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)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
knowledge, he became a bishop and worked to establish peace among
peoples and cities. (Saints)
Scripture today: 2 Maccabees 6:
18-31; Psalm 3: 2-3,
4-5, 6-7; Luke 19: 1-10.
“This was how he died, leaving his
death as an example of nobility and a record of virtue”
2
Maccabees 6: 18-31
In today’s first reading from 2 Maccabees we are
presented with the
faithful figure of
Eleazar “one of the foremost teachers of the Law”, being pressured
under threat of death to violate the regulations of Jewish religious
Law. He refused, despite all pressure and despite his advanced years
with its concomitant weakness. What was the secret of his fidelity? Our
passage tells us that his conduct had been impeccable from his boyhood.
He had taken a firm and holy decision to be uncompromising on this
point because it involved “the holy legislation established by God
himself.” (2 Maccabees 6:
18-31) He was aware, too, of the effect on others -
especially the
young - were he to submit to this pressure. These and various other
reasons combined to give him an invincible fidelity to the
will of God at a critical hour.
Eleazar is a wonderful example for all who have reached advanced years
and for those whose advanced years are still ahead of them. With
declining strength the importance of good habits already formed and
proven virtue increases. That is to say, the best way to prepare for
the difficulties in being faithful to God in old age is to be very
faithful to him in the years of one’s youth and strength. The best way
to prepare for a holy death is to live the present moment in a holy
way. For this we need the grace of God both now and at the last. Let us
pray to Our Lady, using the words of the Hail Mary, that she, the
Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Let
us not underestimate the importance of the present in preparing for the
future. Give to God the whole of the present, and in that way prepare
to give him everything at the end.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Zacchaeus, hurry
down!” Luke 19: 1-10
Commentary from John Tauler
(around 1300-1361), Dominican (Sermon 68)
In the gospel, we read that Zacchaeus wanted to see Our Lord, but that
he was too small of stature. So what did he do? He climbed a dried up
fig tree. That is what people still do. Someone wants to see the one
who works marvels and who causes a whole tumult in him. But he isn’t
big enough, he is too small. So what to do? He has to climb a dried up
fig tree. The dead fig tree symbolizes the death of the senses and of
nature and the life of the inner person, which carries God.
What does Our Lord say to Zacchaeus? “Hurry down.” You have to come
down, you must not hold back a single drop of consolation from all your
impressions in prayer, but come down in your pure nothingness, in your
poverty, in your powerlessness… If, from the moment truth has given you
some light, there is still some natural attachment in you, you don’t
yet possess it, it has not yet become your own; nature and grace still
work together and you have not attained perfect abandonment …; this is
not yet full purity. That is why God invites such a person to come
down, that is to say, he calls him to complete renunciation, to
complete detachment from nature, in everything in which nature still
possesses something of its own. “For I mean to stay at your house
today; today salvation has come to this house.” May this today of
eternity come to us!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I preach that we have to make ourselves a carpet so that the
others may tread softly, I am not simply being poetic: it has to be a
reality! It’s hard, as sanctity is hard; but it’s also easy, because, I
insist, sanctity is within everyone’s reach.
(The Forge, no.562)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the thirty third week of Ordinary Time 1
(16 November) St
Margaret of Scotland (1046-1093). Born in Hungary, she was
married to King Malcolm III of Scotland. They had eight
children. St Gertrude, virgin
(1256-1301) Born at Eisleben (Germany), she was received into the
Cistercian nunnery. She studied literature and philosophy and applied
herself as well in prayer and contemplation. She introduced devotion to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus which, centuries later, would spread
throughout the Church. (Saints)
Scripture today:
2
Maccabees 7: 1, 20-31; Psalm 17: 1bcd,
5-6, 8b and 15; Luke 19: 11-28.
“Everyone who has will be given more;
but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken
away.” (Luke 19: 11-28)
There is no getting around it, we are placed on this earth to work and
so to contribute to the betterment of the world. On one occasion when
Our Lord was criticised for working on the Sabbath he answered by
saying that since his own Father was working - he was implying that his
heavenly Father was working unceasingly - then he too would work. So
God continues to work, though he has created the world. His work of
creation and sanctification never ceases. At the beginning of the Bible
God gives to man the mission of filling the earth and mastering it -
managing it so that it serves man’s truest and best interests.
In our Gospel passage today (Luke 19: 11-28),
Our Lord tells the parable of the appointed king who returned to see
how much profit his servants had made for him. His wealth was meant to
increase. The servant who did nothing with the money was condemned and
what he had was taken from him. Whatever we have been given by God,
then, he means us to put it to work for his glory and his interests.
This is the meaning of life and the key to enduring happiness. It
squares perfectly too with what we could call Nature. We naturally know
that we must work, and the success of a person’s life depends on the
degree to which he works and works well. So much of a child’s
upbringing centres around preparing him for his life’s work. Well, it
is this that we are called to supernaturalise, we could say. We are to
sanctify our work, and in this way be sanctified, and in turn sanctify
others. A person’s life hinges around his work and this fact applies
equally to the Christian who unites himself to Christ in and through
his work.
