February 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's general
prayer intention for February is: "That the international
community may be ever more aware of the urgent
duty to bring an end to the trafficking in human beings."
The Pope's mission
intention
for February is:
"That in the missions the lay faithful may recognize the
need to
serve their own country with greater commitment, also in its political
and social life."
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Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time B
Today let us
think of St. Gildas the Wise
(Saints)
Scripture: Deuteronomy
18:15-20; Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-9; 1
Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28
“Have you come to destroy us? I know
who you are: the Holy One of God.” (Mark 1:21-28)
It is often said that when we look ahead time seems to move
slowly, and when we look back, time seems to have passed very quickly.
Usually when we look back on the day, it seems to have passed quickly,
so too with the past week, the past month, the past year. When we come
to the end of our lives, the whole of our life will seem to have passed
quickly and we shall wonder what we have done with it. Life is short,
and we had better learn this quickly because eternity is long. During
life we often think of the future so as to prepare for it. Parents
choose
a school for their children in view of their future. Students study
with a view to their future exams and their future careers. A young
couple prepares for their future marriage and their future family. A
man embarks on a career path in view of a future he hopes will be his.
People save and contribute to superannuation in view of their future,
their retirement. And yet a great many people do not think of their
future beyond death - and that future is the real future which will
never end. Everything depends on what our future will be then. Then our
present state will seem a brief flash of time, and yet we will
recognise clearly how all-important it was. Everything, our entire
eternity, depends on how we live this brief flash of time which we call
our life.
What awaits the person after death when he has been
faithful to the dictates of his conscience and to the
commandments of God as Christ and the Church teach them? Immediately
after death there is the judgment of God. The person whose soul is
judged by God is either saved forever or lost forever. If a person is
saved, there would normally be a purification in Purgatory from all the
effects of sin before being admitted in an entirely holy state into the
presence of God forever. At that point the bliss of heaven begins, the
bliss of being face to face with the God who is infinite love, goodness
and beauty. It will mean being engulfed in total happiness forever. Our
life will have been a success if it results in gaining heaven. It will
have been a catastrophic failure if it results in the loss of heaven.
Our merit and place in heaven will depend on the degree to which we
have loved and obeyed God on earth, and the degree to which we have led
others to God and to heaven. We have a responsibility to save our own
souls and the souls of others.
In heaven our souls will be with God and with the saints and
angels till the end of time when we receive our glorified bodies back
again. During that period between our death and the end of time we
shall spend our time in heaven enjoying the company of God and of all
in heaven, and with the angels and saints praying fervently to God for
those still on earth. Then at the end of time Christ will come again to
judge the living and the dead, and of his kingdom there will then be no
end. Heaven and Hell will be made the final place for those who deserve
the one or the other. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth,
yes, a new earth, transformed and glorified as our final home just as
our bodies will have been transformed and glorified in some mysterious
and wonderful sense. All will be utter happiness and love. We will live
forever in a new heaven and a new earth in which every tear will have
been wiped away. We find it almost impossible to imagine a place and a
state of utter happiness because it is completely beyond our
experience. Here our times and moments of happiness are limited and
mixed with unhappiness. But there in heaven every trace of sorrow will
be gone in a new heaven and a new earth, transformed and purified of
all that is not the joy and goodness of God. It will last forever and
forever, such that however far in the future we will be with God in
this heavenly joy, there will still be an eternity of it ahead.
Let us think of our final home a lot. How can we get
there? In our Gospel we heard Christ in conflict with Satan (Mark 1:21-28). We must make a choice between Christ
and Satan, between the love of God and love of self and sin. We gain
heaven by following our Lord very closely, by trying to put on the mind
and heart of Christ. Now not I, St Paul writes, but Christ lives in me.
Christ is in you, St Paul writes again, your hope of glory. So then,
let us
so live that Christ lives in us now, in order to live in us forever
where
there will be the new heaven and the new earth, world without end.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“A completely new teaching in a spirit
of authority!” (Mark 1:21-28)
Comment by St Bonaventure (1221-1274),
Franciscan priest, bishop, cardinal, Doctor of the Church
Sermon ‘Christus unus omnium magister’
“Only one is your teacher, the Messiah.” (Mt 23:10)…… For Christ is
“the reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the
Father’s being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Heb
1:3) He is the origin of all wisdom. The Word of God in the heights is
the source of wisdom. Christ is the source of all true knowledge, for
he is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14:6)…… As way, Christ is
the teacher and the origin of knowledge according to faith…… That is
why Peter teaches in his second letter: “We possess the prophetic
message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely
fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place.” (1:19)……
For through his coming in the spirit, Christ is the origin of all
revelation, and through his coming in the flesh, he is the
strengthening of all authority.
He comes first in the spirit as the revealing light of every prophetic
vision. According to Daniel: “He reveals deep and hidden things and
knows what is in the darkness, for the light dwells with him.” (2:22)
This is the light of divine wisdom, which is in Christ. According to
John, Christ said: “I am the light of the world. No follower of mine
shall ever walk in darkness” (8:12), and “While you have the light,
keep faith in the light; thus you will become sons of light.” (12:36)……
Without this light which is Christ, no one can penetrate the secrets of
faith. And that is why we read in the Book of Wisdom: “O God, send
forth that Wisdom from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne
dispatch her that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know
what is your pleasure…… For what man knows God’s counsel, or who can
conceive what the Lord intends?” (9:10-13) No one can come to the
certainty of revealed faith except through Christ’s coming in the
spirit and the flesh.
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In your work with souls - and all your activity should be work with
souls - be filled with faith, with hope, with love, because all the
difficulties will be overcome. To confirm this truth for us, the
Psalmist wrote: You, O Lord, will laugh at them: You will bring them to
nothing. These words confirm those other words: the enemies of God
shall not prevail. They will not have any power against the Church, nor
against those who serve the Church as instruments of God.
(The Forge, no.637)
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Monday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(January 30)
Today let us
think of St Hyacinthe
Mariscotti (Saints)
Scripture today:
2 Samuel 15:13-14.30; 16:5-13; Psalm 3: 2-7;
Mark 5:1-20
“The unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send
us to the pigs, let us go into them.’ So he gave them leave.”
(Mark 5:1-20)
Today we have a long and beautiful Gospel passage to contemplate, the
passage describing Our Lord’s visit to the country of the Gerasenes.
One gets the impression of a region in which Satan had been fairly
undisturbed till this point, for at Christ's encounter with the
possessed man the unclean spirits beg him "not to send them out of the
district". The implication is that they have made their home there. Our
text presents us with a man possessed by many devils - ‘My name
is legion, for there are many of us’, answered he unclean spirit who
was "legion's" spokesman. This possession placed the man beyond all
human restraint or help. Night and day among the tombs and the
mountains he was beside himself in constant suffering, howling and
gashing himself with stones. (Mark 5:1-20) The prospects changed with the arrival
of Jesus, and the unclean spirts knew it. The spirits immediately
acknowledged the power and the holiness of Jesus, and appealed to
Jesus to let them be.
What does all this reveal? It surely reveals what was happening on a
broader and even cosmic scale. The world, broken and held in thrall by
Satan and his devils was witnessing the arrival and the redeeming
activity of the all-powerful and all-holy One. The Messiah had arrived
on the scene and Satan knew his stay and hold on the world was coming
to an end. So on the one hand
we have the beautiful figure of Jesus who displays his powerful love
for the possessed man. On the other hand we have Satan and
his evil spirits. Christ frees the
man from the power of the demons who possess
him. We notice too how even our Lord’s treatment of the devils is
somewhat gentle, acceding to their desperate request that they be
allowed to go into the herd of pigs and make their home there. Their
stay in the pigs did
not last long, for the pigs were driven to their death as a result.
Then when our Lord is asked to
leave by the local inhabitants he allows that request too. Our
Lord in
all his power is, we might say, the divine and human gentleman.
Let us contemplate the humility, the love and the meekness of Jesus who
is at the same time all-powerful. Let us make our choice for Jesus,
rejecting all that pertains to Satan. The Pope has just published his
encyclical teaching us that God is love. It is a truth written all
across the pages of the Gospel and shining forth in the face of Jesus.
Let us learn from Jesus and let his Spirit inform all we do in the life
of the Church and in the life of Society.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Go home to your family and make it
clear to them how much the Lord in his mercy has done for you.” (Mark 5:1-20) Commentary from the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Lumen Gentium, 17
As the Son was sent by the Father (cf. Jn 20:21), so he too sent the
apostles, saying: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. And behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the
world" (Mt 21:18-20). The Church has received this solemn mandate of
Christ to proclaim the saving truth from the apostles and must carry it
out to the very ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). Wherefore she makes
the words of the Apostle her own: "Woe to me, if I do not preach the
Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16), and continues unceasingly to send heralds of the
Gospel until such time as the infant churches are fully established and
can themselves continue the work of evangelizing. For the Church is
compelled by the Holy Spirit to do her part that God's plan may be
fully realized, whereby he has constituted Christ as the source of
salvation for the whole world. By the proclamation of the Gospel she
prepares her hearers to receive and profess the faith. She gives them
the dispositions necessary for Baptism, snatches them from the slavery
of error and of idols and incorporates them in Christ so that through
charity they may grow up into full maturity in Christ. Through her
work, whatever good is in the minds and hearts of men, whatever good
lies latent in the religious practices and cultures of diverse peoples,
is not only saved from destruction but is also cleansed, raised up and
perfected unto the glory of God, the confusion of the devil and the
happiness of man. The obligation of spreading the faith is imposed on
every disciple of Christ, according to his state. Although, however,
all the faithful can baptize, the priest alone can complete the
building up of the Body in the Eucharistic sacrifice. Thus are
fulfilled the words of God, spoken through his prophet: "From the
rising of the sun until the going down thereof my name is great among
the gentiles, and in every place a clean oblation is sacrificed and
offered up in my name" (Mal 1:11). In this way the Church both prays
and labours in order that the entire world may become the People of
God, the body of the Lord and the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that
in Christ, the head of all, all honour and glory may be rendered to the
Creator and Father of the universe.
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Our holy Mother the Church, in a magnificent outpouring of love, is
scattering the seed of the Gospel throughout the world; from Rome to
the outposts of the earth. As you help in this work of expansion
throughout the whole world, bring those in the outposts to the Pope, so
that the earth may be one flock and one Shepherd: one apostolate!
(The Forge, no.638)
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Tuesday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(January 31) St
John Bosco, priest (1815-1888). St John Bosco founded the
Salesian Society, named in honour of St Francis de Sales, and the
Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians. His lifework was the welfare of
young boys and girls, hence his title “Apostle of Youth. He had no
formal system or theory of education. His methods centred on
persuasion, authentic religiosity, and love for young people. He was an
enlightened educator and innovator. (Saints)
Scripture today:
2 Samuel
18:9-10.14.24-25.30-19:3; Psalm 86: 1-6;
Mark 5:21-43
“‘My daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith
has restored you to health; go in peace’.” (Mark 5:21-43)
In our Gospel today we are presented with a succession of events that
depended for their success on something absolutely fundamental for the
following of Christ: faith - faith in his person and word. Jairus the
synagogue official came to Jesus pleading with him to come and cure his
desparately ill daughter, who in the event died. Then while they were
on the way there a sick woman in the crowd secretly reached out and
touched our Lord’s cloak, convinced that if she did so she would be
healed. She was instantly cured of her complaint and our Lord told her
why she had been healed: her faith had saved her. (Mark 5:21-43) Then when they arrived at the house and
discovered that the girl had died, Jesus assured the official, “Do not
be afraid, only have faith.” He then raised her to life.
The passage teaches us in dramatic and concrete fashion that in the
plan of God our benefiting from the blessings that come to us through
the person and work of his Son normally depend on faith, faith in his
person and in his word. When our Lord was about to ascend into heaven
he charged his disciples to go throughout the world and make disciples
of all the nations - believers, that is. They were to bring the world
to belief in him, to faith. Now, we can sometimes take this priceless
possession, our own faith in Jesus, very much for granted. We ought
always remember that we have received it as a gift. It is a gift of the
Holy Spirit received at our baptism and strengthened by numerous
supernatural aids since. It actually inclines us to believe in Jesus
and to accept his word. Due to God’s gift we tend to faith. But were it
not for this divine help our fallen condition would leave us with the
tendency to depend simply on our own resources and (fallen) intellect. This in turn would tend to
take us in the direction of religious scepticism.
Let us remember too that our faith can easily remain at a mediocre
level, largely neglected and unexercised, and in danger of a serious
decline. On the other hand it can be fanned into the flame God intends
it to be and be the foundation for real holiness. Let us then learn
from our Gospel today how fundamental our faith is for our entire
relationship with God. Your faith has saved you, our Lord told the
woman. Our prospects of an eternity with Jesus depnd on this faith that
we have been given as a gift. Let us then resolutely cultivate it and
in our daily life strive to share it with others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Taking her hand he said to her, ……
'Get up'." (Mark 5:21-43)
Commentary on
Saint John IV, by St
Cyril of Alexandria (380-444), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Even in raising people from the dead, the Saviour is not content with
acting solely by means of his word, although it is the bearer of divine
commands. If I might put it this way, he takes his own flesh as
collaborator in this magnificent work, so as to show that it has the
power to give life and to make visible that it is entirely one with
him. For it is really his own flesh and not a foreign body. That is
what happened when he raised the synagogue official’s daughter. When he
told her: “My child, get up!” he took her by the hand. As God, he gave
her life through an almighty commandment, and he also gave her life
through the contact with his holy flesh, thus testifying that one
single divine power was at work in his body and in his word. In the
same way again, when he came to the village of Naim where they were
burying the only son of a widow, he touched the coffin saying: “Young
man, I bid you get up.” (Lk 7:13-17)
Thus, he not only gives his word the power to raise the dead, but in
order to show that his body is life-giving, he also touches the dead,
and by his flesh he causes life to pass into their dead bodies. If the
simple contact with his sacred flesh gives back life to a body that is
decomposing, how great a profit will we find in his life-giving
Eucharist, when we make it our food? It will totally transform those
who will have taken part in it into what is his own, that is to say,
into immortality.
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We want Christ to reign! All the glory to God! This ideal of warring
and winning with Christ’s weapons will only become a reality with
prayer and sacrifice, through faith and Love. Well then: pray, believe,
suffer, Love!
