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Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time II

(September 1) Saint Giles of Castaneda (Picture) An Abbot, said to have been born of illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century. Early in life he devoted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but, finding his noble birth and high repute for sanctity in his native land an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to Gaul, where he established himself first in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his sanctity drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew to a dense forest near Nimes, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a hind. This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. The king [who according to the legend was Wamba (or Flavius?), King of the Visigoths, but who must have been a Frank, since the Franks had expelled the Visigoths from the neighbourhood of Nimes almost a century and a half earlier] conceived a high esteem for solitary, and would have heaped every honour upon him; but the humility of the saint was proof against all temptations. He consented, however, to receive thenceforth some disciples, and built a monastery in his valley, which he placed under the rule of St. Benedict. Here he died in the early part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles. (Saints)
His cult spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the numberless churches and monasteries dedicated to him in France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the British Isles; by the numerous MSS. in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles; and especially by the vast concourse of pilgrims who from all Europe flocked to his shrine. In 1562 the relics of the saint were secretly transferred to Toulouse to save them from the hideous excesses of the Huguenots who were then ravaging France, and the pilgrimage in consequence declined. With the restoration of a great part of the relics to the church of St. Giles in 1862, and the discovery of his former tomb there in 1865, the pilgrimages have recommenced. Besides the city of St-Gilles, which sprang up around the abbey, nineteen other cities bear his name, St-Gilles, Toulouse, and a multitude of French cities, Antwerp, Bridges, and Tournai in Belgium, Cologne and Bamberg, in Germany, Prague and Gran in Austria-Hungary, Rome and Bologna in Italy, possess celebrated relics of St. Giles. In medieval art he is a frequent subject, being always depicted with his symbol, the hind. His feast is kept on 1 September. On this day there are also commemorated another St. Giles, an Italian hermit of the tenth century (Acta SS., XLI, 305), and a Blessed Giles, d. about 1203, a Cistercian abbot of Castaneda in the Diocese of Astorga, Spain (op. cit. XLI, 308).

Scripture today: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-11;   Psalm 98:1, 7-8, 9;    Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one – to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’” (Matthew 25:14-30)

If you wish to view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel, click here

On one occasion our Lord, having been accused of violating the Sabbath by curing someone on the Sabbath day, said that his Father is ever at work, and therefore so is he. St John tells us that thereupon the Jews took up stones to stone him because he not only broke the Sabbath but spoke of God as his very own Father, thus making himself equal to God. This was one of many statements by our Lord that revealed his own divine nature, but it also tells

us something of the Father. In that text it tells us that the Father is a worker. He is ever at work - and therefore the Son is ever at work. We ought look on God the holy Trinity as actively at work in creation and in the sanctification of his creatures. God is very enterprising and we see in the work of creation and then especially in the work of the redemption of the world from sin a mighty undertaking in process. God strains every nerve, as it were, to achieve his goals for us. There is nothing he is not prepared to do to attain our good. If we wish to be his true and worthy children we must strive to be like him, just as in his work our Lord stated to his critics that he was constantly doing as his Father did. Being like God means being compassionate and merciful (as our Lord says elsewhere) and it means also that we be people who work and strive to achieve our goals. Those goals should be done for him. Our Lord tells his disciples today (Matthew 25:14-30) a parable of the master going away on the long journey and entrusting his property to them and he expected them to put what he gave them to work and produce, each according to his ability. That is an image of life. We have been entrusted with responsibilities and we are expected to fulfil those responsibilities and bear fruit for the Master each according to our ability. The parable teaches that the Master detests laziness.