Let us make our work a work for
God and a work of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Make them bear fruit”: Human Work and the Kingdom of God (Luke 19:
11-28)
Commentary from John
Paul II (Homily for Luxemburg Workers, May 1985)
When God created humankind, man and woman, God told them: “Be fertile
and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen 1:28) That is, so to
speak, God’s first commandment, which is connected with the very order
of creation. Thus, human work corresponds with God’s will. When we say,
“Thy will be done,” let us also include these words about the work
which fills every day of our life. We become aware of the fact that we
are in accord with that will of the Creator when our work and the human
relations that it brings with it are penetrated with the values of
initiative, courage, trust, solidarity, which are so many reflections
of our divine resemblance……
The Creator gave the human person the power to subdue the earth. Thus,
he asks him to bring the area that has been entrusted to him under
control through his own work, to exercise all his abilities so as to be
able to develop his own personality and the whole community in a good
way. Through his work, the human person obeys God and responds to God’s
trust. That is not foreign to the request in the Our Father: “Thy
kingdom come.” The human person acts in such a way that God’s plan
might be realized, aware of having been made in the likeness of God and
thus of having received from God his strength, his intelligence, his
aptitudes for bringing about a community of life through the
disinterested love he has for his brothers and sisters. All that is
positive and good in the life of the person develops and connects with
his true goal in the kingdom of God. You chose your motto well:
“Kingdom of God, human life,” for God’s cause and the human cause are
connected with one another. The world is advancing towards the kingdom
of God thanks to God’s gifts, which make human dynamism possible. In
other words, to pray that God’s kingdom might come is to stretch out
with all one’s being towards that reality, which is the ultimate goal
of human work.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the midst of so much selfishness, so much coldness - everyone out
for what he can get - I call to mind those little wooden donkeys. They
were trotting on a desk-top, strong and sturdy. One had lost a leg, but
it carried on forward, supported by the others.
(Forge, no.563)
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Thursday
of the thirty third week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 17) St
Elizabeth of Hungary, religious (1207-1231) She was the daughter
of the King of Hungary and a prayerful mother. After her husband’s
death she devoted herself to the poor and the sick.
(Saints)
Scripture today:
1
Maccabees 2: 15-29; Psalm 50: 1b-2,
5-6, 14-15; Luke 19: 41-44.
“If you in your turn had only
understood on this day the message of peace!” (Luke 19: 41-44)
It is absolutely essential that we prepare for the future, for the
future involves an eternity. The future is either a future in heaven or
a future in hell. We know that we shall die, and we know from what God
has revealed that following death there will be a divine judgment, to
be followed by either heaven or hell. We not only prepare for the
future after death but we prepare for the future prior to death too: we
prepare for our future exams, our retirement, and so forth. It is the
will of God that we prepare adequately for the future.
But the danger is that we can give scant regard for the present if we
are constantly preparing for the future in the sense of forever
thinking of it. If we are not giving ourselves over to the duties of
the present then what God means to bestow on us precisely in the
present will be missed. The present contains its own blessings which,
of course, themselves prepare us for the future. In our Gospel passage
today our Lord laments that Jerusalem did not recognise him for who he
was. This was the day of blessings and of true peace, the day of his
arrival, and yet they were blind to it. “If you in your turn had only
understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden
from your eyes!” (Luke 19: 41-44)
In their case the present was full of blessings, for
the present brought them their redeemer, and yet it was hidden from
their eyes.
Let us give ourselves over to doing God’s will as perfectly as possible
in the present, opening our minds and hearts to the coming of the Holy
Spirit in the here and now. In this way day by day we shall be
preparing for the future in all its stages, right to the moment of
death.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Coming within sight of the city,
Jesus wept over it” (Luke 19: 41-44)
Commentary from Origen
(around 185 –– 253), Priest and theologian (Homily 38 on Luke)
When our Lord and Saviour was near Jerusalem, within sight of it, he
wept over it: “If only you had known the path to peace this day; but
you have completely lost it from view! Days will come upon you when
your enemies encircle you with a rampart.” …… Someone might perhaps
say: “The meaning of these words is clear. In fact, they have come true
where Jerusalem is concerned; the Roman army besieged and destroyed it,
wiping it out, and the time will come when no stone will be left on a
stone.”
I do not deny it. Jerusalem was destroyed because of its blindness, but
I do ask: did not the weeping of Jesus have something to do with our
Jerusalem? For we are the Jerusalem over which Jesus wept, we who
imagine that we have such a penetrating gaze upon things. If, after
having been instructed in the mysteries of truth, after having received
the word of the Gospel and the Church’s teaching, and after being given
the vision of the mysteries of God, one of us sins, he will provoke
lamentation and weeping, for no one weeps over a pagan, but rather over
the one who, having once been part of Jerusalem, ceases to be so.
There is weeping over our Jerusalem, for “the enemies will encircle it”
because of its sins, that is to say, the adverse powers, the evil
spirits. They will build a rampart around it; they will besiege it, and
“they will not leave a stone on a stone.” That is what happens when,
after long continence and several years of chastity, a person falls,
overcome by the seduction of the flesh…… So that is the Jerusalem over
which tears are shed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Catholics defend and uphold the truth, without making concessions,
we have to strive to create an atmosphere of charity, of harmony, to
drown all hatred and resentment.
