October
2006
Pope Benedict
XVI's
general prayer intention
for the month of October is:
"That all those who are baptized may mature in their faith
and
manifest it through clear, coherent and courageous choices in life."
The Pope's missionary prayer
intention for October
is: "That the celebration of World Mission Day may
everywhere increase the spirit of missionary animation and cooperation."
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Twenty-sixth
Sunday in Ordinary Time B
(October 1) St
Therese Martin of the Child Jesus (1873-1897). Born in France.
While very young, she entered the monastery of the Carmelites of
Lisieux. She was outstanding for her humility, simplicity and
confidence in God. She offered her life for the salvation of souls and
for the Church. (Saints)
Scripture:
Numbers
11:25-29; Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14; James 5:1-6;
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
At that time, John said
to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and
we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." Jesus replied,
"Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my
name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not
against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose
his reward. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me
to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around
his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to
sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than
with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if
your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter
into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if
your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into
the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into
Gehenna, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not
quenched.'"
(Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48)
Our
Lord’s teaching in today’s Gospel passage surely reminds us of the
fundamental importance of human solidarity. "Do not stop him ...
Whoever is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:38-39).
Solidarity is an eminently
Christian virtue prompting us to share our material and spiritual goods
with our fellow man. We often encounter a spirit of solidarity among
people. It may be in a well knit family in which all its members are
interested in one another and want to help one another. They regularly
keep in touch and love to hear from one another. In all too many cases
there is not a lot of solidarity within families. Again, we might
notice a
strong spirit of solidarity among members of a trade union. Recently
there was on television an interview with some retired waterfront
workers who spoke about their work many decades ago during the great
Depression, and how hard it was. What made all the difference to their
difficult life was the bond between the workers of their union. This
powerful spirit of solidarity supported them and helped them through
the frequent difficult times. Or it could be the solidarity within a
military division on the field of battle. I have known soldiers who
have come to the end of their military career and have found it very
hard to leave their life because of the tremendous solidarity that they
experienced with others with whom they served. Solidarity is a very
good and
admirable human virtue which God clearly means man to have. It ought
flourish wherever men and women work together because all are
equal in their humanity. Each is just as much a “self” as the other,
and deserving of equal respect, appreciation and support.
Of course, a spirit of
solidarity can be a bad thing if it leads to evil. There can be a deep
spirit of solidarity among the members of an extensive community of
mafia criminals. Others beyond the mafia circle could act in
solidarity with it and give it various forms of cooperation which might
sustain it in its life of crime. I recently watched a movie about a
terrorist take-over of a passenger plane and one thing that was vividly
portrayed was the profound Islamic solidarity that existed among the
terrorists. It sustained them in murderous goals. We see solidarity
everywhere in creation. Elephants move around in herds, as do buffalo
and cattle. Fish swim in swarms, birds fly in flocks. It is obviously a
reflection of the hand from which has come all things. Indeed, it has
been revealed to us that God himself lives in solidarity. In his
personhood he is not alone, for the one sole God is three persons
united in unimaginable love and solidarity. The imprint of this is to
be seen throughout creation, especially in the world of man. Man is
born into a situation marked by solidarity in his own family, or at
least that is how it should be. He needs to live in solidarity with
others in all his walks of life, and his happiness will depend in large
measure on his living in solidarity with others. If he is isolated from
others normally he will not be happy. The one thing which will mar
solidarity is the action of sin, including original sin. Sin destroys
solidarity.
The
Christian above all looks to the example of his Master, our Lord
Jesus Christ. When God sent his Son into the world to take flesh and
dwell among us, his Son truly became one of us. He entered into
solidarity with every man and woman in a unique way, taking on himself
the sin of the whole world and of everyone in it. He entered into a
profound solidarity with each of us sinners even though he himself was
without sin. He showed this solidarity in numerous ways. He grew up
sharing the life of ordinary townspeople at Nazareth. At the beginning
of his public ministry he stepped forward to be baptised by John the
Baptist showing his solidarity with the sinful world, even though John
would have prevented him if he could. He associated with ordinary
sinful folk and showed them by his words and deeds the mercy of God.
Finally and most importantly, he suffered death in solidarity with the
entire human race, and in his death he took on himself in solidarity
the burden of the sins of the world and expiated for them. Our Gospel
today (Mark
9: 38-43, 45, 47-48) shows our Lord giving expression in
his teaching to solidarity. He refused to condemn or restrict the man
who was casting out demons in his name. He instructed his disciples to
assist the needy. The Second Vatican Council teaches us that Christ in
his humanity united himself with every man, and so he is in solidarity
with each of us too. In all of this we see, as the present Pope puts
it, the face of the Father. We who aspire to be his disciples have a
constant example to prompt us to live in solidarity with all men, just
like Christ.
Let us
resolve to be united with our Lord in his solidarity with all men and
women. Putting on the mind of Christ involves living a life of
Christ-like concern for all others, a solidarity oriented towards
fulfilling the will of God our common Father. Let us resolve to
practise the solidarity of Christ, and to live it out with his mind and
heart.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.1939-1942
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"He does not follow us" (Mark 9:38-43) :
divisions make little ones stumble
Commentary by St John Chrysostom
(345-407), bishop and doctor of the Church
(Homily 3 on First Corinthians)
"May you all speak the same thing, let there
be no divisions among you." (1 Corinthians 1:10).St. Paul says this
because divided bodies of Christians cannot become separate entities,
each entire within itself, but rather the One Body which originally
existed perishes. If each church were a separate body, there might be
many of them; but they are one body and divisions destroy it… After
having dealt sharply with them by using the word "schism," Paul softens
and soothes them, saying, "May you be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment. Do not suppose," he adds, "that I
mean harmony only in words, best harmony of one mind and one heart."
There is also such a thing as harmony of opinions,
where there is not yet harmony of deed and action; for instance, when
though we have the same faith, but we are not joined together in love.
Such was the case at Corinth at that time, some choosing one leader,
and some another. For this reason Paul says it is necessary to agree
both in "mind" and in "judgment." For it was not from differences in
faith that the schisms arose, but from human contentiousness. "It has
been declared to me that there are contentions among you… Is Christ
divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:13)
(Courtesy
of "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
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It is not pride, but fortitude, when you make your authority felt,
cutting out what needs to be cut out, when the fulfilment of the Holy
Will of God demands it.
(The
Forge, no.884)
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Why did Christ institute an
ecclesiastical hierarchy?
Christ instituted an ecclesiastical hierarchy with the mission of
feeding the people of God in his name and for this purpose gave it
authority. The hierarchy is formed of sacred ministers, bishops,
priests, and deacons. Thanks to the sacrament of Orders, bishops and
priests act in the exercise of their ministry in the name and person of
Christ the Head. Deacons minister to the people of God in the diakonia
(service) of word, liturgy, and charity. (CCC 874-876, 935)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.179)
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Monday
of the twenty sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(October 2) Memorial
of the Guardian Angels. This celebration was placed in the Roman
calender in 1617. Scripture is full of stories of angels coming to help
patriarchs. Each person has his own Guardian Angel. Angels are God’s
messengers whose mission is to take care of us, to protect our way on
earth, and to share with Christians the apostolic zeal to get souls
closer to God. St Peter was liberated from gaol by an angel. Our Lord
spoke of angels of children who constantly behold his Heavenly Father’s
face. Our Guardian Angels are our friends. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Job
1: 6-22; Psalm 17: 1bcd, 2-3,
6-7; Matthew 18: 1-5, 10
The
disciples approached
Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He
called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say
to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter
the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such
as this in my name receives me. “See that you do not despise one of
these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always
look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” (Matthew 18:1-5,10)
Today is the memorial of
our Guardian Angels. Generation after
generation the fundamental issue facing the human race is entry into
the Kingdom of Heaven. It was this Kingdom which had been foretold in
the Old Testament, and it was this Kingdom which our Lord the Son of
God came to announce, to describe and to establish. Those of the Jewish
faith refuse to accept Jesus as the Messiah in general because they
have a certain notion and image of the Kingdom of God - it is a Kingdom
of peace on this earth - which manifestly Jesus did not succeed in
establishing. Those who accept Jesus as the Messiah accept him as
totally trustworthy in who he claimed to be and in his teaching. The
burden of his teaching concerned himself and the nature of God’s
Kingdom. Ultimately there are two possibilities facing every man and
woman and hence all of mankind. It is whether or not I shall be
received into the Kingdom of God. These are the two final realities,
God’s Kingdom, and all that is outside this Kingdom. It is very clear
that from our Lord’s teaching that the final catastrophe for any
individual will be to be denied entry into the Kingdom of God, or if
during life he is within it, to be then at the end cast outside.
In our Gospel today
our Lord refers to a condition of entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will
not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew
18:1-5). We
ought be filled with the thought of the Kingdom of Heaven which is
God’s rule over the heart of man. This Kingdom begins now in the heart
of man and its goal is that God will have complete dominion over man’s
heart. From this vantage point the Kingdom of God spreads and gains the
victory over other dimensions of human life and activity. It will
advance or recede according to its possession of the heart of man. Then
at the end when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead,
this Kingdom will have no end. God will be all in all and forever. The
total losers will be those who are not citizens of the Kingdom. Satan
and his minions will be outside, and all those who died radically
separated from God through unrepented mortal sin. So then, for the
Christian the important task ahead of him is to secure entry himself
and to draw others with him. He begins with those immediately around
him and those for whom he is responsible. He learns then to be
apostolic towards all those with whom he has contact.
Today is the
memorial of our Guardian Angels. Let us pray to our Guardian Angel for
the
grace to realize with vivid clarity that nothing is more important than
being in union with God and so being subjects of his Kingdom. Let us
begin with the members of our own family, our children, parents,
spouse, relatives, work colleagues, friends and acquaintances -
all these constitute for Christ’s disciple a mission and a
responsibility. We are called to draw all with us into the Kingdom, for
entry into the Kingdom is ultimately the only issue. Our Guardian Angel
will help us realize this.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Bless the Lord, O you his angels, …
his servants that do his will.” (Psalm 103:20-21)
Commentary by Saint Bernard
(1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of the Church
(1st Sermon for the feast of Saint Michael)
Today we are celebrating the feast of the holy
angels… But what can we say about these angelic spirits? This is our
faith: we believe that they enjoy the presence and the vision of God,
that they possess endless happiness, the goods of the Lord that “eye
has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man.”
(1 Cor 2:9) So what can a simple mortal say on this subject to other
mortal human beings, he who is incapable of imagining such things? … If
it is impossible to speak of the glory of the holy angels in God, we
can at least speak about the grace and the love they show us. For they
not only enjoy incomparable dignity; they are also of a most kind
helpfulness… If we cannot understand their glory, we become all the
more closely attached to the mercy with which these citizens of heaven,
these princes of paradise who are familiar with God, are filled.
The apostle Paul himself, who contemplated the
heavenly court with his own eyes and who knew its secrets (2 Cor 12:2),
tells us that all the angels “are ministering spirits, sent to serve
those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb 1:14). Don’t consider that to
be incredible, since the Creator, the King of the angels himself “has
not come to be served but to serve – to give his life in ransom for the
many.” (Mk 10:45) So which angel would despise such a service, towards
which the one whom the angels serve in heaven went forward with
eagerness and joy?
(Courtesy
of "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
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Hands must sometimes be tied, with respect and with temperateness,
without insult or discourtesy. Not
out of revenge, but as a remedy; not
as a punishment, but as a medicine.
(The Forge,
no.885)
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How is the collegial dimension of Church
ministry carried out?
After the example of the twelve Apostles who were chosen and sent out
together by Christ, the unity of the Church’s hierarchy is at the
service of the communion of all the faithful. Every bishop exercises
his ministry as a member of the episcopal college in communion with the
Pope and shares with him in the care of the universal Church. Priests
exercise their ministry in the presbyterate of the local Church in
communion with their own bishop and under his direction. (CCC
876-877)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.180)
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Tuesday
of the Twenty-six Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 3) Today let us think of Saint Gerard of Brogne
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Job 3: 1-3,
11-17, 20-23; Psalm 88: 2-3, 4-5, 6,
7-8; Luke 9: 51-56
When
the days for Jesus
to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to
Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered
a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would
not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you
want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned
and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village. (Luke 9:51-56)
Today we have before us
one of the very memorable sentences of the Gospels. “When the days for
Jesus to be taken up were to be fulfilled, he resolutely determined to
journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him”
(Luke 9: 51-56). One would think that
the crowning point of our Lord's great public ministry would, in his
eyes,
have been a general or even universal acceptance of him as the
promised Messiah by God’s chosen people. He was ever seeking from his
disciples and from the people in general full faith in him. He asked
faith
from all, a firm belief that he had been sent by the Father. If people
would but believe, he would save them above all from their sins and
receive them into the Kingdom of God. As we look ahead we remember how
just before he ascended into heaven this was exactly what he gave his
disciples the task of doing: of going to the whole world and making
disciples of all the nations. So this was indeed what he wanted
of his public ministry, to make disciples of the entire chosen
people. But here in our Gospel passage we have our Lord “resolutely
determined to journey to Jerusalem” where he would be - so he had often
told his closest disciples - rejected by the chief priests and scribes
and put to death. He was, then, resolutely determined to take the path
that would lead to rejection and death. It was this which was to be the
crowning point of his public ministry and indeed of his life. To the
common observer this path would have seemed
strange indeed, and it did seem strange to his disciples.
But this is the
very paradox of the Cross and the unexpected revelation of the wisdom
of God. God’s ways are not man’s ways, and what seems foolishness to
the world is the wisdom of God. Our Lord came to bear witness to the
truth, the truth about himself and about the plan of God for man’s
salvation. It was the will of his heavenly Father that, having borne
witness to the people by his teaching and his works, he bear witness
now before the leaders of the people who so wanted to do away with him.
The Father willed that his Son the Messiah submit to the incalculable
suffering that would come from this stand and from accepting its
consequences. Our Lord could easily have avoided the Passion had he so
chosen. He had time and again illustrated how much above and beyond the
power of his enemies he was. He defeated them repeatedly in debate, he
could easily have defeated them if it came to physical force if only
because of his miraculous power - in the Garden he would tell his
disciples that at his request his heavenly Father would send him twelve
legions of angels. No one could do away with Christ unless Christ
allowed it for his own reasons. And so now he was resolutely setting
his face towards Jerusalem where he would bear definitive witness to
his being the
Messiah, to his being the Son of God, and to his being equal to the
Father himself at whose right side he would come in glory seated on the
clouds. He was resolutely choosing the path that led to
rejection.
As we think of our
Lord making his way so firmly to what would prove to be his death, let
us ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to accompany our Lord on his way
with a share in his fortitude. The Christian’s path is to bear witness
to
the truth especially when it involves the Cross. When humiliation,
rejection, disregard, inconvenience and many other discomforting
consequences flow from following the Master in fulfilling our Christian
calling, let us learn to stay the distance. Let us not cut and run as
did the Apostles when the crunch came. The doctrine of the Cross is
fundamental to Christianity and to the living of the Christian life.
Let us resolve to accept this doctrine in reality, and not allow it to
remain just a matter of words.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they
journeyed to another village.”
Luke
9: 51-56
Commentary by St Isaac the Syrian (7th
century), Monk in Nineveh, near Mosul (modern Iraq)
Spiritual Discourses,
2nd Series, no. 10, 36
When someone has been made worthy to taste God’s love, he usually
forgets everything because of its sweetness, for once he has tasted
that love, everything visible seems to him to be of no interest. His
soul joyfully draws near to the beautiful love of people without
distinction. He is never troubled by their weaknesses, which do not
frighten him, just like the blessed apostles who, in the midst of all
the evils which they had to bear from their torturers, were completely
incapable of hating them and did not tire of loving them. This was
shown by facts when, in the end, they even bore death so as to meet
them again one day in heaven.
And yet, they were the same people who a little earlier had begged
Christ to make fire come down from heaven on the Samaritans, who had
only refused to welcome them in their village. But once they had
received the gift of tasting God’s love, they were made perfect even to
the point of loving the wicked.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
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You looked at me very seriously. But at last you understood, when I
told you: "I want to reproduce the life of Christ in the children of
God, by getting them to meditate on it, so that they may act like him
and speak only of him.''
(The Forge,
no.886)
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Why
does ecclesial ministry also have a personal character?
Ecclesial ministry also has a personal character in as much as each
minister, in virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, is responsible
before Christ who called him personally and conferred on him his
mission. (CCC 878-879)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.181)
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Wednesday
of the twenty sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(October 4) St Francis of
Assisi, religious (1182-1226) Born in Assisi, Italy. From being
a light-hearted youth he changed, gave up his inheritance and bound
himself to God, embracing poverty for Christ and living the life of the
Gospels. He lived
and preached a life of poverty and love of God to all. He founded
the religious Order of the Franciscans and gave them rules which were
approved by the Holy See. With St Clare he helped found the Order of
the Poor Clares and founded the Third Order for lay people. (Saints)
Scripture
today: Job 9: 1-12,
14-16; Psalm 88: 10bc-11, 12-13,
14-15; Luke 9: 57-62
As
Jesus and his
disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I
will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens
and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest
his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord,
let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead
bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” And
another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell
to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to
the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of
God.
(Luke 9:57-62)
Our
Gospel passage today is all about following Jesus wholeheartedly and in
the midst of difficulties. Each of the three personages who speak to
our Lord in our passage state that they will follow him (Luke 9:57-62), which of course is
what
our Lord is asking of all men. Salvation and the
blessings of heaven will come from being a disciple of Christ, and that
is what each of the three persons (who surely also represent various
categories of persons) aspire to be. But our Lord’s response indicates
that
none of them have the wholehearted resolve that our Lord is looking
for. This introduces the perennial issue of genuine Christian
discipleship.
Though immense numbers do not yet know Christ personally and hence are
not yet his disciples, very many do know and have known him personally.
The tragedy has been and still is that for so many this personal
knowledge has not
led to wholehearted discipleship. A genuine following of our Lord
is tested when difficulty arrives, which is to say when things have to
be given up. It could be personal comfort (our first follower in the
Gospel passage), or it could be the pull of family or friends (our
second and
third). Whatever be the attachment, the test will be whether Christ has
the primacy over our hearts and whether our heart is detached from all
other things. The tremendous challenge ahead of each
Christian is whether he is going to love Jesus with all his
heart or with just part of it.
This is where we
turn to the doctrine of God’s grace that comes to us in the gift of the
Holy Spirit. From one point of view Catholicism can be said to be a
religion of the grace of God. God’s grace transforms us from within.
God does not plan simply to regard as holy by God in view of the merits
of divine Son,
despite our intractable sins and sinfulness. No, God plans to make us
holy at the core of our being by
the action of his grace. Sanctity - which consists in the wholehearted
love for and following of Christ in doing the Father’s will - is truly
possible for us by the power of God. God plans to make us holy. He
means to aid us to become true lovers and servants
of Jesus. For our part we must put our mind to it, we must repent daily
of our sins
in a life-long process of daily conversion, we must ask God’s help to
enlighten us on our way, we must be ever learning anew and never
allowing discouragement to set in, and we must keep up the fight till
the
very end - and the end comes only at the moment when we breathe our
last. We
can aspire to be the kind of disciple Christ wishes us to be and not
simply a disciple with conditions, such as our three would-be disciples
of the Gospel of today. Let us then look to the saints for inspiration
and intercession. St Ignatius of Loyola was converted in part due to
his reading of the lives of the saints when convalescing. So was Teresa
of Avila. The Cure of
Ars was continually reading the lives of the saints.
