
him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that
brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will
discover.” (Wisdom 2:23-3:9)
So let us look on the calamities and sufferings characteristic of life
in our world as symptoms and reminders of someone and something far
more sinister and foreboding that lives and operates out of visible
sight. It reminds us of the personal and moral evil which is at the
origin of the profound disfunction rampant in the world. The devil did
it once, and he is trying to do it again and again. So then, when we
see suffering and evil let us resolve not to be “partners” of the one
who initiated it. Let us in our hearts renounce sin and “the devil’s
envy.” Let us by contrast resolutely pursue the path of the virtuous
who “are in the hands of God.” The path of the virtuous is that of gold
being tested in a furnace. God will accept such a one as a holocaust.
Let us make our choice for God and without compromise live it out amid
the difficulties that will surely come.
(Fr. E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“We are useless servants” (Luke 17: 7-10)
Comment from Blessed Teresa
of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of
Charity. (A Simple Path)
Don’t worry about looking for the causes of humankind’s big problems;
be satisfied with doing what you can to solve them by giving your help
to those who need it. Some people tell me that by giving charity to
others, we are clearing the States of their responsibilities towards
the needy and the poor. However, I’m not worried, for in general the
States don’t give love. I simply do what I can, the rest is not my
domain.
God has been so good to us! To work with love is always a way of coming
closer to him. Look at what Christ did during his life on earth. He
spent it doing good (Acts 10:38). I remind my sisters that he spent the
three years of his public life caring for the sick, the lepers, the
children and others more. That is exactly what we are doing when we
preach the Gospel by our actions.
We believe that serving others is a privilege, and we try at every
moment to do it with all our heart. We know very well that our action
is only a drop in the ocean, but without our action, that drop would be
missing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Lady. Who could be a better Teacher of the love of God than this
Queen, this Lady, this Mother, who has the closest bond with the
Trinity: Daughter of God the Farther, Mother of God the Son, Spouse of
God the Holy Spirit? And at the same time she is our Mother! Go and
pray personally for her intercession.
(The Forge, no.555)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feast
of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica
(November 9) The Lateran basilica is the
cathedral of the Pope’s diocese of Rome. It was built in the time of
Constantine and was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324. This feast
became a universal celebration in honour of the basilica called “the
mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world” as a sign of
love for and union with the See of Peter. (Saints)
Ezechiel
47:
1-2, 8-9, 12; Psalm 46:
2-3, 5-6, 8-9; 1
Corinthians 3: 9c-11, 16-17; John 2: 13-22.
There are many things we can think
of on the feast of the dedication of the Lateran basilica, the
cathedral of the diocese of Rome. It is from that “cathedra” (teaching
chair) that the Pope as Bishop of Rome teaches the faithful of
his own diocese and that of the world. So we are reminded of the
universal Church’s communion in the one faith taught and handed on by
the successors of the Apostles in union with the successor of the
Apostle Peter. The Church is a communion in the one faith. But the
Church is also a great communion in prayer and worship. We are surely
reminded of this when we think of the Lateran cathedral. It is a great
house of prayer and worship and the entire Church worships in union
with the liturgy celebrated by the Pope in his cathedral. We think then
of the universal Church worshipping in the communion of one
faith.
Let us consider for a moment how
important is our local church were we gather to worship the Father in
union with the Son with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Consider the zeal
of our Lord for his Father’s house as it manifested itself in today’s
Gospel (John 2: 13-22):
he drove out of the Temple all who were desecrating it. It was the
house of his Father. Our own love for our local church and the One who
dwells there constantly in the tabernacle ought lead to the utmost
reverence whenever we enter it, shunning small talk and taking care
that our time in His presence is filled with prayer and union with him
in the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries. Let us be deeply aware not
only of the Eucharistic Jesus who dwells there in such a lowly and
humble manner, but let us remember the entire Church that continually
unites herself to him as she gathers constantly in worship and prayer.