(The Forge, no.564)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the thirty third week of Ordinary Time 1
(18 November) The dedication of
the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul. The anniversaries
of these basilicas were celebrated as early as the twelfth century.
Both were completed in the fourth century. The St Peter’s Basilica was
built atop his tomb and was rebuilt in the seventeenth century. St
Paul’s Basilica in the Ostian Way was built also over his tomb and was
rebuilt in the nineteenth century.
Let
us also think of St. Rose
Philippine. (Saints)
1 Maccabees 4:
36-37, 52-59; 1 Chroniclse 29:
10bcd, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12bcd; Luke 19: 45-48
"Jesus went
into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling." (Luke 19: 45-48)
It has been said that one of the
most notable phenomena in the Churches of our country at this point of
time is the amount of small talk and chatter going on within them,
despite the constant real presence of Christ in the Tabernacle. It may
indicate a great neglect of the Real Presence. Certainly we could say
that were there a reverent and hushed silence every time we enter a
Catholic Church, it would indicate that there is a general awareness
that Christ our God is there. Our Gospel passage today has something
to tell us about this problem. In our Gospel scene Our Lord himself
puts an end to the distracting activity going on in the Temple,
reminding the offenders that the Temple is God’s dwelling place, his
house, and that it should be a house of prayer.
Our passage from 1 Maccabees
(1 Maccabees 4:
36-37, 52-59) narrates the dedication of the Temple
of Jerusalem and the joy with
which the people celebrated the occasion, showing the centrality of the
Temple in the life of the Old Testament dispensation. Today we think of
the dedication of the Roman basilicas of St Peter and St Paul. We are
reminded of the tremendous importance of our places of worship in the
life of the Church. Christ is there and he is active. In our Gospel
scene (Luke 19: 45-48),
our Lord is presented as teaching in the Temple every day, and
the people hung on his words. Our Lord continues his presence
constantly in our churches in just as real a way as then, only now he
is present with greater power because it is the risen Jesus who is
there, active in his sacraments and in his word.
Let us cultivate a profound
devotion to our churches as the house of God, the place where God
himself dwells in the person of the Eucharistic Jesus. Let us strive to
be like Our Lord himself in our zeal for the church, for there Jesus
lives and gives himself to us in word and sacrament.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Scripture has
it, ‘‘My house is meant for a house of prayer’’”
Comment by St Ignatius of Antioch (? –
110), Bishop and Martyr (Letter to
the Ephesians, 3 - 4,9)
I beg you to walk according to
God’s thinking. For Jesus Christ, the unshakeable principle of our
life, is the Father’s thinking. In the same way the bishops, who have
been established to the ends of the earth, are in the thinking of Jesus
Christ. So it is also right to walk according to the thinking of your
bishop. And moreover, that is what you do. The body of your priests who
are truly worthy of God is attached to the bishop like the strings are
to the zither. Thus, with the concord of your sentiments and the
harmony of your charity, you sing of Jesus Christ. May each of you
become a member of this choir, so that in the harmony of your concord
and with God’s tone, you might sing in the unity of a single voice the
Father’s praises through Jesus Christ……
You are the stones of the Father’s
temple, cut for the edifice that God the Father is building, raised to
the summit through Jesus Christ’s utensil, which is his cross, using
the Holy Spirit as your cable. Your faith draws you on high, and
charity is the path that raises you unto God. You are also all
companions on the road, bearers of God and of his temple, bearers of
Christ, carrying the most sacred objects, in everything decorated with
the precepts of Jesus Christ. With you, I rejoice ……; I rejoice with
you because, living a new life, you love nothing but God alone.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a Christian, in a child of God,
friendship and charity are one and the same thing. They are a divine
light which spreads warmth.
(The Forge, no.565)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the thirty third week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Barlaam (Saints)
Scripture today: 1 Maccabees
6: 1-13; Psalm 9: 2-3, 4
and 6, 16 and 19; Luke 20: 27-40.
“This, I am
convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am
dying”.
(1
Maccabees 6: 1-13)
Cardinal Newman writes in one of
his books (Grammar of Assent)
that one of the ways whereby
man can come to know God naturally
(as distinct from Revelation) is through the course of the world’s
events. He is referring especially to the providence of God and what is
revealed in the way God governs the world. Of course, there is not a
lot in respect to God that we can discern with certainty from the
course of events, but our conscience does suggest various things. In
our first reading today we have one instance which we may suppose has
the sanction of the inspired author. It is the testimony of King
Antiochus (1
Maccabees 6: 1-13) on
his bed full of melancholy and despair at the way things
had turned out in his kingdom. Everything was going wrong, and his
guilty conscience strongly suggested what was the reason for it. “I
have been asking myself” he says, “how I could come to such a pitch of
distress”. The answer came to him: “I remember the wrong I did in
Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there”.
Our conscience is a precious means
of being in union with God, including for the pagan. Apart from guiding
us in what
we should be doing, it
helps us
discern what is happening in our lives.