(The Forge, no.639)
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Wednesday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(1st February) Today let us think of St. Bridgid of Ireland
(Saints)
Scripture readings:
2 Samuel
24:2.9-17; Psalm 31;
Mark 6:1-6
"And Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is
only despised in his own country'" (Mark 6:1-6)
There is an aspect of our experience which we ought reflect on. It is
that our experience of the world and of all that we see can lead us to
greatly underestimate what is behind it and which we cannot see. The
world with all its beauty and vastness and power does not give an
adequate impression of its Creator whom we cannot see, and our
estimation of and attitude to God is all too often limited by this
experience of the
world. We underestimate the God of seemingly ordinary things. In
our Gospel today we are presented with the picture of our Lord
returning to his home town, having begun his public ministry. He had
spent thirty years in that village and his greatness had been
unnoticed. He had been entirely underestimated - and that is how he
wished it to be. It seems that in so many ways, and perhaps normally,
that is how God works. He calls on us to live by faith rather than
simply by sight, for in human life God is normally the God who works in
and through the
ordinary.
The point is made even more obvious by what happened when our Lord
returned. He went into synagogue on the Sabbath day and his hearers
were astonished at his power of address and his wisdom that was so
manifest. It was so contrary to their entire experience of him to that
point that they would not accept him. Presumably a factor here was that
they had felt so entirely his equal (and perhaps his superior) during
those long years of his growing up - which indicates his humility -
that they could not accept his manifest ascendancy. His greatness was
being manifested in part, but the true perception and acceptance of it
required the readiness to go beyond mere appearances and believe. In
the plan of God a life of obedience to him requires that we live not
simply by sight, but primarily by faith for he is a God who works in
the ordinary.
Christ continues to be present and operative in the world and in the
life of the Church through seemingly ordinary appearances. He is
present and operative in the ordinary members of the faithful, in the
seemingly ordinary Sacraments, in the reading of the Scriptures and in
the homily of the Mass. He is present in his full reality in the
ordinary-looking Host. He works in us and through us in our ordinary
everyday
work. God’s presence in the ordinary gives to the ordinary a grandeur.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit for an appreciation of the grandeur of all
that is seemingly ordinary. God is present there.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The work of the Church, each day, is like the weaving of a great fabric
which we offer to God: because all of us who are baptised make up the
Church. If we carry out our tasks, faithfully and selflessly, this
great fabric will be beautiful and flawless. But if we loosen a thread
here, a thread there, another over there... instead of a beautiful
fabric we will have a tattered rag.
(The Forge, no.640)
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Feast
of the Presentation of the Lord
(February 2) Today we
celebrate the
presentation of our Lord in the Temple and his consecration to
God as Mary’s ‘first-born’.The feast was first observed in the Eastern
Church as ‘The Encounter’. In the sixth century it began to be observed
in the West: in Rome with a more penitential character, and in Gaul
(France) with solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly
known as ‘Candlemas’. The presentation of the Lord concludes the
celebration of the Nativity and, with the offerings of the Virgin
Mother and the prophecy of Simeon, the events now point towards
Easter. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Malachi
3:1-4; Psalm 24: 7-10;
Hebrews
2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
“The parents of Jesus took him to
Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22-40)
Today we think of our Lord being brought to the Temple by Mary and
Joseph as their ‘first-born’ so as to consecrate him as God’s own
possession. In the process there was the encounter with Simeon and Anna
who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, bore witness to the Child’s
uniqueness and his divine mission. He would be the salvation for all
the nations, the glory of Israel, and a sign that would be rejected. (Luke 2:22-40)
In the consecration to God of this uniquely significant person, our
Redeemer, unique in all of human history in terms of his person and his
mission, we have the model for every human being. That is to say, in
his presentation and consecration to God we are all reminded of how we
too are called to be consecrated to God, and of how we who are baptised
are in fact consecrated to God. We were presented and consecrated to
God in our baptism and empowered further to live out this consecration
in the Sacraments. We were thus configured more and more to the person
of Christ, such that he now lives in us and we in him. At his
presentation in the Temple our Lord was not only made over to God his
Father, but his mission and his sufferings ere announced. The shadow of
the Cross fell across him and across his mother - his mother
representing his entire body the Church. It was through his carrying of
the Cross that the world was redeemed.
At our Baptism and in our reception of the Sacraments we too are
launched along the path which Christ our Redeemer followed, and so the
Cross casts its shadow across us too. By our Baptism we are in Jesus,
and Mary our Mother is with us too just as she was with him. Let us
pray for the grace to embrace the Cross, for the fruitfulness of our
life will come through the Cross, it just as was the case in the life
of the Master. On this feast of the presentation let us renew our
consecration to God in Christ, and set out to live it daily.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Why don’t you make up your mind to make that fraternal correction?
Receiving one hurts, because it is hard to humble oneself, at least to
begin with. But making a fraternal correction is always hard. Everyone
knows this. Making fraternal corrections is the best way you can help,
after prayer and good example.
(The Forge, no.641)
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Friday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 3) St
Blaise, bishop and martyr (4th century). He enjoyed widespread
veneration in the Eastern and Western Churches due to many cures
attributed to h im. According to tradition, he was Bishop of Sebaste in
Armenia and was martyred under Licinius (320-324) (Saints)
St Angsar,
bishop (801-864). Born in Bremen, Germany, Ansgar became known
as the “Apostle of the North” for his great evangelical work in Denmark
and Sweden. He was Bishop of Hamburg and then of Bremen. Gregory IV
appointed him as his legate to Denmark and Sweden. In reply to those
who questioned some miracles to him he said, ‘Were God to choose me to
do such things I would ask him for one miracle only: that by his power
he would make me a good man.’ (Saints)
Scripture today:
Ecclesiasticus 47:2-13; Psalm 18:
31, 47, 50-51; Mark 6:14-29
“The Lord took away his sins, and
exalted his horn forever” (Ecclesiasticus
47:2-13)
Our first reading from the book of Ecclesiasticus today eulogises David
for his many outstanding qualities. He was a great ruler and a true man
of God. At the same time he committed various sins, as we read in the
book of Samuel and as is briefly alluded to in our passage today (Ecclesiasticus
47:2-13).
David sinned, but he repented, obtained the pardon of God, and
continued
to advance in his love and service of God. He is in the category of
those saints who repented of great sins and attained holiness. In our
Gospel today (Mark 6:14-29) we have, on the other hand, another
kind of sinner, one
who sinned but who did not heed the voice of his conscience. I refer to
Herod whose distinction was to have put to
death the one of whom our Lord said that never had there been born of
woman one greater than he.
So then, David repented, while Herod did
not. Both persons committed grave sins, the one going on to holiness of
life,
the other we may presume died in his sins. What is the key to the
difference between the two? One key is that David was willing
to listen to and then obey the voice of his conscience when confronted
by it, whereas
Herod was not. That the voice of conscience was heard by Herod (but
ignored) we are
assured by various details in our Gospel passage today. Now, each of us
to a
greater or lesser extent will choose
either to listen to our conscience or not to listen to it, and we in
fact make this choice one way or another each day. Our conscience
whispers constantly, insistently and with authority and in doing this
it echoes the voice of God. Its judgment will need to be
improved and corrected and guided, but the sense of duty which informs
it must not
be ignored. If we do ignore it we follow the path of Herod
rather than that of David. If it is ignored in the little duties of
every day our hearts will be coarsened, and gradually the voice that
leads us to holiness will fall silent. In the smallest things we must
listen to and obey the voice of duty.
Let us then face our fundamental choice between Christ
and Satan, holiness or sin. We have the figure of David in our first
reading to encourage us to choose Christ and holiness, and the figure
of Herod
in our Gospel passage to warn us against Satan and sin. Let us be
sensitive to the voice of conscience daily encouraging and
warning, daily approving and reproving. So, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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He has shown that He trusts you by bringing you to the Church. So you
have to have the balance, the calm, the strength, the human and
supernatural prudence of a mature person, those qualities tat it takes
many people years to acquire. Don’t forget what you learnt in your
Catechism: that “a Christian” means a man or a woman who has faith in
Jesus Christ.
(The Forge, no.642)
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Saturday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
4) Today let us think of St
John de Britto (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Kings
3:4-13; Psalm 119: 9-14;
Mark 6:30-34
“It pleased the Lord that Solomon
should have asked for this.” (1 Kings 3:4-13)
Today in our first reading we are presented with the figure of Solomon,
the son of King David. Our text describes how God spoke to Solomon in a
dream inviting him to ask for whatever he desired. At this Solomon
replied that insofar as God had made him king in succession to his
father David, he asked for the gift of a heart that could discern good
from evil, and that could govern God’s people well. That is to say, he
asked for the gift of a discerning judgment and wisdom. It was a
request that pleased God greatly, and not only did he gift to Solomon
this gift of understanding but as a reward for this choice he gave him
riches and glory also. (1 Kings 3:4-13) Let us learn from this that the prayer
of petition pleases God, especially when we ask for what will please
him to grant us. Our passage shows that God loves to see us ask for
wisdom.
But let us also remember what happened to Solomon. Yes, he pleased God
by asking for wisdom and discernment, and yes, he received this gift to
such a degree that his very name is inextricably linked with wisdom. We
often refer to 'the wisdom of Solomon' as a byword. But despite that he
fell into profoundly serious sins which led finally into idolatry. Why
did this happen? We are not told but perhaps it was because he began
proudly to rely on himself rather than on God, and confidently strayed
into occasions of serious sin. He was ensnared and perhaps one morass
led to another. It seems he died in his sins and his bright prospects
ended badly. It reminds us that whatever be the gifts God has given us
we must be correspondingly humble, relying on the grace of God and
avoiding the occasions of sin. Let us remember what high gifts the
angel
Lucifer was given, and yet how great was his fall.
Furthermore, we notice that while Solomon asked for discernment and
wisdom, he did not specifically ask for holiness of life. Let us ask
for wisdom all our lives, but even more let us ask for goodness and
holiness every day of our lives. Holiness too is God’s gift, and it is
for holiness that we have been created.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You want to be strong? Then first realise that you are very weak. After
that, trust in Christ, your Father, your Brother, your Teacher. He
makes us strong, entrusting to us the means with which to conquer - the
sacraments. Live them!
(The Forge, no.643)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time B
(February 6) St
Agatha, virgin and martyr (died about 251) She was martyred in
Catania (Sicily) probably during the time of Decius. Her name appears
in the Roman Canon. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Job
7:1-4.6-7; Psalm 147: 1-6; 1
Corinthians
9:16-19.22-23; Mark 1:29-39
“He went to her, took her by the hand
and helped her up. And the fever left her”. (Mark 1:29-39)
We live in a technologically advanced society. While many
sicknesses have been averted due to advances in medicine and
technology, people still get sick
and die. Sickness and death, and sickness alone when death is not
imminent, is a tremendous issue for the individual suffering from it.
In sickness a person experiences his powerlessness and his limitations,
and he is enabled to glimpse at death. On the one hand it can lead to
concern simply with self and even despair and revolt against God. On
the other hand it can lead to a greater maturity and a turning to God
and surrender into his care. Sickness and death is a great
challenge: it can be a danger or an opportunity.
In our Gospel today Simon’s mother-in-law is in bed with
fever (Mark 1:29-39). Having told him about her, our Lord’s
disciples bring him to her and he cures her. What does this suggest to
us? It reminds us that Jesus is the Healer and the Saviour of the
one who is sick, especially the one who is in some danger of death. It
reminds us too that the greatest thing we can do for the sick person is
to pray to Jesus for him and to try to bring Jesus to the sick person,
just as our Lord’s disciples did. If our Lord’s disciples had not
told him
about her and brought him to her, her fever would not have been taken
away from her at the time it was. She was in this sense dependent on
our Lord’s disciples. So too when people are sick they depend on us to
pray for them in our prayer to our Lord, and to do whatever we can to
bring the healing presence of Jesus to them. In him is to be found
every heavenly
blessing for the sick and dying person. Let us remember this when we
ourselves fall sick and when we have contact with the sick. Christ is
the One the sick person needs.
What a wonderful thing if the one visiting the sick person
truly loves our Lord and has sufficient knowledge of the Catholic Faith
to be able to speak of our Lord to that sick person. I remember nearly
forty years ago reading a great Australian novel by Henry Handel
Richardson. There is one scene in which one of the characters lies
dying and his friend steps forward and says to him, “Have no fear of
death, John!” It is a striking statement, but it is empty. Why? Because
the dying person is being told not to fear
death without being given any reason. Now, any member of Christ’s
faithful has something wonderful to bring to the sick person and
especially to the dying person. It is the Good News about Christ: “Have
no fear of death, John, for Christ is with you!” That is the reason for
not fearing death. But first it is necessary to help the sick person to
repent of sin, to believe in Christ, and to receive him totally. If the
person is baptised and in the state of grace, Christ is in him as his
hope of glory. If he is not baptized, if he is a person of another
religion, it can still be the opportunity to speak about
the person of Jesus, inviting the sick person to welcome Jesus as the
healer and redeemer of the soul. It is the chance to do what the
disciples did in the Gospel: to bring Jesus to the sick person.
If the sick person is a member of the
Church we ought invite the sick person to have a priest come and give
the Sacraments: Confession - always suggest Confession! - and Holy
Communion. If the person is seriously ill, beginning to be in some
danger of death or about to have some serious operation, we ought
suggest the Anointing of the Sick as well. Jesus comes in person in
these Sacraments when they are administered to the sick person. He
comes to
cleanse the person of his sins in the Sacrament of Penance. In
the Anointing of the Sick Christ comes to strengthen the sick person so
as to
bear the difficulties of serious illness or old age, and give healing
of
soul and even at times of body. In this sacrament Christ also unites
the sick person to him in his own Passion and in this way enables the
sick
person to share in his redemptive work, thus doing great good from his
very sick bed. But especially does our Lord in this sacrament prepare
the dangerously sick person for his final journey to God. Then in
addition there is the Holy Eucharist, Jesus himself, called
Viaticum when given to the dying.
Let us reflect on the implications of today’s Gospel. Our
Lord is with us when we are sick to transform our sickness from being a
multi-faceted danger to a great opportinity for holiness. Let us
welcome him then, and let us make it our
business to help every sick person welcome Christ, especially Christ as
he comes to them in the sacraments of Penance, Anointing and the
Eucharist.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading:
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church, no. 1499-1523
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I understood you very well when you
confessed to me: I want to steep
myself in the liturgy of the Holy Mass.