The saints did it,
so can I - through the grace of God. Let us pray to holy Mary, the
mother of God, that she will pray for us now and at the hour of our
death to help us to surrender to Christ unconditionally. Let us ask
Christ our merciful Redeemer to flood us with his grace and enable each
of us to be the disciple he wants us to be. We must give all that
we are and all that we have to the work. Let us be like that poor
widow our Lord
pointed out to his disciples in the Temple. She put in to the treasury
all she had to live on while the
others, the rich, put in only what they did not need.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his
head.” (Luke 9: 57-62)
Commentary by a companion of St. Francis of
Assisi (13th century) (Sacrum commercium,
22)
Oh Lady Poverty, the son of the sovereign Father became “enamoured of
(your) beauty” (Wis 8:2) …, and knew that you would be the most
faithful companion. Before coming down from his light-filled homeland,
it was you who prepared a suitable place for him, a throne for him to
sit on, a bed where he could rest: the most pure Virgin of whom he was
born. From the moment of his birth, you were at his bedside; he was
laid “in a manger, because there was no room for them in the place
where travelers lodged.” (Lk 2:7) And you always accompanied him while
he was on earth: “The foxes have lairs, the birds of the sky have
nests, but he had no place to lay his head.” When, after letting the
prophets speak in his name, he himself began to teach, you were the
first whom he praised: “How blest are the poor in spirit: the reign of
God is theirs.” (Mt 5:3)
Then, when he chose some friends for himself to be his witnesses for
the salvation of humankind, he didn’t call rich trades people but
modest sinners, so as to show everyone how much his esteem for you,
Lady Poverty, was to engender love for you. Finally, as if a brilliant
and final proof of your value, your nobility, your courage, your
pre-eminence over the other virtues was needed, you were the only one
to stay attached to the King of glory when the friends whom he had
chosen had abandoned him.
You, his faithful companion, his tender lover, you didn’t leave him
even for one moment; you became even more attached to him because you
saw him scorned more, and that more universally… You alone comforted
him. You didn’t leave him “even unto death, death on a cross,” (Phil
2:8), when he was naked, with his arms outstretched, his hands and feet
nailed, … so much so that he had nothing left to show of his glory
except you.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
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Jesus has remained within the Eucharist for love... of you. He has
remained, knowing how men would treat him... and how you would treat
him. He has remained so that you could eat him, so that you could visit
him and tell him what's happening to you; and so that you could talk to
him as you pray beside the Tabernacle, and as you receive him
sacramentally; and so that you could fall in love more and more each
day, and make other souls, many souls, follow the same path.
(The Forge,
no.887)
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What is the mission of the Pope?
The Pope, Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Saint Peter, is the
perpetual, visible source and foundation of the unity of the Church. He
is the vicar of Christ, the head of the College of bishops and pastor
of the universal Church over which he has by divine institution full,
supreme, immediate, and universal power. (CCC 880-882; 936-937)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.182)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 5) Today let us think of Saint Flora of Beaulieu
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Job
19:21-27; Psalm 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14;
Luke 10:1-12
Jesus
appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in
pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them,
“The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master
of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest. Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag,
no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever
house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful
person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will
return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered
to you, for the labourer deserves his payment. Do not move about from
one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat
what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The
Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do
not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your
town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet
know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you, it will be more
tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.” (Luke 10:1-12)
Our
Gospel passage today
presents our Lord appointing “seventy two other disciples whom he sent
ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.”
Their mission was to announce the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of God
(Luke 10:1-12).
The response requested and required of God's chosen people was one of
welcome, and of course
the readiness to do whatever was needed truly to welcome the Kingdom
that was being announced. That Kingdom, as we know, was and is present
in the
person of Jesus. He embodies all that the Kingdom of Heaven contains
and offers. In him, as St Paul writes, is to be found every heavenly
blessing. So it is the person of Jesus whom the whole world is called
upon to welcome, together with the heavenly blessings he has come to
give. There
are many attitudes that can constitute a failure to welcome Christ,
some of which are obvious and others are not so. One attitude that the
earnest Christian needs to beware of is simply lack of trust. I mean by
this the implicit and hidden assumption that God could not be so good
as
to offer all that is being promised. A person who desires to accept the
good tidings of the call to a holy following of Jesus will sooner or
later discover how poor is his natural capacity, how poor is his level
of good will, how much, in a word, a sinner he is. The danger will then
be
that he will gradually lose hope in our Lord. He can gradually lose
hope in the Good News of the Kingdom. He can gradually fail to trust
that our Lord’s call to him to holiness is a true promise which by the
power of grace is possible for him. We are referring here to a form of
lack of faith which will
stifle the spiritual life.
This is an
especially insidious danger because it will ultimately amount to a
failure to welcome the announcement (by the Church) of the Gospel. We
must learn to move beyond viewing simply the failures and the
sinfulness in
ourselves to viewing the far greater power of Christ. This is where the
lives of the saints can help us very greatly. Take Saint Teresa of
Avila’s autobiography, her Life. What is
this Life about? It is about
the mercy of God and how he saved and transformed by his merciful grace
one who had strayed through sin. It is an account of the power of God
manifested in his mercy. Consider the Confessions of
St Augustine (a
book which influenced St Teresa). It is the story of God’s mercy and
the power of his grace transforming him from a life of sin to a life of
great fidelity. Consider the Pilgrim’s Journey
of St Ignatius Loyola,
his autobiography. Again, it is the story of God’s powerful mercy,
transforming his wayward and worldly life into one given over to
Christ. The grace of God led these persons to welcome the Kingdom of
God with all the promise of its heavenly blessings despite the mountain
of sin they saw within themselves. The turning point came when they
(through God’s grace) learnt to trust in God totally and to entrust
their sinful selves to his goodness and power. We must learn that we
are sinners, and we must also learn of the grace of God. God can teach
us
these things.
Let us pray for the
grace to welcome Christ with a great trust. Let us trust him, asking
him to teach us that we are sinners and to teach us even more to cast
the burden
of our sinful selves onto his care. Let us believe him when he says
that whatever be our intractable and fallen nature he can and wants to
sanctify us by drawing us into a faithful friendship with him. All he
asks for is repentance and a true faith in him. So then, as one saint
writes,
now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the Lord had sent the Twelve
(Luke 9:2),
he sent seventy-two others (Luke 10:1-12)
Commentary from Vatican
Council II On the Lay Apostolate (Apostolicam Actuositatem,
§ 2)
The Church was founded for the purpose of
spreading the kingdom of Christ throughout the earth for the glory of
God the Father, to enable all people to share in His saving redemption,
and that through them the whole world might enter into a relationship
with Christ. All activity of the Mystical Body directed to the
attainment of this goal is called the apostolate, which the Church
carries on in various ways through all her members. For the Christian
vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate. No
part of the structure of a living body is merely passive but has a
share in the functions as well as life of the body: so, too, in the
body of Christ, which is the Church, "the whole body . . . in keeping
with the proper activity of each part, derives its increase from its
own internal development" (Eph. 4:16). Indeed, the organic union in
this body and the structure of the members are so compact that the
member who fails to make his proper contribution to the development of
the Church must be said to be useful neither to the Church nor to
himself.
In the Church there is a diversity of
ministry but a oneness of mission. Christ conferred on the Apostles and
their successors the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling in His
name and power. But the laity likewise share in the priestly,
prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own
share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in
the world. They exercise the apostolate in fact by their activity
directed to the evangelization and sanctification of all people and to
the penetrating and perfecting of the temporal order through the spirit
of the Gospel. In this way, their temporal activity openly bears
witness to Christ and promotes the salvation of mankind. Since the
laity, in accordance with their state of life, live in the midst of the
world and its concerns, they are called by God to exercise their
apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardour of the spirit of
Christ.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You tell me that you want to live the virtue of holy poverty. You want
to be detached from the things you use. Ask yourself this question:
have I got the same affections and the same feelings as Jesus Christ
has, with regard to riches and poverty? I told you: as well as resting
in the arms of your Father-God, with all the confident abandonment of
one who is his child, you should fix your eyes particularly on this
virtue in order to love it as Jesus does. Then, instead of seeing it as
a cross to bear, you will see it as a sign of God's special love for
you.
(The Forge,
no.888)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is
the competence of the college of bishops?
The college of bishops in union with the Pope, and never without him,
also exercises supreme and full authority over the Church. (CCC 883-885)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.183)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 6) St
Bruno (1035-1101). Born in Cologne and educated in Paris. He
became a priest and taught theology in Rheims (France). When he was
fifty years old, he founded a monastery of absolute contemplative life
which gave origin to the Carthusian Order. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Job 38:1,
12-21; 40:3-5; Psalm 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10,
13-14ab; Luke 10:13-16
The
LORD addressed Job
out of the storm and said: Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the
morning and shown the dawn its place For taking hold of the ends of the
earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is
changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment;
But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is
shattered. Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked
about in the depths of the abyss? Have the gates of death been shown to
you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the
breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the
dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness, That you
may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths?
You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your
years is great! Then Job answered the LORD and said: Behold, I am of
little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth.
Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will
do so no more. (Job
38:1,12-21; 40:3-5)
The book of Job plays
out in dialogue form the drama of the problem of evil. Job the
righteous man presents
repeatedly to God his innocence and challenges God for an explanation
of the evil that has come upon him. His companions do him no service by
telling him repeatedly that he must be a sinner and that this is the
reason for his misfortunes. In our passage today we hear God’s answer
to the mystery. God does not accuse Job of sin. He does not say to Job
that he should have divined that his own sinfulness was the reason for
his calamities. In fact, God shows great displeasure towards Job’s
companions for insisting on such misguided considerations. God, rather,
answers Job by asking him what can he do before the vastness of the
world? What does he understand of the universe? Is he in any position
to say that what God has allowed is irrational and unmeaning? Ought he
not take his cue from his own puny powers and resources, his own
inadequate
grasp of things - which is surely evident to him - and realize that God
has his reasons for allowing evil and suffering to occur in the life of
the just, reasons that are absolutely beyond the mind of man (Job
38:1,12-21; 40:3-5). Now, we ought remember this as we look back
on
things we regret and which cause us anger and indignation. Perhaps we
are repeatedly beset with temptations to bitterness and lack of
forgiveness. Why was this or that allowed to happen? There is no answer
within our grasp. We must leave it to God.
What we can and
should do is look at the broad sweep of God’s revelation. He reveals
himself to be a God rich in mercy. The saints constantly recommend and
the Church bids us to contemplate Christ in his Passion. The suffering
Christ, the crucified Christ, Christ with his wounds ought be the
special home of the disciple who wishes to follow the Master closely.
The Passion of Christ ought sustain an abiding optimism in our life
and should constitute the counter to any disappointments past, present
or
future. If God, as St Paul points out, did not refuse his Son, what
will he refuse us? That is to say, if we are but faithful to the Lord
in our daily duties then we can hope in him. What he will allow or
bring on is
entirely up to him, but we can hope in him because, look - he gave up
his own divine Son! If the past has been no good, if the present is no
good or at least very unsatisfactory, then still if we are faithful God
will
bring all things together for our sake. Just how this works itself out
in practice and in detail we cannot possibly say, but God has it all in
hand. God has his reasons and they may be beyond us. That is surely the
message of our passage from Job today. The book of Job prompts us to
look to the Passion of Christ, of which the experience of Job is a
type. But there is
surely more. If we live in the Passion of Christ we are placing
ourselves in the situation to be blessed beyond expectation. The
greatest
blessing to come from it is a share in the mind of Christ which prompts
the disciple of Christ to embrace the Cross with him. This is the
path to sanctity.
Thinking of the Old
Testament figure of Job let us pass on to think of the figure of the
suffering and crucified Christ. Christ on the cross is the source of
mankind’s truest blessings and so is the source of our hope and
Christian optimism. Let us hope for the greatest graces, and among them
is the grace of walking willingly and with love in union with Christ as
he carries his Cross.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me." (Luke 10:13-16)
Commentary by Pope John Paul II
(Encyclical Redemptoris
Missio, § 39)
The Church must be faithful to Christ, whose
body she is, and whose mission she continues. She must necessarily "go
the same road that Christ went-namely a road of poverty, obedience,
service and self-sacrifice even unto death, from which he emerged a
victor through his resurrection." (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,
Ad Gentes 5) The Church is thus obliged to do everything possible to
carry out her mission in the world and to reach all peoples. And she
has the right to do this, a right given her by God for the
accomplishment of his plan. Religious freedom, which is still at times
limited or restricted, remains the premise and guarantee of all the
freedoms that ensure the common good of individuals and peoples. It is
to be hoped that authentic religious freedom will be granted to all
people everywhere… It is a question of an inalienable right of each and
every human person.
On her part, the Church addresses people with full respect
for their freedom. Her mission does not restrict freedom but rather
promotes it. The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. She respects
individuals and cultures, and she honors the sanctuary of conscience.
To those who for various reasons oppose missionary activity, the Church
repeats: Open the doors to Christ!
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At times some Christians do not give the commandment of
charity its
full scope and value in their actions. In that last wonderful discourse
of his, we find Christ surrounded by his chosen ones and leaving them
these words as a form of testament: 'Mandatum novum do vobis, ut
diligatis invicem' — a new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another. Then he went further: 'In hoc cognoscent omnes quia discipuli
mei estis' — by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another. If only we would make up our minds to
live as he wants!
(The Forge,
no.889)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do the bishops carry out their mission
of teaching?
Since they are authentic witnesses of the apostolic faith and are
invested with the authority of Christ, the bishops in union with the
Pope have the duty of proclaiming the Gospel faithfully and
authoritatively to all. By means of a supernatural sense of faith, the
people of God unfailingly adhere to the faith under the guidance of the
living Magisterium of the Church. (CCC 888-890, 939)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.184)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the twenty sixth week of Ordinary Time II
(October 7) Our
Lady of the Rosary This Marian celebration originated from
the victory of Lepanto (1571). The combined Christian fleet defeated
the forces of the Turks, thus arresting their occupation of Europe.
This favour was attributed by Pope St Pius V to the recitation of the
Rosary. Our Lady has greatly recommended it herself, as have the Popes
and the Church in her teaching. (Saints)
Scripture
today: Job 42:1-3, 5-6,
12-17; Psalm 119:66, 71, 75, 91, 125,
130; Luke 10:17-24
The
seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, “Lord, even
the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have
observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given
you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full
force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not
rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because
your names are written in heaven.” At that very moment he rejoiced in
the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and
the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such
has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by
my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the
Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal
him.” Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the
eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings
desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you
hear, but did not hear it.” (Luke 10: 17-24)
How
blessed were the
Apostles and disciples to have gazed upon the face of Christ and to
have known him personally, to have listened to his voice and teaching,
to have experienced his look of love, to have watched him smile and
laugh! Jesus is the climax of human history, the high point which,
having
come, remains with us - though unseen. The entire universe and all of
its
story and development finds its focus and meaning in this person, Jesus
of Nazareth. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, St John tells
us in the Prologue of his Gospel, and “we saw his glory”, “full
of grace and truth.” This man is almighty God, while being truly man.
How wonderful a thing to have known him and to have been his friend!
Our Lord himself states this in our Gospel passage today, when “turning
to the disciples in private he said, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see
what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see
what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not
hear it” (Luke
10: 17-24).
Our Lord said this to his disciples during his public ministry when the
“seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing” telling our Lord of how
“even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” But there was
a greater moment to come. That moment was when our Lord hung upon the
cross, for it was then that the power of the demons over the world was
in principle and at its root definitively broken. All that would then
remain to do was to bring this victory to each person. "Blessed are the
eyes that see what you see." (Luke 10:17-24).
We ought throughout
our spiritual life as Christ’s disciples remain with the mother of
Jesus on Calvary, realizing that precisely then the Messiah was doing
God’s work for the world. Many “prophets and kings” had longed for the
coming of the Messiah and for his work to be done. His work was the
establishment of the Kingdom of God in the world. They never saw it nor
heard it, but we who believe in Jesus are able to do so with the eyes
and ears of faith. As our Lord said to Thomas after he rose from the
dead, “Blessed are those who have not seen but believe.” So let us
remain at Calvary with our faith alive and full of love, standing next
to Mary. Blessed are our eyes for seeing what we see! Let us look
together with Mary our Mother and our Model. Let us ask her for the
supernatural gift of choosing what Christ has chosen, of wanting what
he wants, of having a heart like unto his, of putting on the mind of
Christ and casting from us the mind of the world. It means choosing to
follow Christ along the way leading to Calvary, because that is what
Christ chose. It is the way of obedience to the Father in bearing
witness to the truth amid difficulty and death to self. It is a
good thing to nourish a love for the devotions which the Church
recommends in this respect. I think of, for instance, the prayerful
recitation of the daily Rosary - and in the context of these
reflections today, perhaps especially the Sorrowful Mysteries in which
we accompany Christ in his Passion together with Mary. Let us pray for
the grace to accompany him with love not only in our prayer but in our
daily fulfilment of our duties.
Stay with Christ in
his Passion, by the power of his Resurrection! The saints teach us that
the Passion of Christ is the greatest of all schools of spirituality.
It is the high point of the world’s history and it is the pathway to
glory. Let us endeavour to accompany Christ along that pathway.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I give you praise, Father, …you have
revealed them to the childlike" (Luke 10:17-24)
Commentary by Pope John Paul II
(Encyclical Letter "Dominum et vivificantem",
§ 20-21)
"Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: 'I give
you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have
hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed
them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.'"
Jesus rejoices at the fatherhood of God: he rejoices because it has
been given to him to reveal this fatherhood; he rejoices, finally, as
at a particular outpouring of this divine fatherhood on the "little
ones." And the evangelist describes all this as "rejoicing in the Holy
Spirit."…
That which during the theophany at the Jordan
(Lk 3:22) came so to speak "from outside," from on high, here comes
"from within," that is to say from the depths of who Jesus is. It is
another revelation of the Father and the Son, united in the Holy
Spirit. Jesus speaks only of the fatherhood of God and of his own
sonship;he does not speak directly of the Spirit who is Love and
thereby the union of the Father and the Son. Nonetheless what he says
of the Father and of himself-the Son-flows from that fullness of the
Spirit which is in him, which fills his heart, pervades his own "I,"
inspires and enlivens his action from the depths. Hence that rejoicing
in the Holy Spirit. The union of Christ with the Holy Spirit, a union
of which he is perfectly aware, is expressed in that rejoicing, which
in a certain way renders perceptible its hidden source. Thus there is a
particular manifestation and rejoicing which is proper to the Son of
Man, the Christ-Messiah, whose humanity belongs to the person of the
Son of God, substantially one with the Holy Spirit in divinity.
In the magnificent confession of the
fatherhood of God, Jesus of Nazareth also manifests himself, his divine
"I"- for he is the Son "of the same substance," and therefore "no one
knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the
Son," that Son who "for us and for our salvation" (Creed) became man by
the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin whose name was
Mary.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Piety is the bond which ties us close to God and, for his sake, to
others too since we see Christ in them. Without it, disunity comes
inevitably, and with disunity the loss of all Christian spirit.
(The Forge,
no.890)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When is the infallibility of the
Magisterium exercised?
Infallibility is exercised when the Roman Pontiff, in virtue of his
office as the Supreme Pastor of the Church, or the College of Bishops,
in union with the Pope especially when joined together in an Ecumenical
Council, proclaim by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or
morals. Infallibility is also exercised when the Pope and Bishops in
their ordinary Magisterium are in agreement in proposing a doctrine as
definitive. Every one of the faithful must adhere to such teaching with
the obedience of faith. (CCC 890-891)
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.185)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-seventh
Sunday in Ordinary Time B
(October 8) Today let us think of Saint Pelagia
(Saints)
Scripture: Genesis
2:18-24; Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6; Hebrews
2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16 or 10: 2-12.
The Pharisees
approached Jesus and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his
wife?" They were testing him. He said to them in reply, "What did Moses
command you?" They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill
of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the
hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the
beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one
flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must
separate." In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about
this. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and
marries another, she commits adultery." (Mark
10:2-12)
Marriage is one
of the
most common and yet one of the most beautiful things in the world. It
is something which a young person normally aspires to with expectation
and when a couple meet and decide to get married, the event normally
brings joy to everyone. It is almost self-evident that marriage is
something deeply part of man’s best nature and so part of the plan of
God. The challenge, though, for the couple being married, for their
families, and for every married couple all through their married lives,
is to look to the plan of God as the light of their married life. The
tendency will be to look on their marriage from the viewpoint of their
personal background or social environment alone.
Their experience of their own family will prompt various expectations.
Their reading and viewing of the media and other forms of entertainment
will prompt other expectations. Their own imaginations and natural
hopes will prompt still further expectations. All of this will have a
certain validity but it cannot provide the rock on which the house of
married life should be built. What every married couple and every
couple
preparing for marriage ought look to is what God has revealed of his
plan for marriage. Every couple ought make it their business to
know this divine plan, to nourish it in their hearts and work daily
towards its fulfilment in their lives. Our Lord in the Gospel of today (Mark 10:2-12)
tells us something of this plan.