But our Lord’s parable is especially directed, it would seem, to the ordinary man of very ordinary abilities and circumstances. The centre of attention is the one who was entrusted with only one talent. The one who received the five talents got to work immediately and made five more, and the one given the two immediately set to work and made two more. But the one who received the one did nothing with it at all. He did not even think of at least depositing it in the bank and so gaining some interest on it (and in the process at least covering its depreciation). He was lazy and refused to put himself out. So he lost everything and was thrown out into the darkness. All this is to say that it is not enough to say to God that I haven’t done any positive harm. God will be asking what positive good have I done. He will be wanting to see how I have advanced his interests in the world and how I have served to give greater glory and honour to him. No matter how little a person I am in the eyes of others, God expects me to be enterprising for him. He expects me to work and to work for him in everything I do, no matter how ordinary it may seem. Moreover, the concentration in the parable on the little man, on the one with one talent only, helps to alert us to the great importance that God places in the ordinary person. Imagine what a difference to the world would be made if that sleeping giant Everyman, as we might call him, were to rise from his slumber to serve God! Imagine the difference if all the little persons - millions of them - took his or her ordinary vocation with great seriousness. There are Christians teaching at University, in politics, in the professions, at the workbench, in the trades, and so many of them do little to bear witness to the truth of Jesus. We could say that Christ will only be brought to the heart of the world if the ordinary man takes up the challenge and makes it par excellence the work of his life.

Let us reflect on today’s parable (Matthew 25:14-30) and think of the judgment on our work in life that awaits us. Let us take seriously and gratefully the work in life that God has given us and ask him to help us be enterprising and never to give up on it. Where God has placed us, that is our field of work for him until he calls us elsewhere. If we have been given but one talent, let us put it to work.
                                                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

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You who for an earthly love have gone through so much, do you really believe that you love Christ when you are not willing — for him! — to suffer that humiliation?
                                               (The Way, no.165)

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            In what way do Christians participate in political and social life?
The lay faithful take part directly in political and social life by animating temporal realities with a Christian spirit and collaborating with all as authentic witnesses of the Gospel and agents of peace and justice. (CCC 2442)
                            (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.519)

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Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Prayers this week:    I call to you all day long, have mercy on me, O Lord.
                  You are good and forgiving, full of love for all who call on you (Ps 85: 3.5)

        Almighty God, every good thing comes from you. Fill our hearts with love for you,
          increase our faith, and by your constant care protect the good you have given us.
      We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God.

(September 2) The martyrs of September   It is common knowledge that in France on the eve of the great revolution of 1789 there were a number of Catholic religious, priests and bishops who could scarcely be called “good shepherds.” In contrast to these worldly churchmen, there were other clerics who made up for the weakness of their brothers by defending the faith even with their lives. Best known among these Christian heroes were the clerics executed in September, 1792. Once established, the revolutionary government had claimed the “republican” right to take control of the Catholic Church in France. In 1790 it enacted a “constitution” or law that denied to the pope any authority over French Catholicism. Each French priest and bishop was ordered to take an oath to uphold this law. Some priests did so. Most of them decided they could not, because they would then be denying the universal authority of the popes. For this refusal they would eventually suffer. The “liberty” for which the French Revolution was fought, was not very consistent. As the Revolution moved on, its leadership came more and more into the hands of extremists. In 1792, the radical Jacobins determined to punish with death not only the aristocrats, but clergy who had refused the oath. The “non-jurors” - those who had refused the oath - were arrested en masse in August, 1792, and herded into several Parisian monasteries out of which the resident monks had been driven. These prisoners were priests, bishops and religious from many dioceses. Then on September 2, a band of violent armed men, perhaps 150 in number, was sent by the “Committee of Vigilance” to one after the other of these temporary prisons. One detail arrived at the Abbey of St. Germain just when a number of prisoners got there, transferred from other places of detention. The executioners shot them down in cold blood. Then they went to the old Carmelite monastery, where another group of cutthroats joined them. They ordered all the prisoners to come out into the garden, even the oldest and most disabled. The clerics had already discussed once more the question of taking the oath, and all had agreed they could not and would not subscribe to it. Now the gang fell upon the first priests they met and cut them down. Then they called out, “The Archbishop of Arles!” Archbishop John du Lau of Arles was praying in the chapel. When summoned, he came out and he said, “I am he whom you seek.” Thereupon, they cracked his skull, stabbed him and trampled him underfoot. Then the leader set up a “tribunal” before which the imprisoned were herded and ordered to take the oath. All refused; so, as they passed down the stairway, they were hacked to pieces by the murderers. The bishop of Beauvais had earlier been wounded in the leg. When summoned, he answered, “I do not refuse to die with the others, but I cannot walk. I beg you to have the kindness to carry me where you wish me to go.” For a moment, his courtesy silenced the assassins. But, when he, too, refused the oath, he was killed like the rest. Later on the purge was carried out elsewhere in France. Some 200 clergymen fell that September, and they were only a small percentage of the 1500 clergy, laymen and laywomen who were massacred in 1792 alone. (Saints)
     Pope Pius XI beatified 191 of the priest martyrs, in 1926, assigning to them the title of “Blessed John du Lau and Companions, Martyrs.” They had been the helpless victims of wild revolutionary ideology. As usual, however, their heroism in the defense of the papacy was remembered long after the names of their blood-thirsty executioners had been forgotten. They saved the reputation of France as “eldest daughter of the Church.”