(The Forge,
no.644)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the fifth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 6) Saint Paul Miki and
his companions, martyrs (died 1597). Paul Miki, a Japanese
Jesuit, and his twenty-five companions (including Pedro Bautista
of the Philippines) were martyred in Nagasaki, Japan. They were the
first martyrs of East Asia to be canonized. They were killed
simultaneously by being raised on crosses and then stabbed with spears.
Their executioners were atounded upon seeing their joy at being
associated with the Passion of Christ. Every Christian is called to
bear witness, in life and in death, to the Faith. (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Kings
8:1-7.9-13; Psalm 132: 6-10;
Mark 6:53-56
“In the presence of the ark, King
Solomon and all Israel sacrificed countless sheep and oxen”.
(1 Kings
8:1-7.9-13)
In our first reading today we are told of how the ark of the covenant
containing the two stone tablets with God’s commandments on them were
transported from Zion to the Temple. In the presence of the ark great
numbers of sheep and cattle were sacrificed. The ark was placed in the
Holy of Holies of the Temple, and the glory of the Lord filled the
Temple in the form of a cloud. (1 Kings
8:1-7.9-13) The ark was a wonderful possession of
the people of God. It contained God’s writing setting out his
commandments which were the terms of the covenant, and God marked its
presence in the Temple with signs of his own guaranteed presence. Our
Lord himself was full of love for his Father’s House and on one
memorable occasion physically cleansed the Temple of what he said
defiled the place where his Father dwelt.
What we read in today’s first reading points to something far greater
that was to come, something accessible to all of us who are Christ’s
faithful wherever we live in the world. In every one of our parish
churches a far greater than the ark dwells: the person of Jesus Christ
in all his risen reality, and with him the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Solomon sacrificed vast numbers of sheep and oxen to honour God and the
ark of God. Every day at Mass the greatest possible sacrifice is
offered to God. Just as the writing on the ark came from God, so the
sacrifice offered in the Mass comes from him for it makes present again
and again the one all-sufficient and infinitely valuable sacrifice of
Christ at Calvary. Calvary is made present.
Let us read our passage from 1 Kings today thinking of how wondrously
what it describes has been fulfilled every day in our midst, in the
midst of the Church. Let us ask the Holy Spirit for a lively faith in
the reality of what the Mass contains and of what it is under the form
of signs, and let us ask for the spirit of reverence to celebrate it to
the full.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How great is the value of piety in the Holy Liturgy! I was not at all
surprised when someone said to me a few days ago, talking about a model
priest who had died recently: “What a saint he was!” “Did you know him
well?” I asked. “No,” he said, “but I once saw him saying the Mass.”
(The Forge,
no.645)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the fifth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 7) Today let us
think of St Mel
(Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Kings
8:22-23.27-30; Psalm 84: 3-5,
10-11;
Mark 7:1-13
“Listen to the prayer and entreaty of
your servant, Lord my God”. (1 Kings
8:22-23.27-30)
I remember 28 years ago when visiting Ecuador in South America I met a
deacon of that country whom a priest told me was one of the leading
poets of Ecuador. I saw a small book of poems he had published. Its
title was “The Silence of God”, or something to that effect. I was told
at the time that a leading theme of his poetry was the apparent
inaction of God in the face of petitions. Recently there was a
program on ABC TV about the life and writings of the famous English
author and Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis. His Christian faith (which
he had come to after atheism and agnosticism) underwent a great shock
at the death of his wife. The apparent silence of God in the face of
his heartfelt prayer and need was a great stumbling block to him. At
length he came to understand God’s inaction and silence as a loving
gaze from the One who was so far greater than he. That gaze summoned
him to shed his own notions and to trust in God.
In our first reading from the first book of Kings (1 Kings
8:22-23.27-30) we hear Solomon appealing to God for
kindness and pardon. He asks God to “listen to the cry and to the
prayer your servant makes to you today.” In his prayer of petition he
asks that God will watch over the completed Temple and the people who
pray in it. He asks also for forgiveness for their sins. It is a
heartfelt prayer which would receive its fullest answer in the coming
and the mission of Christ. But let us notice the boldness and
directness of Solomon’s petition to God. It manifests a lively faith in
the reality and the character of God. God is a living person to him, a
person of goodness and compassion.
It is very difficult to pray persistently for something if our faith is
not real and lively. One suspects that most people do not pray for
much, let alone pray persistently for what they need. Why? Basically
because they do not yet believe that God is really God. God’s so-called
“silence” has been their stumbling block. They have not gone on from
this experience to acknowledge that God's ways are far greater than
man's and so to trust
in him. When we do not see our petition answered immediately, nor in
the way we thought best, then it does not mean that God is silent. He
continues to be near, gazing on us with love and intent on answering
our prayer in ways beyond expectation. Let us then pray persistently,
with faith, knowing that God is not just one of us, but God.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since you call yourself a Christian, you have to live the Sacred
Liturgy of the Church, putting genuine care into your prayer and
mortification for priests - especially for new priests - on the days
marked out for this intention, and when you know that they are to
receive the Sacrament of Order.
(The Forge, no.646)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the fifth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 8) St Jerome Emiliani
(1486-1537). Born in Venice. Converted to Christianity after a rather
dissolute youth, he dedicated himself to the service of the poor, the
sick, and abandoned children. He founded a religious congregation
(Somaschi) which looked after the education of children, especially
orphans. He died of the plague while serving the afflicted. (Saints)
Scripture today:
1
Kings 10:1-10; Psalm 37: 5-6,
30-31, 39-40;
Mark 7:14-23
“For it is from within, from men’s
hearts, that evil intentions emerge”. (Mark 7:14-23)
Cardinal Newman, one of the greatest religious and theological writers
of the nineteenth century, wrote in his Apologia that he
had always been greatly oppressed by the degree of evil in the world.
Were it not for the unmistakable testimony of his conscience as to the
existence of God, the presence of such evil would have confirmed him in
agnosticism or atheism. Testimony such as this from such a mind as his
ought give us pause when considering the scale of evil in the world. We
are very familiar with the immense natural disasters that have rocked
modern life - the famines, the earthquakes, the cyclones, the wars and
suffering. But we are liable to forget that the greatest disasters and
evils are within the human heart. It is there that the worst
catastrophes are constantly occurring. Our Lord came to take away the
sin of the world, St John the Baptist told his disciples. It is sin
that constitutes the greatest offense against God. Indeed, God has
revealed that the death and destruction which is so manifest around us
ultimately stems from the sin of mankind.
So the primary battle of man’s life is the battle to be waged within
and over his own heart. It is a vast and unending war, when we think of
the sea of humanity across the sweep of human history. However great
might seem the task in combatting material evil and suffering, the task
of combatting and overcoming the evil of sin is incalculably greater.
It called for a divine champion to step in and take to the lists. The
ensuing struggle involved immeasurable suffering for him but he gained
the victory and broke the power of sin. Sanctity is now possible for
the human race, but it requires a tremendous apostolic activity by the
whole of the Church, especially - especially! - on the part of the
laity whose mission is the sanctification of the world. Their task is
to bring Christ to the world of everyday secular life. The great evil
of sin is overcome by union with Christ and living his life.
Our Lord in today’s Gospel (Mark 7:14-23) refers to what comes out of a man’s
heart, and how it is this that makes all the difference for good or for
evil. The Christian religion is a religion above all of the heart, in
which by the power of God grace the heart of Christ’s disciple is
transformed into the likeness of Christ’s heart. Let us then take up
the daily work of our transformation into Christ. No other work
compares with this.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“A clean heart create for me, O God”
(Ps 51:12) (Mark 7:14-23)
Commentary by St Isaac the Syrian (7th
century), Monk in Ninive, near Mosul, present-day Iraq
(Spiritual Discourses, 1st
series, no. 21)
It is said that only God’s help saves. When a person knows that there
is no other help, he prays a lot. And the more he prays, the more his
heart becomes humble, for it is not possible to pray and to request
without being humble. “A heart contrite and humble, o God, you will not
spurn.” (Ps 51:19) So long as the heart has not become humble, it is
impossible for it to escape being scattered; humility gathers the heart
together.
When a person has become humble, compassion immediately surrounds him
and his heart then feels God’s help. He discovers a strength rising up
within him, the strength of trust. When a person thus feels God’s help,
when he feels that God is there and that he comes to his aid,
immediately his heart is filled with faith and he then understands that
prayer is the refuge of help, the source of salvation, trust’’s
treasure, the port that has been freed of the storm, the light of those
who are in darkness, the support of the weak, the shelter in times of
trial, help at the height of illness, the shield that saves in combat,
the arrow sent out against the enemy. In one word, a multitude of good
enters into him by means of prayer. So from then on, he finds his
delight in the prayer of faith. His heart is radiant with trust.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offer your prayer, your atonement, and your action for this end: that
they may be one! - that all of us Christians may share one will, one
heart, one spirit. This is so that we may all go to Jesus, closely
united to the Pope, through Mary.
(The Forge, no.647)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the fifth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
9) Today
let us think of St Teilo
(Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Kings 11:4-13;
Psalm 106: 3-4,
35-36, 37 and 40;
Mark 7:24-30
“The Lord was angry with Solomon
because his heart had turned from the Lord” 1 Kings 11:4-13
In today’s first reading from the first book of Kings we are told of
the sad end of Solomon. He began his career as king with such promise,
choosing wisely and being abundantly blessed by God. But gradually he
sank into the most serious of sins, being led astray into deliberate
idolatry. That his idolatry was deliberate we can see from the very
text: “The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned
from the Lord the God of Israel who had twice appeared to him and who
had forbidden him to follow other gods; but he did not carry out the
Lord’s order.” (1 Kings 11:4-13)
He
violated the very first and most pivotal of the commandments of the
covenant. David ended his days faithful to the Lord, while his son
Solomon did not.
Solomon’s path proved to be the pattern for so many of the kings of
Israel, and indeed for so much of the history of the people itself. The
national fragmentation which Solomon drew down upon his people because
of his sins also proved to be the pattern for so much of the history of
Israel. But God was faithful, showing his fidelity and his mercy in
preserving as a remnant the tribe of Judah. All through the history of
God’s people we see that pattern at work - the infidelity of the people
and the fidelity of God. From the remnant, the tribe of Judah, would
come the salvation long promised, the blessing for all the nations of
the earth. God the Son born of Mary and sprung from the tribe of Judah
came to endure all that our sins deserved. By his fidelity he made up
for our infidelity, and in this expiation God established the new and
eternal covenant.
By this new covenant we have received the gift of God’s Spirit to
enable us to be truly faithful. Let us learn from the sad example of
Solomon to strive to be faithful, and let us learn from the merciful
fidelity of God the great lesson that we can constantly trust in him.
Let us always begin again. So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The woman was a Greek” (Mark
7:24-30) Commentary from the Second Vatican Council
(Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate,
1-2)
In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together and
the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church
examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In
her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations,
she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and
what draws them to fellowship.
One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, for God made the
whole human race to live over the face of the earth (cf. Acts 17:26).
One also is their final goal, God. His Providence, his manifestations
of goodness, his saving design extend to all men (cf. Wis 8:1; Acts
14:17; Rom 2:6-7; 1 Tim 2:4), until that time when the elect will be
united in the Holy City, the city ablaze with the glory of God, where
the nations will walk in his light (cf. Rev 21:23ff.).
Men expect from the various religions answers to the unsolved riddles
of the human condition, which today even as in former times deeply stir
the hearts of men…… Religions……try to counter the restlessness of the
human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing “ways,” comprising
teachings, rules of life and sacred rites.
The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these
religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and
of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many
aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often
reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she
proclaims and ever must proclaim Christ “the way, the truth, and the
life” (Jn 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life,
in whom God has reconciled all things to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:18-19).
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You ask me, my child, what you can do to make me very pleased with you.
If our Lord is satisfied with you, then I am too. And you can know that
he is happy with you, by the peace and joy in your heart.
(The Forge, no.648)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the fifth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 10) St Scholastica,
virgin (480-547). Born at Norcia in Umbria, she was the twin
sister of St Benedict. She followed the rule of her brother in
founding the Order of Benedictine
nuns. (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Kings
11:29-32 and 12:19; Psalm 81: 10-15:
Mark 7:31-37
“He took him away in private, away
from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears”
(Mark 7:31-37)
Once again in today’s Gospel according to St Mark we are presented with
an account of one of our Lord’s many healings. The man was deaf and he
had an impediment in his speech. The man was brought to our Lord by
others, and they who asked him to lay his healing hand on him. Now, as
we read this account we are struck by the variety of ways in which our
Lord grants petitions. In yesterday’s Gospel (Mark 7: 24-30) a
pagan woman pursued our Lord with loud and repeated cries that he cast
out the demon from her daughter. Our Lord’s response? He delayed, was
silent, and initially rebuffed her. Then her granted her persistent
petition. Why did he do this? ? We can offer guesses, but we are not
explicitly told. By contrast, on another occasion all that a woman did
was to reach
out and touch his garment and she was healed. On yet another occasion
again
nobody explicitly asked for a favour, but our Lord spontaneously raised
a young man from
the dead and gave him back to his mother.
On this occasion today our Lord takes the deaf man away in private and
goes through a relatively complex process of restoring his
hearing and speech (Mark 7:31-37). Why did he do this? We may hazard a
guess, but we are not told. So then, if we have the faith to ask Christ
for a favour (and many do not have the faith to do this) we may have a
certain expectation as to how God might answer the
prayer. But then when he does not answer it in this way, or when he
answers it only gradually, or when he appears not to answer it, we may
be tempted to give up our faith and our
expectations as being futile. But it is not futile. It is just
that God’s ways are not man’s ways, and even in the Gospel we see how
our Lord
answers in a variety of ways the petitions put to him. So when we pray
for what we need we must remember that we are praying to God and not so
someone who is more or less a projection of ourselves. Let us never
give up on prayer, including the prayer of petition because of the
appearances. The prayer of faith can move mountains, but it must be
prayer based on faith and not on appearances.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He put his fingers into the man’s
ears and…… touched his tongue” (Mark 7:31-37)
Commentary St Ephrem
(around 306 –– 373), Deacon in Syria and Doctor of the Church
(Sermon “On our Lord”, 10-11)
Divine strength, which the human being cannot touch, came down; it
covered itself with a palpable body, so that the poor might touch it,
and in touching Christ’s humanity, they might perceive his divinity.