The first
thing that our Lord tells us about marriage is that God intends it to
be a marvellous union between the spouses. The two become one,
one flesh until death. No one must ever disrupt the union between the
two which God has established. God has joined them together. They are
joined in marriage by an act of God. As a couple prepares for marriage
they ought
look on the coming event as something God will do to them, for them and
in them.
He unites them in love. As a married couple reflects on their married
state they ought look on it as coming from God. It was God’s gift in
the past and is his ongoing gift to them now and into the future.
Nothing can be allowed that might threaten or weaken this divinely
created bond. Their happiness will lie in this being the foundation of
their lives and on their building up a profound and love for one
another. The structure of their life is such that they belong to one
another
until death, and this is so by God’s act.
Moreover
our Lord has made of the marriage bond not only something exclusive to
the couple and
unbreakable by very nature, but for spouses who are members of Christ’s
Church it is also a sign and vehicle of God’s grace and life. Marriage
between baptised members of Christ’s Church is one of the seven
sacraments. The love
that is naturally present or should be present in a marriage
becomes by divine arrangement a channel of the life and love of God for
the couple. His life flows through the veins of their love. The more
they love one another the more will that love for one another be
sanctifying because God is present in it provided it acts according to
his law. The more they love one another the more will they love God
and the more will God sanctify them. The Holy Spirit will be especially
active in their life of love for one another, drawing each spouse not
only closer in love to the other, but closer in love to God. The
spouses will be sanctifying their lives precisely by their mutual love,
and this by the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit who is present
in the marriage from the beginning because it is a sacrament.
So not only
does God himself unite couples at the moment of their marriage, binding
them into an exclusive and life-long mutual bond, but he comes into the
marriage to abide within it as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The triune God dwells in the marriage as his abode, sanctifying them by
sharing his
life with them precisely by means of their love for one another.
Furthermore, by their very married love not only are they sanctified
but they contribute towards the sanctification of others beyond the
marriage. This is so because their married life is made by God to be a
sign of the undying and personal love that Christ has for us his
Church. An enlightened observer seeing the union between a truly
Christian couple knows that this reflects the love that Christ has for
him and for the entire Church. He will be edified and inspired to be
united the more with God.
Therefore
it is so very critical that the Christian couple take all the means
that the Church provides and recommends in order to stay close to
Christ and to grow into a fervent love for him. In this way will they
remain in the state of grace and be able to build a holy and strong
love for one anther. Thus by the grace of the Holy Spirit who abides
within their marriage will they will be the instruments of their mutual
sanctification and a most important means of the sanctification of
others beyond their married and family life in the Church and in the
world.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.1602-1617
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh." (Mark 10:2-12)
Commentary by Pope Benedict
XVI (Encyclical letter "Deus
caritas est", § 9-11)
In the world of the Bible, God's relationship with
Israel is described using the metaphors of betrothal and marriage;
idolatry is thus adultery and prostitution… But God's eros for man is
also totally agape. This is not only because it is bestowed in a
completely gratuitous manner, without any previous merit, but also
because it is love which forgives… In this biblical vision, on the one
hand we find ourselves before a strictly metaphysical image of God: God
is the absolute and ultimate source of all being; but this universal
principle of creation—the Logos, primordial reason—is at the same time
a lover with all the passion of a true love. Eros is thus supremely
ennobled, yet at the same time it is so purified as to become one with
agape… The first novelty of biblical faith consists… in its image of
God. The second, essentially connected to this, is found in the image
of man.
The biblical account of creation speaks of the
solitude of Adam, the first man, and God's decision to give him a
helper… The idea is certainly present that man is somehow incomplete,
driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole,
the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become
“complete”. The biblical account thus concludes with a prophecy about
Adam: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to
his wife and they become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).
Two aspects of this are important.
First, eros is somehow rooted in man's very nature; Adam is a seeker,
who “abandons his mother and father” in order to find woman; only
together do the two represent complete humanity and become “one flesh”.
The second aspect is equally important. From the standpoint of
creation, eros directs man towards marriage, to a bond which is unique
and definitive; thus, and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest
purpose. Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous
marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes the
icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa.
God's way of loving becomes the measure of human love.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be grateful to God from the bottom of your heart for those wonderful
and awesome faculties he chose to give you when he made you — your
intellect and your will. They are wonderful, because they make you like
him; and awesome because there are human beings who turn their
faculties against their Creator. It seems to me we could sum up the
thankfulness that we owe as children of God by saying to this Father of
ours, now and always, serviam!: I will serve you.
(The Forge,
no.891)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do
Bishops exercise their ministry of sanctification?
Bishops sanctify the Church by dispensing the grace of Christ by their
ministry of the word and the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist,
and also by their prayers, their example and their work.
(CCC 893)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.186)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(October 9) St Denis,
bishop and martyr and his martyr companions (3rd century). St
Denis was the first bishop of Paris. He was sent to france by Pope
Fabian. He suffered martyrdom with his companions.
St
John Leonardi, priest (1541-1609). He studied pharmacy after
which he became a priest. He devoted himself to teaching catechism to
children. He founded the Order of the Regular Clerks of the Mother of
God and suffered many tribulations. Later on, he founded in Rome what
became the Institute "De Propaganda Fide" for the propagation of the
faith and the formation of missionaries. (Saints)
Scripture today: Galatians
1:6-12; Psalm 111:1b-2, 7-8, 9 and
10c; Luke 10:25-37
There
was a scholar of
the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do
to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the
law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord,
your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your
strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” He
replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will
live.” But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And
who is my neighbour?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as
he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and
went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that
road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise
a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the
opposite side. But a Samaritan traveller who came upon him was moved
with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and
wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his
own animal, took him to an inn, and cared for him. The next day he took
out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the
instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have
given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ Which of these three, in
your opinion, was neighbour to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The
one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do
likewise.” (Luke
10:25-37)
Often marginal details
are interesting features of the Gospel stories. Today’s parable of the
Good Samaritan is famous in world literature, and it was occasioned by
a scholar of the Jewish law attempting to test our Lord and show him
up. He asked our Lord what one had to do to gain eternal life, and our
Lord gently turned the tables and tested him by asking him what the law
stated. The scribe gave the right answer - the answer our Lord himself
had given on another occasion (which perhaps - who knows! - the scribe
had heard our Lord give). So our Lord told him to put into effect the
reply he had given. The scribe felt a little foolish at having answered
his own question and so, to give the impression that he did have a
problem to solve, asked our Lord who his neighbour was. Was he expected
to love as much as himself and other Jews the heretics, the gentiles
and non-believers? What did it mean to love them? So with effortless
readiness our Lord told his parable of the foreigner who was a
neighbour to the robbers’ victim. The Samaritans were religious
heretics, they accepted only part of what God had revealed, and they
were hostile to the Jews. We recall how on one occasion they refused
admittance to our Lord and his band as they were on their way to
Jerusalem, precisely because they were going to Jerusalem. The Jews for
their part looked down on the Samaritans and we remember how on one
occasion some in the crowd accused our Lord of being a “Samaritan”
because of what he was saying. It was a pejorative expression.
Well, it is a
Samaritan who is the hero of our Lord’s parable (Luke 10:25-37).
He greatly transcended in moral character the Jewish priest and the
Jewish scribe who passed by the wounded man who was lying half-dead by
the roadside. They were learned in the law and regarded as very upright
in God’s sight. They were not like the publicans and the sinners and
other types like the despised Samaritans. Yet, seeing the man at the
point of death, they passed by. If the man had indeed died in the
story, they would have been partially responsible for his dearth in
leaving him in this way. But along came one of the despicable
Samaritans - despicable to the priest and to the scribe who had gone
on. He stopped and took all necessary steps at the cost of his own
time, convenience and money to rehabilitate the injured Jew back to
health. He fulfilled the command of God to love his neighbour as
himself. The original question of the scribe was, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? An essential requirement was to be a neighbour to
whoever is in need. The Samaritan showed that he and not the priest and
scribe was on the way to heaven. So included in the message of our
Lord’s parable is the point that those who through no fault of their
own do not enjoy the fulness of revelation as proclaimed by the Church,
can by leading a life of loving service to others make real progress
towards eternal life. But more than anything, of course, our Lord’s
parable teaches us that I love my neighbour as myself by sensitively
serving those whom I see to be in need, whoever they may be.
So then, how do we fulfil the command to love our neighbour? We fulfil
this command by being alert to all who are in need and by endeavouring
to meet those needs. In the Gospel of St
Matthew (chapter 25) our Lord places service of our neighbour at the
very centre of the General Judgment. It is the one who visits the sick
and feeds the hungry who will be admitted into the Kingdom, because
whatever we do to the least Our Lord will consider as having been done
to him. That is to say, we love and serve God by loving and serving
those in need. It is the Samaritan of our Lord’s parable who
would have received that reward, whereas the priest and the scribe
would have been cast outside.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Who was the neighbour to the man who
fell in with the robbers?” (Luke 10:25-37)
Commentary by Saint Augustine
(354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Homily 171, on the Letter to the Philippians)
He who is everywhere – where is he not? … “The Lord is near. Dismiss
all anxiety from your minds.” (Phil 4:6) This is a great mystery: he
ascended above the heavens, and he is near to those who live on the
earth. Who is far away and at the same time very near if not the one
who came so close to us out of mercy?
For this man who was lying on the road, left there half dead by the
robbers, whom the priest and the Levite neglected by turning away, and
whom a Samaritan passing by approached in order to care for him and to
help him – this man represents the whole human race… Our Lord wanted
this Samaritan to represent him… Although he was righteous and immortal
and thus far away from us who are mortal and sinners, God who was so
far away, came down to us in order to be very near. “The Lord is near.
Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.” …
“He does not deal with us according to our sins.” (Ps 103:10) We are
his children. What proof do we have of this? He died for our sins, he
who is the only Son, so as not to remain alone. He who died alone did
not want to be alone. The only Son of God made many children of God. By
his blood, he bought for himself brothers; he who had been rejected,
adopted them; he who had been sold, bought them back; he who had been
gravely offended, filled them with honour; he who had been put to
death, gave them life… Thus you must rejoice: in every place and at all
times, wherever you might be (Phil 4:4). “The Lord is near. Dismiss all
anxiety from your minds.”
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Without interior life, and without formation, there is no true
apostolate and no work that is fruitful. Whatever work is done will be
fragile, fictitious even. How great, then, is our responsibility as
children of God! We have to hunger and thirst for him and for his
doctrine.
(The Forge,
no.892)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do the Bishops exercise their function
of governing?
Every bishop, insofar as he is a member of the college of bishops,
bears collegially the care for all particular Churches and for the
entire Church along with all the other bishops who are united to the
Pope. A bishop to whom a particular Church has been entrusted governs
that Church with the authority of his own sacred power which is
ordinary and immediate and exercised in the name of Christ, the Good
Shepherd, in communion with the entire Church and under the guidance of
the Successor of Peter.
(CCC 894-896)
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.187)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 10) Today let us think of Saint Francis Borgia and Saint Ghislain
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Galatians
1:13-24; Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab,
14c-15; Luke 10:38-42
Jesus
entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister
named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you
not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell
her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you
are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one
thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from
her.” (Luke 10:38-42)
It
is clear that the
focus of our Gospel passage today is the figure of Martha, the sister
of Mary who “sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.”
Martha is the one who spoke her words of complaint to our Lord in the
scene, and she is the one to whom our Lord replied and it is his
precious
words to her that come to us in our text. None of her sister Mary’s
words are reported to us in the Gospels. In the Gospel of St John
Martha features even more prominently. The occasion is when our Lord
returns to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead shortly before his
Passion. It is Martha who welcomes our Lord to her home, and it is her
words that are once again reported to us, this time by St John. They
are words full of magnificent faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of
God. It is worth remembering too that of the three, Martha, Mary and
Lazarus, it is Martha whom we celebrate every year as a saint of the
Liturgical Year. Well then, let us consider the scene of our Gospel
today (Luke
10:38-42). There we have Martha engaged in the typical work of
the lay
Christian. She is not a full time apostle, nor, it seems, is she one of
those who travelled with our Lord as did certain other women who helped
the apostolic band with their means and their service. No, she stayed
at home with Mary and Lazarus fulfilling the busy duties which she
undoubtedly had. In the midst of this ordinary life she enjoyed a very
special friendship with our Lord as did her brother and her sister.
Jesus, we are told, loved them and they loved him and showed him
abundant hospitality whenever he called in.
Martha complained
to our Lord about her sister - incidentally showing her easy
familiarity with him. Our Lord responded by gently correcting her for
forgetting in all her busy service the one thing necessary, which in
this instance was being in his presence, in his friendship and in the
beauty of his teaching. That is what our Lord came to offer, and with
all her good will, at this moment of irritated frustration it was this
that Martha was forgetting (Luke
10:38-42).
There was nothing wrong with her serving him, indeed it was
commendable. We remember how our Lord washed the feet of his disciples
at the last supper, well, Martha was serving our Lord in parallel
fashion. But in her service she was forgetting him and becoming worried
and anxious about many other things. The danger in
any temporal service of others is that our hearts might become
"distracted" from our Lord. It is the danger in cooking for others,
in washing for them, in serving in any of the trades or professions in
the world. The danger facing the lay Christian is to forget the Lord in
the midst of everyday work in the world. The one thing necessary is to
learn to be contemplatives in the midst of the world and in the flow
and rush of everyday duties. We must learn to keep in mind the Lord who
is constantly near and whom really we should be serving even though we
do not physically see him. This is what it means to sanctify our daily
life and work. It means to do everything for the Lord, to serve him in
serving our neighbour in whatever walk of life or profession we follow,
and to do what we do really well. We are called to sanctify our work,
to sanctify ourselves in sanctifying our work, and to sanctify others
by sanctifying our work.
Let us rise every
day saying our Morning Offering, and let us live out that Morning
Offering throughout the day in the midst of our ordinary duties. If we
do this, we shall transform through the grace of the Holy Spirit a life
of mundane service into a life of grandeur. Our Gospel today featuring
Saint Martha teaches us of the grandeur of ordinary life, provided we
do not forget the one thing necessary which is Christ at the centre of
everything.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martha and Mary in the one body of
Christ (Luke 10:38-42)
Commentary by Saint Ambrose
(around 340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Treatise on the Gospel
according to Saint Luke, 7, 85-86
The parable of the Good Samaritan is about mercy. But there is not just
one way to be virtuous. The parable is followed by the example of
Martha and of Mary. We see there that one is devoted in her activity,
the other is religiously attentive to the word of God. According to
what is written, if that attentiveness is in conformity with faith, it
is even preferable to works: “Mary has chosen the better portion and
she shall not be deprived of it.” So let us also strive to possess what
no one can take away from us. Let us listen in a way that is not
distracted but attentive… Let us be like Mary who is animated by the
desire for wisdom. That is a greater and more perfect work than the
others… So don’t criticize, don’t judge as idle those whom you see
desiring this wisdom…
However, Martha is not criticized for her good services, even if Mary
has chosen the better part. For Jesus has many riches and gives many
generous gifts… The apostles also did not think that it was best to
leave the word of God in order to serve at table (Acts 6:2). But both
things are works of wisdom. Stephen, who was full of wisdom, was chosen
for his part to be a servant. Thus, may the person who serves obey the
one who teaches, and may the person who teaches encourage the one who
serves. The body of the Church is one, even if the members are diverse;
the one needs the other. “The eye cannot say to the hand: I do not need
you; nor can the head say that to the feet.” (1 Cor 12:14f.) The ear
cannot say that it does not belong to the body. There are organs that
are more important; but the others are nevertheless necessary.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Someone told that good friend of ours, seeking to humiliate him, that
his was a second — or third-rate soul. As he was convinced of his
nothingness, he was not upset. Instead he reasoned this way: ``Each man
has just one soul. I have mine, just the one. So for each one his own
soul is first-rate. I'm not going to lower my sights. So, my soul is of
the very very best: and with God's help, I want to purify it and whiten
it and set it on fire, to please my Beloved.'' You must not forget
this: you cannot `lower your sights' either, despite the fact that you
see yourself full of wretchedness.
(The Forge,
no.893)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the vocation of the lay faithful?
The lay faithful have as their own vocation to seek the Kingdom of God
by illuminating and ordering temporal affairs according to the plan of
God. They carry out in this way their call to holiness and to the
apostolate, a call given to all the baptized. (CCC 897-900, 940)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.188)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 11) Today let us think of Saint Firminus
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Galatians
2:1-2, 7-14; Psalm 117:1bc,
2; Luke 11:1-4
Jesus
was praying in a
certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to
him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He
said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your
Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and lead us not into
temptation.” (Luke
11:1-4)
rch
In our Gospel today, we
have our Lord teaching his disciples his great Prayer,
which we call the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1-4).
Presumably our Lord often taught it to them and prayed it with
them. There are some differences in it as it appears in different
Gospels, and perhaps this in part reflects slight variations in our
Lord’s own
instructions about it. The characteristic prayer of a creature of God
at prayer is one of petition, and the whole of the Lord’s Prayer is a
prayer of petition. In it we ask God that his name be held holy. We ask
him that his Kingdom come, that his will be done, that he give to us
today our daily bread, that he forgive us our sins and that he preserve
us
from what might lead us into sin. Inasmuch as this Prayer comes from
the lips of the Lord Jesus, we can presume that it reflects his own
prayer. Even the petition asking for forgiveness of sin and for
preservation from temptation we may presume our Lord himself prayed,
not for himself but on behalf of sinful mankind whom he had come
to identify with and to save. So then, the prayer of petition is of the
utmost importance in the Christian life and in the mission of the
Church. If God’s name is to be hallowed in the
world, if his will is to be done, if his kingdom is to come, if we are
to acquire our daily bread and if we are to avoid sin and its
occasions, we must perseveringly petition God for these blessings. That
is the point
we ought dwell on. In the plan of God so very many of God’s blessings
will come to us not only as a result of our own efforts, but also as a
result of praying for them.
Today let us notice
the petitions that come first in the Lord’s Prayer (Luke
11:1-4).
Surely they reflect our Lord’s priorities. This precious Prayer that
comes from the mouth of God himself begins by addressing our Father in
heaven. It then immediately asks that his name be held as holy
and to be worthy of
the utmost respect. Let us imagine the fervour with which our Lord
would have prayed that first petition, and the love for his Father that
would have informed it. Consider the occasion when he entered the
Temple and saw the buyers and sellers at their trade, the general
disrespect that was so much in evidence. Zeal for his Father’s house
consumed him and he drove them all out. He loved his Father with all
his being and wished to see his Father’s name hallowed. Let us ask for
the grace to pray this first petition of the Lord’s Prayer with the
mind of Christ, to
use St Paul’s expression. Let us unite ourselves with him in thinking
of his Father and of how the entire world ought honour the Father with
Jesus, in Jesus, and as
Jesus honoured him. It was to honour his Father and to make up for the
disobedience of mankind that our Lord went to his death on the Cross.
His death was the ultimate expression of the love with which our Lord
prayed this Prayer, especially the first petition that features in it.
Consider too the love and ardour with which he would have prayed the
petitions that immediately follow it: your Kingdom come, your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. How vividly our Lord would have known
the obedience to the Father that reigns in heaven! Our Lord came to
earth in order that the Father’s will would be done on earth as it is
done in heaven.