Scripture: Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29;   Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a;    Luke 14:1, 7-14

On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honour at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honour. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbours, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:1, 7-14)

If you wish to view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel, click here

         There have been many religions in the history of man that have been not notably concerned for the poor. Many have been distinguished for their striving for the Absolute - whatever be the name they give to it or the image they have of it - while often being forgetful of the needs of man and the world. Among the many things that revealed religion places at the centre is concern for and love of those in need. In the first instance this surely derives from its teaching about the creation and very nature of man. As we read in the first pages of the Bible, man is not simply the greatest of all the living things to come into being from the word of God. Man is created in the image and likeness

of God and is, therefore, a child of God and God is his Father. God is the Father of all mankind, and every man and woman is a child made in his likeness. We may surely regard this fatherly creation of man - man who is “little less than a god” as the psalm expresses it - as something of a primordial covenant conferring on the least endowed and the least circumstanced an inalienable dignity. He is a child of God made like unto his heavenly Father and is a member of God’s vast family. Above and beyond the dignity inherent in his very creation, the dignity of every man features prominently in the developing covenants God forged with his chosen people. The Mosaic legislation required constant consideration for slaves, for sojourners and the needy, and the prophets time and again denounced a religion of sacrifices and oblations while flouting and neglecting the poor. God is portrayed as wishing to have nothing to do with such a religion. Indeed, the whole of the Law and the Prophets can be reduced, Christ said, to loving God with all our heart and loving our neighbour as our self. So then, love of neighbour - a real love and care, a love equal to that which we have for ourselves - is an unavoidable linchpin of revealed religion.

           But Christ developed this to what we might call stark levels. On one occasion he was asked, in the context of love for neighbour, who is my neighbour? He proceeded to tell the story of the Good Samaritan showing that one’s neighbour is not just one’s family member, one’s associate in religion, or one’s countryman, but anyone in need. Any person in need is my neighbour. We must love anyone who is in need as we love our own very self. But Christ gave a new commandment, and that is that we are to love one another as he has loved us. That is the level of love which a true disciple of Christ extends to the poor. St Paul writes that though he was rich because he was God, Christ gave all this up and became as we are and humbler still. He did all this so that we who are poor might become rich. Christ loved the lowly and the poor, and apart from his countless miracles on their behalf we read that when Judas went out at the Last Supper some thought that he had gone to give some money to the poor. This indicates that the giving of money to the poor was a practice of the Twelve, instilled by the Master. Our Lord taught that our concern for the poor will be an essential element in our judgment. Our Lord describes in Matthew 25 the final judgment of Christ on each and all. He will be our judge, and at our judgment he will say to those on his right, come you whom my Father has blessed, for when I was hungry you gave me food. When did we do this, the blessed will ask. “Whenever you did this to the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.” So Christ our Lord and God identifies entirely with the poor and the lowly such that whatever we do to them he counts as having been done to him. Therefore we serve and love Christ himself when we serve and love the poor. They are to be reverenced and loved as we reverence and love Christ himself, and we shall be rewarded greatly if we do this. In our Gospel passage today (Luke 14:1, 7-14) our Lord speaks of this to the leading Pharisee.

       All through the history of the Church there have been outstanding and saintly examples of Christians who have taken our Lord’s teaching to heart. They have loved and served the poor and in this way have reminded the Church’s children and all mankind of the dignity of the poor and of their right to reverence and care. They have also reminded all of the judgment to come on those who serve the poor and also on those who neglect the poor when they have been in a position to help them. Let us take our cue from the likes of Blessed (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta who lived a holy life given over to seeing Christ in the poor. This is revealed religion, the religion God has taught to us. This is the service he wants of those who strive to be pleasing to him. In this way we show our love for Christ and become Christ-like ourselves.
                                                                                             (E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.2443-2449

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You write: 'Father, I have a... toothache in my heart'. — I won't laugh, because I realize that you need a good dentist to do a few 'extractions' for you.