Through the fingers of flesh, the deaf-mute felt that his ears and his
tongue were being touched. Through the palpable fingers, he perceived
the divinity that cannot be touched when his tongue’s bond was broken
and when the closed doors of his ears were opened. For the body’s
architect and artisan came to him, and with a gentle word, without
pain, he created openings in deaf ears. Then the mouth as well, that
had been closed and until then incapable of giving light to the word,
put into the world praise of him who thus caused its sterility to bear
fruit.
In the same way, the Lord made mud with his saliva and spread it over
the eyes of the man born blind (Jn 9:6) so as to make us understand
that, like the deaf-mute, he was lacking something. An inborn
imperfection in our human batter was removed thanks to the leaven that
comes from his perfect body…… To fill in what was missing in these
human bodies, he gave something of himself, just as he gives himself to
be eaten [in the Eucharist]. By this means he causes the faults to
disappear and raises the dead, so that we might recognize that the
faults of our humanity are filled, thanks to his body in which “the
fullness of deity resides” (Col 2:9), and that true life is given to
mortals by means of this body, in which true life resides.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A clear mark of the man of God, of the woman of God, is the peace in
their souls: they have peace and they give peace to the people they
have dealings with.
(The Forge, no.649)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time II
(11 February) Our Lady of Lourdes.
This day marks the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858
to fourteen-year old Marie Bernade (St Bernadette) Soubirous. There
were eighteen apparitions in all, the last of which was on 16 July
1858. The message of Lourdes is a call to personal conversion, prayer
and charity. (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Kings 12:
26-32; 13: 33-34; Psalm 106:
6-7ab, 19-22; Mark 8: 1-10.
“I feel sorry for all these people;
they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to
eat.” (Mark 8: 1-10)
There is one interesting feature which we notice time and again in the
religion of primal peoples. It is that the highest god seems to be
remote and withdrawn, and little concerned with the common and everyday
needs of the people. This is left to a variety of lesser gods. Now,
while we could consider the significance of this in the light of
Revelation, we ought also notice that this status of the highest god in
people's imagination is not a phenomenon peculiar to primal peoples. I
refer to the prevalence of deism. While it was especially in the
eighteenth century that the deist philosophy had greatest sway, one
gets the impression that for great numbers of people in our modern
Western culture God seems to be remote and uninvolved. That is their
image of him. They grant that the Creator he began the world, but their
constant assumption and fundamental image is of a God who leaves the
world largely to its own devices, or to lesser forces.
The Christian religion is the antithesis of this, and today’s Gospel
reveals a God who is indeed involved in man’s ordinary needs. We are
presented with the scene of our Lord being followed by a great crowd
for three days. What is his attitude to them? His heart is filled with
compassion for their needs. They are hungry and lack anything to eat,
and so he proceeds to feed them with a great miracle (Mark 8: 1-10). The scene is a revelation of God’s
concern for and involvement in the ordinary needs of his children. He
is not a God who disregards our needs, even though time and again how
this is played out is shrouded in mystery for there is an abundance of
evil in the world. This fact of evil makes is ever so important that we
shape our image of God not by appearances but by his own Revelation.
Let us then nourish our image of God by contemplating the figure of
Jesus in the Scriptures and in the Church’s Tradition. The way to God
is through the human nature of Jesus. God became man in order that we
might go to him. In Jesus God has come to us and made himself known.
God is a God of loving involvement in the world and of constant care
for us his children. He is a transcendent God yes, but an immanent God
too.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our shepherd gives himself as
food (Homilies
on St. Matthew, no. 82)
Commentary from St John
Chrysostom (345 –– 407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
“Who can tell the mighty deeds of the Lord, or proclaim all his
praises?” (Ps 106:2) Which shepherd ever nourished his sheep with his
own body? But what am I saying –– a shepherd? Often, mothers entrust
their children to a wet nurse as soon as they are born. But Jesus
Christ cannot accept that for his sheep; he himself nourishes us with
his own blood, and thus he causes us to become one single body with him.
My brothers, consider that Christ was born of our own human substance.
But, you will say, so what? That doesn’t concern all human beings.
Excuse me, my brother; it is a great advantage for all of them. If he
became man, if he came to take on our nature, that concerns the
salvation of all human beings. And if he came for all, he also came for
each one in particular. Perhaps you will say: So why have not all
accepted the fruit that they were supposed to receive through that
coming? Don’t blame Jesus, who chose this means for the salvation of
everyone; the fault lies with those who reject this kindness. For in
the Eucharist, Jesus Christ unites himself to each of his faithful; he
causes them to be reborn, he nourishes them with himself, he does not
abandon them to another, and thus he convinces them once again that he
really took on our flesh.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get used to replying to those poor “haters”, when they pelt you with
stones, by pelting them with Hail Marys.
(The Forge, no.650)
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The sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time B
(February 12) Today let us think of St Damian (Saints)
Scripture: Leviticus
13:1-2.44-46; Psalm 32: 1-2, 5,
11; 1
Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45
“Go and show yourself to the priest
and make the offering prescribed by Moses as evidence”.
(Mark 1:40-45)
We
are born into the social setting which is our family, we grow up in
various social settings, and we live out our lives in various social
settings. These settings are our family, school, workplace, friends and
acquaintances, our parish. Whichever it is, we can hardly live life
without living in a community of one kind or another. Now, part and
parcel of living in any community will be living subject to some form
of authority. Within the family, the parents have the responsibility of
exercising authority, and children of respecting it. Within the school,
the principal and staff exercise various degrees of authority, and
pupils should respect it. In the workplace there are some who exercise
some kind of authority, and many others who respect and obey it. So too
in the nation and also in the Church. The fact is that by divine
arrangement human society cannot be properly ordered nor can it hope to
be prosperous unless it has some people who are invested with
legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote
themselves by governing to the good of all. By God’s plan every human
community needs authority.
What then ought be our attitude to authority, inasmuch as it is
necessarily part of our life? The danger is that, living in the
blessing of a democracy in
which those who exercise authority are constantly and publicly
criticised, our attitude to
authority will often tend instinctively to be grudging and reluctant.
Well, the Christian will recognise that legitimate authority comes
directly or indirectly from God, and that by respecting legitimate
authority
we are respecting God. It means that wherever authority is legitimately
exercised over us, there God is touching our lives by making known his
will. If we are intent every day on doing the will of God and of
showing our love for him by serving him generously, then we have the
chance to do this by obeying the authorities that touch different
dimensions of our life.
Of course, it is often not that simple because those entrusted
with the authority that ultimately comes from God often exercise it in
at least partially sinful ways. Blindly to follow the directives of
authority in society could mean collaborating in things which are
intrinsically sinful. An example might be if a Government passes a law
allowing the prescription by doctors of deadly abortion pills. To obey
such a law would be to participate in an extremely sinful act.
However, the Christian while knowing that authority can be sinfully
abused, will nevertheless respect authority as something that comes
from the will and plan of God. Authority in society enables the members
of society to please God in their daily life in the world by their
obedience. It also means that the one invested with some authority has
the responsibility of serving God by governing and administering in a
way pleasing to God and not just arbitrarily.
In all of this the Christian has the example of our Lord himself
to inspire and guide him. At the age of twelve even though our Lord had
shown to Mary and Joseph who had been seeking him that he obeyed his
heavenly Father, he went
down to Nazareth and from then on was subject to their authority. Then
in his public ministry, even though he was being persecuted by the
religious authorities because of his teachings, he nevertheless
respected their authority. In our Gospel today he tells the leper he
had cured to go off and report to the priest and make the offering as
prescribed by Moses as
evidence of his recovery. In this instance, our Lord respected the
legitimate authority given by God to the priests to certify a healing.
So too in relation to the authority of the state, he told the religious
leaders that one should give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and
to God what belongs to God. And then in the presence of Pilate he told
him that the authority he had was given to him from above.
The lay
person whose mission is to serve Christ in the world ought have a
lively sense of the fact that in obeying legitimate authority in the
various spheres of his daily life, be it in the family, in the world
and in their parish, he is serving God and showing his love for
him. So then, respect for authority is a very important means of
keeping in union with God in daily life. In the person of Jesus there
is a wonderful example for the person who is called upon to exercise
authority, and a wonderful example for the person who is called upon to
respect and obey it. Christ is more than an example. He lives in us by
grace.
Cardinal Newman once wrote that the essence of religion is
authority and obedience. Let us pray for the grace to recognise God in
the authority that is legitimately exercised over us, just as Christ
would. If we ourselves exercise that authority over others, let us do
so just as Christ would.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: Catechism of the
Catholic Church no. 1897-1904 (Authority)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I do
will it. Be cured.” (Mark 1:40-45)
Comment by St Paschasius
Radbert (? –– 849), Monk. (Commentary
on Matthew’s Gospel 5,8)
Every day, the Lord heals the soul of every person who implores him,
who adores him reverently and who proclaims these words with faith:
“Lord, if you will to do so, you can cure me,” and he does so no matter
how many faults he has. For “faith in the heart leads to
justification.” (Rom 10:10) Thus, we must address our requests to God
in complete trust, without doubting his presence in any way…… That is
why the Lord immediately answered the leper who begged him: “I do will
it.” For the sinner has hardly begun to pray with faith when the hand
of the Lord begins to take care of his soul’s leprosy……
This leper gives us very good advice on how to pray. He does not doubt
the Lord’s will as if he were refusing to believe in his goodness. But
he is aware of the seriousness of his faults, and so he does not want
to presume on that will. In saying that if the Lord wills, he can cure
him, he affirms that the Lord has this power, and at the same time, he
affirms his faith…… If faith is weak, it must first be strengthened.
Only then will it reveal all its power so as to obtain healing for the
soul and the body.
Without doubt, the apostle Peter was speaking of this faith when he
said: “He purified their hearts by means of faith” (Acts 15:9)…… Pure
faith lived in love, maintained through perseverance, patient in
waiting, humble in its affirmation, firm in its trust, full of respect
in its prayer and of wisdom in what it asks, is certain of hearing this
word of the Lord’’s in every circumstance: “I do will it.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don’t worry if your work seems barren just now. When it is holiness
that is being sown, it is not lost: others will gather in the harvest.
(The Forge, no.651)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
13) Today
let us think of St.
Catherine de Ricci (Saints)
Scripture today: James 1:1-11;
Psalm 119: 67-68,
71-72, 75-76;
Mark 8:11-13
“You will always have your trials but,
when they come, try to treat them as a happy privilege”.
(James 1:1-11)
All
through life the natural tendency is to avoid difficulty and to hate
suffering when it comes. This is normal and natural, but inasmuch as
difficulty and suffering is so much part of life and indeed is
unavoidable - especially if we take our responsibilities seriously and
truly work at them - the challenge will be to find meaning in
difficulty and suffering. Otherwise happiness will not be possible. For
very many there is no meaning in suffering, and this fact finds
expression in so many contexts. There are those who find little meaning
in work when it is burdensome. Many see no meaning in ill-health, and
we see the consequences of this in the push for euthanasia.
St James in our first reading (James 1:1-11) makes it clear that there is meaning in
suffering, provided it is borne in the process of doing what is right.
He tells us that we shall always have our trials, but when they come,
how ought we look upon them? They ought be looked upon not just as a
burden but, St James teaches, as “a happy privilege”. Let us always
remember this when trials come: our trials are a "happy privilege" -
and he assures us that they will “always” come. Moreover, St James
tells us that when trials come our faith
is being “put to the test to make you patient” and that patience will
lead to Christian maturity “with nothing missing”. The sufferings that
God allows will enable us to advance to our full potential in Christ.
Trials are not a purely negative phenomenon, but rather they contribute
to our progress in God’s sight.
Every day we have difficulties which at times will become real trials.
Let us use them to remain united with Christ in his trials, which is to
say in his Passion and Death which redeemed the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Why does this
age seek a
sign?” (Mark
8:11-13) (Believing even in
darkness)
Comment by Saint [Padre] Pio
de Pietrelcina (1887-1968), Capuchin (OP; GF 174; Ep 4,418)
The Holy Spirit tells us: Don’t let your mind succumb to temptation and
sorrow, for joy of the heart is life for the soul. Sorrow is no good
for anything and causes our spiritual death.
It happens sometimes that the darkness of trial overwhelms your soul’s
heaven; but this darkness is light! Thanks to it, you believe even in
darkness; the mind feels lost, it fears no longer being able to see, no
longer understanding anything. But this is the moment when the Lord
speaks and makes himself present to the soul; and the soul listens,
understands and loves in the fear of God. So don’t wait for Tabor to
“see” God when you are already contemplating him on Sinai.
Progress in the joy of a sincere heart that is wide open. And if it is
impossible for you to keep that happiness, at least don’t lose courage
and keep all your trust in God.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though you gain little light in your prayer, even though it seems
dry and irksome, you should consider, with a sure, ever-new insight,
that you need to persevere in every detail of your life of piety.
(The Forge, no.652)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 14) Saints Cyril, monk
(died 869), and Methodius, bishop (died 885). These two brothers
evangelized Moravia, Bohemia, and Bulgaria. Methodius was consecrated
bishop by Pope Adrian II. Pope John Paul II proclaimed them patron
saints of Europe, with St Benedict. (Saints)
Scripture today:
James
1:12-18; Psalm 94: 12-15,
18-19;
Mark 8:14-21
“Do you not yet understand? Have you
no perception? Are your minds closed?”(Mark 8:14-21)
Spiritual perception:
One of the very intriguing phenomena of human society (at least
societies shaped by Western culture) is the profound
difference of opinion among men. That there is an objective truth
(whatever it might be) is self evident, and yet despite the fact that
human beings have minds that are designed to attain the truth, men
differ radically from one another in matters of the highest and most
pressing import. Inasmuch as contradictory propositions cannot both be
correct it means that many people are absolutely wrong. They are
blind and lack perception in respect to the truth and to matters of the
greatest value.
Many instances of this could be cited - such as the claim of many that
there is no
God and that Christ was purely a man. One of the most fundamental
needs of life is to attain the light of truth, and yet lack of perception is a fact of
human nature and of human society.
Our Lord confronted this problem (of blindness and lack of
understanding) among his own disciples. In our Gospel
today (Mark 8:14-21), having warned them against the lead
that was being given by the Pharisees and the Herodians (the yeast of
Herod), our Lord upbraided them for their lack of perception. Does our
Lord offer advice on how to guard against the danger of blindness? Yes,
for he warns his disciples to be on guard and to watch:
“Keep your eyes open and be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees
and the yeast of Herod.” They are to be vigilant and to be on guard. At
various times across the pages of the
Gospels our Lord asks for vigilance of his disciples. In our passage of
today our Lord's words imply that a failure in vigilance will result
(not only in sin, but) in a lack of understanding and perception.