Let us treasure the
Lord’s Prayer, especially the first few petitions in it. What a grace
to
die with the Lord’s Prayer on our lips, and being prayed with the
utmost fervour! Let us imagine our Lord praying those petitions, and
let us ask Mary our mother and model for the grace to be able to pray
them with something of the mind of her Son.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught
his disciples.” (Luke 11:1-4)
Commentary by Seraphim of Sarov
(1759-1833), Russian monk (Conversation with Motovilov)
It is through prayer that we become worthy to converse with our
life-giving and merciful Lord. But we must pray with words only until
the moment when the Holy Spirit comes down upon us and grants us a
certain measure of his heavenly grace, which he alone knows. When he
visits us, we must stop praying with words. For of what use is it to
beg in the liturgy: “Come Holy Spirit, dwell in us, purify us of all
stain and save our souls, you who are goodness” (Orthodox tropary
recited at the beginning of the Office), when he has already come into
the temple of our souls that are thirsting for his coming, in response
to our humble and loving entreaties? …
That is why it was said: “Desist! And confess that I am God, exalted
among the nations, exalted upon the earth.” (Ps 46:11) Which means: I
will appear and will continue to appear to every believer and I will
converse with him as I conversed with Adam in paradise, with Abraham
and Jacob and my other servants, Moses, Job and their likes. Many
believe that the word “desist” has to be interpreted as pertaining to
the matters of this world, that is to say that when speaking to God in
prayer, we have to withdraw from all that is earthly. Certainly. But in
God, I tell you that in spite of the fact that it is necessary to
withdraw during prayer, when the Lord God, the Holy Spirit visits us
and comes into us in the fullness of his inexpressible goodness, we
also have to withdraw from the words of prayer, we have to suppress the
words of prayer itself…
When the Holy Spirit descends, it is appropriate that we be absolutely
silent, so that the soul can hear clearly and understand well the
proclamations of eternal life that he deigns to bring us. Then the soul
and the mind are in a state of complete sobriety and the body in a
state of chastity and purity. That is how it was on Mount Horeb when
God came down on Sinai, for God is “a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29), and
nothing that is physically or spiritually impure can come into contact
with him.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You complain that you are alone, and that your surroundings militate
against you. Think of this, then: Jesus, the Good Sower, takes each of
us, his children, and holds us tight in his wounded hand, like wheat.
He soaks us in his Blood. He purifies and cleanses us. He fills us with
his ``wine''! And then he scatters us generously throughout the world,
one by one, for wheat is not sown by the sackful, but grain by grain.
(The Forge,
no.894)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How
do the lay faithful participate in the priestly office of Christ?
They participate in it especially in the Eucharist by offering as a
spiritual sacrifice “acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter
2:5) their own lives with all of their works, their prayers, their
apostolic undertakings, their family life, their daily work and
hardships borne with patience and even their consolations of spirit and
body. In this way, even the laity, dedicated to Christ and consecrated
by the Holy Spirit, offer to God the world itself. (CCC 901-903)
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.189)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 12) Today let us think of Saint Wilfrid and Our Lady of Pillar
(Saints)
Scripture today: Galatians 3:
1-5; Luke 1: 69-70, 71-72,
73-75; Luke 11: 5-13
Jesus
said to his
disciples: “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight
and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine
has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer
him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has
already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot
get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give
him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him
whatever he needs because of his persistence. “And I tell you, ask and
you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be
opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks,
finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father
among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand
him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the
Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:5-13)
In
view of our Lord’s promise that our prayers will be answered by our
almighty and all-loving Father in heaven, one suspects that the most
common reason why our prayers do not seem to be answered is that we
give up asking. We do not persist in our prayer. The very fact that our
Lord goes to some length in insisting on perseverence in our petitions
suggests that he regarded the lack of persistence as a principal defect
in the prayer of his disciples. In any case, is not this our experience
too? We give up asking, as do so many of the people we know. This could
be for a variety of reasons such as lack of faith in God’s power and
love. It could simply be because we assume that the delay means that
for whatever reason what we are praying for will not come. We lose
faith and hope, and so we stop asking. But our Lord tells us that if we
persist in asking we shall receive. If we persist in seeking we shall
find. If we persist in knocking, the door will be opened to us (Luke 11: 5-13). The fact is, of
course, that we could very easily, with the best of intentions, ask for
things that are positively bad for us, or at least not in our best
interests. That is to say, what we want from God could cut across his
plan for us. In sixteenth century Spain the Duke of Gandia, Francis
Borgia, to his great sorrow was facing the imminent death of his
beloved wife. He prayed persistently to God for her recovery. In some
way the Lord intimated to him that if he persisted his prayer would be
granted, but the granting of his prayer would result in even greater
blessings not coming about. In great perplexity Francis Borgia left it
to God and entrusted his wife to the Lord. His wife died, and
subsequently Francis entered the Jesuits, became the Superior General,
and is now a canonized saint. What we want from God may not be in God’s
interests, nor in ours.
However, there is
an admitted mystery about prayer and clear patterns cannot be drawn
from history. For instance, as far as I am aware the Spanish Armada was
preceded by intense and persistent prayer throughout the Spanish
Kingdom, and enormous efforts were taken to do what was thought to be
the will of God. Yet, it was a monumental and catastrophic failure for
Spain and a signal victory for England. Some years before that the
preparations to defeat the advancing Islamic Turks were preceded by a
wave of persistent prayer throughout the Catholic countries of Europe,
directed by Pope Saint Pius V. The Catholic forces continued their
prayer to Mary the mother of God on their very ships. The battle of
Lepanto was joined and a monumental and total victory for the Christian
fleet resulted, and
thereupon began a subsequent decline of the military strength of Islam
that
continued over the next few centuries. When we consider the seemingly
mixed testimony of history and and personal life as to the
results of the prayer of petition, we must simply fall back on the
words of the
Lord and place our faith in his promise. In some way persistent prayer
will be answered, but in the way God knows best - and he is the God of
surprises. Moreover, the
testimony of life and history does at least suggest that we must strive
to discover what God wants us to pray for, what will serve the
interests of his Kingdom in our life and in the life of others. In this
regard, let us remember that God works generally through the natural
world he sustains. If we pray for a physical recovery God may grant the
request through mysteriously guiding good surgery, or good
diagnosis, or good medicines. So it is likely that God will answer
prayer generally by extending in the direction of our petition the
factors making up human life and the flow of history, which factors he
himself as the creator sustains. These are some of
the issues we bear in mind in discerning what to pray for and what
to expect.
Whatever sense we
make of the mysterious ways in which God responds to our prayers,
Christ has told us that we must have full faith in him and in his
intention to answer our prayers. Let us bear in mind especially how he
ends the Gospel passage today: how much more will our heavenly Father
grant to us the Holy Spirit if we ask him! This is what we ought be
praying for above all, that the Holy Spirit will be sent to sanctify us
and make us fit instruments of the saving plan of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“How much more will the heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”Lk 11:5-13
Commentary by Symeon the New Theologian
(around 949-1022), Orthodox monk
Invocation to the Holy Spirit,
Introduction to the Hymns
Come, Holy Spirit. Come, true light. Come, eternal life. Come, hidden
mystery. Come, nameless treasure. Come, ineffable reality. Come,
unending happiness. Come, light that never sets. Come, you who awaken
those who are asleep. Come, resurrection of the dead. Come, oh Powerful
One, who always makes and remakes and transforms everything simply by
your will. Come, you who always remain motionless and who nevertheless
are entirely in movement at every moment, so as to come to us who are
lying among the dead, oh you who are above the highest heavens.
Come, eternal joy. Come, you who desired and desire my destitute soul.
Come, you who are the Only One to the one who is alone, since as you
see, I am alone. Come, you who separated me from everything and who
made me solitary in this world. Come, you who yourself became desire in
me, who caused me to desire you, the absolutely inaccessible One. Come,
my breath and my life. Come, consolation of my poor soul. Come, my joy,
my glory, my unending delight.
I give you thanks for having become one single spirit with me (Rom
8:16), without confusion, without change, without transformation, you
the God above everything, and for having become for me all in all (1
Cor 15:28)… I give you thanks for having become for me the light that
never sets, the sun that does not go down; for you have nowhere to
hide, you who fill the universe with your glory! No, you have never
hidden from anyone, but it is we who always hide from you, refusing to
go with you…
So come, Oh Master, set up your tent in me today (Jn 1:14); build your
house and dwell in me, your servant, constantly, inseparably, until the
end, oh you who are very good. And when I leave this world, may I also
find myself again in you, oh you who are very good, and may I reign
with you, God, who are above everything.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I insist: ask God to grant us, his children, the `gift of tongues', the
gift of making ourselves understood by all. You can find the reason why
I want this `gift of tongues' in the pages of the Gospel, which abound
in parables, in examples which materialise the doctrine and illustrate
spiritual truths, without debasing or degrading the word of God.
Everyone, both the learned and the less learned, finds it easier to
reflect on and understand God's message through these human images.
(The Forge,
no.895)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How does the laity participate in the
prophetic office?
They participate in it by welcoming evermore in faith the Word of
Christ and proclaiming it to the world by the witness of their lives,
their words, their evangelizing action, and by catechesis. This
evangelizing action acquires a particular efficacy because it is
accomplished in the ordinary circumstances of the world. (CCC
904-907, 942.)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.190)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 13) Today let us think of Saint Edward the Confessor
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Galatians
3:7-14; Psalm 111:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6;
Luke 11:15-26
When
Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of
Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test
him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and
said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against
himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by
Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by
Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they
will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out
demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man
fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one
stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armour on
which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is
against me, and
whoever does not gather with me scatters. “When an unclean spirit goes
out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but,
finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it
goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who
move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that man is worse
than the first.” (Luke
11:15-26)
In the opening action of
our Gospel passage today we see
two powers in conflict, the power of Christ and the power of the
underworld. A demon had gained possession of some unfortunate
individual, and
Christ had driven that demon out and set the person free. Our Lord goes
on to refer to the presence and activity of two kingdoms, the kingdom
of God and the kingdom of Satan. That there is a certain unity within
the kingdom of Satan is implied by our Lord’s words “if Satan is
divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” So Satan's is a
kingdom arrayed in a certain unity against God and all that God wants
for the good of mankind. It has, therefore a certain power. But of
course, its power cannot be compared with the power of the kingdom of
God which is present in its fulness in the person of Christ, for as St
Paul writes in one of his Letters, the fulness of the Godhead is
present bodily in Jesus. The great might of the kingdom of God is
suggested
by our Lord’s use of terms. While some of the crowd said that it was by
the power of Beelzebul that our Lord cast out demons, our Lord himself
said that “it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons”. The
“power” of Beelzebul is overcome by the mere “the finger” of God which
could, incidentally, be a reference to the Holy Spirit. Satan is a
“strong man fully armed” but Christ is “stronger than he” who “attacks
and overcomes him” and “takes away the armour on which he relied.”
(Luke 11:15-26)
So then, let us
contemplate these two kingdoms each with its own standard. Each is
fully armed with its characteristic weapons. The weapons of Satan’s
kingdom are those favouring self and self aggrandisement. Satan
attempts to set up as of
supreme value what the Church’s spiritual tradition has always called
the values of "the world" and the promptings of "the flesh." He fights
God with the “world” and the
“flesh”, weapons that serve to exalt self against the exaltation of the
infinite God, and makes subjects of his kingdom those he ensnares by
these weapons. As our Lord said elsewhere, Satan has been a liar and a
murderer from the beginning. Fully armed he guards his palace, but
there has arrived one who is far stronger bringing the kingdom of God
and delivering all from the thraldom of Satan’s captivity. The weapons
that Christ uses are completely opposite to those of Satan. His are the
embrace of the will of God and the renunciation of self and the world.
His weapons are humility and the denial of self. If anyone wishes to
come after me, our Lord teaches, let him deny himself and take up his
cross every day and follow in my footsteps. What will give us the
strength and the desire to follow the difficult path of Christ, the
path of profound humility and denial of self in pursuing the will of
the Father? Our strength for this will come from love of Jesus, which
love we gain by contemplating his love for us. So let us every day
contemplate in prayer all that our Lord has done for each of us. As St
Paul writes,
Christ loved me and delivered himself for me. Each of us must
personally realize that he did all this for me.
Let us place
ourselves in the presence of the two standards, on the one hand that of
Christ and his kingdom, and on the other that of Satan and his kingdom.
Thinking of what Christ has done for me, I ask myself, What have I done
for Christ? What am I doing for him? What will I do for him? So then,
now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Finger of God:
"it is by the finger of God that
I drive out demons" (Luke 11:15-26)
Commentary by St Irenaeus of Lyon (around 130 –
around 208), Bishop, Theologian, and Martyr
(Against the Heresies
IV, Pr 4; 39,2)
The human person is a mixture of soul and flesh, a flesh that was
formed according to the likeness of God and modelled by God’s two
hands, that is to say, the Son and the Spirit. It is to them that he
said: “Let us make man.” (Gen 1:26)…
But how can you be divinized one day if you have not yet been made
human? How will you be perfect, when you have only just been created?
How will you be immortal, when in another mortal nature you did not
obey your Creator? … Since you are the work of God, wait patiently for
the hand of your Artist, who does all things at the right time. Present
to him a supple and docile heart, and keep the form that this Artist
gave you, having in yourself the water that comes from him and without
which you would become hard and would reject the imprint of his fingers.
By letting yourself be formed by him, you will rise to perfection, for
through this art of God, the clay that is in you will be hidden; his
hand created your substance… But if you become hard and push away his
art and show that you are discontent with the fact that he made you a
human being, by your ingratitude towards God you will have rejected not
only his art but life itself; for it is the very nature of God’s
goodness to form, and to be formed is the very nature of being human.
Thus, if you give yourself to him by giving him your faith in him and
your submission, you will receive the benefit of his art and you will
be God’s perfect work. If on the contrary, you resist him and if you
flee from his hands, the cause of your incompleteness will be in
yourself who did not obey, and not in him.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God wants us, now and always, to spread his seed, a divine sowing in
all surroundings. But he also wants it to maintain its quality while it
gains in quantity. You, very clearly, have a supernatural mission of
helping to ensure that this quality is not lost.
(The Forge,
no.896)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do they participate in the kingly
office?
The laity participate in the kingly function of Christ because they
have received from him the power to overcome sin in themselves and in
the world by self-denial and the holiness of their lives. They exercise
various ministries at the service of the community and they imbue
temporal activities and the institutions of society with moral values.
(CCC 90913, 943)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.191)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 14) St
Callistus I, pope and martyr (died 222). He provided for the
burial of martyrs in the catacombs. Known for his mercy and
understanding of sinners who repented from their sins, against the
opinion of the Rigorists, mainly Tertullian. He fixed the discipline of
the Sacrament of Penance. He defended the faith against the Adoptionist
and Modalist heresies with regard to the Holy Trinity and the Person of
Jesus Christ. He died a martyr in Rome during the reign of Alexander
Severus.
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Galatians
3:22-29; Psalm 105:2-3, 4-5,
6-7; Luke 11:27-28
While
Jesus was
speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed
is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He
replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and
observe it.” (Luke
11:27-28)
Anyone who observes
those around him will see how varied are the gifts people are blessed
with. It is the same with Christ’s faithful - their
gifts vary. Some have abundant gifts and blessings, others have very
ordinary endowments. The circumstances of those who have many gifts may
be unfavourable for the exercise of their gifts, whereas the
circumstances of those who have fewer gifts may be favourable for the
exercise of theirs. So then, the blessings of life vary. This fact
connects us with the brief dialogue reported in today’s Gospel in which
“while Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said
to him and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the
breasts at which you nursed.” The woman was extolling the blessings
of the mother of such a son as he. The mother of Jesus was
blessed among women, she said, just as Mary’s kinswoman Elizabeth
had stated decades before. Mary herself had proclaimed in her
Magnificat that she would be counted as blessed for all
generations. Mary was the glory of her race in bearing such a
son. All this was true, but our Lord immediately pointed out to the
woman that there is a far greater blessing than the one she had
extolled. It is the blessing of hearing the word of God and
putting it into practice (Luke
11:27-28).
Mary is blessed beyond all others in being the mother of the Lord
Jesus, but she is even more blessed in being one who heard the word
of God and put it perfectly into practice.
It is the blessing
of hearing his word and living it which God wishes to grant to all of
us by the power of his grace. Other
blessings are granted to this or that person and many of them we cannot
possibly aspire to because they do not fall within the
providence of God in our regard. But all of us are meant by God to hear
his word and to put it into practice, and according to our Lord this is
the greatest blessing of all. It is by doing this that we shall be most
like our Lord himself who always did what pleased the Father.
Furthermore, the greatest of blessings is to hear and understand
the heart of Christian discipleship which is to deny oneself, to
take up one’s daily cross and to follow closely in the footsteps of the
Master. Our Lord asks of his disciples that they be with him at
Calvary in their everyday life, and this is lived out in the little
hidden duties of everyday life, for the times of spectacular
renunciation
are normally rare. The doctrine of the Cross in everyday life is so
contrary to our natural inclination that the embrace of this doctrine
requires the action of
grace and our acceptance of this grace. The
true Christian opts to be with Christ at Calvary, and he strives to
live this out in everyday life. If a Christian does accept this
call in truth, then a great blessing has come to that person. He
has heard the word of God at its heart and he is striving to live it
out in
practice. The saints embraced the cross of Christ with love, knowing
that their truest union with Christ lay in doing this. It was then that
they were most blessed by God.
Let us pray every
day for the blessing of hearing the word of God and putting it into
practice, especially when it goes clean contrary to what we naturally
would prefer. That is to say, let us especially pray for the grace and
the blessing of knowing how to deny ourselves, to take up our cross
every day and follow in the footsteps of the Master.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God
and observe it.” (Luke 11:27-28)
Comment by St
Peter Damian (1007-1072), Hermit, then Bishop, Doctor of the
Church (Sermon 45)
It is true of the Virgin Mary that she conceived Christ in her womb,
but all who are chosen share in carrying him in their heart with love.
Blessed, yes, very blessed the woman who carried Jesus in her womb for
nine months (Lk 11:27). We too are blessed when we are mindful of
carrying him constantly in our heart. Certainly, Christ’s conception in
Mary’s womb was a great marvel, but it is no less of a marvel to see
him become the guest of our heart. That is the meaning of John’s
testimony: “Here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone hears me
calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with
him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20) … Here again, my brothers, let us
consider our dignity and our resemblance to Mary. The Virgin conceived
Christ in her womb of flesh, and we carry him in the womb of our heart.
Mary nourished Christ by giving his lips milk from her breast, and we
can offer him a varied meal with the good works, which delight him.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, you're right: how base your wretchedness is! By your own efforts,
where would you be now, where would you have got to? You admitted:
``Only a Love that was full of mercy could keep on loving me.'' Cheer
up. He will not deny you his Love or his Mercy, if you go to him.
(The Forge,
no.897)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the consecrated life?
The consecrated life is a state of life recognized by the Church. It is
a free response to a special call from Christ by which those
consecrated give themselves completely to God and strive for the
perfection of charity moved by the Holy Spirit. This consecration is
characterized by the practice of the evangelical counsels. (CCC
914-916, 944)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.192)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-eighth
Sunday in Ordinary Time B
(October 15) St
Teresa of Jesus (of Avila), virgin and Doctor of the Church (1515-1582).
Born in Avila, Spain. She was a Carmelite who reformed the Order with
the help of St John of the Cross. Although she suffered many hardships,
she was faithful to the Church in the spirit of the Council of Trent.
She contributed to the renewal of the entire ecclesiastical community
and wrote outstanding works of asceticism and mysticism. Her spiritual
teachings are a guide to a life of union with God. She has been
declared a Doctor of the Church. (Saints)
Scripture:
Wisdom
7:7-11; Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15,
16-17; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark
10:17-30
As
Jesus was setting out
on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good
teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him,
"Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the
commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you
shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not
defraud; honour your father and your mother." He replied and said to
him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." Jesus,
looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one
thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have
treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement his face
fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked
around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have
wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his
words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is
to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through
the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of
God." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then
who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it
is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God."
(Mark 10: 17-27)
In our Gospel passage
today Our Lord makes it plain that there is a special difficulty facing
the one who has wealth. The difficulty lies in the tendency to give
part of one’s heart to material possessions when God asks that we give
our whole heart to him. On anther occasion our Lord was asked which is
the greatest commandment of the Law, and he replied that it is to love
God with all our heart and the second is like it, to love our neighbour
as ourself. It is by doing
this that we gain eternal life. So this is the challenge of life. Our
problem is that we tend to love our possessions in place of loving God
and our neighbour. We can become so attached to material things for our
own comfort and self-aggrandisement that God and neighbour are easily
denied a look-in. Today's Gospel invites us to consider our attitude to
material possessions.
God made us
to know, love and serve him here on earth so as to see and enjoy him
forever in heaven. God’s plan is that we love him above all things
because he is the infinite God, and he has called us to a life that
shares in his own triune life. He has placed us on this earth and has
given us this material world to be our home. God intends this world of
ours to help us attain the purpose for which he created us and to be an
adequate home for everyone and not just for a select few. The goods of
the earth are meant by God for all and our right to earn and own
property and possessions is meant by God to ensure that
we are able to make adequate spiritual and material provision for
ourselves.