It suggests or confirms that God is a holy God who
rewards the good and punishes the wrongdoer. It suggests at times (and
it can only sugggest) that
he may be rewarding and punishing now with a view to our repentance
while there is time. Let us treasure this monitor
within us and resolve to be faithful to its promptings. We have
received the gift of the Holy Spirit who teaches us through the word of
God and the Church’s teachings. But for his voice to be heard our
conscience must be sensitive. It will be more and more sensitive if we
are faithful to it. Our conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit who
reminds us of the Church’s teaching and testimony, will guide us to the
holiness to which God is calling us. Newman called the Conscience the
“aboriginal vicar of Christ” (Letter
to Norfolk) - the representative of Christ which Nature
provides.
Let us strive to ensure it is well formed and guided, and then let us
be faithful to its indications, especially in small things.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The God of the living (Luke 20: 27-40)
Comment by St Irenaeus of Lyon (130 –
208), Bishop and Martyr (Against the
Heresies, IV, 5,2)
In his answer to the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection and because
of that despised God and ridiculed his Law, our Lord and Master at one
and the same time proved the resurrection and made God known. He told
them: “As to the raising of the dead, have you not read in the book of
Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God told him, ‘I am
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?” And
he added: “God is not the God of the dead but of the living. All are
alive for him.” By that, he made known clearly that the one who spoke
with Moses from the midst of the bush and who declared that he was the
God of the fathers, is the God of the living. So who would the God of
the living be if not the true God, above whom there is no other? It is
he whom the prophet Daniel announced when he answered Cyrus, the king
of the Persians……: “I worship not idols made with hands, but only the
living God who made heaven and earth and has dominion over all
mankind.” And he also said: “I adore the Lord, my God, for he is the
living God.” (Dan 14:5.25)
The God whom the prophets adored, the living God, is the God of the
living, as is his Word, which spoke with Moses in the bush and which
also refuted the Sadducees and granted the resurrection. It is he who,
starting with the Law, showed those blind people these two things: the
resurrection and the true God. If he is not the God of the dead but of
the living, and if he is called the God of the fathers who have fallen
asleep, without any doubt they are alive for God and did not perish.
“They are children of the resurrection.” Now the resurrection is our
Lord in person, as he himself said: “I am the resurrection and the
life.” (Jn 11:25) And the fathers are his sons, for the prophet said:
“The place of your fathers your sons shall have.” (Ps 45:17)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To practise fraternal
correction -
which is so deeply rooted in the Gospel - is a proof of supernatural
trust and affection. Be thankful for it when you receive it, and don’t
neglect to practise it with those you live with.
(The Forge, no.566)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirty fourth
Sunday of Ordinary Time A
The
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Universal King.
Today let us think of St. Bernward
(Saints)
Ezechiel 34:
11-12, 15-17; Psalm 23: 1-2,
2-3, 5-6; 1 Corinth 15:
20-26, 28; Matthew 25: 31-46
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and the
angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne"
(Matthew 25:
31-46)
One of the most prevalent intellectual
and moral snares of the age in which we live is that of relativism.
Modern Western man finds it difficult to admit the fact of absolutes,
especially moral and religious absolutes. Characteristically his stance
is a ‘liberal’ one, one that right to the end allows for the legitimacy
of a contradiction to the proven truth. Ultimately, his presumption is,
all so-called ‘truth’ is relative to the one making the claim. ‘Truth’
is a subjective phenomenon. Now, if such a presumption gains a hidden
footing in a person’s mind and heart, it will be impossible to be a
total Christian after the mind of Christ because Christ has made
absolute claims. Being a Christian means accepting Christ on his
terms which are absolute in character.
A fundamental claim made by Christ
and by the Church is that Christ is the Lord of all. “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me,” the risen Jesus told his
disciples. “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations.”
Therefore no other person in history, no other religious leader or
teacher can be compared with him or raised to his rank. Christ is the
universal King and Lord of Lords, and this is what we think of and
celebrate today. We ought pray for a deep conviction of this revealed
truth, for it is only if we have this conviction that we shall be able
to proclaim it to a world stamped by relativism. It is very difficult
for modern man to accept that Christ has all authority and that his is
the truth that is to guide mankind. There are many other claimants:
Mahomet, Buddha, Confucius, and a long line of others.
Let us renew our intention to
bring the one King and Lord into our own lives, and by our example and
words to all around us. As we read in today’s Gospel (Matthew 25:
31-46) at the judgment it is he and he alone
who will decide.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Prince of peace”
(Isa 9:5) Matthew 25: 31-46
Commentary from Pius XI,
Pope from 1922 to 1939 (Encyclical Quas
Primas, 1925)
If people would acknowledge Christ’s royal authority in their private
and in their public lives, incredible benefits –– a just freedom, order
and tranquility, concord and peace –– would spread without fail to the
whole of society…… If the princes and the legitimately chosen
governments were convinced of the fact that they command far less in
their own name than in the name and place of the divine King, they
would obviously use their authority with every possible virtue and
wisdom. How much attention would they give to the common good and to
the human dignity of their subordinates when developing and applying
the laws! ……
Then the peoples would taste the benefits of concord and peace. The
further a kingdom extends, the more it embraces the universality of the
human race, and also, incontestably, the more people become conscious
of the mutual bond uniting them. This awareness would forestall and
prevent most conflicts. In any case, it would tone down and soften
their violence. So if Christ’s kingdom did extend in fact, as it
extends by right to all people, why despair of that peace, which the
King of peace came to bring to the earth? He came to “reconcile
everything” (Col 1:20). He came “not to be served by others, but to
serve.” (Mt 20:28) “Master of every creature” (Eph 1:10), he himself
gave the example of humility and made humility his main law, together
with the precept of charity. He also said: “My yoke is easy and my
burden light.” (Mt 11:30)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When you correct someone -
because
it has to be done and you want to do your duty - you must expect to
hurt others and to get hurt yourself. But you should never let this
fact be an excuse for holding back.