So then, let
us constantly ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of wisdom whereby we
might attain the light of truth and live by it. We are
called to be people of perception and not of blindness. We must put on
the mind of Christ,
and in this way perceive as God perceives.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The harvest is good but labourers are
scarce” ( A comment by Pope John Paul II)
Cyril and Methodius were two authentic labourers in the Lord’s field;
the Church exalts their meritorious apostolic activity. It is conscious
of needing today even more Christians who are able to contribute to
announcing Christ Jesus’ message of salvation through their commitment,
their energy, their enthusiasm.
But the Church is also conscious of needing souls who are totally,
exclusively dedicated to preaching the Gospel, to missionary activity.
It needs priests, men and women religious, lay men and women who
generously and joyfully give up their family, their country, their
goods and their human affections so as to consecrate their whole life
to working and suffering for the Gospel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You grew in the face of difficulties in the apostolate when you prayed:
“Lord, You are the same as ever. Give me the faith of those men who
knew how to correspond to your grace, who worked great miracles, real
marvels in your Name ...” And you finished off: “I know that you will
do it; but I also know that you want to be asked. You want to be sought
out. You want us to knock hard at the doors of your Heart.” At the end
you renewed your resolve to persevere in humble and trusting prayer.
(The Forge, no.653)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
15) Today let us think of Saint Sigfrid of
Vaxjo (Saints)
Scripture today:
James 1:19-27;
Psalm 15: 2-5;
Mark 8:22-26
“Then putting spittle on his eyes and
laying hands on him he asked, ‘Can you see anything?’”
(Mark 8:22-26)
The ways of God:
One of the great mysteries of life is the immensely varied way in which
God deals with us his children. One person seems to go through life
blessed in so many ways - in terms of success at work, happiness in
marriage, physical and mental health, personal wealth and fortune, and
a whole lot of other factors that make up a human life. The other
person seems to pass from one mishap and misfortune to another. Often
much of this variation appears to have little to do with personal
decisions and mistakes, but rather because of circumstances. At least
so it appears. What is the meaning of it? It is impossible to say even
though partial answers can be given.
Our Gospel passage today gives us an example of the differing ways in
which God treats us his children. Some people bring a blind person to
Jesus for him to touch. His mere touch would do it - and of course
often he did not even touch but healed at a word and from a distance.
But in this case our Lord did not merely touch the blind man. He “took
the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then putting
spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, ‘Can you see
anything?’ .... Then he laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he
saw clearly” (Mark 8:22-26). So then, our Lord followed in this
case a long and convoluted process to bring about the healing. Why? Why
go through all this for that particular man, and do it far more
expeditiously for another? We are not told. God deals with his children
in different ways.
Let us remember this as we pass through the complexities of life with
all its joys and sadness. We are in the hands of our heavenly Father,
and he brings everything together for the good of those who choose to
love him. He knows what is best.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“They shall see God” (Matthew
5: 8) (Mark 8:22-26)
Comment by St Gregory of
Nyssa (335 - 395), Monk and Bishop (Homilies
on the Beatitudes, 6,1)
When from the height of the Lord’s steep words I contemplate their
infinite abyss as from the top of a cliff, my mind gets the same
impression one gets when gazing at the immensity of the sea…… My soul
feels dizzy before this word of the Lord: “Blest are the pure of heart
for they shall see God.” (Mt 5:8) God gives himself to the gaze of
those who have a pure heart. But Saint John says that “no one has ever
seen God.” (Jn 1:18) And Saint Paul confirms this idea when he speaks
of him whom “no human being has ever seen or can see.” (1 Tim 6:16) God
is the abrupt and highly sharpened rock, which does not give even the
smallest hold to our imagination. Moses also called God the
Inaccessible One…… He said that “no man sees the Lord and still lives.”
(Ex 33:20) But what? Eternal life is the vision of God, and these
pillars of faith certify that this vision is impossible? What an abyss!
... If God is life, the person who does not see him does not see life
either……
But the Lord stimulates this hope. Did he not give Peter the proof?
Under the feet of this disciple who was close to drowning, he
consolidated and hardened the waves (Mt 4:30).Will the hand of the Word
also stretch out over us who are submerged in this abyss, will it
strengthen us? Then we shall be reassured, for we shall be firmly led
by the hand of the Word.
“Blest are the pure of heart for they shall see God.” Such a promise
goes beyond our greatest joys; after this happiness, what other
happiness could we desire? …… The person who sees God has every
imaginable good through that vision: life without end, perpetual
incorruptibility, inexhaustible joy, unconquerable power, eternal
delights, true light, the sweet words of the spirit, incomparable
glory, uninterrupted happiness, finally, every good. What great and
beautiful hope this beatitude thus offers us!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you are troubled ... and also in the hour of success, say again
and again, “Lord, don’t let go of me, don’t leave me, help me as you
would a clumsy child; always lead me by the hand.”
(The Forge, no.654)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 16) Today let us think of Saint
Onesimus (Saints)
Sripture today:
James 2:
1-9; Psalm 34: 2-7;
Mark 8: 27-33
“Do not try to combine faith in Jesus
Christ.. with the making of distinctions”. (James 2: 1-9)
Love for the poor:
In our first reading today St James forcefully makes a point which the
average Christian is liable to forget or ignore. We are liable to
forget or to ignore the poor when we think of what St James calls “the
supreme law of Scripture: you must love your neighbour as yourself.” (James 2: 1-9) St James here was referring to the Old
Testament Scripture, for the New Testament Scripture was still in
formation (his own Letter was to be counted as part of it). There is
little doubt that right across the pages of both the Old and the New
Testaments it is revealed that we must love the poor and do whatever we
can for them. In the Gospels there is mention of how the common purse
of our Lord and the Apostles included provision for the poor. We
remember how when the very expensive oil, pure nard, was poured on our
Lord during the banquet in the house of Lazarus, Judas Iscariot
complained that the money could have been given to the poor. Whatever
about Judas’ perversion of this point, it surely reflects something of
our Lord’s teaching to his disciples. Especially do we remember our
Lord’s description of the General Judgment in which those who neglect
the poor will be accused of neglecting Christ himself.
The Church’s spiritual ideal includes service of and love for the poor.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta’s life and work as founder was one of loving
service of the poor. The well-known international community founded in
Italy, the Sant’ Egidio community, has one of its basic planks the
service of the poor. The Pope’s first Encyclical, God is Love, calls on
the Church to be a Church of charity. Let us then in our everyday life
cultivate a genuine love and reverence for the poor person, even though
it might have very inconvenient consequences for us. Our tendency will
be to recognize and serve the richly endowed, and to ignore and neglect
the poorly endowed. St James warns us that we “not try to combine faith
in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions
between classes of people.” Let us then take up this perhaps very
neglected area of our Christian responsibilities and put on the mind of
Christ by loving and serving the poor.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You are thinking not as God does, but as
human beings do” (Mark 8: 27-33)
Comment from Saint John of
the Cross (1542-1591), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
(The Spiritual Canticle,
Stanza 36, 10.13)
(The) thicket of God’s wisdom and knowledge is so deep and immense that
no matter how much the soul knows, she can always enter it further; it
is vast and its riches incomprehensible, as St. Paul exclaims: O height
of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how incomprehensible
are His judgments and unsearchable His ways. (Rom 11:33)
Yet the soul wants to enter this thicket and incomprehensibility of
judgments and ways because she is dying with the desire to penetrate
them deeply. Knowledge of them is an inestimable delight surpassing all
understanding……
Oh! If we could but now fully understand how a soul cannot reach the
thicket and wisdom of the riches of God …… without entering the thicket
of many kinds of suffering, finding in this her delight and
consolation; and how a soul with an authentic desire for divine wisdom,
wants suffering first in order to enter this wisdom by the thicket of
the cross!…… The gate entering into these riches of His wisdom is the
cross, which is narrow, and few desire to enter by it, but many desire
the delights obtained from entering there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The great turmoil of waters could not quench the fire of charity.” I
offer you two interpretations of these words of Holy Scripture. First:
the throng of your past sins, now that you have fully repented of them,
will not take you away from the Love of our God; and a second one: the
waters of misunderstanding, the difficulties that you are perhaps
encountering, should not interrupt your apostolic work.
(The Forge, no.655)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(February 17) The Seven Founders
of the Order of Servites. These seven were members of a
Florentine confraternity and they founded the Order of Servites
(Servants) of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Servites lead an austere
life of prayer and mortification, meditating constantly on the Passion
of our Lord and venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of
Sorrows. (Saints)
Scripture today:
James 2:
14-24.26; Psalm 112: 1-6;
Mark 8:34-9:1.
“Faith is like that: if good works do
not go with it, it is quite dead.” (James 2:14-24.26)
Faith and good works:
Among the various tendencies to be found in those trying to live a
Christian life, I
think it is worthwhile referring to two. There is on the one hand the
tendency to concentrate on one’s personal relationship with Jesus and
to busy oneself with various practices of piety, to the neglect of doing as much good as
one can to others. Faith in Jesus in this case is seen as
all-important and good works are largely an adjunct. On the other hand
there is the tendency to give oneself over to doing good while
neglecting one's personal relationship with God and Christ.
Accordingly,
little care is taken with times of prayer and spiritual reading, with
the regular and fervent reception of the sacraments, and with with
many other elements of a firm plan of spiritual exercises. Doing as
much good in life as possible is seen as all-important, and the life of
faith in Jesus is seen as something one can take for granted.
St James makes it clear that faith in Christ and good works cannot be
separated. He writes in our passage today that “it is by doing
something good, and not only by believing, that a man is justified.”
Faith, he insists, “is dead if it is separated from good deeds.” (James
2:14-24.26) So then, we need to be persons who
characteristically are contemplatives - who contemplate Christ
seriously and constantly - but who are also contemplatives in
action. We
must be characteristically at work, and at the same time
characteristically at prayer. We must be persons of great faith, and
persons who do great good (even if hidden and unnoticed). Let us then
learn how to fill up our days with a multitude of good
works, small and unnoticed but performed in the presence
of God whom in faith we contemplate in the face of Christ,
and helped by a
daily regimen of spiritual exercises. For as St James points out (perhaps
as a corrective to some who were quoting in distorted fashion the words
of St Paul), “it is by doing something good, and not only by believing,
that a man is justified.”
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Let him follow in my
steps” (Mark 8:34-9:1)
Comment by Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] (Meditation for Holy Week, 1969)
Like the Church itself, the sacraments of the Church are the fruit of
the dying grain of wheat (Jn 12:24). In order to receive them, we must
enter into the movement from which they themselves come. That movement
consists in losing oneself, without which it is impossible to find
oneself: “Whoever would preserve his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will preserve it.” This
word of the Lord is the fundamental formula for a Christian life. When
all is said and done, to believe is to say “yes” to this holy adventure
of “losing oneself”. In its quintessence, faith is nothing other than
true love. Thus, Christian life receives its characteristic form from
the cross. The Christian opening to the world, which today is so
extolled, can find its true model only in the Lord’s open side (Jn
19:34), the expression of that radical love, which alone is able to
save.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work to the end, to the very end! My child, it is the one who
perseveres right to the end who will be saved. We children of God have
the means we need: you too! We will finish, we will top out our
building, for we can do all things in Him who strengthens us. With God
there are no impossibles. They are overcome always.
(The Forge, no.656)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
18) Today
let us think of St Flavian (Saints)
Scripture today:
James 3:
1-10; Psalm
11; Mark 9:2-13
“There came a voice from the cloud,
‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him’.” Mark 9:2-13
There are so many voices in the world clamouring to be heard, so many
different philosophies guiding the thoughts and lives of people. That
these voices and philosophies have contradictory results we can see
simply by observing the opposite courses of behaviour pursued by those
who accept them, and those who do not. The recent Federal controversy
and legislation facilitating the availability of the deadly abortion
pill is an instance of this divergence. Down through the ages one
great teacher or leader has followed another, leading their disciples
to follow divergent religions or philosophies, and then to propagate
them with passion. Consider the reaction of Islam to the recent
cartoons of Mahomet. Human history is the history of voices that have
been listened to.
But the question is, has God pointed to a Voice which he means us to
hear and to follow? In our Gospel passage today (Mark 9:2-13)
there is
narrated the memorable event of Christ’s transfiguration, an event
remembered long after by St Peter and referred to in his inspired
Letter. At the transfiguration, God made his voice heard, and by means
of it he points to the One we must listen to: He is Jesus, his own
beloved Son. That message coming from God is the message we are called
to bring to others. If only mankind could be brought to listen to
Jesus! “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.” Every day of our
lives we ought be contemplating the person of Jesus and his teaching,
as brought to us by the successors of those who witnessed the event -
those successors being the divinely ordained Pastors of Christ’s Church.
As we think of the varied voices being listened to and accepted by our
politicians, by the leaders and formers of our culture, and by the mass
of the people, let us resolve to recognise clearly in our hearts and in
our daily lives the one supreme teacher of mankind for all the ages,
the one God asks us to listen to, Jesus his beloved Son in whom he is
well pleased. Having listened to that Voice, let us bring it to the
world.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mystery of the crucifixion and the
beauty of God’s reign (Mark 9:2-13)
Comment by Anastasius of
Sinai (? –– after 700), Monk (Homily on the Transfiguration)
The mountain of the Transfiguration is the place of mysteries, the
place of ineffable realities, the rock of hidden secrets, the summit of
the heavens. Here the symbols of the future kingdom were revealed: the
mystery of the crucifixion, the beauty of God’s reign, Christ’s descent
at his second coming in glory. On this mountain, the luminous cloud
covered the splendour of the righteous; the future good was already
realized. The cloud enveloping this mountain prefigures the carrying
away of the righteous on the clouds; it shows us already today what we
will look like in the future, our configuration with Christ……
While he walked with his disciples, Jesus told them about his reign and
his second coming in glory. But perhaps because they were not sure
enough about what he had told them concerning his reign, he wanted them
to end up being very firmly convinced in the depth of their heart, and
he wanted present events to help them to believe in the future events.
That is why he let them see that marvellous divine manifestation on
Mount Tabor as a prefigurative image of the kingdom of heaven. It was
as if he were telling them: “So that your gaze might not bring forth
incredulity in you, soon, even now ‘I assure you, among those standing
here’ and listening to me ‘there are some who will not experience death
before they see the Son of Man come in his kingship’.” (Mt 16:28) “Six
days later Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them
up on a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before their
eyes.” ……
“How awesome is this place! This is nothing else but an abode of God,
and that is the gateway to heaven!” (Gen 28:17) We must hasten to this
gateway.