Generally each person is his own best judge as to what he needs, and by
earning and owning his own property he can make provision for what he
judges he needs to attain his God-given end. But the
danger is that a person, knowing he has a right to private property,
can gradually acquire a great deal of wealth to the detriment of
others. Indeed, a whole country can acquire more than it needs to the
detriment of other countries. Whole groups of countries can acquire far
more than they need while other groups of countries languish in
hopeless poverty. This situation goes against the plan of God who
intended everyone to benefit adequately from the goods of this
world.
The danger
is that those who have wealth may become so attached to it that they
are unwilling to accord to others their right to have sufficient for
their needs. The commandment of God is that we should love our
neighbour as ourself, and love is expressed by ensuring others have
what
they need. There is a further danger. Our love for material
possessions can not only make us reluctant to use those goods to help
those who are in need, but it can also lead us to various forms of
secret or even open theft. What then should be our attitude to the
material and
financial possessions we have? Beyond what we actually need, we ought
use our possessions for the sake of others. We are commanded by God to
love our neighbour as ourself, remembering too that there can be no
love without justice. That is not to say that we
need actually divest ourselves of whatever is beyond what we need, but
it does
mean that we whatever we have that we do not need we ought use for
others in need. This of
course includes our family and children or our parents, but it also
includes those in need beyond our family. We ought use our extra wealth
in some way to benefit those in need because God intends the goods of
the earth to be of adequate benefit to everyone. It is up to each
person to consider his situation in this matter. Are my possessions
serving those in need? How am I using what I own to benefit others in
need?
Our Gospel
passage today reminds us of how attachment to wealth can interfere not
only with love for others, but with the great love for God which should
mark our entire life. The rich young man came to our Lord asking what
more he needed to do to win eternal life. He had kept all God’s
commandments since his childhood. Our Lord with great love invited him
to leave all and follow him. But he went away sad, turning down the
inestimable gift of friendship with our Lord and of living in his
constant company (Mark
10: 17-27).
He did this because he had great wealth - which is to say because he
had great love for his wealth. He was too attached to it to
accept our Lord's invitation and give
God his full love.
Let us
resolve to put Christ first and to be very generous in the use we make
of what we come to own. Our material possessions are meant by God to
help us love him with all our heart and to love our neighbour as
ourself. The material world and its produce constitutes our God-given
home which God means us to use to attain the end for which we are made.
That end is love. The danger is that if we are not vigilant we can
easily become attached to the things we have, and this attachment can
replace or crowd out our attachment to God and to our neighbour in God.
When that happens, material possessions have served to set ourselves up
in God's place.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading: The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.2401-2406
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jesus, looking at him, loved
him" (Mark
10:17-30)
Commentary
by John Henry Newman
(1801-1890), priest, founder of a religious community
Parochial & Plain
Sermons 3, 9 (Edited by W. J. Copeland)
God beholds thee individually, whoever thou art. He
"calls thee by thy name." (Jn 10:3) He sees thee, and understands thee,
as He made thee. He knows what is in thee, all thy own peculiar
feelings and thoughts, thy dispositions and likings, thy strength and
thy weakness… Thou art not only His creature though for the very
sparrows He has a care (Mt 10:29)…, thou art man redeemed and
sanctified, His adopted son, favoured with a portion of that glory and
blessedness which flows from Him everlastingly unto the Only-begotten.
Thou art chosen to be His… Thou wast one of those
for whom Christ offered up His last prayer, and sealed it with His
precious blood. What a thought is this, a thought almost too great for
our faith! Scarce can we refrain from acting Sarah's part, when we
bring it before us, so as to "laugh" from amazement and perplexity (Gn
18:12). What is man, what are we, what am I, that the Son of God should
be so mindful of me? (Ps 8:5) What am I… that He should have changed my
soul's original constitution, new-made me…, and should Himself dwell
personally in this very heart of mine, making me His temple?
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your aim should be that there be many souls in the midst of the world
who love God with all their heart. It's time to do your sums: how many
souls have you helped to discover that Love?
(The Forge,
no.898)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What can the consecrated life give to the
mission of the Church?
The consecrated life participates in the mission of the Church by means
of a complete dedication to Christ and to one’s brothers and sisters
witnessing to the hope of the heavenly Kingdom. (CCC 931-933, 945)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.193)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 16) St
Hedwig, religious (1174-1243). She was the wife of the duke of
Poland, an exemplary mother of seven children. She led a life of piety
and solicitude for the poor and the sick. Upon the death of her
husband, she retired to a Cistercian monastery. (Saints)
St
Margaret Mary Alacoque, virgin (1647-1690) Born in France. A
religious of the Visitation Order, she had many mystical revelations
concerning devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She endeavoured to
propagate this devotion to the whole Church. (Saints)
Scripture:
Galatians
4:22-24, 26-27, 31–5:1; Psalm 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a and 6-7;
Luke 11:29-32
While
still more people
gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil
generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the
sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will
the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the
south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn
them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the
judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn
it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is
something greater than Jonah here.” (Luke 11:29-32)
In our Gospel today
our Lord castigates the people of “this generation” for not
appreciating him and his greatness when it was obvious to see. The
“queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she
will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon and
there is something
greater than Solomon here” (Luke
11:29-32).
If she could see the greatness of Solomon, if the Ninevites could
appreciate the preaching of Jonah, how is it that “this generation”
does not appreciate him, for “there is something greater than” Solomon
and Jonah here. Our Lord is setting forth the perennial problem facing
fallen man since the event of his coming. It is the problem of failing
to know,
appreciate and love him. It is for this that we were created, for St
Paul tells us that before the world began God chose us in Christ to be
holy and full of love in his sight. Eternal life, our Lord made clear
at the Last Supper, consists in knowing the Father and Jesus Christ
whom he sent. Our choosing to take the person of Jesus seriously and
consider his claims and his teaching is therefore a matter of life and
death. We cannot afford to be indifferent to him, but so many are
indifferent to him. So then, thinking of our Lord’s condemnation of the
indifference and cavilling in respect to his person, let us resolve to
make him the love of our life. How are we to do this?
To begin with, we
simply must spend much time contemplating him. If we do not think of
him much, we shall never get to know him nor to love him. In our Gospel
passage today there were people demanding from him a sign (Luke
11:29-32). All they needed to do
was really observe him and come to know him. Consider his first
disciples as recounted in the Gospel of St John. John the Baptist
pointed our Lord out to two of his disciples, saying “There is the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world.” At this they
followed our Lord, and when our Lord turned to them and asked what they
wanted they said to him “where do you live?” They stayed with him the
rest of that day and came to see that he was the Messiah, the one long
promised. They became his true disciples. They observed him,
contemplated him, listened to him, learned from him, and responded by
giving to him their hearts. All they needed was to get to know him.
That is what we need to do, to get to know the mind and heart of Jesus
Christ. We
must put time into prayer and into the prayerful consideration of the
person of Jesus. St Teresa of Avila guarantees that anyone who
perseveringly
puts time into prayer will come to know our Lord and
grow in true union with him. We must resolve to be with Jesus, to live
in his company, to contemplate him, to strive to get to know the heart
of Christ. If we do, we shall be opening ourselves to the action of the
Holy Spirit who will teach us who Jesus is and that he is our all.
Let us resolve not
to be like those our Lord was speaking about in today’s Gospel who
wanted signs and other proofs. The greatest “sign” we can possibly
receive as to the person of Jesus will come to us in persevering prayer
and living in his company day by day in the midst of our ordinary
duties. We must learn to be contemplatives in the midst of our everyday
life, people who live ordinary lives in the presence of Jesus. Thus
will our ordinary life become a life marked with the grandeur planned
for it by God.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sign of Jonah (Luke 11: 29-32)
Commentary by St John Chrysostom
(345-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(4th Homily on 1 Corinthians)
Let us weep for the pagans who do not understand the salvation that God
wants to give them… Yes, a husband loves his wife less than we love all
human beings, desiring to bring all human beings to salvation. Let us
weep and moan over these unbelievers, because for them “the message of
the cross is complete absurdity,” whereas it is in fact “the power of
God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1:18.24)…
Look, O man! For you Jesus Christ took the form of a slave (Phil 2:7),
for you he died on a cross, for you he rose again. And you say that it
is impossible to believe in such a love, to adore such a God, while
this King did for you, his enemy, what a father from among us, or a son
or a friend would not have done for you? …
When I say: “My God was attached to a cross,” the pagan answers:
“Reason cannot accept that. He suffered, he let himself be crucified;
so he cannot save himself? … If he cannot save himself, how can he save
the others? (cf. Mt 27:42). All that is contrary to reason.” That is
true. The cross is a mystery that is above human reason, it is the sign
of a power that is beyond our understanding… When the three Hebrews
triumphed over the flames after having been thrown into the furnace
(Dan 3), it was more fantastic than if they had not been thrown into
it. That Jonah was swallowed by a whale is natural, it is normal; but
the fantastic thing was that Jonah lived in the monster’s belly. In the
same way, Christ proved his divinity better by triumphing over death
from the very midst of death than if he had refused to die.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The children of God are present and give witness in the world to draw
others, not to be drawn by them. They should spread their own
atmosphere, the atmosphere of Christ, not let themselves be won over by
a different atmosphere.
(The Forge,
no.899)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the meaning of the “communion of
saints”?
This expression indicates first of all the common sharing of all the
members of the Church in holy things (sancta): the faith, the
sacraments, especially the Eucharist, the charisms, and the other
spiritual gifts. At the root of this communion is love which “does not
seek its own interests” (1 Corinthians 13:5) but leads the faithful to
“hold everything in common” (Acts 4:32), even to put one’s own material
goods at the service of the most poor. (CCC 946-953, 960)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.194)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the twenty eighth week of Ordinary Time II
(October 17) St
Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (died about 107). He was
the successor to St Peter as Bishop of Antioch. He suffered martyrdom
in Rome during the persecution of Trajan. On his way to Rome, he wrote
seven letters concerning the Person of Christ, the constitution of the
Church, and Christian life. In these letters he expressed his great
love for the Lord and his ardent desire for martyrdom. His name is in
the Roman Canon. (Saints)
Scripture
today: Galatians
5:1-6; Psalm 119:41, 43, 44, 45,
47, 48; Luke 11:37-41
After
Jesus had spoken,
a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at
table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe
the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, “Oh you
Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the
maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within,
give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” (Luke 11:37-41)
Let us notice a few
obvious things about our Gospel text today. The first we notice
is how readily our Lord accepts an invitation to dine with the
Pharisee, a member of the body which in general was most critical of
him. Our Lord was available for all. He accepted a request from a
centurion to go to his house and cure his servant. He
invited himself to the home of Zacchaeus the leading tax collector and
brought about his conversion. We read of him visiting the towns and
villages and the farms - note, the farms - in his missionary campaign.
We find him in the home of Martha and Mary of Bethany. Elsewhere in the
Gospel we read of him being in the house of Simon the Pharisee when the
woman who was a sinner came and washed his feet with her tears. He had
come to call sinners to repentance, to heal those who needed the
doctor, to bring all to the knowledge and love of the Father. So then,
in typical fashion he accepted the invitation to dine with our Pharisee
today, and in this he was revealing the character, the love and the
availability of God our heavenly Father. Our Lord is available for
sinful man. So too, then, is the Father almighty, for Christ is the
image of the Father. He who sees me sees the Father, he told his
disciples. He stands at our door knocking, and his knocking is gentle.
He
will not force himself on us. Let us then respond with alacrity to the
offer of his love. He awaits our invitation.
For his part,
in typical fashion the Pharisee “was amazed to see he did not observe
the prescribed washing before the meal.” This prescribed washing was
elaborate, largely unnecessary, and imposed as a religious obligation.
We get the impression that the amazement of the Pharisee was genuine
enough - which is to say he was blind and unable to distinguish true
religious duties from mere superficial human rules. This was the person
our Lord consented to visit. The reaction of the Pharisee to our Lord’s
non-observance of these details of Jewish religious custom and Law
brought forth from our Lord his teaching on the priority of
purification of the heart. “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the
outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and
evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be
clean for you.” (Luke
11:37-41) It
is so easy to take pride in certain of our outward observances in life
while being very neglectful of fundamental requirements of the moral
and spiritual life. The Pharisee did not understand how spiritually
rotten he and his
group were. Our Lord says here they were “filled with plunder and
evil”, and needing to “give alms.” Let us take our Lord’s words and
apply them to ourselves. We must aim at putting on the mind of Christ
and modelling our hearts on his.
Sanctity, genuine
sanctity of the heart, is what we are called to. It is a universal call
and is addressed above all to the interior man. The kingdom of God is
within you, our Lord said. By means of God’s grace we are able to put
on the mind of Christ. Let us take up the challenge and make it the one
thing necessary.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You cleanse the outside…Did not he
who made the outside make the inside too?”(Lk 11:37-41)
Commentary by Baudoin de Ford (? – around
1190), Cistercian abbot
Homily 6 on the Letter to the Hebrews, 4,12
The Lord knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart. For there is
no doubt that he knows them all, but we only know those that he reveals
to us through the grace of discernment. For a person’s mind does not
always know what is inside him, and even when he is dealing with his
thoughts, whether they be voluntary or not, he thinks of them in a way
that does not always correspond with reality. His gaze is so darkened
that he doesn’t even discern with precision those that reveal
themselves clearly to his mind.
For it often happens that, for some human reason or for a reason coming
from the Tempter, a person sets out by means of his own thinking in
something that only appears to be pious and that, in the eyes of God,
does not at all deserve the reward promised to virtue. That is because
certain things can take on the appearance of true virtue, as moreover
also of vice, and can deceive the eyes of the heart. Through their
seductions, they can trouble the vision of our intelligence to the
point that it often considers realities to be good that are in fact
bad; and the other way around, they can make our intelligence see
something bad where in fact there is no evil. That is an aspect of our
poverty and of our ignorance that we must deplore a lot and greatly
fear…
Who can verify whether the spirits come from God unless that person has
received discernment of spirits from God?… That discernment is at the
source of all the virtues.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have a duty to reach those around you, to shake them out of their
drowsiness, to open wide new horizons for their selfish, comfortable
lives, to make their lives more complicated (in a holy way, that is),
to make them forget about themselves and show understanding for the
problems of others. If you do not, you are not a good brother to your
brothers in the human race. They need that gaudium cum pace, that joy
and that peace, which maybe they do not know or have forgotten.
(The Forge,
no.900)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What else does “the communion of saints”
mean?
This expression also refers to the communion between holy persons
(sancti); that is, between those who by grace are united to the dead
and risen Christ. Some are pilgrims on the earth; others, having passed
from this life, are undergoing purification and are helped also by our
prayers. Others already enjoy the glory of God and intercede for us.
All of these together form in Christ one family, the Church, to the
praise and glory of the Trinity. (CCC 954-959,961-962)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.195)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the twenty eighth week of Ordinary Time II
(October 18) Feast
of Saint Luke, evangelist. Thought to be a physician from
Antioch, he was converted to the Christian faith. He was a disciple of
St Paul and a faithful companion in all his journeys. He was the author
of the third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles. He was the
evangelist who wrote about the childhood of Jesus (undoubtedly drawing
on the testimony of his Mother) and who has told us some of the most
moving parables of the Lord, such as that of the lost sheep and the
prodigal son. In his gospel he highlights the universality of
salvation. (Saints)
Scripture
today: 2 Timothy
4:10-17b; Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13,
17-18; Luke 10:1-9
The
Lord Jesus appointed
seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town
and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is
abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to
send out labourers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am
sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no
sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter,
first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in
the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the
labourer deserves payment. Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before
you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at
hand for you.’” (Luke
10:1-9)
Some three decades
ago I read of the results of a survey taken among American Catholics
a couple of decades before. The survey had concluded that the
generality of practising
Catholics were much less involved in bringing their Faith to
others than were practising members of certain other
Protestant denominations.
Catholics
were higher in practice than most
other denominations, but they were not very apostolic when it came to
spreading the Faith. Perhaps they saw it as the work of the
professionals - that is, the priests and the religious. If so, they
were labouring under a mistaken notion of their vocation as lay
Catholics in the world. Their proper milieu was indeed the world, but
in the world they had a responsibility to be apostolic. That survey
described a situation many decades ago. Interestingly, in a general
Church survey taken a just few years ago here in Australia, the
generality of Catholics again scored poorly
in respect to bringing their Faith to others around them.
So then, it is clear that for some time the Church’s faithful have
needed to hear what the teaching Church has been insisting on for some
time, that all members of the Church are called to share in the
Church’s mission and vocation. All are called to holiness of life, and
all are called to be apostolic. One does get the impression that more
and
more are now hearing this joint call. Pope John Paul II often referred
to a coming springtime in the Church. I suspect that we see the
beginnings of it now. More and more are hearing in a very personal
sense the call to a life of apostolic holiness.
In our Gospel today
our Lord appoints “seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in
pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them,
‘The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master
of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest. Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves’.” (Luke
10:1-9) It was very obvious to
anyone who chose to follow our Lord and to be his friend that his
mission was at the heart of his life, and that anyone who wished
to be part of his life would participate in his mission. He had come
that people might have life and have it in abundance, and those who
wished to be his friends would join him in bringing this life to the
world. Just before he ascended into heaven he gave a final charge to
his disciples. It was not simply that they be good and pious people and
that they keep to his doctrine,
but that they go out to the whole world and make disciples of all the
nations. Anyone who refused or responded in niggardly manner could not
expect to be counted by our Lord as his close friend. So then, an
essential
component of the Christian life is participation in
the mission of Christ and the Church. This means that every Christian
who asks - as we all ought ask persistently - for the grace of loving
Christ deeply,
will include in this request the grace to want to be apostolic. We show
our love for Jesus by spending ourselves in the service of others,
including that service which consists in bringing to them the knowledge
and love of Jesus. After our Lord rose from the dead he asked Simon
Peter three times if he loved him, and three times Simon said he did.
At each reply Christ told Simon to feed his flock. The sign of his love
was to be to care for Christ’s flock.
Christ asks us if
we love him. Let us say, and
want to say genuinely, yes, Lord, I love you. Let us pray for the
grace to love Christ. But when we say this and
pray for the gift of divine love let
us hear our Lord say to us, look after my lambs. The greatest way we
can look after them is by helping them to love and follow the Shepherd
of our souls. Let us then live daily a life of apostolic holiness in
the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St Luke bears witness "I too have
decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it
down in an orderly sequence"
Commentary by Vatican
Council II
Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum),
§18-19
It is common knowledge that among all the Scriptures, even those of the
New Testament, the Gospels have a special preeminence, and rightly so,
for they are the principal witness for the life and teaching of the
incarnate Word, our saviour. The Church has always and everywhere held
and continues to hold that the four Gospels are of apostolic origin.
For what the Apostles preached in fulfilment of the commission of
Christ, afterwards they themselves and apostolic men, under the
inspiration of the divine Spirit, handed on to us in writing: the
foundation of faith, namely, the fourfold Gospel, according to Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John.
Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy held, and
continues to hold, that the four Gospels just named, whose historical
character the Church unhesitatingly asserts, faithfully hand on what
Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their
eternal salvation until the day He was taken up into heaven (see Acts
1:1). Indeed, after the Ascension of the Lord the Apostles handed on to
their hearers what He had said and done. This they did with that
clearer understanding which they enjoyed after they had been instructed
by the glorious events of Christ's life and taught by the light of the
Spirit of truth. (Jn 14:26)
The sacred authors wrote the four Gospels, selecting some things from
the many which had been handed on by word of mouth or in writing,
reducing some of them to a synthesis, explaining some things in view of
the situation of their churches and preserving the form of proclamation
but always in such fashion that they told us the honest truth about
Jesus. For their intention in writing was that either from their own
memory and recollections, or from the witness of those who "themselves
from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word" we
might know "the truth" concerning those matters about which we have
been instructed (see Luke 1:2-4).
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No son or daughter of Holy Church can lead a quiet life, without
concern for the anonymous masses — a mob, a herd, a flock, as I once
wrote. How many noble passions they have within their apparent
listlessness! How much potential! We must serve all, laying our hands
on each and every one, as Jesus did to bring them back to life, to
enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills: so that they can
become useful!
(The Forge,
no.901)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In what
sense is the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of the Church?