If only you were willing!...
                                                (The Way, no.166)

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            By what is love for the poor inspired?
Love for the poor is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes and by the example of Jesus in his constant concern for the poor. Jesus said, “Whatever you have done to the least of my brethren, you have done to me” (Matthew 25:40). Love for the poor shows itself through the struggle against material poverty and also against the many forms of cultural, moral, and religious poverty. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy and the many charitable institutions formed throughout the centuries are a concrete witness to the preferential love for the poor which characterizes the disciples of Jesus. (CCC 2443-2449, 2462-2463)
                    (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.520)

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Monday of the twenty second week of Ordinary Time II

(September 3) Saint Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church (540?-604) Coming events cast their shadows before: Gregory was the prefect of Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries on his Sicilian estate and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome. Ordained a priest, he became one of the pope's seven deacons, and also served six years in the East as papal nuncio in Constantinople. He was recalled to become abbot, and at the age of 50 was elected pope by the clergy and people of Rome. He was direct and firm. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and the victims of plague and famine. He was very concerned about the conversion of England, sending 40 monks from his own monastery. He is known for his reform of the liturgy, for strengthening respect for doctrine. Whether he was largely responsible for the revision of "Gregorian" chant is disputed. Gregory lived in a time of perpetual strife with invading Lombards and difficult relations with the East. When Rome itself was under attack, it was he who went to interview the Lombard king. An Anglican historian has written: "It is impossible to conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic state of the Middle Ages without the medieval papacy; and of the medieval papacy, the real father is Gregory the Great." His book, Pastoral Care, on the duties and qualities of a bishop, was read for centuries after his death. He described bishops mainly as physicians whose main duties were preaching and the enforcement of discipline. In his own down-to-earth preaching, Gregory was skilled at applying the daily gospel to the needs of his listeners. Called "the Great," Gregory has been given a place with Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome as one of the four key doctors of the Western Church.
                        Gregory was content to be a monk, but he willingly served the Church in other ways when asked. He sacrificed his own preferences in many ways, especially when he was called to be Bishop of Rome. Once he was called to public service, Gregory gave his considerable energies completely to this work. "Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot" (St. Gregory, Homilies on the Gospels). (Saints)

Scripture today: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Psalm 96:1 and 3-5, 11-13; Luke 4:16-30

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. (Luke 4:16-30)

If you wish to view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel, click here

Little is known of the history of the town of Nazareth. I have heard it stated that the town began a century or two before the birth of Jesus, but I do not know what is the basis of that information. Whatever of that, the greatest thing that happened in the entire history of the town from its beginnings to the present was the presence in it for thirty years of the Son of God made man, together with the most

holy Mary his mother, and Joseph his holy foster-father. Nothing can compare with that fact. Jesus Christ was a townsman of Nazareth. Connected with this was the fact that the people with whom our Lord lived - with the exception of his own immediate family, of course - had no idea of his exalted status. They did not know that he was the Messiah nor that he was the Son of God. Undoubtedly they could see that he had altogether special qualities, but he blended so well into his social setting and family circle that was taken largely for granted. At least this is the impression we gather from various details of the Gospels. Our Gospel text today (Luke 4:16-30) narrates how Jesus went to the synagogue as was his custom, implying that they had accompanied him to the synagogue, had seen him there Sabbath after Sabbath, had heard him read perhaps, and had seen him and mixed with him in so many other settings. Many had grown up with him and had lived with him daily. The stunning upshot of their years with Jesus is their response to the Gospel. When he revealed who he really was they rejected him violently.