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Sometimes the immediate future is full of worries, if we stop seeing
things in a supernatural way. So, faith, my child, faith - and more
deeds. In that way it is certain that our Father-God will continue to
solve your problems.
(The Forge, no.657)
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Seventh
Sunday of Ordinary Time B
(February 19) Today let us think of St Boniface of Lausanne
(Saints)
Scripture: Isaiah
43:18-19.21-22.24-25; Psalm 41: 2-5,
13-14; 2 Corinthians
1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12
“Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the
paralytic, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven’.” (Mk 2:1-12)
The acts of the penitent in
the forgiveness of sins:
When St John the Baptist pointed our Lord out to two of his
disciples, he said, “Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world.” Our Lord’s mission to mankind was being described -
it was to take away our sins. Over the course of human history various
persons have arisen who have brought great benefits to mankind. But who
could possibly have taken away man’s sins? Who could possibly take away
the sin of the whole world? God has revealed that sin is the root of
evil in the world and of all that leads to death. Now, who could take
this away? Only Jesus, the Lamb of God. Our Lord’s mission was to
forgive sin and take it right away. The forgiveness of sin is a dogma
of the Christian faith and is stated in the Creed as something we
solemnly believe in.
At our Baptism the original sin that we inherit and all our
personal sins committed prior to Baptism are taken away. Were a
newly-baptised adult suddenly to die at that instant, his soul would go
straight to heaven without any purgatory. But after Baptism is a
different matter, for as we know, sins are committed after Baptism, and
Baptism cannot forgive them. The divine life planted in the soul at
Baptism struggles with powerful and sinful inclinations that draw man
to sin. What provision has God made, then, for post-baptismal sin, the
sin that recurs daily throughout life after the great cleansing of
Baptism? The provision is the Sacrament of Penance. Our Lord forgives
and takes away the sins of those who have been baptized especially in
the Sacrament of Penance. In our Gospel today (Mark 2:1-12) the friends of the paralytic lowered
the paralysed man in front of Jesus, expecting a cure. But our Lord
first forgave him his sins. What our Lord did for that sick man then he
does for the person who approaches him in the Sacrament of Penance.
We also remember how on the evening of the very day our Lord rose from
the dead, he breathed on his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Then immediately he gave to them the power to forgive sins. This
forgiveness of sins comes to us every time we go to Confession -
provided we have the necessary dispositions.
The
necessary dispositions? What does God expect of us in coming to him for
the forgiveness of our sins? Just as our Lord forgave the sins of
the paralytic because he
saw in him faith, so too we must approach the Sacrament of Penance with
faith, a lively faith which recognizes the presence of our Lord
acting in the
person and the words of the priest. This faith ought be prayed for. It
is a grace, a gift from God. There are other personal dispositions that
should be prayed for in preparation for Confession. Most especially, we
ought pray for a
true sorrow for sin. We can be sorry simply out of fear of punishment
to come - and even if we go to Confession with little more than that
degree
of contrition Christ will still forgive us our sins in the Sacrament of
Penance. But
we ought pray for the grace to be more perfectly contrite than that. We
ought seek to be sorry for sin because of the love and goodness of God.
Let us
think of all that Christ has done for us, especially by dying on the
Cross. Sorrow
for sin is the linchpin for making a good Confession
and for receiving God’s pardon through this Sacrament, and indeed if we
go to Confession without being
sorry at all for our sins, our sins will not be forgiven. And the sign
that we are truly sorry is having an intention to amend, to change, to
repent. If I have no intention to change from my sinful course, how can
I say I am sorry? But then of course, if I am sorry I will also
actually confess my sins, especially any mortal sins. So I must examine
my conscience carefully asking the Holy Spirit to help me see the
extent of my sins (at the very least any mortal sins), and then I ought
make a good confession of them to the priest.
Then I must make up for the harm done to myself and
to others by my sins, which I at least begin to do by fulfilling after
Confession the Penance I
am given. But of
course that ought be just the start: we
ought bring into our life a spirit of penance so as to make up more
adequately for past sins and faults.
Three things we on our part must do in order to receive God’s
forgiveness, especially in the Sacrament of Penance. We must be sorry
for our sins, we must confess our sins, and we must make up for our
sins by at least fulfilling the Penance given. The linchpin of what we
do on
our part (contrition, confession, the penance) is genuine sorrow for
sin. What God on his part does is impart the grace of the Sacrament to
us, forgiving
and cleansing us from sin and restoring our friendship with him. So
then, thinking of today’s Gospel in which Christ forgives the sins of
the paralytic, let us make the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins a
living doctrine in our life, a doctrine which we live out by a life of
repentance and frequent and regular recourse to the Sacrament of
Penance.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.1450-1460 (Acts of the Penitent)
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“Who can forgive sins except God
alone?” (Mark 2:1-12)
Comment by St Peter Chrysologus (406 –
450), Bishop of Ravenna, Doctor of the Church (Sermon 50)
“My son, your sins are forgiven.” Through these words, he wanted to be
recognized as God while he was still hiding before human eyes under the
appearance of a man. Because of his manifestations of power and his
miracles, he was compared to the prophets; and yet it was thanks to him
and to his power that they had also performed miracles. Granting the
forgiveness of sins does not lie within the power of human beings; it
is what characterizes God. That is how he introduced his divinity into
human hearts. It is what outraged some. They said: “He is committing
blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”
O you who protest! You think you know, and you are nothing but an
ignoramus. You believe you are celebrating the divinity, and you are
denying it. You think you are bearing witness and you are dealing
blows. If it is God who forgives sins, why don’t you accept Christ’s
divinity? Since he could grant the forgiveness of one single sin, that
means that he wiped away the sins of the whole world. “There is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29) So that you
might grasp stronger marks of his divinity, listen to him. Yes, he has
penetrated the mystery of your heart. Look at him. He has come even to
the hideouts of your thoughts. Understand that he uncovers the secret
intentions of your heart.
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God’s ordinary providence is a continual miracle; but He will use
extraordinary means when they are required.
(The Forge, no.658)
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Monday
of the seventh week of Ordinary Time II
(February 20) Today let us think of Saint Wulfric (Saints)
Scripture today:
James 3:
13-18; Psalm 19: 8-10, 15;
Mark 9:14-29
“This is the kind,” he answered, “that
can only be driven out by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29)
Our choice for Christ
Most of us have some familiarity with the life of St Ignatius Loyola,
the founder of the Jesuits. He wrote a famous little retreat manual
called The
Spiritual Exercises, designed to facilitate in the person
doing the retreat a conversion to Christ. One of the meditations in
this manual that the retreatant is asked to do is the meditation on The
Two Standards. The retreatant contemplates Christ and his Standard on
the one hand, and Satan and his Standard on the other, and
then he is invited to choose for Christ. That meditation captures a
fundamental dynamic that features across the pages of the Gospel.
Christ is in conflict with Satan. He is the stronger one and the
victor, but there is no denying the seriousness and difficulty of the
struggle. We must choose for Christ in this conflict.
In our Gospel passage today (Mark 9:14-29) the crowd comes running to meet Jesus
with a request from one in the crowd that he drive out the demon from
his son. The demon has caused the boy great harm, and this has been
going
on from childhood. It was a picture of the great and constant struggle
with Satan
that faces mankind if the world is to be freed of the demonic
influence, a struggle beyond the powers of mere man. Our Lord
arrives on the scene, expresses a holy exasperation with their lack of
faith and then effortlessly casts out the demon from the boy. The devil
came
out at Christ’s word, but even then it did so with such a struggle and
violence that its departure left the boy unconscious. Satan has power
and this must be recognised, even though his power is as nothing before
Christ.
Let us make our choice for Christ, a choice we ought live out every day
by following in his footsteps and living by faith in his word. He will
show us the weapons we must use for the conflict ahead. Above all it is
the weapon of the cross, the cross carried daily in union with Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“I do believe! Help my lack of
trust!” (Mark 9:14-29)
Comment from The
Catechism of the Catholic Church §§ 153-155
Faith is a grace.
When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come
“from flesh and blood,” but from “my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt
16:17) Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him.
“Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to
move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy
Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes
of the mind and ‘makes it easy for all to accept and believe the
truth.’” (Vatican II, DV 5)
Faith is a human act.
Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy
Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human
act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed are
contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human
relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other
persons tell us about themselves and their intentions or to trust their
promises (for example when a man and a woman marry) to share a
communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it
contrary to our dignity to “yield by faith the full submission of ……
intellect and will to God who reveals,” (Vatican I) and to share in an
interior communion with him.
In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace:
“Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by
command of the will moved by God through grace.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christian optimism is not a sugary optimism; nor is it a mere human
confidence that everything will turn out all right. It is an optimism
that sinks its roots in an awareness of our freedom, and in the sure
knowledge of the power of grace. It is an optimism which leads us to
make demands on ourselves, to struggle to respond at every moment to
God’s will.
(The Forge, no.659)
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Tuesday
of the seventh week of Ordinary Time II
(February 21) St Pater Damian,
bishop and doctor of the Church (1007-1072). Born at Ravenna,
after completing his studies he taught for a short while but then gave
it up and became a hermit at Fonte Avelllana. He was elected
Benedictine Prior of the community and strenuously promoted religious
observance both there and in other parts of Italy. In the difficult
times in which he lived he helped the Popes by his writings and acted
as papal legate to reform the Church. He was created a Cardinal and
Bishop of Ostia by Stephen IX. He was the author of many important
works on liturgy,
theology, and morals, and supported St Gregory VII in his struggle for
the rights of the Church. On his death in 1072 he was immediately
venerated as a saint. (Saints)
Scripture today:
James
4:1-10; Psalm
55: 7-11, 23;
Mark 9:30-37
“Jesus...did not want anyone to know,
because he was instructing his disciples” (Mark 9:30-37)
Spending time with the Lord
One of the features of modern life is its busyness. People are now
usually very busy. The danger in this is that we can end up thinking of
little other than what we are busy about, which means that we could
miss what we ought be living for. Even in respect to our work we could
very easily end up missing the God of our work, the One we should be
serving in our work each day. So what should we do about the problem of
the busyness of life? The answer, of course, is not to refrain from
being busy, but to give time to other things that are equally if not
more important. We must give time to our family, to our physical
welbeing, and especially must we give time to God.
Our Lord was a person utterly given over to the work of his mission. He
was a man of intense work. We read in the Gospels that on one occasion
during his public ministry his relatives thought he was out of his
mind, so
intensely
was he working. He told his disciples on another occasion that his food
was to do the will of his Father, which was to save men. But here in
our Gospel today (Mark 9:30-37) our Lord did not want anyone to know
that he was passing through Galilee with his disciples. The reason was
that he was instructing them about his coming Passion and Death. He
wanted to be with them alone. We notice that on other occasions too the
Gospels speak of our Lord going aside with his disciples to be with
them alone.
So too we in our turn must give real and quality time to our Lord
alone, away from the crowds. This means that we ought give time each
day and each week and each year to be with Jesus and his word. This
ought be a normal and regular pattern, so as to be instructed by Jesus
in prayer and shaped by his teaching. Let us then have a plan of life
that builds
this consideration into our daily life.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“What were you discussing on the
way?” (Mark 9:30-37)
Commentary from Silouane
(1866-1938), Orthodox monk (Spiritual Writings)
Oh humility of Jesus Christ! You give the soul indescribable joy. I
thirst for you because in you the soul forgets the earth and stretches
out ever more ardently towards God. If the world understood the power
of Christ’s words: “Learn gentleness and humility from me,” (cf. Mt
11:29), it would put all other knowledge aside in order to acquire that
heavenly knowledge.
Human beings do not know the strength of Christ’s humility, and they
desire the things of the earth. But a person cannot come to the power
of these words of the Lord without the Holy Spirit. The person who has
plumbed them no longer leaves them, even if all the treasures of the
earth are offered to him…… The person who has tasted that love of the
infinitely gentle God can no longer dream of the things of the earth;
he feels constantly drawn by that love.
But we lose it through our pride and our vanity, through our enmities
and our judgment of our brothers; we abandon it through our greedy
thoughts and our proclivity towards the earth. Then grace abandons us
and the troubled, depressed soul desires God and calls him, like Adam
when he was chased from Paradise. My soul yearns and I seek you with
tears. See my affliction, enlighten my darkness so that my soul might
have joy. Lord, give me your humility so that your love might be in me
and that the fear of you might live in me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lord’s triumph, on the day of the Resurrection, is final. Where are
the soldiers the rulers posted there? Where are the seals that were
fixed to the stone of the tomb? Where are those who condemned the
Master? Where are those who crucified Jesus? He is victorious, and
faced with his victory those poor wretches who have all taken flight.
Be filled with hope: Jesus Christ is always victorious.
(The Forge, no.660)
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Wednesday
of the seventh week The Chair of
the Apostle Peter
(February 22) This feast
brings to mind the mission of teacher and pastor conferred by Christ on
Peter, and continued in an unbroken line down to the present Pope. We
celebrate the unity of the Church, founded upon the Apostle, and renew
our assent to the magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, extended both to
truths which are solemnly defined “ex cathedra” and to all the acts of
the ordinary magisterium. (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Peter
5:1-4; Psalm 23: 1-6;
Matthew 16:13-19
“So I now say to you: You are Peter
and on this rock I will build my Church.” (Matt 16:13-19)
Today we celebrate the ‘cathedra’ of Peter, the chair from which he
teaches and guides the Church. That is to say, we celebrate his
spiritual authority. When we consider our Lord’s astonishing words in
today’s Gospel passage (Matthew 16:13-19), a passage selected by the Church
because of
today’s feast, the thought of the disunity within Christendom bears
down on our minds. A major point of this disunity is precisely over the
authority granted by Christ to Peter and his successors. That authority
is very great, signalling what is and will be ratified in heaven
itself. The Catholic Faith interprets our Lord’s words at their face
value and gives to Peter and his successors a pivotal role in the life
of the Church: they wield the Keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Very many martyrs have given their lives for the Catholic doctrine of
the papal primacy. We think of the great English martyrs, St John
Fisher, St Thomas More, St Edmund Campion, and so many others. They
died because they would not give way in respect to the spiritual
authority of the Pope. All this means that we in our turn ought
integrate well and wholeheartedly the doctrine of the Church on the
papal magisterium, bringing to it a personal love for the Pope as well.