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church in the order of
grace because she gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God, the Head of the
body which is the Church. When he was dying on the cross Jesus gave his
mother to his disciple with the words, “Behold your mother” (John
19:27). (CCC 963-964, 973)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.196)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the twenty eighth week of Ordinary Time II
(October 19) Jean
de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companion
martyrs. They were Jesuit missionaries who died martyrs, slain
by the north American Indians, where they preached the Gospel during
the 1640s. (Saints)
St Paul of the
Cross, priest (1694-1775) Born in Liguria (Italy). He devoted
himself to the service of the poor and the sick. He was outstanding for
his apostolic zeal and his great penances. He founded the religious
congregation of the Passionists. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Ephesians
1:1-10; Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6;
Luke 11:47-54
Paul,
an Apostle of
Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the holy ones who are in Ephesus
and faithful in Christ Jesus: grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation
of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he
destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord
with the favour of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace
that he granted us in the beloved. In Christ we have redemption by his
Blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of
his grace that he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, he has
made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favour that
he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all
things in Christ, in heaven and on earth. (Ephesians 1:1-10)
This year, on this
day we celebrate a group of martyrs in North America (Jacques de
Brebeuf and his companions) and St Paul of the Cross. In thinking of
them we think of persons whose lives were entirely centred
on the person of Christ. Christ for them was the embodiment and source
of all true blessings. They were like the one in our Lord’s parable who
having
discovered the treasure in the field went and sold all he had and
bought the field. In our first reading today from his Letter to the
Ephesians St Paul addresses “the holy ones who are ... faithful in
Christ Jesus.” They were faithful. St Paul immediately gives praise and
thanks to God the Father “who has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavens.” (Ephesians
1:1-10) Every genuine Christian
is convinced that this is the case. Our greatest blessing is that we
are in Christ Jesus. Throughout his Letters St Paul refers constantly
to our being “in Christ” and to Christ being “in us” which has its
roots in God’s special choice of us from “before the foundation of the
world.” He chose each of us in Christ from eternity with a marvellous
vocation, to be “holy and full of love in his sight.” We ought be
immensely grateful for the gift of life, and being grateful, have a
profound sense of responsibility in regard to it. We must use our life
to attain the purpose for which it was given. That purpose is holiness
in Christ.
The saints attained
this holiness to which we are all called and they did so by taking the
means Christ provided for this purpose. What then are we doing to
attain it? We must adopt a real plan of life designed to achieve the
goal for which we have been created and redeemed. How much time for
interior prayer do I set aside each day? For the busy lay person there
should be a little time at least - say, ten or fifteen minutes perhaps
as early as possible at the start of the day so as to begin the day
well and in the presence of God. Apart from that time set aside for
inner prayer (perhaps with the aid of a Gospel scene) there ought be
the growing habit of frequently raising the mind and the heart to God
in prayerful aspirations in the midst of one’s daily work. There ought
be a little time set aside each day for the reading of some
spiritual book that will nourish one’s life of prayer and contact with
God. The Sacraments have to be at the heart of one’s life, especially
the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance. Sunday Mass is of
paramount importance, and it is a very good thing to be coming to Mass
during the week. The ideal is daily Mass if this can be done.
Confession ought be frequent and regular. I would recommend at least
every month, but best of all weekly. There ought be a daily examination
of conscience with the emphasis being on amendment of life and a new
beginning. We must learn to sanctify all we do.
As we think of our
calling to holiness of life that has its roots in God’s eternal choice,
it is imperative that we have a concrete plan to attain it. So then,
now I begin! In his Spiritual Exercises
St Ignatius Loyola puts three
questions to us: What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for him?
What shall I do for him? At the heart of the true answer to this is
following Christ as he carries his Cross in bearing witness to the
truth about himself. We are called to bear witness to Christ in our
daily life, as we renounce self, take up our daily cross and follow in
the footsteps of the Master.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“They began to show fierce hostility
to him and to make him speak on a multitude of questions”
(Lk 11:47-54)
Commentary by St Gregory Nazianzen
(330-390), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
(3rd Theological Discourse)
There was a time when the person whom you despise now was above you;
the one who is now a man was eternally perfect. He was in the
beginning, without any cause; then he submitted himself to the
contingencies of this world… That was so as to save you who insult him,
who despise God because he took your crude nature…
He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, but when he rose from the tomb, he
got rid of his shroud. He was laid in a manger but glorified by the
angels, announced by a star, adored by the magi… He had to flee to
Egypt, but he freed that country from the superstitions of the
Egyptians. Before his enemies, he had “no stately bearing … nor
appearance that would attract us” (Isa 53:2), but for David he was
“fairer in beauty… than the sons of men” (Ps 45:3), and on the
mountain, he shone more brilliantly than the sun (Mt 17:1f.). As man,
he was baptized; but as God, he took away our sins. He did not need to
be purified, but he wanted to sanctify the waters. As man, he was
tempted; but as God, he triumphed, he who “conquered the world” (Jn
16:8)… He was hungry, but he fed thousands, he who is “the living bread
come down from heaven.” (Jn 6:48.50) He was thirsty, but he cried out:
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me; let him drink” (Jn 7:37)… He
knew what it was to be tired, but he is rest for all who “are weary and
find life burdensome.” (Mt 11:28)… He was called a “Samaritan and
possessed” (Jn 8:48); but it is he who saves the person who has fallen
into the hands of thieves (Lk 10:29f.) and who makes the demons flee…
He prayed, but it is he himself who hears prayers. He wept, but he puts
an end to weeping. He was sold for a base price, but it is he who
redeems the world at a high price: through his own blood.
Like a sheep, he was led to his death, but he leads Israel and now the
whole earth to the true pasture. (Ezek 34:14) Like a lamb, he was
silent; but he is the Word announced through the voice of the one who
cried out in the desert (Mk 1:3). He was disabled and wounded; but it
is he who heals every illness and every infirmity (Mt 9:35). He was
raised up on the wood and he was nailed there; but it is he who
restores us through the tree of life. He died, but he gives life and
destroys death. He was buried, but he rose, and ascending into heaven,
he liberated the souls from hell.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't think God would get hold of me the way he did, either. But,
let me tell you once again, God doesn't ask our permission to
complicate our lives. He just gets in: and that's that!
(The Forge,
no.902)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How does the Virgin Mary help the Church?
After the Ascension of her Son, the Virgin Mary aided the beginnings of
the Church with her prayers. Even after her Assumption into heaven, she
continues to intercede for her children, to be a model of faith and
charity for all, and to exercise over them a salutary influence
deriving from the superabundant merits of Christ. The faithful see in
Mary an image and an anticipation of the resurrection that awaits them
and they invoke her as advocate, helper, benefactress and mediatrix.
(CCC 965-970, 974-975)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.197)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 20) Today let us think of Saint Irene
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Ephesians
1:11-14; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5,
12-136; Luke 12:1-7
Brothers
and sisters: In
Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the
One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,
so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped
in Christ. In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the
Gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our
inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his
glory. (Ephesians
1:11-14)
Our first reading
today is taken from the first chapter of St Paul’s Letter to the
Ephesians. St Paul tells of God’s personal choice of us, a choice
issuing from his plans in our regard. St Paul reminds us that God is
“the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention
of his will.” God has a
plan for each of us, a plan from all eternity, and he has the power to
accomplish this plan. Our hope is in Christ who is the one who fulfills
the saving plan of God. The passage points with hope to the future, a
future
in eternity with God. Our homeland is in heaven and our means of
getting there lie in living in Christ. This world and this life is
passing away, every minute it is passing away and it is imperative that
we make use of the time we have to attain our end. So let us keep
before us constantly the end for which we were made. That end is God
himself and our true home is with him. St Paul tells us in our passage
that we “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the first
installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession,
to the praise of his glory.”(Ephesians
1:11-14) Our life then ought be
full of hope, a hope based on the power of God to accomplish his
purpose which is our sanctification and redemption.
At the heart of the
Christian life is the following of Christ as he makes his way to
Calvary. He told his
disciples that “anyone who wishes to be my disciple must renounce
himself, take up his cross every day and follow in my footsteps.” We
must learn to be ready to be with Christ at Calvary, and this has to be
translated into the constant small duties of everyday life with the
unending renunciations that are involved. Now, what is it that will
give us the courage to be with Christ when it involves carrying the
cross? What will give us the desire to embrace the cross in imitation
of him? It will be a great personal love for him and a great hope
for the future which God has in store for us. Our Lord time and again
told his disciples that it was necessary for him to suffer in order to
enter into glory. The glory that was awaiting him gave him strength,
and a foretaste of that glory was witnessed by the three Apostles
during the Transfiguration. We need to immerse ourselves with Christ in
both his Passion and in his Resurrection. We need to experience the
love he showed for us in dying for each of us, and we need to
experience the joy he experienced in rising from the dead to glory.
The Passion of
Christ will teach us how much Christ loved us, and the Resurrection of
Christ will give us great hope in the power of God. By his power the
Father will accomplish his purposes for us, just as he did for Jesus.
Let us then have a great hope in the power of God. Let us look forward
to our homeland in heaven where we shall be with Christ who is our
love, and let us ask God to help us so love Christ that we want to
share in
his sufferings and thus share in his resurrection.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Even the hairs of your head are
counted” (Luke 12:1-7)
St Catherine of Siena
(1347-1380), Dominican Tertiary, Doctor of the Church, Patroness of
Europe
(Dialogue, 18)
God told me: “No one can escape from my hands. For I am who am (Ex
3:14), and you, you are not of yourselves; you are only insofar as you
have been made by me. I am the creator of all things that have a part
in being, but not of sin, which is not, and which was thus not made by
me. And because it is not in me, it is not worthy of being loved. A
creature only offends me because it loves what it must not love, sin…
It is impossible for human beings to go outside of me; they either
abide in me through the force of justice, which punishes their faults,
or else they abide in me, protected by my mercy. So open the eye of
your intelligence and look at my hand; you will see that I am telling
you the truth.”
Then, opening the eye of the spirit so as to obey the Father who is so
great, I saw the whole universe enclosed in that divine hand. And God
told me: “My daughter, see now and know that nothing can escape me.
Everyone here is held by justice or by mercy, because they are mine,
created by me, and I love them infinitely. No matter how wicked they
might be, I will have mercy on them because of my servants; I will hear
the request that you brought before me with so much love and suffering”…
Then my soul, as if drunk and outside of itself in the ever greater
ardor of its desire, felt at one and the same time blessed and in pain.
Blessed through the union it had had with God, tasting his joy and his
goodness, wholly plunged into his mercy. In pain because of seeing the
offense done to such great goodness.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord, I will trust in you alone. Help me to be faithful to you. I know
that I can look forward to everything as a result of being faithful in
your service, abandoning all my cares and worries in your hands.
(The Forge,
no.903)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What kind of devotion is directed to the
holy Virgin?
It is a singular kind of devotion which differs essentially from the
cult of adoration given only to the Most Holy Trinity. This special
veneration directed to Mary finds particular expression in the
liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and in Marian prayers
such as the holy Rosary which is a compendium of the whole Gospel. (CCC
971)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.198)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 21) Today let us think of Saint Celine
(Saints)
Scripture today: Ephesians
1:15-23; Psalm 8:2-3ab, 4-5,
6-7; Luke 12:8-12
Jesus
said to his
disciples: “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the
Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever
denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.
“Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,
but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and
authorities, do not worry about how or what your defence will be or
about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that
moment what you should say.” (Luke
12:8-12)
There were numerous
heresies in the early Church. Perhaps the most famous of them, the
Arian heresy, denied the divinity of Jesus. There were also those who
denied the distinct personality of the Holy Spirit, and one of the
notable features of the Creed of the Council of Nicea and
Constantinople is its insistence that the Holy Spirit is a third divine
person, just as much a person and just as divine as is the Father and as
is the Son. With them
he is equally to be adored and glorified. There are many references to
the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, just as there are numerous
references in the Old Testament to the Word of God. But it is only in
the New Testament that
both the Word of God and the Spirit of God are revealed as distinct
divine persons. The Father himself makes it clear (in, for instance,
the baptism of our Lord and during his transfiguration) that Jesus is
his beloved Son. It is Jesus who makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is
God. Our brief Gospel passage today (Luke
12: 8-12) is one of those passages
that report our Lord’s teaching on the Holy Spirit. With characteristic
humility and love our Lord exalts the Holy Spirit. While “a
word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,” the “one who blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Setting aside the
question of what our Lord means here, it certainly is an exaltation of
the Holy Spirit: one can “blaspheme” against the Spirit of God.
Let us then
cultivate a profound reverence for the Person of the Holy Spirit. He is
profoundly humble, almost hiding himself so as to bear witness to the
Father and the Son. Our Lord described himself as meek and humble of
heart, and inasmuch as he is the image of the Father, the Father too is
meek and humble of heart. But of course the Holy Spirit is the life of
God, and the humility of the Son and of the Father is the humility of
the Spirit of God. How we ought pray to the Holy Spirit that he enable
us to be like our Father in heaven by being like Jesus our Lord! In our
Gospel passage today not only does our Lord defend and exalt the Holy
Spirit but he invites us to entrust ourselves to the care of the Holy
Spirit in our life of bearing witness to him, to Jesus. “When they take
you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry
about how or what your defence will be or about what you are to say.
For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
(Luke
12: 8-12)
Let us take our Lord at his word here and look to the Holy Spirit for
his guidance. Of course, we must not, as St Paul writes in one of his
Letters, make “the Holy Spirit sad” by deliberate and unrepented sin.
We
ought strive to remain in the state of grace so that the Holy Spirit
remains with us as in his temple. He abides with Christ’s faithful in
order to sustain them in their quest for holiness and in bearing
witness to Jesus.
Come Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful!
Let us make this our constant prayer. The Holy Spirit is the gift of
the Father and the risen Jesus to the Church and to each of the
faithful. He is the Sanctifier and the Evangelizer. Let us resolve to
be open to his daily action and fit instruments of his work for the
Church and the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Everyone who acknowledges me before others
the Son of Man will acknowledge" (Luke 12:8-12)
Commentary from Vatican II Decree on
the Mission Activity of the Church (Ad Gentes),
§ 23-24
Although every disciple of Christ, as far in
him lies, has the duty of spreading the Faith, Christ the Lord always
calls whomever He will from among the number of His disciples, to be
with Him and to be sent by Him to preach to the nations (cf. Mark 3:13)…
Yet man must respond to God Who calls,
and that in such a way, that without taking counsel with flesh and
blood (Gal. 1:16), he devotes himself wholly to the work of the Gospel.
This response, however can only be given when the Holy Spirit gives His
inspiration and His power. For he who is sent enters upon the life and
mission of Him Who "emptied Himself, taking the nature of a slave"
(Phil. 2:7). Therefore, he must be ready to stay at his vocation for an
entire lifetime, and to renounce himself and all those whom he thus far
considered as his own, and instead to "make himself all things to all
men" (1 Cor. 9:22).
Announcing the Gospel to all
nations, he confidently makes known the mystery of Christ, whose
ambassador he is, so that in him he dares to speak as he ought (cf.
Eph. 6:19), not being ashamed of the scandal of the Cross. Following in
his Master's footsteps, meek and humble of heart, he proves that His
yoke is easy and His burden light (Matt. 11:29ff.) By a truly
evangelical life, in much patience, in long - suffering, in kindness,
in unaffected love, he bears witness to his Lord, if need be to the
shedding of his blood. He will ask of God the power and strength, that
he may know that there is an overflowing of joy amid much testing of
tribulation and deep poverty (2 Cor. 8:2).
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let us thank God deeply and often for the wonderful calling we have had
from him. May our gratitude be deep and genuine, closely joined to
humility.
(The Forge,
no.904)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way
is the Blessed Virgin Mary the eschatological icon of the Church?
Looking upon Mary, who is completely holy and already glorified in body
and soul, the Church contemplates in her what she herself is called to
be on earth and what she will be in the homeland of heaven.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.199)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-ninth
Sunday in Ordinary Time B: World
Mission Sunday
(October 22) Today let us think of Saint Mary Salome
(Saints)
Scripture today: Isaiah
53:10-11; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22;
Hebrews 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45
James
and John, the sons
of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do
for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do
for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one
at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said to them, "You do
not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be
baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him,
"We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for
those for whom it has been prepared." When the ten heard this, they
became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to
them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority
over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever
wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be
first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not
come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for
many." (Mark 10:35-45)
Pope
Benedict XVI’s message for World
Mission Sunday 2006:
Dear
Brothers and
Sisters, World Mission Sunday is an opportunity to reflect this year on
the theme: “Charity: soul of the mission”. Unless the mission springs
from a profound act of divine love, it risks being reduced to mere
philanthropy and social activity. God’s love for every person
constitutes the heart of the Gospel, and those who
welcome it in turn become its witnesses. This love is the love that was
given to us in Jesus. After his Resurrection Jesus gave the Apostles
the mission to proclaim the news of this love, and ever since the
Church has continued this same mission. It is the task of each
believer. Every Christian community is therefore called to make known
God who is Love.
God imbues
the entire creation and all human history with his love. But man sinned
and preferred himself to the love God had freely given, and so he fell.
But God did not abandon him but sent his Son to reveal his love for us
in even greater ways. Christ’s death on the cross is love in its most
radical form. It is from there that our definition of love must begin,
and in contemplating Christ on the Cross the Christian discovers his
life’s path. On the eve of his Passion Jesus gave to his disciples his
new commandment of love, that they love one another as he had loved
them. Our love for one another originates in the fatherly love of God,
and by living in God we are able to live a life of love.
Love,
then, is the principle which must inform every action and is the end to
which that action must be directed. Consequently, being missionaries
means loving God with all one’s heart, even to the point of dying for
him. It means stooping down to the needs of all, like the Good
Samaritan, especially the poorest, and herein lies the secret of
apostolic fruitfulness. Love is the soul of the Church’s mission and
the mission of every member of the Church. May the Virgin Mary sustain
the action of all members of the Church and help them in Christ to be
every more capable of true love, so that they may become sources of
living water in a spiritually thirsting world.
(My abridgement of the Pope’s message)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Whoever wishes to be great among you
will be your servant" (Mark 10:35-45)
Commentary by St Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274), Dominican theologian, Doctor of the Church
On the Apostles'Creed (Collationes In Symbolum
apostolorum, art. 4 § 64.70.72-76)
What need was there that the Son of God
should suffer for us? There was a great need; and indeed it can be
assigned to two reasons. The first is that it was a remedy against sin,
and the second is for an example of what we ought to do… From all this
then is seen the effect of the passion of Christ as a remedy for sin.
But no less does it profit us as an example… So if you seek an example
of charity, then, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's
life for one's friends." (Jn 15: 13)… If you seek an example of
patience, you will find it in its highest degree upon the Cross… Christ
suffered greatly upon the Cross… and with all patience, because, "when
he suffered, he did not threaten." (1P 2:23), "like a lamb led to the
slaughter, he opened not his mouth" (Is 53:7). "Let us persevere in
running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on
Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that
lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame" (He 12:1-2)…
If you seek an example of humility, look upon him
who is crucified; although he was God, he chose to be judged by Pontius
Pilate and to be put to death… If you seek an example of obedience,
imitate him who was obedient to the Father unto death. (Ph 2:8) "For by
the disobedience of one person, that is to say Adam, many were made
sinners; so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just." (Rm
5:19). If you seek an example of contempt for earthly things, imitate
him who is the "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Rv 19:16), "in whom
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col 2:3); on the
Cross he was stripped naked, ridiculed, spat upon, bruised, crowned
with thorns, and finally given to drink of vinegar and gall.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The privilege of being numbered among the children of God is the
greatest happiness there can be: and it is always undeserved.
(The Forge,
no.905)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How are sins remitted?
The first and chief sacrament for the forgiveness of sins is Baptism.