(The
Forge, no.567)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the thirty fourth week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 21) The Presentation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary. With Christians of the East, the Latin
Church recalls the early tradition stating that as a small child Mary
was presented to the Lord by her parents in the Temple. This
celebration expresses the total dedication of Mary to God’s service and
her obedience to God’s plans. We too are called to serve God joyfully
and without seeking any human glory in return. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Daniel 1: 1-6,
8-20; Daniel 3: 52, 53,
54, 55, 56; Luke 21: 1-4
"She from the little she had has put
in all she had to live on." (Luke 21: 1-4)
One of the very insidious dangers to the spiritual life of the
Christian is the feeling of futility that can pervade a person’s
efforts to spend his life doing work for God. One’s efforts can seem so
inconsequential, so lacking in obvious fruit. It may seem that others
have been far more blessed with success and a form of bitterness can
set in, or at least a languor in the face of what seem to be past
failures and present difficulties. When all is said and done, one’s
efforts may seem to have been simply a non-event, or worse. It can be
very discouraging, especially if one is continually comparing oneself
with others - which, of course, one should not be doing.
But our Gospel today (Luke 21: 1-4) reminds
us
that God does not compare us with others. Our Lord was sitting in the
Temple and watching the rich put in a great deal to the Treasury. He
also saw a poor widow put in hardly anything. What she put in would
have made hardly any difference. Some would have thought it was
worthless. But Our Lord made a different judgment. What she put in, he
said, amounted to more than any of the others. Why? Because she gave to
God all she had to live on. Now, this should be very consoling to the
little person who thinks he has very little to show for all his
efforts. What God wants is that we give our all, and that we give it to
him - like the poor widow. He then will do the rest.
Let us resolve to love God with
our whole being, and to show this love for him in the dedication with
which we fulfill his will in our daily work. If we do this, our lives
will receive the praise that was given to the poor widow.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“She has given
everything” (Luke 21: 1-4)
Comment by Blessed Charles de Foucauld
(1858-1916), Hermit and Missionary in the Sahara
Meditations
on the Holy Gospels
(1898-1899)
“Father, into your hands I commend
my spirit.” (Lk 23:46) That was our Master’s, our Beloved’s last
prayer. May it be ours. And may it not only be the prayer of our last
moment, but that of all our moments: “Father, I place myself into your
hands; Father, I entrust myself to you; Father, I abandon myself to
you. Father, do with me as pleases you; whatever you do with me, I
thank you. Thank you for everything. I am ready for everything, I
accept everything, I thank you for everything so long as your will is
done in me, my God, so long as your will is done in all your creatures,
in all your children, in all whom your heart loves. I want nothing
else, my God. Into your hands I commend my soul, I give it to you, my
God, with all the love of my heart, because I love you, and because in
my love I need to give myself, to place myself into your hands beyond
all measure. I place myself into your hands with infinite trust,
because you are my Father.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get close to your Mother, the
Virgin Mary. You ought to be united to God always: seek that union with
him by staying near his Blessed Mother.
(The Forge, no.568)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday of the
thirty fourth week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 22) St Cecilia, virgin
and martyr (3rd century). Cecilia, patron saint for music, is
one of the seven martyr women mentioned in the Roman Canon. A noble
Roman virgin, she was martyred under Marcus Aurelius for her
unwillingness to sacrifice to the gods. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Daniel 2:
31-45; Daniel 3: 57, 58,
59, 60, 61; Luke 21: 5-11.
“The God of
heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” (Daniel 2: 31-45)
We have in our first reading from
Daniel today one of the many Old Testament prophecies of the coming
Kingdom of God. God would set up a kingdom which would never be
destroyed. The great expectation lived on among the people: a kingdom
was coming which would last forever (Daniel 2: 31-45).
Finally the time came, and the
angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary and informed her that God
wished her to be the mother of the Messiah, and of his kingdom there
would be no end. John the Baptist came preaching that the Messiah was
nigh, and our Lord told the people that the Kingdom of God was already
among them. We are children of this Kingdom. As Our Lord once told his
disciples, prophets and kings longed to see the day of Christ, and
never saw it.
In a certain sense there is
nothing further for us to await or expect: only the fulfilment in
ourselves of what has already arrived. That fulfilment will find its
expression in the final glorious coming of Christ. But we are in the
end times now. We have the goods now. The ‘goods’ are contained in the
person of Christ. What we must do is put them vigorously to work while
we have life and breath. There is no further searching for the ultimate
meaning of things nor for the ultimate blessings attainable. We have
Christ. Our task is to get to know, love and serve him as perfectly as
possible, and to bring the knowledge of him to as many as possible so
that they too may be children of this promised Kingdom that has already
arrived. The tension now is not an awaiting for something vague
and ill-defined that the heart longs for and which has yet to come.