The church is the great gathering place of our lives, and we are
reminded of this on the feast of the dedication of the St John Lateran
basilica.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He was talking about the temple of
his body” (John 2: 13-22)
Comment by Saint Hilary
(around 315-367), Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Treatise on Psalm
64)
The Lord said: “This is my resting place forever,” and he “chose Zion
as the place where he will dwell.” (Ps 132:14) But the temple is
destroyed. Where will God’s eternal throne be? Where will his resting
place be forever? Where will his temple be for him to dwell there? The
apostle Paul gives us an answer: “You are the temple of God, …… the
Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor 3:16). That is the house and temple
of God. They are filled with his teaching and his power. They are the
dwelling place for the holiness of God’s heart.
But it is God who builds this dwelling place. If it were built by human
hands, it would not last, not even if it were founded on human
teaching. Our fruitless work and our worries are not enough to protect
it. The Lord goes about this in a different way: he did not found it on
earth or on moving sand, but it rests on the prophets and the apostles
(Eph 2:20); it is built constantly out of living stones (1 Pet 2:5). It
will develop to the ultimate dimension of Christ’s body. Its
construction continues constantly. Many houses go up all around it and
they will resemble one another in one big and happy city (Ps 122:3).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You will become a saint if you
have charity, if you manage to do the things which please others and do
not offend God, though you find them hard to do.
(The Forge, no.556)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the thirty second week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 10) St
Leo the Great, pope and doctor of the Church (died 451). During
his pontificate the Council of Chalcedon (451) defined that there is in
Christ one divine person and two natures, divine and human. It was a
confirmation of his Epistola Dogmatica (Tome) to the Patriarch Flavian
of Constantinople. He vigorously defended the unity of the Church. He
pushed back the onrush of the barbarians under Attila. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Wisdom
7: 22b-8:1; Psalm 119: 89,
90, 91, 135, 175; Luke 17: 20-25
“Over Wisdom evil can never triumph.
She deploys her strength from one end of the earth to the other,
ordering all things for good.” (Wisdom 7:
22b-8:1)
Our experience of life involves the experience of persons of influence,
be it influence for good or influence for what is not good, and we
ourselves influence for good or for evil. From childhood influences
bear down on us, and we see influences bearing down on others around
us. Great changes come about in the world in the course of our lifetime
and as history proceeds, and in large measure these changes are due to
personal influence. Thus it is that the crux of the issue of good or
evil prevailing in the world will be the degree to which true wisdom is
in possession. We could say that the world will rise or fall on the
victory or otherwise of true wisdom. It is plain that if a person
possesses wisdom and lives by it, the influence he has will be for the
good.
The Old Testament book of Wisdom speaks of the glory and the power of
true wisdom, and that wisdom is the Wisdom of God. What this inspired
text teaches is that the Wisdom of God can and is given to men who are
disposed for it and who humbly ask for it. Over “wisdom evil can never
triumph”, and she orders “all things for good.” (Wisdom 7:
22b-8:1) The book reminds us
that it is imperative that we obtain from God the gift of divine wisdom
if we are ever to attain our true end, the end to which God has called
us - which is holiness of life and union with God, and the completion
of our God-given work in life. Let us then ask the Holy Spirit our
Counsellor and Guide for the gift of divine wisdom, and the help to
live according to it.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The reign of God is in your
midst” (Luke 17: 20-25)
Comment by Saint
Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897), Carmelite
and Doctor of the Church
(Autobiographical Manuscript
A, 84 r°)
It is above all the Gospel which supports me during my prayer. There I
find all that my poor little soul needs. There, I always discover new
lights, hidden and mysterious meaning.