For those sins committed after Baptism, Christ instituted the sacrament
of Reconciliation or Penance through which a baptized person is
reconciled with God and with the Church. (CCC 976-980, 984-985)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.200)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 23) St John of
Capistrano, priest (1386-1456). Born in Italy, he became a
Franciscan after having wroked as a lawyer. He preached in various
countries of Eastern Europe. He preached a crusade and gathered a
strong army, which defeated the Turks in the Battle of Belgrade. (Saints)
Scripture
today: Ephesians 2:
1-10; Psalm 100: 1b-2, 3, 4ab,
4c-5; Luke 12: 13-21
Someone
in the crowd
said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with
me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and
arbitrator?” Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all
greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of
possessions.” Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose
land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is
what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to
myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for
many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’ But God said to him, ‘You
fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you
have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for the one
who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to
God.” (Luke 12:13-21)
I have come across
certain Christian traditions which consider that if we are in God’s
favour, if we are serving him aright and according to his will, he will
reward us with material prosperity in some form. That is to say,
provided we try to keep God's commandments generously
and not, for
instance, defraud others, a sign of being in the
friendship of God will be our possession of
wealth. This is a very mistaken notion, but it is true that God wants
us to prosper and to be rich - but rich in the things that matter to
him. He wants us to be rich in what constitutes life in his Kingdom, a
Kingdom that will never end. He wants us to be rich in eternity and not
just rich in what will pass away into nothing after our short span of
life. As Cardinal Newman writes at the end of one of his most famous
books, “Life is short, eternity long.” The trap for so many very
intelligent people is that they do not look ahead very far. I remember
several years ago there was an outstanding businessman in Australia who
during the course of his life amassed a fortune, but then suddenly he
died at the age of about 52, and was cremated. I could not help
thinking of the irony of such a life. I wondered whether he had looked
ahead because it was quite foreseeable that he could take nothing of
his vast wealth with him. All
that remained even of the material side of his own very self was a jar
of ashes. God wants us to be wealthy both here and hereafter. The only
true kind of wealth is life in God.
In our Gospel today
(Luke 12:13-21) our Lord is asked by
someone in the crowd to tell his brother to share the inheritance with
him. It could have been a legitimate claim but our Lord made it clear
that that was not what he came to do. He had not been appointed by his
Father to be a civil magistrate. He did, however, take the occasion to
warn against greed for material possessions because, self evidently,
life is neither gained nor secured by material possessions alone. He
tells a
story that is replicated so very often in real life of the man who
builds up an abundance of possessions thinking that his security is
thus assured. He can now enjoy himself in all self-indulgence with no
thought of God, and he says to himself: “Now as for you, you have
so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be
merry!” His mistake is, not that he took steps to provide himself with
some material security for the future, but that his life consists in
doing only this and in fooling himself by thinking he can now please
himself as to what he does. He has not prepared for his real future. So
in
the story God says to him "You fool!" His real future depends entirely
on
the judgment of God, and the upshot of this judgment depends on
how rich he is in what matters to God. And what is it that matters to
God? What matters to God is not the possession of mere material gifts
nor indeed the mere possession of any gifts. Rather, what is all
important is hearing the word and the will of God and putting it into
practice. This is what will make us rich.
On one occasion a
woman from the crowd raised her voice on hearing and seeing our Lord
and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore you!” She was praising the
mother of Jesus and extolling how fortunate she was in having such a
son. Our Lord replied,
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and put it into
practice.” Our Lady is blessed beyond all others above all for this. In
this was she immensely rich in the sight of God both during her life
and now in eternity. Let us resolve to seek after the true riches and
to use all other things that come our way to help us to belong to
Christ and to live according to his will. This is the one thing
necessary.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I
do not have space to store my harvest?’”(Lk 12: 13-21)
Comment by Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary
Sisters of Charity
(A Simple Path)
We all want nothing other than to be happy and at peace. We were
created for that, and we can only find happiness and peace by loving
God. Loving him brings us joy and happiness. Many, especially in the
West, think that living comfortably makes a person happy. I think it is
more difficult to be happy when one is rich, because the concerns about
earning money and keeping it hide God from us. However, if God has
entrusted you with wealth, use it to serve his works: help others, help
the poor, create jobs, give work to others. Don’t waste your fortune on
vain things. Having a house, honours, freedom, good health, all that
has been entrusted to us by God so that we can use it to serve those
who are less fortunate than we are.
Jesus said: “As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you
did it for me.” (Mt 25:40) Consequently, the only thing that can make
me sad is to offend our Lord through selfishness or through lack of
love for others, or to wrong someone. By wounding the poor, by wounding
one another, we wound God.
It belongs to God to give and to take back (Job 1:21); so share what
you have received, including your own life.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That cry of the Son of God, lamenting that the harvest is plentiful but
the labourers are few, is always relevant. How it tears at our
heartstrings. That cry came from Christ's mouth for you to hear too.
How have you responded to it up to now? Do you pray at least daily for
that intention of his?
(The Forge,
no.906)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why
does the Church have the power to forgive sins?
The Church has the mission and the power to forgive sins because Christ
himself has conferred it upon her: “Receive the Holy Spirit, if you
forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of
any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23). (CCC 981-983, 986-987)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.201)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 24) St Anthony Claret,
bishop (1807-1870). Born in Spain, he worked as a missionary
preacher in Catalonia and the Canary Islands. As Archbishop of Santiago
in Cuba, he fought for humane conditions for slaves. Later on he was
the confessor of the Queen of Spain. He spread the devotion to the
Blessed Sacrament and the Immaculate Heart of Mary by his preachings
and writings. He founded two religious institutes. (Saints)
Scripture
today: Ephesians
2:12-22; Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14;
Luke 12:35-38
Jesus
said to his
disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants
who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open
immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom
the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will
gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared
in this way, blessed are those servants.” (Luke 12:35-38)
The obvious danger
for us in life is that, being a material part of our material world, we
can easily come to love the things we see, hear, touch, smell and
taste, and forget the One who sustains them all. Yet despite this
obvious tendency the history of mankind bears witness to man’s yearning
for the great One who is beyond this world. Man knows or at
least quickly comes to know almost by instinct that there is a great
Beyond Who is the source of his happiness and security. The witness of
the peoples and societies of mankind as to the nature of the
Supernatural varies enormously, but that there is a Supernatural on
whom we depend the voice of mankind is in agreement. The religious
challenge
for each man or woman is to attain both a detachment from the things of
the world and a powerful attachment to the God who sustains him. And
this is
what our Lord is surely talking about in our Gospel passage today. In
very simple language he tells the parable of the servants “who
await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately
when he comes and knocks.” The point is that we must be “ready to open
immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom
the master finds vigilant on his arrival.”
(Luke 12:35-38).
Our Lord comes to
us in many ways in life. He comes to us in the needy. He comes to us in
our everyday duties. He comes to us in prayer, in our times of prayer.
He comes to us in our legitimate joys and in our difficulties and
sufferings. He comes to us in the Sacraments, especially in the
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. He comes to us in the legitimate voice
of authority. He comes to us countless times in life in small ways and
big, and finally he comes to us at the moment of our death whether this
moment is foreseen or not. Life is to be understood in terms of God's
coming, his Advent. There are, of course, the big and decisive moments
when
Christ comes, but of immense cumulative importance are the daily
comings of Christ in what we might call the actual graces of everyday
live. The question posed by our Gospel passage today is, am I always
ready when Christ comes to me in these ways? I must strive to be ready
by my constant dedication to him. I must strive to see God in
everything and live in his presence. In this way I will be “ready to
open immediately when he comes and knocks.” If I am always ready to
open the door of my mind and heart when he comes, he will bring his
grace and his blessings, and the gift of holiness will gradually be
granted to me.
For the Christian,
to live is Christ. So let us make him the treasure of life, the pearl
of great price. Having discovered this treasure, let us sell all we
own, as it were, in order to buy the field where the treasure lies.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To follow Our Lord you need to give yourself once and for all,
stoutheartedly and without holding anything back. You need to burn your
boats once and for all, so that there is no chance of going back.
(The Forge,
no.907)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the
meaning of the term “body” (or “flesh”) and what importance does it
have?
The resurrection of the flesh is the literal formulation in the
Apostles Creed for the resurrection of the body. The term “flesh”
refers to humanity in its state of weakness and mortality. “The flesh
is the hinge of salvation” (Tertullian). We believe in God the Creator
of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem
flesh; and we believe in the resurrection of flesh which is the
fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh. (CCC
990, 1015)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.202)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 25) Today let us think of Saint Gaudentius
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Ephesians
3:2-12; Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd,
5-6; Luke 12:39-48
Jesus
said to his
disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the
hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be
broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not
expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said, “Lord, is this
parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who,
then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in
charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper
time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing
so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and
drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an
unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant
severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who
knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord
with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was
ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe
beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the
person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the
person entrusted with more.” (Luke
12:39-48)
Our passage from
today’s Gospel constitutes a warning and it is uttered by our Lord
while speaking to his disciples. He employs the illustration of an
owner of a house who did not realize that the thief was coming to
burgle his home. Had he known he would not have allowed the burglary to
happen. So too, our Lord tells
his disciples, you must be prepared for the unexpected arrival of the
Son of Man. Peter asks for a clarification: does our Lord mean this
teaching for everyone, or just for them, his disciples? In answer our
Lord proceeds to ask who is the “faithful and prudent
steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to
distribute the food allowance” when required? It is the one who fulfils
his charge in such a way that no matter when the master arrives he is
found diligently at his work. God has given every man and woman some
responsibilities in life, some role of service to others to fulfill.
Especially, though, does our Lord have
in mind his own disciples, and especially those among them - such as
his Apostles - who have responsibility for the household of the
faith. Every parent, every pastor, every disciple of Christ who
in some sense is a steward of the Lord’s goods for the sake of others
in Christ’s household must be diligent in the fulfilment of his charge.
Our Lord describes what will happen if the master arrives and finds him
neglecting his responsibility. He will be punished “severely” and will
be assigned “a place with the unfaithful.” (Luke 12:39-48)
So our Lord’s
teaching is very clear. We must be faithful to our responsibilities
and fulfil them diligently. The more diligently we fulfil them
the greater will be our reward, while the more we neglect them the
greater will be our punishment. The question of the nature of Christian
perfection has often been explained by the Church and the spiritual
masters. Christian perfection consists in the fulfilment of our
duties of state in life out of love for Christ. The more we approach
perfection in this the closer will we be to Christian perfection. One
implication of this is the centrality of human work, the work in life
which God has disposed to be our own. Whatever be our work, be it that
of a mother and housewife, a professional in a hospital, a tradesman,
an unskilled worker, a student or teacher, a father of a family, our
perfection in the Christian life will be inextricably tied to the
faithful performance of the work which is ours. We must do it
well and combine it with a life of prayer. The ancient
Benedictine rule of work and prayer finds expression in the
life of the modern Christian living in the secular world of our day. We
must learn to sanctify our work by doing it as well as possible in all
its detail and doing it out of love for God and our neighbour. We must
serve Christ in the work we do for others. By sanctifying our work
however humdrum it may be we shall be sanctifying ourselves, and
placing ourselves in a position to sanctify others. Our Lord’s
words in today’s Gospel remind all of Christ’s faithful how important
is good work.
Our Gospel today
reminds us that if our life is filled with good work done for love of
the master of the household, a rich reward awaits us. If our work in
life is being neglected and knowingly disregarded then we must take
heed and repent, for our course is leading us to a bad end.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“You are not in the dark, that the day
should catch you off guard, like a thief” (1 Thess 5:4)
Commentary by Blessed
Guerric of Igny (1080-1157), Cistercian abbot (3rd Sermon for
Advent, 1)
“Prepare to meet your God, O Israel, for he is coming!” (cf. Am 4:12)
And you too, my brothers, “be on guard. The Son of Man will come when
you least expect him.” Nothing is more certain than his coming, but
nothing is more uncertain than when he will come. For we know so little
about the times and moments, which the Father has determined in his
power in such a way that even the angels who surround him don’t know
the day or the hour (Acts 1:7; Mt 24:36).
Our last day will also come, that is certain; but when and how is very
uncertain for us. As someone said before, all we know is that “face to
face with the elderly, he stands on the threshold, whereas face to face
with young people, he keeps himself concealed.” (St. Bernard) … That
day must not seize us unexpectedly, unprepared, like a thief in the
night… May fear, remaining awake, make us ever ready until security
follows upon the fear and not fear upon security. The person who is
wise says, “I will be on my guard against guilt,” (Ps 18:24), since I
cannot preserve myself from death. For he knows that “the just man,
though he die early, shall be at rest.” (Wis 4:7) Even more, those who
were not enslaved to sin during their lifetime, triumph over death. How
beautiful this is, my brothers, what happiness to be not only in
security when faced with death, but even more, to triumph over it with
glory, strong through the testimony of one’s conscience.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't be scared when Jesus asks you for more, even the happiness of
your own family. You must be convinced that from the supernatural point
of view he has the right to override all your people, for the sake of
his Glory.
(The Forge,
no.908)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What
is meant by the “resurrection of the body”?
This means that the definitive state of man will not be one in which
his spiritual soul is separated from his body. Even our mortal bodies
will one day come to life again. (CCC 990)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.203)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 26) Today let us think of Saint Demetrius and Saint Evaristus
(Saints)
Scripture
today: Ephesians
3:14-21; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12,
18-1; Luke 12:49-53
Jesus
said to his
disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it
were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that
I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three
against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his
son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a
daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53)
What was Christ’s
mission? How does he himself describe it? He tells us in today’s Gospel
that “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were
blazing already!” Christ came to set the earth on fire.
He certainly did not
come to help people feel comfortable. He came with a world-wide
mission, a perspective that was breathtakingly vast. It is a rare
individual who sees his mission as encompassing the entire world, but
we see it expressed here. Again when he rose from the dead he directed
his disciples to go to the whole world and make disciples of all the
nations. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, bringing the Church to
birth, he appeared in the form of fire, tongues of fire. Fire of the
Holy Spirit had come
to the earth, and the mission of the infant Church was to bring this
same fire to all the nations. Now, consider what our Lord regarded as
the indispensable means to igniting this fire: it was his coming
“baptism”, his immersion in the waters of suffering and death. His
anguish was great till this baptism was accomplished: "how great is my
anguish till it is accomplished!" His obedient
suffering was the key to the change in the world which he had come to
effect. This suffering would come upon his followers, and would affect
their very households. “From now on a household of five will be
divided, three against two and two against three.” (Lk 12: 49-53)
Once again we see
in the Gospels how central to our Lord’s mission and awareness is the
cross. He willingly embraced the cross as his necessary “baptism”
because, mysteriously, it was the indispensable means of fulfilling his
saving mission for the world. Those who choose to cast their lot with
Christ must learn this lesson. They must take up their cross willingly
each day and follow in his footsteps, and those footsteps lead to
Calvary. After Calvary come life and glory and this is so for the
individual as for the human race. That is the fundamental pattern of
our human reality and it has to be translated and lived out in the
practical realities and duties of everyday life. The embrace of the
cross with Christ requires a spiritual revolution, a change of mind. We
must, St
Paul exhorts us, put on the mind of Christ. We shall be able to do
this if we persistently ask the Holy Spirit for his grace and
assistance. It was by his power, according to the Letter to the
Hebrews, that Christ offered himself as a victim to the Father and it
will be by his power that we shall be empowered to do the same. So let
us persistently ask this grace of the Holy Spirit, and contemplate with
love the person of Christ choosing the cross for love of us. As St Paul
writes, Christ loved me and delivered himself up for me. We can say
exactly the same thing.
Have you ever
prayed the prayer “Anima Christi”? Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Passion
of Christ strengthen me! Let us learn our lessons for life and for life
in Christ by contemplating his Passion and Death, for it is crucial
that
we learn to embrace the cross if we wish to be his disciples.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“To light a fire on the earth”: the
gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3)
Commentary by Saint Faustina Kowalska
(1905-1938), Religious (Journal, V, 42)
O Spirit of God, Spirit of love
and of mercy,
Who pours into my heart the balm of trust,
Your grace confirms my soul in what is good,
Giving it an invincible strength: constancy!
O Spirit of God, Spirit of peace and of joy,
Who comforts my thirsting heart,
Pour into it the living spring of divine love
And make it dauntless in battle.
O Spirit of God, my soul’s most lovable guest,
I for my part desire to be faithful to you
In days of joy as much as in days of suffering;
Spirit of God, I desire to live always in your presence.
O Spirit of God who penetrates my being
And lets me know your divine and Trinitarian life,
You initiate me to your divine Being;
Thus united with you, I have eternal life.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Church needs priests, and always will. Ask the Blessed Trinity for
them each day, through Holy Mary. And pray that they may be cheerful,
hard-working, effective; that they may be well trained: and that they
may sacrifice themselves joyfully for their brothers, without feeling
that they are victims.
(The Forge,
no.910)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What happens to our body and our soul
after death?
After death, which is the separation of the body and the soul, the body
becomes corrupt while the soul, which is immortal, goes to meet the
judgment of God and awaits its reunion with the body when it will rise
transformed at the time of the return of the Lord. How the resurrection
of the body will come about exceeds the possibilities of our
imagination and understanding. (CCC 992-1004, 1016-1018)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.205)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 27) Today let us think of Blessed Emilina and Saint Frumentius
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Ephesians
4:1-6; Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab,
5-6; Luke 12:54-59
Brothers
and sisters: I,
a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the
call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve
the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one
Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord,
one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and
through all and in all. (Ephesians
4:1-6)
I suppose one could
say that many people live out their lives more or less setting their
own
agenda. That is to say, life unfolds with various opportunities before
them and their course is determined by what they choose to make of it.
It is a matter of what I make of things. But there is
another kind of life that is possible, one governed not simply
by what I choose to do but by my discovery of a call to which I should
respond. My agenda is set not simply by my (arbitrary) choice but by my
calling. I am referring to that call which comes from God. Many people
never discover such a thing in their lives. The entire sweep of the
Scriptures speak of this call and describe it. Abraham received a call
from God and his response to it ultimately brought a blessing to the
nations of the earth. The patriarchs received a call from God, as did
Moses and the prophets. God called his people to be his people and to
live according to his commandments promising that if they did he would
be with them as their God. Finally in fulness of time the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Christ called his disciples and formed his
Church, and through the Church each of us has received our call. Each
member of the Church has been called to holiness of life and to a share
in the mission of Christ. Our life is fundamentally a matter of hearing
the call that comes from Christ and living according to it.
This is exactly
what St Paul tells us in our first reading from the Letter to the
Ephesians today. “Brothers and sisters, I, a prisoner of the Lord, urge
you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received” (Ephesians
4:1-6). The
particular implication of this that St Paul sets before us in our
passage is that we ought be united, “with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to
preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace”. Unity in
our families, unity in our parishes, unity in our dioceses, unity with
the universal Church, all this flows from our common call from God our
Father to live in Christ. But of course our call from God reaches
further still beyond our observable deeds. For we should aspire to
think in
a way worthy of our calling, thinking the thoughts that are worthy of
one who lives in Christ, remembering that God sees all including our
most secret thoughts. It could be said that the decisive battle for
holiness of life will be waged within the secret confines of our mind
and heart. St Paul’s directive in another of his Letters is most
important, to
let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Living in a way
worthy of our calling has implications also for the way we speak. St
James in his Letter has important things to say about the power of the
human tongue to do good and to do evil.
Let us resolve to
live a life worthy of our Christian calling, thinking as Christ would
want us think, speaking as he would want us speak, and acting as he
would want us to act. Our Christian calling ought be the deciding
factor in absolutely everything we do, think or say.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discerning the signs of the times:
an important theme of the Second Vatican Council (Luke 12:54-59)
Commentary by Blessed
John XXIII (1881-1963), Pope (Address for the opening of Vatican
Council II)
In the daily exercise of our apostolic ministry, we are often offended
when we learn what certain people are saying, who are filled with
religious zeal yet lack correct judgment and level-headedness in their
way of seeing things. They see only ruins and calamities in society’s
present situation. They are used to saying that our day and age has
worsened profoundly in comparison with past centuries. They behave as
if history, which is the teacher of life, had nothing to teach them and
as if at the time of past Councils, everything had been perfect where
Christian doctrine, customs and the Church’s just freedom were
concerned.
It seems to us that we must state our complete disagreement with the
prophets of misfortune, who always announce catastrophes as if the
world were close to its end.
In the present course of events when society seems to be at a turning
point, it is better to acknowledge the mysterious plans of divine
Providence which, through the succession of times and the work of human
beings and most of the time against all expectations, reach their goal
and arrange everything with wisdom for the good of the Church, even the
events that are in opposition to it.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn constantly to the most Holy Virgin, the Mother of God and Mother
of the human race; and she, with a Mother's gentleness, will draw down
the love of God on the souls you deal with, so that they may make up
their minds to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, in their profession, in
their ordinary work.
(The Forge,
no.911)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What
does it mean to die in Christ Jesus?