If we contrast the reaction of those who had lived with him with that of his first disciples, what a contrast there is! Let us take the case of Nathanael. Philip came to him and told him that they had found the Messiah. Nathanael appears to have been sceptical: “Nazareth? Can anything good come from that place?” And so he was taken to Jesus. Jesus showed that he knew him in an altogether special sense, a sense beyond ordinary human means, and Nathanael responded with a total and magnificent faith. We read, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this’.” (John 1:45-51). Nathanael’s faith was immediate and magnificent, and it attained the faith which John the Evangelist saw as the very purpose of writing his Gospel which was “that you may learn to believe Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and so believing find life through his name (John 21:31). Let us appreciate the sad and miserable response to the Gospel on the part of our Lord’s townspeople who had known him so well and yet so little, by considering the magnificent response of our Lord’s very first disciples.

Let us cherish dearly the gift of faith in Jesus Christ which we have received, and nourish it into a great flame. St Paul tells us that from before the world began God chose us in Christ to be holy and full of love in his sight. It begins with and is based on faith in Christ’s person. What a tragedy if, having the gift of faith, we allow it to weaken and die. By contrast, what a wonder if we cherish this faith and allow it to lead us to love and holiness.
                                                                                                                  (E.J.Tyler)

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'If only I had broken it off at the start!' you said. — Let us hope you haven't to repeat that tardy complaint.
                                         (The Way, no.167)

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What is one’s duty toward the truth?
Every person is called to sincerity and truthfulness in acting and speaking. Everyone has the duty to seek the truth, to adhere to it and to order one’s whole life in accordance with its demands. In Jesus Christ the whole of God’s truth has been made manifest. He is “the truth”. Those who follow him live in the Spirit of truth and guard against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy. (CCC 2464-2470, 2504)
                            (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.521)

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Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time II

(September 4) St. Rosalia Hermitess, greatly venerated at Palermo and in the whole of Sicily of which she in patroness. Her feast is celebrated on 4 September. A special feast of the translation of her relics is kept in Sicily 15 June. There is no account of her before Valerius Rossi (about 1590), though churches were dedicated in her honour in 1237. Her Vita (Acta SS., 11 Sept., 278) which, according to the Bollandist J. Stilting, is compiled from local traditions, paintings, and inscriptions, says: She was the daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Quisquina and of Rosa, descended from the family of Charlemagne; in youthful days she left home and hid herself in a cave near Bivona and later in another of Monte Pellegrino near Palermo, in which she died and was buried. In 1624 her remains were discovered and brought to the Cathedral of Palermo. Urban VIII put her name into the Roman Martyrology. Whether before her retirement she belonged to a religious community, is not known. The Basilians, in their Martyrology, claim her as a member. She is often represented as a Basilian nun with a Greek cross in her hand. Many of her pictures may be found in the Acta SS. (Saints)

Scripture today: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11; Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14; Luke 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, “What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region. (Luke 4:31-37)

If you wish to view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel, click here

In the history of the world there have been countless kings and rulers who set out to conquer. Philip of Macedon in the fourth century BC set out to conquer the Greek peninsular and succeeded. His son Alexander set out on an extraordinary adventure to conquer the known world and had he lived long enough he would surely have succeeded. He was unstoppable in his military brilliance, while committing atrocity after atrocity in the process. Julius Caesar set out to conquer and ruthlessly succeeded. So too did Ghengis

Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, and many others. They saw themselves as kings and were determined to establish their kingdoms. But of course, whatever they planned and achieved was the work of man and in due course it all crumbled. Their kingship did not last. However, God planned another kingdom from all eternity and he revealed through the prophets that it was coming. It would come from the dynasty of David whose descendant would be its Messiah-King and it would last forever. The Christian believes that Jesus is the Messiah and that he whose kingdom will never end is the Son of God made man. As our Lord said to Pontius Pilate before he went to his redeeming death, his is not a kingdom of this world. In our Gospel passage today we see our Lord beginning the establishment of his kingdom. He overthrows the demons. We remember how after his baptism by John the Baptist he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by Satan. There the first great confrontation began. Satan took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and claimed that they were all his. Much of this claim is true but in his pride and dark vanity Satan presumed to present himself to Jesus as the lord of the entire world. He told Jesus that if he acknowledged him, Satan, as lord, then the whole world would be his for the asking.