I understand and know from experience “that the reign of God is in our
midst”. Jesus doesn’t need books or scholars to teach souls, he who is
the Scholar of scholars teaches without the noise of words. I have
never heard him speak, but I feel that he is in me. He guides me at
every moment, he inspires me with what I have to say or do. Just when I
need it, I discover lights that I had not seen yet. Most often, this
does not happen above all during my prayer, but rather in the midst of
my day’s occupations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saint Paul has given us a wonderful recipe for charity: bear one
another’s burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of Christ. Is this
what happens in your life?
(The Forge, no.557)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the thirty second week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 11) St
Martin of Tours, bishop (316-397) Born to pagan parents in
Hungary, he was first a soldier before he was baptized. He founded a
monastery in France and later became Bishop of Tours. He sent
missionaries to evangelize the country and to educate the clergy.
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Wisdom
13: 1-9; Psalm 19: 2-3,
4-5ab; Luke 17: 26-37.
“From the good things that are seen (they) have not been able
to discover Him-who-is”
(Wisdom 13: 1-9)
The book of Wisdom tells us what St Paul’s letter to the Romans
repeats, that the world we see helps us discover the Creator whom we
cannot see. Well then, let us take this to heart in our daily spiritual
life. Living in the world as we do we are surrounded with constant
reminders of the living God. These reminders - his creatures - speak to
us of him, and we can easily understand the language being spoken if we
are disposed to be open to it. That is to say, an immense amount
depends on our fundamental (religious) dispositions. This is the case
in so many other matters of life. We shall never learn a language, we
shall never come to know a person and to attuned to that person in love
and sympathy if we are not oriented and disposed accordingly. So too
with God. We shall never attain the living God who is behind the veil
of creation if we are not duly disposed to him. Let us then pray for
the right dispositions, and for the help to guard them and to live
according to them.
The passage today from Wisdom (Wisdom 13: 1-9) speaks
also of the danger that creatures pose to fallen man. The beauty of
God’s creation can engross man’s heart and lead him to forget and be
disinterested in the beauty of its maker. If this happens it will be
understandable, but at the same time blameworthy. Let us strive to be
attached to God with all our mind, heart and soul, using creatures to
be the more attached to the creator. It means all our lives working at
being attached to God and detached from creatures - or putting it
differently, being attached to creatures only in God and
according to the mind of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“They ate and drank, they bought and
sold” (Luke 17:
26-37)
Comment by St Gregory of
Nyssa (335-395), Monk and Bishop (Homily 11 on the Song of
Songs)
The Lord gave his disciples important recommendations so that they
might shake off like dust everything earthly in their nature and might
thus be raised to the desire for supernatural realities. According to
one of these recommendations, those who turn towards life on high must
be stronger than sleep and must always remain watchful…… I am talking
about the drowsiness that arises among those who are plunged in life’s
lie through illusory dreams such as honours, riches, power, pomp, the
fascination of pleasure, ambition, the thirst for enjoyment, vanity and
everything that their imagination leads superficial people to seek
madly. All these things pass away with the fleeting nature of time;
they belong to the domain of appearances…… Hardly have they seemed to
exist when they disappear like the waves of the sea……
So that our minds might be free of these illusions, the Word invites us
to shake this deep sleep from the eyes of our soul, so that we might
not slip away from the true realities by becoming attached to that
which has no consistency. That is why he suggests that we be watchful
when he says: “Let your belts be fastened around your waists and your
lamps be burning ready.” (Lk 12:35) For when the light shines before
our eyes, it chases sleep away, and when our kidneys are held tight by
a belt, they prevent the body from succumbing to it…… The person who
has fastened the belt of temperance lives in the light of a pure
conscience; the trust of a child illuminates his life like a lamp…… If
we live like that, we will enter into a life that is like that of the
angels.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesus Our Lord loved men so much that he became incarnate, took to
himself our nature, and lived in daily contact with the poor and the
rich, with the just and with sinners, with young and old, with Gentiles
and Jews. He spoke to everyone: to those who showed good will to him,
and to those who were only looking for a way to twist his words and
condemn him. You should try to act as Our Lord did.