Dying in Christ Jesus means to die in the state of God's grace without
any mortal sin. A believer in Christ, following his example, is thus
able to transform his own death into an act of obedience and love for
the Father. “This saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will
also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). (CCC 1005-1014, 1019)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.206)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 28) The
Feast of St Simon and St Jude, Apostles Simon is usually called
the “Canaanaean” and also the “Zealot”, probably because he belonged to
the Jewish party of the “Zealots of the Law.” Jude also called Thaddeus
or “Courageous”, is the author of the short epistle in the New
Testament with his name. They probably preached in Mesopotamia and
Persia and were martyred. Their names appear in the Roman Canon. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Ephesians
2:19-22; Psalm 19:2-3,
4-5; Luke 6:12-16
Jesus
went up to the
mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day
came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose
Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and
his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the
son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke 6:12-16)
Today we think of
two of the Twelve Apostles, Simon and Jude. We know hardly anything
about them except for the few passing references in the New Testament
and some traditions about them in the early Church. But that itself is
a lesson, for their importance derives from the great Cause to which
they were called
and the indispensable role as Apostles they occupied. Their vocation as
foundation
stones of Christ’s Church leads us to think of the larger reality which
they served, Christ’s Church (Luke
6:12-16).
It is very true that
the Christian religion is above all and firstly a matter between my
Creator and me. God and my soul are the two fundamental realities on
which pivot my eternal prospects. But while this is true, there are
those whose religion is simply that. The Christian religion, for them,
is a matter simply of each person coming to terms generously with the
word of God in
Scripture, grasping its meaning myself and living it out. This is
Christianity. It is a matter between me and Christ in his word. Now,
the celebration of the feast of two of the Twelve Apostles reminds us
that we are part of something far greater. Christ does not deal
simply with individuals in time and history. He lives in his Church,
and comes to them in his Church, calling them to membership in his
Church of which Simon and Jude were two of the foundation stones.
So then, as we
think of our two Apostles today, let us think of the great family of
which we are members. The Church is Christ’s direct creation. He is her
Bridegroom, she is his spouse. Let us think of how Christ died for his
spouse the Church, and then together with the Father sent to her the
Holy Spirit to be her animating principle. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit
came upon the infant Church gathered around Mary and the Twelve
(including Simon and Jude) and with that coming the Church was born as
the living body of Christ. Christ is her head, the Holy Spirit her
soul. This is the great reality of which Simon and Jude and the rest of
the Twelve were the foundation. Because of what the Church really
is we believe the Church and her testimony. She is apostolic, she is
one, she is holy because of her being in Christ, and she is Catholic.
Let us learn to love the Church as did Simon and Jude, giving ourselves
over to her service in our family, our workplace and in our everyday
life. Let us learn to look on the Church with the eyes of Christ and
not with the eyes of the world, seeing in her the presence of Jesus.
The fundamental reality behind and within and at the basis of the
Church is the person of Christ. It is he who is present and active in
the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let us use our
celebration today of the two Apostles Simon and Jude as an occasion for
praying for a deeper appreciation of the true nature of the Church, and
the readiness to love and serve her as did Christ her Bridegroom.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He chose twelve of them whom he named
apostles” (Luke 6:12-16)
Commentary by Saint Cyril of
Alexandria (380-444), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
(Commentary on the
Gospel according to John, 3,130)
Our Lord Jesus Christ established guides and teachers for the whole
world as well as “administrators of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor 4:1)
He commanded them to shine and to give light like torches not only in
the land of the Jews…, but everywhere under the sun, for people living
on the whole earth. Thus the word of Saint Paul is true: “One does not
take this honor on his own initiative, but only when called by God.”
(Heb 5:4)…
If he believed that he had to send his disciples just as the Father had
sent him (Jn 20:21), it was necessary for those who were called to
imitate him to discover for what task the Father had sent his Son. Thus
he explained to us in various ways the nature of his own mission. One
day he said: “I have not come to invite the self-righteous to a change
of heart, but sinners.” (Lk 5:32) And again: “it is not to do my own
will that I have come down from heaven, but to do the will of him who
sent me.” (Jn 6:38) And another time: “God did not send the Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved
through him.” (Jn 3:17)
He summed up the apostles’ function in a few words when he said that he
sent them just as the Father had sent him. By this they would know that
they had the responsibility to call the sinners to conversion, to care
for the sick, both physically and spiritually; in their function as
administrators, never to seek to do their own will, but the will of him
who sent them; and finally, to save the world to the extent to which it
would accept the Lord’s teachings.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You should correspond to God's love by being faithful, very faithful!
And this faithfulness should lead you to transmit the Love you have
received to other people, so that they too may rejoice at meeting God.
(The Forge,
no.912)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is life everlasting?
Eternal life is that life which begins immediately after death. It will
have no end. It will be preceded for each person by a particular
judgment at the hands of Christ who is the Judge of the living and the
dead. This particular judgement will be confirmed in the final
judgment. (CCC 1020, 1051)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.207)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirtieth
Sunday in Ordinary Time B
(October 29) Today let us think of Saint Narcissus
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Jeremiah
31:7-9; Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6; Hebrews
5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52
As
Jesus was leaving
Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind
man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that
it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of
David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be
silent. But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity
on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind
man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you." He
threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him
in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to
him, "Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith
has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on
the way. (Mark 10:46-52)
I think it
is St Alphonsus Ligouri who writes in one of his books that it is
almost impossible for a person to be saved without prayer. If that is
so in relation to being saved, how much more is it so in relation to
growing in holiness. Religious surveys indicate that the majority of
Catholics in our country are largely nominal. That is to say,
only a minority of Catholics are coming to Mass every Sunday - a higher
number than is the case with other Christian denominations, but a
minority nevertheless. But let us ask a further question: of those of
us who fulfill the obligation of coming to Mass every Sunday, how many
are working generously at our spiritual life so as to attain the
maximum degree of friendship with our Lord to which we are called? We
have a limited time in life given to us. Our task is to use it to
attain the one thing necessary which is as deep a union with Jesus as
is possible. It is a wonderful service to God and the Church to
participate in and build up parish and diocesan life. It is essential
to be coming
to Mass every Sunday. But it is possible to do this and more besides
while just coasting along in our spiritual life, with little intention
of taking the means of attaining a much deeper relationship with Jesus
our Lord. To attain this holiness which is our calling, we must grow in
a life of genuine prayer. Let us consider the prayer of Bartimaeus.
Our Gospel
passage today places us in the scene of the blind man Bartimaeus
sitting by the road begging (Mark
10:46-52).
He was blind, without work, without disability benefits, and in a
helpless situation. He may not have had any family to support him. He
was very alive to his need for God, whereas many others in the
crowd mingling near to Jesus may not have been. He heard that Jesus was
passing by, and he called out to him for pity. That was a wonderful
prayer, simply calling out to Jesus from the depths of his need. It is
a model prayer, one we ought make our own. It resulted in his cure. Our
Lord is present to us every day, and we are in a profound need of him
and his grace. Let him not pass us by. Bartimaeus was blind, and so are
we in so many respects. We may be blind to our spiritual condition,
perhaps too content with ourselves, not often asking God’s pardon nor
going to Confession much because we do not feel that we have any need
of it. In effect, we may think that we are not guilty of much in God’s
sight. This lack of a sense of our own sinfulness will prevent us from
drawing near to our Lord in a truly intimate way because we will feel
fairly self-sufficient - which is to say, as if we had no need of God.
We can be very blind to our own blindness, and unable to pray in the
way Bartimaeus prayed. We are often unable from the heart to call on
our Lord to have pity on us as did Bartimaeus. From his need Bartimaeus
called on Jesus and Jesus stopped and asked him to be brought to him.
The
blind beggar Bartimaeus will be teaching the readers of the Gospel how
to pray till the end of time. There is a much deeper affliction than
the one Bartimaeus suffered from and it is the affliction of sin. That
is the condition we must be freed from and only Jesus can free us from
it. He is the only Saviour of the world, for he takes away the sin of
the world. When he came among us he did cure the sick, he did raise the
dead, he gave sight to the blind, and many other things. But all of
this was meant as a sign of a far more profound salvation he was
bringing to man. It was salvation from sin. Just as Bartimaeus was
acutely conscious of his blindness and of the misery it was causing
him, so we need to be acutely conscious of the affliction of sin and of
the spiritual misery it causes us. Indeed it is the root cause of the
miseries of the world. So each of us and the entire world have to learn
to call on the name of Jesus for salvation and sanctification. In the
early Eastern Church there was a famous spiritual writer by the name of
Cassian who was able to distil the prayer life of the Eastern monks
into a brief prayer. It was , “Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me
a sinner.” It is a wonderful prayer and very like the prayer of
Bartimaeus.
If
you want to deepen your life of prayer, one way is to pray in the way
Bartimaeus prayed, and with real fervour. Say the word “Jesus” over and
over, addressing Jesus as you say it. Jesus in Hebrew means God saves,
God is saving, God will save. God saves us in and through Jesus who is
his Son and our Lord. He saves especially from sin. Jesus, let me see.
Jesus have mercy on me a sinner. Jesus save me from my sins and my
disinterest and my spiritual lethargy. Jesus save me and lead me to
holiness. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. So, let us
be like Bartimaeus and call on Jesus as he is passing by. He will hear
and answer our prayer just as he did for Bartimaeus.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.430-435
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“He began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have pity on
me'...” (Mark 10: 46-52)
Commentary by Saint Gregory the Great (about 540-604), Pope, Doctor of
the Church
(Homilies on the Gospels,
no. 2)
Scripture rightly presents us with this blind man seated at the edge of
the path and asking for alms, for Truth itself said, “I am the way” (Jn
14:6). Thus, whoever does not know the clarity of eternal light is
blind.
Even if he already believes in the Redeemer, he is seated at the edge
of the path. If he already believes but neglects to ask that eternal
light be given to him, and if he neglects to pray, this blind person
can be seated at the edge of the path, but he is not asking for alms.
But if he believes, if he knows the blindness of his heart and prays so
as to receive the light of truth, then he really is that blind man, who
is seated at the edge of the path and also asking for alms.
Thus, may the person who recognizes the darkness of his blindness and
who feels deprived of eternal light cry out from the bottom of his
heart, may he cry with all his soul: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on
me!”
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Lord Jesus, grant that I may feel your grace and second it in such a
way that I empty my heart, so that you, my Friend, my Brother, my King,
my God, my Love... may fill it!
(The Forge,
no.913)
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What is the particular judgment?
It is the judgment of immediate retribution which each one after death
will receive from God in his immortal soul in accord with his faith and
his works. This retribution consists in entrance into the happiness of
heaven, immediately or after an appropriate purification, or entry into
the eternal damnation of hell. (CCC 1021-1022, 1051)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.208)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 30) Today let us think of Saint Marcellus and Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Ephesians
4:32–5:8; Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and
6; Luke 13:10-17
Jesus
was teaching in a
synagogue on the Sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years
had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable
of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said,
“Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. But the leader of
the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, said to
the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come
on those days to be cured, not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord said to
him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath
untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?
This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,
ought she not to have been set free on the Sabbath day from this
bondage?” When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and
the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him. (Luke 13:10-17)
In authentic
Catholic spirituality (which is to say Christian spirituality in its
fulness) the Gospels have pride of place in the Holy Scriptures. This
is because the person of Jesus and his teaching stand forth most
clearly in the
Gospels. The Old Testament, as our Lord himself often explained to his
disciples before and after his resurrection, pointed to him. We have
passages describing how our Lord instructed his disciples in the
teaching of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms and how they spoke of
him. The New Testament, of course, is explicitly about Jesus the
Christ, the Son of God, and about God’s plan of salvation which he
revealed. But it is the Gospels which set forth the person and teaching
of our Lord with greatest clarity. For this reason the Gospels are
especially suited to daily interior prayer and meditation which, as the
Church and the spiritual masters have so often
pointed out, is absolutely essential for growth in holiness. We must
give time to interior prayer and meditation if we are to grow in a
personal love for our Lord and in the capacity to follow him closely in
our everyday life. Well then, let us take our Gospel passage today and
consider the person of Jesus, placing ourselves in the scene and
entering into communion with Jesus. He is always present to us and,
if we are in the state of grace, within us. There in our Gospel scene
today Jesus stands (or sits), teaching in the synagogue. Let us gaze on
him lovingly in our hearts.
A woman was there
bent up, crippled for eighteen years. Out of compassion for her, Jesus
calls to her and laying his hands on her frees her from her infirmity
(Luke 13:10-17), at which she glorifies
God. But the leader of the synagogue immediately expressed criticism of
Jesus for doing this on the Sabbath, which is to say, for “working” on
the Sabbath. Our Lord demolishes him in debate (which happened time and
again in other contexts) and stands forth supreme before the people for
his teaching, his knowledge, and his wonderful good works. Let us gaze
on him as did the crowd! There he is, King of kings and Lord of lords,
the Messiah, a man like us in all things but sin, the redeemer of the
world, and the Son of God, himself the same God as is the Father. What
a phenomenon that there should be this man! Let us
contemplate him with love, gazing on him with the eyes of the heart
with divine faith and asking him to draw us ever more fully into his
friendship. We ought in our daily prayer simply be with Jesus
especially as he reveals himself to us in the inspired Gospel accounts.
We ought be still with Jesus, still before him, gazing with inner
stillness on him in our innermost being, asking him to unite us to
himself and to draw us into a loving share in his mission. He cured the
woman of her crippled condition, but that was a sign of the far
greater healing from sin which he came to bring to mankind
and to every member of the human race.
We are called to
bring the Saviour to the world and to those around us in our everyday
life. If we are ever to do this with effect we must be deeply in love
with Jesus and filled with a knowledge of his person and saving plan.
Every day, then, let us contemplate him in prayer.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
cure on the Sabbath, the sign of the day of the new creation ("She at once stood up straight"Lk.13)
Commentary by Pope John Paul
II (Apostolic Letter "Dies Domini",
§24-25)
The day of the new creation: a comparison of
the Christian Sunday with the Old Testament vision of the Sabbath
prompted theological insights of great interest. In particular, there
emerged the unique connection between the Resurrection and Creation.
Christian thought spontaneously linked the Resurrection, which took
place on "the first day of the week", with the first day of that cosmic
week (cf. Gn 1:15) in the Book of Genesis… This link invited an
understanding of the Resurrection as the beginning of a new creation,
the first fruits of which is the glorious Christ, "the first born of
all creation" (Col 1:15) and "the first born from the dead" (Col 1:18).
In effect, Sunday is the day above all other days which
summons Christians to remember the salvation which was given to them in
baptism and which has made them new in Christ. "You were buried with
him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in
the working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Col 2:12; cf. Rom
6:4-6). The liturgy underscores this baptismal dimension of Sunday,
both in calling for the celebration of baptisms — as well as at the
Easter Vigil — on the day of the week "when the Church commemorates the
Lord's Resurrection", and in suggesting as an appropriate penitential
rite at the start of Mass the sprinkling of holy water, which recalls
the moment of Baptism in which all Christian life is born.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If your prayers, your
sacrifices and your actions do not show a
constant concern for the apostolate, it is a sure sign that you are not
happy, and that you have to be more faithful. The man who possesses
happiness, and the good, will always seek to give it to others.
(The Forge,
no.914)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is meant by the term “heaven”?
By “heaven” is meant the state of supreme and definitive happiness.
Those who die in the grace of God and have no need of further
purification are gathered around Jesus and Mary, the angels and the
saints. They thus form the Church of heaven, where they see God “face
to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). They live in a communion of love with
the Most Blessed Trinity and they intercede for us. (CCC 1023-1026,
1053)
“True and subsistent life consists in this: the
Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, pouring out his
heavenly gifts on all things without exception. Thanks to his mercy, we
too, men that we are, have received the inalienable promise of eternal
life.” (Saint Cyril of Jerusalem)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.209)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time II
(October 31) Today let us think of Saint Quentin and Saint Wolfgang
(Saints)
Scripture today: Ephesians
5:21-33; Psalm 128:1-2,
3,
4-5;
Luke 13:18-21
Jesus said, “What is the
Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard
seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully
grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its
branches.” Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of
wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (Luke 13:18-21)
One of the most
inspiring autobiographies is that of Saint Teresa of Avila, the great
founder of the Discalced Carmelites in sixteenth century Spain. In her
Life she
goes to great length to describe her failures and infidelities
as a nun over some twenty years following her entry into Religious
Life. The 
great theme of this history is
that God was patiently and slowly bringing her to himself. Finally his
grace triumphed and she underwent her second conversion which led to
her decisive step to give herself totally to him and to found a
stricter convent (that of St Joseph). This in turn led to her founding
of what became the new Order, not only of women, but also - in
partnership especially with John of the Cross - of men. The great point
of her Life is
the goodness and mercy of God who patiently brought her
to such high sanctity despite what she describes as her sins. The same
point comes out in St Augustine’s Confessions. St
Paul describes in
similar terms his conversion from error to the truth about Christ on
his way to Damascus. The expression “Damascus experience” is now
proverbial - it denotes a great conversion or change. The point we take
from such stories is that God works powerfully and mercifully in his
grace. We can trust him if we but persevere in rising from our falls
and keeping to the path of his will.
In our Gospel
passage today our Lord describes “the Kingdom of God.” The Kingdom of
God is God’s rule over our hearts and lives, and this is embodied
supremely in the person of Jesus. It subsists in him and it is he who
brings the kingdom to the earth and to each member of the human race.
Inasmuch as he dwells in the Church as her head, this Kingdom is found
within the Church, and we enter the Kingdom by entering the Church his
body, for
in doing this we live in Jesus. Now, our Lord tells us that the Kingdom
of God “is like
a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was
fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in
its branches.” (Luke 13:18-21) It grows and grows and
becomes the home of abundant life. God’s rule by grace gradually
permeates our life and being, conquering sin if we persevere in
adhering to him. We fail and fail, but St Teresa of Avila teaches us
that if we but get up and begin again, and never fail to do so,
persevering in prayer generously, then by his grace God will come to
reign in our hearts. His Kingdom will come into our hearts and souls.
That part of the Lord’s Prayer ought mean so much to us, “Your Kingdom
come.” Our Lord told his hearers that “the Kingdom of God is within
you.” Its pattern is one of growth like a tree, so we ought have hope
and trust in the goodness of God.
One modern saint
used to say that the secret to perseverence is to be saying at every
point of life: now I begin! So then, whatever be the past, whatever be
the present, and whatever be the future, now I begin! I shall never
stop beginning again, right to my last breath.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“To what shall I compare
the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took”(Lk 13:18-21)
St. John Chrysostom
(345-407), Archbishop of Constantinople (Homily 20 on the Acts of the
Apostles)
Nothing is more derisory than a Christian, who
does not care for the salvation of others. You cannot here plead
poverty: for the poor widow that put in two small coins, shall be your
accuser (Mk 12:42). And Peter said to the crippled man: "I have neither
silver nor gold." (Acts 3:6) And Paul was so poor, that he was often
hungry. You cannot plead lowness of birth: for the apostles too were
simple men, and of simple parentage. You cannot allege want of
education, for they too were unlearned. Even if you were a slave and a
runaway, you could perform your part; for such was Onesimus, yet how
much Paul honours him (Phl). You cannot plead infirmity, for such was
Timothy. No matter who we are, everyone can profit his neighbour, if he
will fulfil his part.
Consider the trees in the forest, how strong they
are, how fair and of great height. But if we had a garden we would much
rather have pomegranates, or fruitful olive trees. Fair trees but
unfruitful…, such are people who only consider their own interest…
If the leaven mixed up with the flour did not change
the whole into its own nature, would such a thing be leaven? If a
perfume shed no sweet odor on those who approach it, could we call it a
perfume? Therefore, don't say, "It is impossible for me to be a good
influence on others". For if you are a Christian, it is impossible not
to: it is the very nature of Christians… For it is easier for the sun
not to give heat, nor to shine, than for the Christian not to send
forth light.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel",
New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you
really trample on your own self and live for others you will become a
good instrument in God's hands. He called — and is calling — his
disciples, commanding them ut eatis! — ``Go and seek all men.''
(The Forge,
no.915)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What
is purgatory?
Purgatory is the state of those who die in God’s friendship,
assured of
their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to
enter into the happiness of heaven. (CCC 1030-1031,1054)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.210)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------