Rather, it is the tension of seeking the perfect fulfilment in our
hearts and in our world of the reign of Christ which has already
arrived. That reign will reach its fulfilment and it will last forever.
This has been promised. The task is to ensure that we all are fully
part of it.
So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Be not
perturbed when you hear of wars and insurrections.” (Luke 21: 5-11)
Comment by Pope Benedict XVI
(20th World Day of Youth, Homily for the Vigil)
The saints show us the way to
become happy; they show us how we can succeed in being truly human
persons. Throughout the trials of history, they were the true reformers
who very often brought history out of the dark valleys into which it
always risks sinking once again…… The true revolution, the world’s
decisive change, comes only from the saints, only from God.
During the century that just
ended, we lived revolutions, which had in common the policy of no
longer expecting anything from God, but rather of taking the world’s
destiny entirely into the hands of the revolution. And we saw how in
this process, a human and partial point of view was always taken as the
orientation’s absolute measure. Making absolute what is not absolute
but relative, is called totalitarianism. That does not free the human
person, but rather takes his dignity away and makes him a slave. Not
the ideologies save the world, but only the fact of turning towards the
living God who is our creator, the guarantor of our freedom, the
guarantor of what is really good and true. True revolution consists
solely in the fact of turning without reservation towards God, who is
the measure of what is just and who is at the same time eternal love.
What could possibly save us other than love? ……
Many people speak of God; hatred
is preached as well and violence is practised in the name of God. Thus,
it is important to discover the true face of God…… “Him who has seen
the Father,” Jesus told Philip (Jn 14:9). In Jesus Christ, who accepted
that for us his heart be pierced, the true face of God is revealed. We
will follow him with the large crowd of those who have preceded us.
Then we will walk on the right path.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listen to me: being in the world
and belonging to the world does not mean being worldly.
(The Forge, no.569)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the thirty fourth week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 23) St Clement 1,
pope and martyr (died about 97). He was the third pope after St
Peter.
He wrote the famous epistle to the Corinthians, commanding them to seek
peace and unity. We see in it the Providence of God who gives us a
clear if incipient example of the Pope’s universal jurisdiction in the
first century. (Saints)
St Columban,
abbot (died about 615) An Irish monk, he went to France
and founded many monasteries which he ruled with strict
discipline. (Saints)
Blessed Miguel Pro
(Mexican Jesuit priest, martyred in Mexico, 1928) (Saints)
Scripture today:
Daniel 5: 1-6,
13-14, 16-17, 23-28; Daniel 3:
62-67; Luke 21: 12-19.
“Men will seize you and persecute you;
..and that will be your
opportunity to bear witness”
(Luke 21: 12-19)
One of the most mysterious things in life is difficulty and suffering,
especially when it seems to be undeserved. Cardinal Newman regarded it
as a tremendous difficulty to belief in God, writing that were it not
for the unmistakable testimony of Conscience the fact of evil would
lead him to unbelief. Good people who try to obey God and follow their
conscience experience suffering and evil. Why is this, when there is a
good God? We do not know, but there are various hints given by Our Lord
which help us make sense of it.
Today Our Lord warns his disciples that persecution and suffering await
them precisely because of their fidelity to him - they “will bring you
before kings and governors because of my name”. What would be the
meaning of this? It would “be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21: 12-19). This
is very important when we think of the things that have happened, do
happen, and will happen to us. All such circumstances will be
opportunities to do good for others, and one fundamental good will be
that of bearing witness to Christ and his truth. The supremely adverse
circumstance will be having one’s life taken away unjustly “because of
my name”, and the witness given then goes by the name of martyrdom. The
martyr is the one who bears witness to Christ with his life.
But this witness can be given in all sorts of tiny and ordinary ways in
the midst of everyday difficulties such as sickness, contradictions,
clashes of personality, difficulties in work, or whatever. Every
difficulty in life will be “your opportunity to bear witness.” And
Christ’s help will be with us “because I myself will give you an
eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to
resist or contradict.” Let us then rely on the help of Our Lord as we
turn all occasions into opportunities. Our Lord assures us that “your
endurance will win you your lives.”
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“By patient endurance you will save
your lives.” (Luke 21: 12-19)
Comment by St Cyprian
(200-258), Bishop and Martyr (The benefits of patient endurance, 13.15)
For our salvation, our Lord and Master gave us this commandment:
“Whoever holds out till the end will escape death.” (Mt 10:22) …… The
very fact that we are Christians grounds our faith and our hope. But so
that hope and faith might bear fruit, patient endurance is necessary.