(The Forge, no.558)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the thirty second week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 12) St
Josaphat, bishop and martyr (1580-1623). Born in Ukraine
(Russia) of Orthodox parents, be became a Catholic and a Basilian monk.
Chosen bishop he worked faithfully for the unity of the Church until he
was martyred by a mob. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Wisdom
18: 14-16; 19: 6-9; Psalm 105: 2-3,
36-37, 42-43; Luke 18: 1-8
“Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the need to pray continually and never lose heart”
(Luke 18: 1-8)
St Alphonsus Ligouri palced an enormous stress on the
prayer of petition. He wrote that a fundamental reason why we do not
make the spiritual progress we could make is that we do not ask for the
graces that are necessary. He said that we do not receive much if we do
not ask for much, and that the more we ask for from God the more we
receive. What, then, is the problem? The problem all too often is that
we tend to give up asking, we tend to lose heart and then give up on
God. We secretly think it will make little difference and that the
prayer of petition is a futile exercise. All too often we just do not
ask at all, and all because God is not the reality in our hearts that
he should be. A test of our faith in God is the readiness with which we
ask him for what we need, and the perseverence with which we continue
to ask for them.
In today’s Gospel parable our Lord teaches the importance of
persevering in our prayers of petition. God knows the best time and the
best way to answer our prayers, but if we give up asking and let our
active faith drain away because of mere appearances, in effect we are
losing interest in God. It is high praise we can offer to God to keep
up our prayer, refusing to give in to the thought that he does not have
the power or the love to respond. In fact the power of God is shown
precisely in his mercy. Our Lord guarantees that God will hear the
persevering prayers of “his chosen who cry to him day and night even
when he delays to help them.” Placing our faith in the word of Christ
then, and resolving to believe in the power and the love of God, let us
fill up our days with persevering prayer of petition for both ourselves
and all those in need.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“We must pray always and not lose
heart” (Luke 18: 1-8)
Comment by Master Eckhart
(1260-1327), Dominican theologian. (Spiritual
Conversations)
Someone asked me the following: Many people would like to withdraw
completely from the world and to live in solitude so as to find peace
there, or to remain in church. Could it be that this is the best one
can do? I say: No! And this is why.
The person with an upright attitude is at ease everywhere and with
everybody; but the person who is lacking in integrity is uncomfortable
everywhere and with everybody. The person who possesses God alone has
in mind only God, and all things become God alone for him. Such a
person carries God in all he does and in every place, and that
person’s every activity takes on a divine character……
Certainly, for this, zeal and love are necessary as well as attentive
watchfulness over one’s conscience, vigilant, true and effective
intelligence, which directs our entire spiritual attitude where things
and people are concerned. One cannot acquire that intelligence through
an evasive attitude by fleeing from things in order to find refuge in
solitude, far away from the external world. On the contrary, one has to
learn an interior solitude wherever and with whomever one might be. One
has to learn to penetrate to the bottom of things so as to take hold of
God there…… That is how we must be filled with the presence of God,
remodelled after the form of the God of love, and we must be entirely
one with him, so that God’s presence might illuminate us without our
least effort.
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Loving souls for God’s sake will make us love everyone: understanding,
excusing, forgiving all. We should have a love that can cover the
multitude of failings contrived by human wretchedness. We have to have
a wonderful charity, defending the truth, without hurting anyone.
(The Forge, no.559)
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Thirty
third Sunday of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini
and St. Stanislaus Kostka
(Saints)
Proverbs
31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Psalm 128:
1-2,3,4-5; 1 Thessalonians
5: 1-6; Matthew 25: 14-30
“Sir,” he said, “you entrusted me with
five talents; here are five more
that I have made.”