We are invited to pray for the intentions of the Pope frequently. When
it comes to gaining plenary indulgences, prayer for the Pope’s
intentions is a basic requisite. I suspect that many Catholics rarely
pray for the Pope’s intentions, and this neglect cannot be pleasing to
God.
Let us set ourselves the challenge of so referring to the Pope and his
universal ministry that others outside the Fold will come instinctively
to respect and love the Pope as well. In the Pope we see the chief
representative of Christ, a true instrument of his grace in this our
secular world.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Your name shall be Peter” (Jn
1:42) (Matthew 16:13-19)
Comment from St Augustine (354-430),
Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 190)
“You are ‘Rock’ [Peter], and on this rock I will build my church.” This
name Peter is given to him because he was the first to lay the
foundations of faith among the nations and he is the indestructible
rock on which rest the foundations and the whole of Jesus Christ’s
edifice. He is called Peter because of his fidelity, whereas according
to the word of Saint Paul, the Lord received this same name because of
his power: “They drank from the spiritual rock that was following them,
and the rock was Christ.” (1 Cor 10:4) Yes, the apostle who was chosen
to cooperate in his work deserved to share a same name with Christ.
Together, they built the same edifice. Peter planted and the Lord gives
the growth; it is also the Lord who sends those who have to give it
water (cf. 1 Cor 3:6f.).
As you know, beloved brothers, starting from his own faults, the
blessed Peter was raised up at the time when his Saviour was suffering.
After he denied the Lord, he became the first with him. In weeping over
the faith which he had betrayed, he was made more faithful, he received
a greater grace than the one he had lost. Christ entrusted his flock to
him so that he might lead it like the good shepherd, and he who had
been so weak now became a support for everyone. He who had been
questioned about his faith had fallen, and now he had to set up the
others on the unshakeable foundation of faith. Therefore he is called
the foundation stone of the Churches’ piety.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you look for Mary, you will necessarily find Jesus; and you will
learn, in greater and greater depth, what there is in the heart of God
(The Forge,
no.661)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the seventh week of Ordinary Time II
(February 23) Saint Polycarp,
bishop and martyr. Polycarp was a disciple of the apostles and
bishop of Smyrna (Izmir, in Turkey), as well as a friend of St Ignatius
of Antioch. He went to Rome to confer with Pope St Anicetus about the
celebration of Easter. He suffered martyrdom about the year 155 by
being burnt to death in the city stadium. (Saints)
Scripture today:
James 5:
1-6; Psalm 49: 14-20;
Mark 9: 41-40
“If anyone gives you a cup of water to
drink just because you belong to Christ...” (Mark 9:41)
It was recently stated at an international conference that all the
religions of man stress the virtues of charity, justice and
forgiveness. Whether this is so I could not say, but the religion
established by Christ our Lord stresses one aspect of our attitude to
others which is altogether distinctive. It is alluded to by our Lord in
today’s Gospel (Mark 9: 41-40), when he tells his disciples that “if
anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to
Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his
reward.” So then, an important motive for serving and helping others is
that they belong to Christ. We belong to Christ because of our baptism
and membership in the Church, of course. But inasmuch as Christ died on
the cross to save all men, all of mankind must be said to belong to him
in the plan
and intention of God. Our Lord is inviting us to help others because
they belong to him. He is also saying that even though there are many
things a man may do for others that may not be rewarded by society,
the case is different in respect to rewards from God - “he will most
certainly not
lose his reward.”
That is to say we who are disciples of Jesus are called to love and
serve others out of love for Jesus. The pope’s recently published first
Encyclical, God is love, in its second half is given over to the
Church's life of charity. The pope explains how charity towards others
is an essential element in the Christian life. In the twenty fifth
chapter of St Matthew’s Gospel our Lord describes the General Judgment,
in which each will be judged on how he treated others, especially the
least among them. It will be a matter of the utmost seriousness because
Christ will tell us that what we have done to the least he will count
as having been done to him. So let us deepen our spiritual lives and
our love for Jesus, knowing that if then we bear in mind his words in
relation to our treatment of others, our love and service of them will
be so much the greater. It will also be an immensely fruitful occasion
for loving and serving Jesus himself, for when we serve others, we
serve him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Paths for entering eternal
life (Mark 9: 41-40)
By St John Chrysostom (345-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Sermon on the devil who tempts)
Do you want me to show you the paths of conversion? They are numerous,
varied and different, but they all lead to heaven. The first path of
conversion is the condemnation of our faults. “You yourself begin by
saying your faults in order to be justified.” And that is why the
prophet said: “I said, ‘I confess my faults to the Lord,’ and you took
away the guilt of my sin.” (Ps 32:5) So you yourself condemn the faults
you have committed, and that will be enough for the Master to hear you.
For the person who condemns his faults will be more afraid of falling
back into them……
There is a second path, which is not inferior to the first one. It is
that we do not hold a grudge against our enemies, that we overcome our
anger in order to forgive the offences of our companions in service,
for that is how we shall obtain forgiveness for those which we commit
against the Master. That is the second way of obtaining purification
from our faults. The Lord says: “If you forgive the faults of others,
your heavenly Father will forgive yours.” (Mt 6:14)
Do you want to know the third path of conversion? It is the fervent and
attentive prayer in the depth of your heart…… The fourth path is alms;
it has considerable and unspeakable power…… Then modesty and humility
are not inferior means for destroying sins by their root. We have the
publican as a witness; he could not proclaim his good deeds, but he
replaced them all with the offering of his humility, and thus he laid
down the heavy burden of his faults (Lk 18:9f.).
We have shown you five paths of conversion……So don’t remain inactive,
but use all of these paths each day. They are easy paths, and you
cannot use your destitution as a pretext.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you are preparing for a work of apostolate, make your own these
words of a man who was seeking God: “Today I start to preach a retreat
for priests. God grant that we may draw profit from it - and first of
all, myself!” And later: “I have been on this retreat for several days
now. There are a hundred and twenty on it. I hope that Our Lord will do
good work in our souls.”
(The Forge,
no.662)
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Friday
of the seventh week of Ordinary Time II
(February 24) Today let us think of Saint Ethelbert (Saints)
Scripture today:
James 5:
9-12; Psalm 103: 1-4,
8-12;
Mark 10: 1-12
“The man who divorces his wife and
marries another is guilty of adultery against her.” (Mk. 10)
During the recent debate in the Federal Parliament over the abortion
pill some members of parliament (especially some women) were saying
they objected to the thought of politicians being authorised to
involve themselves in such personal spheres of women’s lives. The same
objection has been levelled by various people against the Church and
her moral teaching, accusing the Church of interfering in the private
lives of people. But the same objection would have to be directed
against Christ himself, if one is to be consistent. In today’s Gospel (Mark 10: 1-12) our Lord pronounces on the very
personal matter of marriage - personal, but at the same time one of
public significance. Our Lord told his disciples who questioned him
that divorce and remarriage is adultery. He meant that you must not do
it (of course, we know that this
is not the case when an annulment has been obtained).
The point that I am making here, though, is that the Christian Faith
bears on every
aspect of life, including the most personal. What Christ has revealed
touches everything in life, and everything we do is done before
the full gaze of God, and so the light of Christ must be the light by
which we live in everything. We ought take this a step further. Just as
Christ responded to his disciples' questions by teaching that divorce
and
remarriage is impossible, so across the ages the Church, speaking in
the name of Christ, answers the questions put to her by Christ’s
disciples and indeed by all men. As we picture our Lord answering his
disciples’ questions, let us renew our faith in the continuing presence
of Christ in the Church through the ages right to our own. Through the
Church, Christ guides us still, answering many questions which he did
not
answer while he lived on earth. The Church’s vast teaching on faith and
morals is to be viewed as the living teaching of the risen person of
Jesus.
He it is who speaks to us now through his body the Church.
Our calling is to live by this teaching in
every aspect of our lives, and to bring it to the world around us.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“The two shall become as one”
(Mark 10: 1-12)
Commentary from Jacob of Sarug (around 449
–– 521), Monk and Syrian bishop
(Hexameron; Homily for the sixth day)
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen
1:26) A simple commandment had brought forth the other beings in
creation: “Let there be light!” or “Let there be a dome!” This time,
God did not say: “Let there be human beings”, but he said rather: “Let
us make man.” For he considered it to be proper that this image of
himself, which is superior to all the other creatures, be formed by his
own hands. This work was particularly close to him; he loved it with a
great love…… Adam is the image of God because he bears the effigy of
the Only Son…
In a certain sense, Adam was created simple and at the same time
double. Eve was hidden in him. Even before they existed, humanity was
destined for marriage, which would gather them, man and woman, together
again in one single body, like in the beginning. No quarrel, no discord
was to arise between them. They would be of one mind, would have one
single will…… The Lord formed Adam out of dust and water; he drew forth
Eve from the flesh, the bones and the blood of Adam. The first man’s
deep sleep anticipated the mysteries of the crucifixion. The opening of
his side was the lance’s blow given to the Only Son; his sleep: death
on the cross; the blood and water: the fruitfulness of baptism (Jn
19:34)…… But the water and blood that flowed from the Saviour’s side
are at the origin of the world of the Spirit……
Adam did not suffer because of something being removed from his flesh;
what had been taken from him was returned to him transfigured through
beauty. The blowing of the wind, the murmuring of the trees, the
singing of the birds called to those who were betrothed: “Arise, you
have slept enough! You are expected at the wedding feast!”…… Adam saw
Eve at his side, she who was of his flesh and his bones, his daughter,
his sister, his spouse. Covered in a garment of light, they arose into
the smiling day. They were in Paradise.
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My child, it’s worth your while being humble, obedient, loyal. Drench
yourself in the spirit of God, so as to be able to carry it from where
you are, from your place of work, to all the peoples that fill the
earth!
(The Forge,
no.663)
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Saturday
of the seventh week of Ordinary Time II
(February
25) Today
let us think of St Ethelbert
of Kent
(Saints)
Scripture today:
James 5:
13-20; Psalm 141: 1-3, 8;
Mark 10:13-16
“Let the little children come to me;
do not stop them for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven
belongs.” (Mark 10: 13-16)
One of our Lord’s obvious characteristics was his love for children. He
delighted in their presence and made them warmly welcome. This was
obvious to parents because we are told in today’s Gospel that “people
were bringing little children to Jesus for him to touch them.” There
must have been a considerable number because “the disciples turned them
away”, perhaps thinking that Jesus needed some rest. Our Lord’s
reaction upon seeing this shows his love for children - he was
indignant, and told his disciples not to stop them. On another occasion
we are told that when our Lord saw that his disciples had been
discussing among themselves who of them was the greatest, our Lord took
a child and placed him in front of them and went on to give his
teaching. Our Lord loved children.
We are surely reminded of the fact that the whole work of Christ was to
share his own sonship with us. He is the only-begotten Son of God,
God’s only-begotten “child” from all eternity, the equal of the Father
in nature. He came from heaven to enable us to become God’s adopted
children. By our baptism we have become this in the sense that we are
not only now God’s creation, but we also share in his own divine life.
Therefore our entire spiritual life ought be shaped by the fact that
God is our Father in this special way, and we are his children.
But let us consider the teaching Christ gives us in today’s Gospel (Mark 10: 13-16), prompted by the children in his
midst. He tells us that it is to such as little children that the
kingdom of heaven belongs. What is the kingdom of heaven? It is above
all the person and spirit and teaching of Jesus himself. In him dwells
the fulness of the godhead bodily. Our Lord’s words surely mean that it
is to such as little children that he himself belongs. He gives himself
to those who are like little children and he belongs to them
especially. He goes on to say that “anyone who does not welcome the
kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” We think of
the delighted welcome given by the little children to Jesus. They loved
to see him and to be with him. That is the example held up to us by our
Lord: we in our turn are to welcome Jesus into our hearts just as did
those children brought to him by their parents. If we welcome Jesus in
that way, we shall enter into his sacred heart - which is the kingdom
of heaven - symbolized by the children who received from Jesus his
embrace and his blessing before he went on his way.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Let the children come to me”
(Mark 10: 13-16)
Comment from St Thérèse of the
Child Jesus (1873-1897), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
(Autobiography,
Manuscript C)
As you know, Mother, I have always wanted to be a saint. But alas! When
I compared myself to the saints, I always noticed that there is the
same difference between them and me as between a mountain whose peak is
lost in the clouds and the obscure grain of sand that is trodden
underfoot by the passersby. Instead of getting discouraged, I told
myself: God would not inspire unattainable desires. Therefore, in spite
of my smallness, I can aspire to sanctity. It is impossible for me to
become greater; I have to bear with myself as I am with all my
imperfections. So I want to look for a means to go to heaven by a small
and very straight, very short path, a brand new little path.
Ours is a century of inventions. Now we need no longer go up the steps
of a stairway; in rich people’s houses, an elevator replaces the
stairway very advantageously. I wanted to find an elevator to lift me
up to Jesus, for I am too little to go up the difficult stairway of
perfection. So I looked in the holy Books for something pointing to the
elevator, the object of my desire; and I read these words that came
forth from the mouth of eternal Wisdom: “If someone is very small, let
him come to me.” (Proverbs 9:4)
So I came, sensing that I had found what I was looking for. And since I
wanted to know, oh my God, what you would do to the very little person
who would respond to your call, I continued my search and this is what
I found: “As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you. You
shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap.” (Isa 66:13.12)
Ah, never did more tender, more melodious words come to give joy to my
soul. Your arms, oh Jesus, are the elevator that must lift me up to
heaven. For that, I don’t need to grow. On the contrary, I must remain
small. May I become ever smaller. O my God, you have surpassed my
expectations! I want to sing of your mercies!
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During a way, the courage of the soldiers facing the enemy would be of
little use were not others who seem to take no part in the struggle but
who supply the fighting men with armament and food and medicines ...
Without the prayer and sacrifice of many souls there would be no
genuine apostolate of action.
(The Forge,
no.664)
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The
eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time B
(February 26) Today
let us think of St Alexander
of Alexandria (Saints)
Scripture: Hosea 2:16-17,
21-22; Psalm 103: 1-4,
8, 10, 12-13; 2
Corinthians 3:1-6; Mark 2: 18-22.