Satan could see that the man before him had the makings of being the Lord of the world. He was offering him a deal and Christ would have none of it. He would be King of kings and Lord of lords but on God’s terms and for the sake of his heavenly Father. He had come to win the world and to hand it back to his heavenly Father. God had sent his champion to reclaim the world from the influence of Satan and his demons. There was nothing like it in its scale - this man Jesus was setting out to conquer the whole world and to establish here on earth the kingdom of heaven. It is the project of the universe and of human history. It is the one thing that matters, and in our Gospel scene we see our Lord taking the fight to the enemy. “He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!’ Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm.” (Luke 4:31-37). Jesus is shown as one with unassailable authority and power, though it was used solely for his spiritual mission. The devils could see that this was one they could not possibly deal with or penetrate. On their own admission, he is the Holy One of God and has the power to destroy them. He is wholly good and all powerful, the absolutely ideal king whose victory is assured. Satan made the mistake of thinking that in orchestrating his death through betrayal and scheming and stubbornness the kingdom of this all-holy man would be at an end. But his death turned out to be, in God’s plan, the very means of victory.

Let us see very clearly the fundamental issues at stake. It is a matter of good and evil, or more precisely, God and all that is not God. Two great standards are hoisted. The one is the standard of Christ, the other is the standard of Satan. Christ has his means of victory and those means are summed up in the Cross. Satan has his means and they are those of sin and self. Christ will win so let us stand with Christ and live out this stand every day of our lives.
                                                                                           (E.J.Tyler)

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'I was amused to hear you speak of the "account" that our Lord will demand of you. No, for none of you will he be a judge — in the harsh sense of the word; he will simply be Jesus.' These lines, written by a good bishop, have consoled more than one troubled heart, and could well console yours.
                                   (The Way, no.168)

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            How does one bear witness to the truth?
A Christian must bear witness to the truth of the Gospel in every field of his activity, both public and private, and also if necessary, with the sacrifice of his very life. Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith. (CCC 2471-2474, 2505-2506)
                  (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.522)

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Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time II

(September 5) St. Bertin was born about the beginning of the 7th century near Constance, France, and received his religious formation at the abbey of Luxeuil, at that time, the model abbey for the rather strict Rule of St. Columban. About 639, together with two other monks, he joined St. Omer, Bishop of Therouanne, who had for two years been evangelizing the pagan Morini in the low-lying marshy country of the Pas-de-Calais. In this almost totally idolatrous region, these holy missionary monks founded a monastery which came to be called St. Mommolin after its first Abbot. After eight arduous years of preaching the Faith for Christ, they founded a second monastery at Sithiu, dedicated to St. Peter. St. Bertin ruled it for nearly sixty years and made it famous; accordingly, after his death it was called St. Bertin and gave birth to the town of St. Omer. St. Bertin practiced the greatest austerities and was in constant communion with God. He also traveled much and trained disciples who went forth to preach the Faith to others. Among others, he selected St. Winnoc to found a monastery at Wormhoudt, near Dunkirk, and this saint figures in many medieval calendars. At an advanced age (past 100), this zealous preacher of Christ died, surrounded by his sorrowing monks. (Saints)

Scripture today: Colossians 1:1-8; Psalm 52:10, 11; Luke 4:38-44

After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.” But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:38-44)

If you wish to view a video broadcast of the following reflection on today's Gospel reading, click here

St Jerome who was writing and translating in the early years of the fifth century wrote that ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. Such a statement implies two things, among others. The Scriptures are the Church’s special instrument for introducing those whom she evangelizes to the knowledge of Christ, and Christ is the meaning of the Scriptures. Now, since Christ is the object of the Scriptures, those parts of the Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) that speak most explicitly of Christ are especially

important. For this reason the Gospels are the crowning books of the Bible because they set forth with greatest clarity the person of the Lord. The Christian ought make great use of the Gospels to contemplate the person and actions and teaching of Jesus. By placing himself prayerfully and contemplatively in the scenes of the Gospels the Christian will come to know and love Jesus. Cardinal Newman pointed out in his Grammar of Assent (1870) that the imagination is the special faculty for a lively religion. By means of the religious imagination a person comes to know the divine Objects of religion not as conclusions of the reason but as if they are objects of sight. In this way they are known as realities and not just as notions. So then, let us place ourselves in the Gospel scene of today (Luke 4:38-44) and contemplate the person of Jesus as if we are observing him - which we do by means of our religious imagination, guided by a disciplined and religiously docile reason. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, God himself become man, the divine Son of the divine Father, the Second Person of the three divine Persons each of whom is the one only almighty God. He moves among men as a man that he is, thus giving them immediate access in him to the eternal God.