(Matthew
25: 14-30)
Recently I read a news item that described the
beliefs of an
Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Australia. His beliefs are
typically protestant and one in particular I noted in my mind. He puts
very little importance on the Church. In the Creed which we proclaim
all together each Sunday after the homily we profess to believe in the
Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints. The communion of saints
in heaven, on earth and in purgatory is, of course, the Church. The
Church is a communion of persons embracing all the Church’s members,
united with one another due to their union with her Head, Christ. We
the Church’s members all make up one body sharing in the divine life of
our Head.
This notion that the Church is a body, a mystical body as we call
it, is taught by St Paul and it provides us with food for thought
in our understanding of the Church as a communion. If I want to be
healthy in mind and body, I should eat properly and get good exercise.
That fact alone shows that the health and good of one part of the body
contributes to the general good of the whole. And if one part is
suffering from some affliction - for instance if there is gangrene in
the person’s foot, or if his heart is weak - then the whole
body will be affected, and not just the body but the mind and the soul
also. As is well known, a person’s psychological balance and mental
health will also affect a person’s physical state. So there is a deep
interconnection between all elements that make up the human person and
the health of these elements affect the health of the whole.
St Paul tells us that the Church is like that. We are members of
one body, of which Christ is the head. Since all the members form one
body, the good of each is passed on to and affects the others. Thus
there is a communion of persons and a sharing of spiritual goods among
the Church’s members, be they on earth, in heaven or in purgatory,
because what we all share in common is our being in Christ. Christ,
being the head of the Church, shares with the members of his body the
riches which have their source in him. These riches coming from him are
the common
fund shared in various degrees by all, and they reach us
primarily through the preaching and teaching of the word of God and the
administration of the sacraments. But there is another aspect of this
fact that the Church is a communion of persons which we can
easily overlook. It is that the goods generated by each member of the
Church also become part of a common fund that serves the good of other
members. That is to say, in Christ we are called to contribute to the
good of the
whole, and this is made possible by the communion of saints.
In our Gospel passage today (Matthew 25:
14-30) our Lord tells us a parable very rich in
meaning. The master entrusts his wealth to his servants, depending
on their ability. This detail of the parable immediately reminds us of
the riches
that have flowed to us from Christ our Head because of our communion
with him. But these gifts are a
responsibility and we must put them to work so as to increase the
general
capital. In the parable the master returns to see how the wealth he had
given to his servants had been increased. Those who had put it to good
use were rewarded with more. The one who had not done a thing with it
was left with nothing.
Now, all this shows that our Lord looks to us to add to the
spiritual capital, as we could call it, that is available for the good
of the Church. Of course, all true spiritual wealth comes from God, but
in his plan we are granted the dignity of increasing it by our loving
service of him. By our daily prayers we are adding to the Church’s
treasury of spiritual wealth. By our dedication to our responsibilities
we are adding to that treasury. By our penances we are adding to that
treasury. When we suffer failures and when there is seemingly little
result coming from our efforts to do good, this can be offered up to
God as an addition to the Church’s treasury. It will be applied by God
to wherever the Church needs it. In this way no matter who we are nor
how lowly in the eyes of men may be our work and position, we can
contribute invisibly to the good of the whole. This is because we are
part of the communion of saints that is the Church. Let us live this
doctrine of the communion of saints enabling it to give inspiration to
our lives.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.946-959 (The Communion of Saints)
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Making the gifts of the Holy Spirit
fruitful (Matthew
25: 14-30)
Commentary from the 2nd Vatican Council (Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium §§ 34)
The supreme and eternal priest, Christ Jesus, since he wills to
continue his witness and service also through the laity, vivifies them
in this Spirit and increasingly urges them on to every good and perfect
work.
For besides intimately linking them to his life and his mission, he
also gives them a sharing in his priestly function of offering
spiritual worship for the glory of God and the salvation of men. For
this reason, the laity, dedicated to Christ and anointed by the Holy
Spirit, are marvelously called and wonderfully prepared so that ever
more abundant fruits of the Spirit may be produced in them. For all
their works, prayers and apostolic endeavours, their ordinary married
and family life, their daily occupations, their physical and mental
relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of
life, if patiently borne —— all these become "spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 2:5). Together with the
offering of the Lord's body, they are most fittingly offered in the
celebration of the Eucharist. Thus, as those everywhere who adore in
holy activity, the laity consecrate the world itself to God.