“But the time will come for the
bridegroom to be taken away from them”. (Mark 2: 18-22)
In today’s Gospel our Lord makes use of a term that is full of
meaning in describing himself and his relationship to us. He says he is
the bridegroom. “Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think
of fasting while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will
come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then, on that
day, they will fast.” (Mark 2: 18-22) In the Old Testament, especially in the
Prophets, God repeatedly refers to himself as the Bridegroom, and his
chosen people as his spouse. In today’s first reading the prophet Hosea
speaks of God betrothing his people with faithfulness. We are his
people. We ought think long and often of what God has revealed to us
about himself. Like a husband, he is one and there is no other. He
cannot be replaced by some other thing in our life. I am the Lord your
God. You shall have no other god in place of me.
So our first duty in life is to make sure that we go after
nothing that will replace him, and that in our hearts we worship him
alone. The God we worship is constant, unchangeable, always faithful
and just, always good and holy, without any evil. He is almighty,
merciful and infinitely good, rich in compassion and mercy. All our
faith, hope and love, then, ought be in him. As our Lord put it,
quoting the Old Testament, “You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all
your strength.” There is to be no other god in our life but God, for he
is our only bridegroom.
Faith in God, then, and acceptance of all he has revealed about
himself is our first obligation, and St Paul teaches that “ignorance of
God” is the source of moral deviations. This ignorance of God will come
if we allow our faith in what he has revealed to weaken or be lost. We
must be vigilant, then. In Australia we tend to pride ourselves on our
secular culture where there is no religious fanaticism. Religion is
publicly regarded as a private matter and must not be imposed. But one
downside to this is that it can encourage a kind of public attitude
that turns God and religion into matters of purely personal opinion
with little objective reality about them. The very idea of God is
regarded as open to debate and to doubt, and it is seen as acceptable
even to deny God’s existence as an objective fact.
So it is that the culture around us and what it permits can
contain many temptations to religious doubt. If one were knowingly and
willingly to entertain such doubts, and deliberately to cultivate them,
one could be led into a spiritual blindness which would be sinful. And
it is very easy when hearing such doubts expressed to go on to
entertain or even cultivate them. There are novels and movies and
television discussions that express or at least insinuate doubt as to
the truth of what God has revealed and the truth of what the Church
teaches. Freely to entertain or cultivate these doubts, without very
serious reasons and without special vigilance, would expose
oneself to insidious temptations against faith. One’s imagination would
be laid open to impressions that could go deep and become a permanent
incitement within the mind to disbelieve. Then in moments of inner
weakness, one’s affected imagination could prompt one to reject this or
that doctrine of the Faith.
An example might be choosing to read the novel, The Da Vinci Code,
a novel full of errors, but which, with its vivid and intriguing plot,
might profoundly affect one’s religious imagination. That inner stain
on the mind might then secretly do its work predisposing a person
against holding the Faith. Then could follow disbelief in our
Lord and the Church and then the gift of faith could be lost. Spiritual
blindness could follow which might be very difficult to get out of. We
must guard the knowledge of God we have received from our gift of faith
in what he has revealed about himself. So too with hope. We can be
tempted against hope by feelings of giving up and even despair on the
one hand, and on the other by presuming on God or on our own
capacities. So too we can be tempted against our love for God by
feelings of indifference, of lukewarmness, of sloth or of dislike of
God.
Let us resolve to live resolutely in the knowledge of who
God is and what he has revealed, as it comes to us in the witness and
teaching of the Church. Let us be vigilant against every kind of
temptation that may undermine our full acceptance in faith of all that
God has revealed to us about himself, our full hope in him and our love
for him.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.2084-2094
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“So
long as the groom stays with them,
they cannot fast.” (Mark 2: 18-22)
Comment by St Ephrem (306 – 373),
Deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church (Hymns on Faith,
14)
Lord, I invite you to a wedding banquet in songs. In Cana, there was
not enough wine, which expresses our praise. You, the guest who filled
the jars with good wine, fill my mouth with your praise!
The wine in Cana is the symbol of our praise, because those who drank
of it marveled. At that wedding banquet, which was not your own, you,
the truly righteous, filled six jars to overflowing with a delicious
wine. So at the banquet to which I am inviting you, you can fill a
crowd’’s ears with your sweetness.
In times past, you were invited to others’’ weddings. Here now is your
own banquet. It is chaste and beautiful. May it give joy to your
people! May your songs delight your guests; may my zither accompany
your song!
Our soul is your betrothed; our body is your bridal chamber; our senses
and our thoughts are the guests. If for you one single person is a
wedding banquet, how great will be the banquet for the whole Church!
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The power of working miracles! How many dead - and even rotting - souls
you will raise, if you let Christ act in you. In those days, the Gospel
tells us, the Lord was passing by; and they, the sick, called to him
and sought him out. Now, too, Christ is passing by, in your Christian
life. If you help him, many will come to know him, will call to him,
will ask him for help: and their eyes will be opened to the marvellous
light of grace.
(The Forge,
no.665)
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Monday
of the eighth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
27) Today
let us think of St. Gabriel
of Our Lady of Sorrows (Saints)
Scripture today: 1 Peter 1:
3-9; Psalm 111: 1-2,
5-6, 9-10;
Mark 10: 17-27.
“How hard it is for those who have
riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10: 17-27)
One of the characteristics of modern Western culture is the pervasive
reluctance
and difficulty in believing in the supernatural. It is what can be
vindicated empirically that is accepted as fact. Accordingly, many
theistic
philosophers spend much of their time proving the possibility of the
supernatural. Now, even for those who do accept the supernatural, it is
a
further thing to be convinced of its paramount importance. For in fact,
the
supernatural world of God and of heaven and hell is a far greater realm
than the material which is continually changing and will assuredly pass
away. Life is short and
eternity long. God’s judgment is or should be life’s defining thought.
Cardinal Newman once wrote that the first principle of religion is the
thought of a judgment - that is, God's judgment.
Our Gospel today presents us with the young man who “ran up” to Jesus,
“knelt down before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Mark 10: 17-27) This young man lived in the thought of
the supernatural. He was young with his life ahead of him and a with
great
deal he could look forward to in view of his wealth. Nevertheless he
knew that life would end, and then there would be the judgment of God.
Either heaven or hell would follow that judgment, and he was determined
that it would be heaven. He appears to have lived in the thought of the
supernatural
from his earliest days because he told our Lord that he had always
kept God’s commandments. He wanted to do more “to inherit eternal
life.” This young man has to be regarded, then, as having been
exceptionally
promising at the time of his meeting with Jesus. This is
confirmed by the fact that our Lord, after his initial reserve at his
enthusiasm, looked
on the young man and loved him.
Our Lord offered the young man the singular privilege of inviting him
to follow him undividedly. He could see that the heart of the young man
was attached to his wealth, and knew that his
great wealth constituted an obstacle in his quest for the more.
So he invited him to follow him, but to begin by selling
his possessions and giving the money to the poor. It was a wonderful
opportunity extended to the young man, and who knows what may have been
his path had he accepted that precious invitation! But chose not to,
and failed
the opportunity. The reason was that though the supernatural was real
to him his heart was too attached to the material. Let us learn from
his failure to work on detachment from everything in this world so as
to be totally attached to Christ and his will. In fact, that detachment
is part of the very foundation of a truly religious and Christian life.
It is to the degree that we are detached from this world (in Christ's
sense of the term) that we shall make true progress.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Go, sell what you have, ..... then come, follow
me” (Mark 10: 17-27)
Comment Leo XIII, Pope from 1878 to
1903 (Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum,
20)
May those who have been disinherited of wealth learn from the Church
that, according to the judgment of God himself, poverty is not a
disgrace, and that there is no need to blush with shame if you have to
earn your daily bread through work. Jesus Christ Our Lord confirmed
this by his example, he who for the salvation of men “made himself poor
though he was rich.” (2 Cor 8:9) He who was the Son of God and God
himself wanted to be taken for the son of a worker in the eyes of the
world. He went so far as to spend a large part of his life in doing
paid work. “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (Mk 6:3)
Whoever keeps his eyes on the divine model will understand…… that true
human dignity and excellence dwells in a person’s habits, that is to
say, in his virtue. Virtue is the common patrimony of mortals; it is
available to everyone, to the small and to the great, the poor and the
rich. Wherever they are seen, virtue and merit alone will obtain the
reward of eternal beatitude. Even more, it seems that God’s heart is
more inclined towards the less fortunate classes. Jesus Christ calls
the poor blessed (Lk 6:20). With love he invites all who suffer and
weep to come to him so that he might console them (Mt 11:28); he
embraces with a more tender charity those who are small and oppressed.
These teachings are certainly given in order to humble the haughty soul
of the rich and to make him more compassionate, to raise the courage of
those who suffer and to inspire them with trust.
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You insist on doing your own thing, and so your work is barren. Obey:
be docile. Each cog in a machine must be put in its place. If not, the
machine stops, or the parts get damaged. It will surely not produce
anything, or if it does, then very little. In the same way, a man or a
woman outside his or her proper field of action will be more of a
hindrance than an instrument of apostolate.
(The Forge,
no.666)
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Tuesday
of the eighth week of Ordinary Time II
(February
28) Today
let us think of St Oswald of
Worcester
(Saints)
Scripture today:
1 Peter 1:
10-16; Psalm 98:
1-4;
Mark 10: 28-31.
“Peter began to tell Jesus, 'What
about us? We have left everything and followed you'."
(Mark 10:28-31)
Whatever
be the commitment a person makes, that person will have to give up some
things in pursuit of his chosen goal. He may have chosen to dedicate
himself to prowess in a particular sport that takes up many years of
his life. In doing this he gives up his vaguely considered dream of
being a medical doctor - or it could be vice versa. The same pattern
will be found in choosing to serve Christ and share in his mission in a
way appropriate to one’s calling in life. A housewife and mother takes
up the call to be a catechist in order to serve God, or to assist in a
range of other apostolic activities. Gradually she becomes more
involved and committed, consciously foregoing many other things she
could have done that would have been to her material advantage. She
foregoes taking on
part-time paid work that also keeps up certain professional skills she
once had. Or, taking yet another example, a young person chooses to
consecrate his or her life to Christ and the Gospel totally. Many
things are given up: family, a lucrative and interesting career, full
scope for his own legitimate independence in life. Many things are left
behind in choosing to follow Christ.
Sooner or later the sacrifices involved in doing this for the sake of
Christ and the Gospel will be felt. The question could then arise in
that person’s heart, Is it worth it? What shall I get out of all
this? This is the exact question that was put to our Lord in today’s
Gospel by Peter: “What about us? We have left everything and followed
you.” (Mark 10:28-31). Our Lord responds by
guaranteeing a full recompense: “I tell you solemnly, there is no one
who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my
sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not be repaid a hundred
times over .... - now in this present time and, in the world to come,
eternal life.” The greatest recompense will be the love of Jesus
himself, in whom is found every heavenly blessing. Christ's friendship
and the care which he extends to his friends both here and hereafter
will be
the greatest reward - but Christ’s follower must not look back in a
state of continuing attachment to the things that were given up. If he
follows Christ with abandon, happiness will be his - that is Christ's
guarantee.
Let us make our choice for Jesus, and let us cheerfully give up
whatever is required for that choice.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“In this present age a hundred times
as much…and in the age to come, everlasting life”
(Mark 10:28-31) Comment from Leo XIII, Pope 1878 to 1903
(Encyclical Rerum
Novarum, 21)
These [social] teachings [of the Church] could diminish the distance
that pride is pleased to maintain between the rich and the poor, but
simple friendship is still too little. If we obey Christianity’s
precepts, union will be brought about through fraternal love. On both
sides, people will know and understand that absolutely all human beings
have come forth from God, their common father; that God is their common
and only goal, and that God alone is able to communicate perfect and
absolute happiness to angels and to human beings. In addition, all have
been redeemed by Jesus Christ and restored by him to their dignity as
children of God, and thus a true bond of fraternity unites them,
whether this be among themselves or to Christ their Lord, who is “the
first-born of many brothers.” (Rom 8:29) Finally, they will know that
all the goods of nature, all the treasures of grace belong in common
and indiscriminately to the whole human race, and that only those who
are unworthy will be disinherited of the heavenly goods. “If you are
children, you are heirs as well: heirs of God, heirs with Christ.” (Rom
8:17)
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The apostle has no aim other than letting God work, making himself
available.
(The
Forge, no.667)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the eighth week of Ordinary Time II
Scripture today: 1 Peter 1:
18-25; Psalm
147; Mark 10: 32-45
"Now we are going up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over".
(Mark 10: 32-45)
One of the most difficult things man must deal with is human suffering.
In the history of human thought it has proved an intractable problem,
and has constituted a crisis time and again in the lives of
individuals. Man recoils from it, attempts to eliminate it, and sees in
it a phenomenon that is almost wholly negative. Now, what do we see
Christ doing in the face of the indescribable suffering he knew awaited
him in Jerusalem? We are told in the Gospel of today that “The
disciples were on the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on
ahead of them; they were in a daze, and those who followed were
apprehensive.” (Mark 10: 32-45) Christ
was pushing ahead in order to embrace his sufferings. In no way were
they to be avoided. “Once more taking the Twelve aside he began to tell
them what was going to happen to him: ‘Now we are going up to
Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief
priests and the scribes’.”
As a result of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, a totally new
light has been cast on the phenomenon of suffering and death. Without
this light, we must take seriously those great minds in the history of
human thought that have regarded suffering as a stunning blow against
the possibility of belief in a good and all-powerful God. Mysteriously,
it was precisely through his obedient suffering and death that Christ
saved the world. His sufferings had an inestimable value when accepted
in obedience to the divine will. Our Lord’s life was marked by total
obedience to the Father from beginning to end, but the fulfilment of
his redemptive mission was especially due to his Passion and Death. It
was especially through his sufferings that the world was saved. Why is
this so? We cannot say, ultimately, but we know that it is indeed so
because that has been revealed. Christ died for sinners, and because of
his death and resurrection the sin of the world was taken away.
We are called to share in Christ’s redemptive work and we do so by
sharing in his sufferings. Our share in his resurrection will follow.
In our Gospel today James and John asked for seats at his right and
left in his glory. Our Lord asked them if they could drink the cup he
was to drink. That is what the true disciple of our Lord must do, and
do daily. Let us ask our Lord for the grace to share his cup, to take
up our cross every day and follow in his footsteps.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The first Twelve, too, were strangers in the lands where they taught
the Gospel. They came up against people whose world was built on
foundations completely opposed to Christ’s doctrine. Look: despite
these adverse circumstances, they knew that they had been entrusted
with the divine message of the Redemption. And so the Apostle cries:
“Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!”
(The Forge,
no.668)
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