We do not seek the glory that is here below, but the future glory. The
apostle Paul warned us: “In hope we were saved. But hope is not hope if
its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope for what he
sees? And hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient
endurance.” (Rom 8:24-25) In another passage, Paul gave the same
teaching to the righteous who work so that God’s gifts might bear fruit
in order to prepare greater treasures for themselves in heaven……:
“While we have the opportunity, let us do good to all…… Let us not grow
weary of doing good; if we do not relax our efforts, in due time we
shall reap our harvest.” (Gal 6:10.9)…… And when Paul talked about
charity, he added perseverance and patient endurance: “Love is patient;
love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs…… Love is
not prone to anger; neither does it brood over injuries…… There is no
limit to love’’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to
endure.” (1 Cor 13:4-7) He thus shows that love is capable of
persevering to the end, since it can bear all things. Finally, Paul
said in another passage: “Bear with one another lovingly. Make every
effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin and
peace as its binding force.” (Eph 4:2-3) Thus he shows that brothers
can preserve neither unity nor peace if they do not encourage one
another by bearing with one another, and if they do not maintain the
bond of concord by means of their patient endurance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have to act like a burning coal, spreading fire wherever it happens
to be; or at least; striving to raise the spiritual temperature of the
people around you, leading them to live a truly Christian life.
(The Forge, no.570)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the thirty fourth week of Ordinary Time 1
(November 24) Saint
Andrew Dung-Lac, priest, and his companions, martyrs of
Korea (1745-1862)
Saints Flora
& Mary
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Daniel 6:
12-28; Daniel 3:
68-74; Luke 21: 20-28.
“Then you will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Lk 21: 20-28)
If we are to become Christians with a profound and clear-sighted
conviction, we have to become alert to the hidden dangers of our
culture that will, if they take root, undermine firm convictions. Those
hidden dangers are especially the hidden assumptions of our culture.
They are the starting points that ground beliefs and values, the first
principles that are the foundations of social and individual action.
Now, one of the most pervasive assumptions, a position that is widely
taken for granted, is that truth is relative to each person. It is
widely assumed that what each person regards as the truth is simply a
personal and subjective opinion about the truth. Objective truth, it is
widely assumed, is unattainable in matters philosophical and
religious, including the ultimate issue, God.
If we are not careful, we will slip into assuming this ourselves,
without quite realising it. If this happens, we can find ourselves
reluctant to believe that there one Lord and King to whom all authority
in heaven and on earth has been granted. We can be reluctant to think
this with firmness and conviction simply because others deny it or are
sceptical about it. The effect of this denial can be that, deep in our
own minds and hearts, we can fail in firmness of belief. To this
temptation our readings today address their firm teaching. The first
reading from the book of Daniel (Daniel 6: 12-28)
concludes with
the testimony of King
Darius that the God of Daniel is “the living God, he endures forever,
his sovereignty will never be destroyed, and his kingship never end.”
In our Gospel passage Our Lord assures us (Lk 21: 20-28) that all “will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory”. Christ is the King of
kings and the Lord of lords.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to give us an unshakeable conviction of
this, and to bring it to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Walk while you still have the light
or darkness will come over you.” (John 12:35)
Comment by Origen,
Priest and Theologian, (around 185-153). (Homilies on Joshua, 11,3-4)
As soon as the Lord came, it was already the end of the world.
Moreover, he himself said this, placing himself at the end of time:
“Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17) But he
kept back and delayed the day of consummation; he forbade it to appear.
For God the Father, seeing that the salvation of the nations can only
come from Jesus, told him: “Ask of me and I will give you the nations
for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.” (Ps
2:8) Thus, until the fulfilment of this promise of the Father’s, until
the Churches grow with people from the various nations and that “the
full number of Gentiles enter in” so that finally “all Israel will be
saved” (Rom 11:25), the day is delayed, the day’s fall is deferred. The
“sun of justice” (Mal 3:20) never sets, but continues to pour forth the
light of truth in the hearts of those who believe. But when the number
of believers has come to fullness and when the degenerate and corrupt
time of the last generation has come, when “because of the increase of
evil, the love of most will grow cold,” (Mt 24:12) ……then “the days
will be shortened.” (Mt 24:22) Yes, the same Lord is able to prolong
the length of days when it is a time of salvation and to shorten the
length of the time of tribulation and iniquity. As for us, so long as
we have day and that the time of light is lengthened for us, “let us
live honourably as in daylight,” (Rom 13:13) and let us do the works of
light.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God wants the works he entrusts to men to go ahead on the basis of
prayer and mortification.
(The Forge, no.571)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the thirty fourth week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of St. Catherine of Alexandria
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Daniel 7:
2-14; Daniel 3: 75-81;
Luke 21: 29-33.
"And I saw,
coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man" (Daniel 7:
2-14)
It is very profitable to meditate
on the titles that are used of Our Lord in the New Testament. St John
the Baptist referred to Our Lord as the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. He directed the people’s attention away from himself
stating that he was not the Christ, but that the Christ was about to
come. Our Lord challenged the scribes and the Pharisees to consider
what John had said in pointing to him. They and the people asked Our
Lord if he was the Messiah who was to come. Our Lord was reluctant to
answer because of the kind of person all expected the Messiah to be. So
then, what titles did Our Lord give to himself? The most common was
“the Son of Man”, and in our first reading from the book of Daniel the
prophet foresees the eventual coming of the “Son of Man”. (Daniel 7: 2-14)
The coming of the "Son of Man"
that the prophet Daniel here foresees is clearly his final coming,
which Our Lord refers to at times in the Gospels - notably at the
beginning of his Passion before the leaders of the people who were
about to condemn him to death. In Daniel’s vision kingdoms will rise
and fall, but finally the One of great age will take his seat to judge.