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When I speak to you of good example, I mean to tell you, too, that you
have to understand and excuse, that you have to fill the world with
peace and love.
(The Forge, no.560)
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Monday
of the thirty third week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Sidonius and St. Laurence O'Toole (Saints)
1 Maccabees 1: 10-15,
41-43, 54-57, 62-63; Psalm 119: 53, 61, 134,
150, 155, 158; Luke 18: 35-43
“All the pagans conformed to the
king’s decree, and many Israelites chose to accept his religion”
(1 Maccabees 1:
10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63)
In her spiritual teaching the Church alerts her faithful against one
great enemy to their attaining the perfection of the love of God. It is
what Scripture calls “the world.” The world, the flesh and the devil
conspire to lead us astray into infidelity and sin, and the wages of
sin is death. The “world” consists of those influences external to us
(excepting Satan) that oppose the plan of God for our salvation and
sanctification. We have in our first reading today (1 Maccabees 1:
10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63) a vivid instance of the
influence of the world on the children of Israel in the time of the
Maccabees.
In this case it was embodied in the will of the ruler Antiochus
Epiphanes and those among the people of Israel who wished “to practise
pagan observances” and who submitted “to the heathen rule as willing
slaves of impiety.” We are told in the text that “all the pagans
conformed to the king’s decree, and many Israelites chose to accept his
religion, sacrificing to idols and profaning the Sabbath.” That was one
instance but the pattern has recurred time and again within the life of
the Church and within the lives of her faithful.
We all of us must be alert to the insidious influence of those who wish
to
conform to the world rather than to Christ. Christ referred to the
devil as the “prince of this world”, and he (Satan) will be making use
of the world’s influence, and it will also be enticing to “the flesh.”
Let us in the first place be on guard lest we come to think as the
world thinks rather than thinking according to the mind of Christ. As
St Paul tells us, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Let
us then pray for the grace to make that the foundation of our life, and
the source of our resistance to all influence from the “world,” the
“flesh” and the devil.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Son of David, have mercy on me”
(Luke
18: 35-43)
Commentary by Symeon
the New Theologian (949 –– 1022), Orthodox monk. (Ethics 5)
My friend, you have learned that the Kingdom of Heaven is in you (Lk
17:21), if you wish, and that all the eternal goods are in your hands.
So hurry to see, to take hold of and to obtain within yourself the
goods that are reserved…… Groan, prostrate yourself. Like the blind man
in the past, you now also say: “Have mercy on me, Son of God, and open
the eyes of my soul so that I might see the Light of the world that you
are, oh my God (Jn 8:12), and that I too might become a child of that
divine light (Jn 12:36). O clement one, send the Consoler upon me, as
well, so that he himself might teach me (Jn 14:26) what concerns you
and what is mine, O God of the universe. Dwell in me, too, as you said,
so that I in turn might become worthy to dwell in you (Jn 15:4). Let me
know how to enter into you and to know that I possess you in myself. O
invisible One, deign to take form in me so that, seeing your
inaccessible beauty, I might bear your image, oh heavenly One, and I
might forget all visible things. Give me the glory that the Father gave
you (Jn 17:22), O Merciful One, so that, resembling you like all your
servants, I might share your divine life according to grace and I might
be constantly with you, now and always and forever.”
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Ask yourself often: am I making a real effort to be more refined in my
charity towards the people I live with?
(The Forge, no.561)
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Tuesday
of the thirty third week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 15) St
Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church
(1206-1280). German by birth, he studied in Padua and Paris. He entered
the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) and taught Theology. In Paris
St Thomas was his pupil. A man of great wisdom and encyclopaedic
know