He enters the house of Simon and Simon’s mother-in-law “was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.” (Luke 4:38-44) The Incarnation of the Son of God ought be a perpetual source of grateful wonder to us! St Paul writes that in Christ was the fulness of the godhead bodily, and here we have the Lord of all familiarly entering a home and being approached to heal Simon’s mother-in-law. At his word the fever left her and such is the sovereign and almighty power of the word of Jesus that she immediately rises to wait on them. We are reminded of the first page of the bible when God said, let there be the world and so it was. Here now the same God is among men restoring broken humanity with his same divine power. “At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.” Power is at work restoring wounded man. It is an almighty power that reveals the mercy and compassion of God. The devils, driven out by Christ, guess who it is who is so powerful and impregnable to their advances. They shout “You are the Son of God.” But he silenced them and did not allow them to speak because, we are told, “they knew that he was the Christ.” All through history man has appealed to the powers above for compassion and aid. He is weak and fallen, subject to threats that injure and destroy him. He needs the compassion and mercy of One who is all-powerful. He needs salvation especially from his moral flaws that take him and others to death. Jesus is the answer to the cry of humanity and he is the focus and embodiment of the religion God has revealed and to which man aspires. Let us place ourselves constantly in the company of Jesus and allow him to be the focus of our life.

Not only is Christ sent by the Father to be the object of our love and veneration, but he stands forth as our example. In his goodness he is the example of what it means to be human. He is the model for Everyman and St Paul tells us that we are to put on the mind of Christ: “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Christ is mankind’s exemplar, and the challenge for every Christian is to bring this message to the world. The world awaits its evangelization. Let all members of Christ’s Church proclaim the person of Jesus to a broken world.
                                                                                                                (E.J.Tyler)

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Suffering overwhelms you because you take it like a coward. Meet it bravely, with a Christian spirit: and you will regard it as a treasure.
                                         (The Way, no.169)

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         What is forbidden by the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment forbids:

    * false witness, perjury, and lying, the gravity of which is measured by the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims;

    * rash judgment, slander, defamation and calumny which diminish or destroy the good reputation and honor to which every person has a right;

    * flattery, adulation, or complaisance, especially if directed to serious sins or toward the achievement of illicit advantages.

A sin committed against truth demands reparation if it has caused harm to others.
    (CCC 2475-2487, 2507-2509)
              (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.523)

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Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time II

(September 6) Bl. Bertrand of Garrigue (+1230) French, priest, one of the original Dominicans, beloved companion of St. Dominic, ascetic, established the Order throughout France. Credited many miracles during life and after death OP (AC) Born at Garrigue, diocese of Nîmes, France, c. 1195; died near there; cultus confirmed by Leo XIII. Bertrand was a secular priest under the Cistercians, missioner, and ardent opponent of Albigensianism when he first met Saint Dominic in the party of Bishop Diego. Bertrand may have been the one to recruit Dominic in the battle against the French heretics because they worked closely together in this mission for the rest of their lives. Bertrand joined the first Dominican friars by receiving the habit at Toulouse in 1216. Dominic left him in charge of the community when he travelled to Rome to seek papal approval of the order. Bertrand's zeal and experience played an important role in the founding of the Friar Preachers. When the brothers were sent out in little groups on missions, Bertrand was left in Paris with Matthew of France, where he helped to form the Dominican tradition of learning and governed the first foundation at Paris. While Bertrand's advice and prayers helped to establish the order, he is best remembered as the closest friend and travelling companion of Saint Dominic, until he was appointed as provincial of Provence. He witnessed the miracles and heavenly favors bestowed upon his friend and provided us with insightful testimony about the heart and mind of the founder. Bertrand himself was credited with many miracles, both during his life and after his death. Others considered him a "second Dominic" in austerity and holiness, but he humbly overlooked his own claims to sanctity in his loving insistence on those of his friend. Bertrand was preaching a mission to the Cistercian sisters of Saint Mary of the Woods near Garrigue, when he fell sick and died. He was buried in the sisters' cemetery until the frequency of miracles suggested that he should be given