Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary

Prayers this week: To you, my God, I lift my soul, I trust in you; let me never come to shame. Do not let my enemies laugh at me. No one who waits for you is ever put to shame. (Psalm 24:1-3)

All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven where he lives and reigns. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

(December 3) Saint Francis Xavier, priest (1506-1552)
Jesus asked, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26a). The words were repeated to a young teacher of philosophy who had a highly

promising career in academics, with success and a life of prestige and honour before him. Francis Xavier, 24 at the time, and living and teaching in Paris, did not heed these words at once. They came from a good friend, Ignatius of Loyola, whose tireless persuasion finally won the young man to Christ. Francis then made the spiritual exercises under the direction of Ignatius, and in 1534 joined his little community (the infant Society of Jesus). Together at Montmartre they vowed poverty, chastity and apostolic service according to the directions of the pope. From Venice, where he was ordained priest in 1537, Francis Xavier went on to Lisbon and from there sailed to the East Indies, landing at Goa, on the west coast of India. For the next 10 years he laboured to bring the faith to such widely scattered peoples as the Hindus, the Malayans and the Japanese. He spent much of that time in India, and served as provincial of the newly established Jesuit province of India. Wherever he went, he lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and rough accommodations. He spent countless hours ministering to the sick and the poor, particularly to lepers. Very often he had no time to sleep or even to say his breviary but, as we know from his letters, he was filled always with joy. Francis went through the islands of Malaysia, then up to Japan. He learned enough Japanese to preach to simple folk, to instruct and to baptize, and to establish missions for those who were to follow him. From Japan he had dreams of going to China, but this plan was never realized. Before reaching the mainland he died. His remains are enshrined in the Church of Good Jesus in Goa.
All of us are called to “go and preach to all nations” (see Matthew 28:19). Our preaching is not necessarily on distant shores but to our families, our children, our husband or wife, our coworkers. And we are called to preach not with words, but by our everyday lives. Only by sacrifice, the giving up of all selfish gain, could Francis Xavier be free to bear the Good News to the world. Sacrifice is leaving yourself behind at times for a greater good, the good of prayer, the good of helping someone in need, the good of just listening to another. The greatest gift we have is our time. Francis gave his to others. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 25:6-10a; Psalm 23:1-6; Matthew 15:29-37 (click here for readings)

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and

laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way. His disciples answered, Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd? How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked. Seven, they replied, and a few small fish. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterwards the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. (Matthew 15: 29-37)

There have been many persons in history who have gained great power over others by winning public office, by commanding the military, by capturing the means of mass media, and so forth. Their power has largely derived from the positions they were able to occupy. What would Hitler have been had he not won (by dubious means) political power enabling him to impose his wishes on others? Deprived of

his position he would have been nothing. He had no power of himself. Or again, what command over nature did Napoleon possess? Absolutely none. Had he been transporting troops across the Mediterranean sea in the midst of a hurricane he would have been helpless in the face of it. Had his armies been struck with a terrible plague, he would have been helpless before the plague. He had no power of himself. But now, look at the power Jesus Christ had of himself. In our Gospel today we read that “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.” We tend to take Christ’s miracles for granted and forget the understandable amazement they evoked. Indeed, Christ showed that there was nothing he could not do. In himself he was almighty. He calmed a raging storm at sea with a mere word. In 1953 a famous British movie was produced, The Cruel Sea, portraying with accuracy and realism the war between the Royal Navy and Germany’s U-Boats during World War II. I saw it as a youth and I remember the images of the turbulent sea. The sea was vast and had enormous power. Christ showed he had far greater power than the sea and could pacify it at a word. Frequently on the news advances in medical science are reported and disease is shown to be a powerful enemy to man. But as we read in our Gospel today at a word Christ could heal a person of the greatest of physical diseases and disabilities. Christ showed he was almighty but he used his power strictly for the purposes of his redeeming mission.

The purpose of Christ’s miracles was not to win political and social power but to win disciples. That is to say, he wanted to reveal who he was and to draw all to himself that they might become his friends. He wanted people to enter into his company and to come after him. We ought contemplate the miracles of Christ as revealing his person, and contemplating his person we ought choose to be his loyal friend. In Christ the power of God was showing itself in loving mercy. This is especially evident in the miracle of the loaves and fish in our Gospel today. We read that “Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way. His disciples answered, Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd? How many loaves do you have? Jesus asked. Seven, they replied, and a few small fish. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied.” (Matthew 15: 29-37) In placing ourselves in the scene of the miracle and observing the astonishing feeding of thousands with just a handful of food, we are led to think of Jesus himself. He is full of power, yes, but that power is at the service of human need. It reveals itself in compassion and mercy. The miracles of Christ show his sacred heart and invite us to trust him completely. The sight of the hungry crowds, the sight of the blind, the lame and the dumb ought also remind us of our own need for him. Most of all, we need Christ because of the greatest affliction of all, the affliction of sin of which physical debility is a kind of sign. We ought approach Christ presenting to him our sinful condition, knowing he has the power to heal.

Let us read the Gospels with the intention of coming to know and love Jesus Christ. He, the risen and glorious Jesus, is with us still and he abides in his body the Church of which he is the head. The Gospels enable us to know and love him. St Jerome wrote once that he who does not know the Scriptures does not know Christ. Christ showed by his miracles that he is almighty. At the Last Supper our Lord invited his disciples to consider the works he had done and to believe in him. Let us believe in him and nourish our belief by the contemplation of his works for man.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Initiative. You must have it in your apostolate, within the terms of your instructions.

If it exceeds those limits or if you are in doubt, consult whoever is in charge, without telling anyone else of what you are thinking.

Never forget that you are only an agent.
(The Way, no.619)

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PARIS, SEPT. 13, 2008 - Continuing Benedict XVI's homily today at a Mass celebrated in Paris at the Esplanade des Invalides.

Brothers and sisters, let us give the greatest veneration to the sacrament of the Body and Blood of the

Lord, the Blessed Sacrament of the real presence of the Lord to his Church and to all humanity. Let us take every opportunity to show him our respect and our love! Let us give him the greatest marks of honour! Through our words, our silences, and our gestures, let us never allow our faith in the risen Christ, present in the Eucharist, to lose its savour in us or around us! As Saint John Chrysostom said magnificently, "Let us behold the ineffable generosity of God and all the good things that he enables us to enjoy, when we offer him this cup, when we receive communion, thanking him for having delivered the human race from error, for having brought close to him those who were far away, for having made, out of those who were without hope and without God in the world, a people of brothers, fellow heirs with the Son of God" (Homily 24 on the First Letter to the Corinthians, 1). "In fact", he continues, "what is in the cup is precisely what flowed from his side, and it is of this that we partake" (ibid.). There is not only partaking and sharing, there is "union", says the Doctor whose name means "golden mouth".
(Continuing)

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Morning Offering

O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for December 2008 is: "That, faced by the growing expansion of the culture of violence and death, the Church may courageously promote the culture of life through all her apostolic and missionary activities".

His mission intention is: "That, especially in mission countries, Christians may show through gestures of brotherliness that the Child born in the grotto in Bethlehem is the luminous Hope of the world".

For Pope Benedict's teachings, click here

     Pope Benedict's Angelus Addresses

     Pope Benedict's Wednesday Addresses on Saint Paul (from July 2008)

Pope Benedict's Wednesday Addresses on Christ and the Church 2006-2008)

Pope Benedict's addresses and documents

For resources from the Holy See, click here