The beast will be killed, and then on the clouds of heaven will come
“one like a son of man.” On him will be conferred “an eternal
sovereignty which shall never pass away”. The One predicted in this
splendid passage is Jesus Our Lord. In placing our faith in him and in
cleaving to him in our daily life we entrust ourselves to the One who
will take us safely through the vicissitudes of history into an
eternity of absolute security. The Son of Man is our Brother and the
Lord of lords and King of kings.
Let us dwell on the vision of the
Son of Man described by Daniel, for it is how our Lord referred
repeatedly to himself. If Our Lord loved to use the title, we ought
love to think of it.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The example of the
fig tree (Luke 21: 29-33)
John Henry Newman
(1801-1890), Priest, Founder of English Oratorians, Theologian (PPS IV, 13)
Once only in the year, yet once,
does the world which we see show forth its hidden powers, and in a
manner manifest itself. Then the leaves come out, and the blossoms on
the fruit trees, and flowers; and the grass and corn spring up. There
is a sudden rush and burst outwardly of that hidden life which God has
lodged in the material world. Well, that shows you, as by a sample,
what it can do at God's command, when He gives the word. This earth,
which now buds forth in leaves and blossoms, will one day burst forth
into a new world of light and glory, in which we shall see Saints and
Angels dwelling. Who would think, except from his experience of former
springs all through his life, who could conceive two or three months
before, that it was possible that the face of nature, which then seemed
so lifeless, should become so splendid and varied? …… So it is with the
coming of that Eternal Spring, for which all Christians are waiting.
Come it will, though it delay; yet though it tarry, let us wait for it,
"because it will surely come, it will not tarry." (Heb 10:37) Therefore
we say day by day, "Thy kingdom come;" which means,—O Lord, show
Thyself; manifest Thyself; Thou that sittest between the cherubim, show
Thyself; stir up Thy strength and come and help us (Ps 80:3).
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The foundation of all we do as
citizens - as Catholic citizens - lies in an intense interior life. It
lies in being really and truly men and women who turn their day into an
uninterrupted conversation with God.
(The Forge, no.572)
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Saturday
of the thirty fourth week of Ordinary Time 1
Today let us think of Saint John
Berkmans (Jesuit
scholastic);
also St. Leonard of Port
Maurice, St.
Sylvester Gozzolina (Saints)
Scripture today:
Daniel 7:
15-27; Daniel 3: 82-87;
Luke 21:
34-36.
“Stay awake, praying at all times for
the strength to survive all that is going to happen”
(Luke 21:
34-36)
During this last week of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year we
are treated with the rich passages from the prophet Daniel foretelling
the coming of the eternal kingdom of the Messiah. At the end
Christ will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of his
kingdom there will be no end - this is what we profess in the Nicene
Creed. Our passage today from Daniel finishes with the words, “His
sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty and every empire will serve and
obey him.” (Daniel 7: 15-27)
This is
what Our Lord prophesied of himself: he will come again to judge all
the nations, the living and the dead.
Well then, what are we to do about this? We do not know when Christ
will come again to judge. Our Lord when asked replied that no one knows
when this will be, only the Father. It can happen any time, so we
should live in the light of that fact. It means, to use the words of
Our Lord himself in today’s Gospel, “Watch yourselves, or your hearts
will be coarsened, ... and that day will be sprung on you suddenly,
like a trap.” (Luke 21: 34-36) We are to live in such a way that were
Christ to come suddenly, now, today, or this week, we would be ready,
and would be able “to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.”
More than this, the thought of being ever ready for Christ’s coming
ought impel us to be apostolic so that others too, as many as possible,
would be likewise able to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.
Let us live in the thought of the coming of Christ. He comes every day
to us in his grace, in his word, and in the Sacraments of the Church.
He will come at our death, and none of us knows when that will occur.
He will come at the end, whenever the end will be - and none of us
knows when that will be. We ought so live for Christ as to be ready for
him, and we ought bring the good news of Christ to others, as many as
possible, so that they too will stand ready.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Be on the watch; pray
constantly” (Luke 21: 34-36)
Comment by St Hippolytus of Rome (? –
235), Priest and Martyr (The
Apostolic Tradition, 41)
Pray before your body rests in bed. And then, around the middle of the
night, get up, wash your hands with water, and pray. If your wife is
there, both of you pray together. If however, she is not yet a
believer, withdraw to another room to pray, then return to your bed. Do
not be lazy for prayer… We must pray at that hour, for the elders from
whom we have this tradition taught us that at that hour the whole of
creation is resting for a moment from praising the Lord. The stars, the
trees and the waters stop for an instant, and the whole choir of angels
who serve God praise him at that hour with the souls of the just. That
is why the believers must hasten to pray at that hour. The Lord
also testified to this when he said: “At midnight someone shouted, ‘The
groom is here! Come out and greet him!’” (Mt 25:6) And he goes on and
says: “Keep your eyes open, for you know not the day or the hour.”
(25:13) When the cock crows in the morning, when you get up, pray again.
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When you are with someone, you have to see a soul: a soul who has to be
helped, who has to be understood, with whom you have to live in
harmony, and who has to be saved.
(The Forge,
no.573)
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