January 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's general
prayer intention for January is: "That the effort to bring
about the full communion of Christians may
foster reconciliation and peace among all the peoples of the earth."
The Pope's mission intention
is:
"That Christians may know how to welcome migrants with respect and
charity, recognizing in each person the image of God."
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Mary the Mother of
God
(January 1)
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Scripture today:
Numbers 6:
22-27; Psalm 67: 2-3, 5,
6, 8;
Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 2: 16-21
So
they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been
told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them
in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the
things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. On the
eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the
angel had given him before he had been conceived.
(Luke 2: 16-21
NIV)
We are
now at the beginning of a new year. As we look back we surely must be grateful
for the gift of time. How much more time we shall have, we do not know. But time
is precious, and it must be used well. At the start of the new year our question
ought be, what must we do with the time we are given? We must use it to attain
the end for which we are created, which is to know, love and serve Our Lord here
on earth, and in this way to see and enjoy him forever in heaven. If this goal
is not attained, the time given to us has been wasted.
The critical question for the coming year is, how are we to find Jesus Our Lord,
and how are we to love and serve him? Well, right at the beginning of the year
the Church places before us the figure of Mary the Mother of God. The Church
does this for a simple reason. Christ is the gift of the Father to humanity and
in sending his Son among us he entrusted him to Mary. He was born of the Virgin
Mary. In our Gospel scene today, the shepherds
were directed by the angel to go to the town of Bethlehem and there they would
find the Saviour who had been born to them, Christ the Lord. They hurried away
to Bethlehem to see him, and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the
manger. The Child was not alone but with Mary. Our Lord is best found by going
to Mary, and by being close to Mary. Furthermore, while Christ is found not
alone but with Mary, Mary is not alone either. When the shepherds went to
Bethlehem they found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. Mary is
found with Joseph, reminding us that just as Christ is found in the company of
his holy mother, so she in her turn is found in the company of her holy husband
Joseph. If we stay close to Mary and Joseph we shall be staying close to Jesus.
There
is a further point. Mary and Joseph are not alone either. They
were, and are, the first and foremost members
of the Church: Mary is the Church’s mother and model;
Joseph is the Church’s universal protector. They are the first and
foremost members of the Church, and in them we the Church have a mother, a
protector and models. Christ is found with Mary, and being found with Mary he is
found also with Joseph. More, he is found in the heart of the Church. Christ
comes to us and is found by us as head of the Church, his body. Therefore we are
reminded in today’s celebration of Mary the mother of
God that an essential element of involvement with Christ is involvement
with the Church which is his body. At times one hears the statement, Christ yes,
the Church no. Those who say this mean that they are happy to seek and serve
the person of Jesus, but only Jesus. That is to say, they do not want to have
much to do with the Church. But God does not work that way in bringing us the
gift of redemption. God sent his Son to us born of a woman, and as a child of
the holy family. That holy family was the incipient Church, gathered around
Jesus who came forth to man from within its midst. That is to say, in the plan
of God, Christ comes to us from within the
Church which is his body. To know Christ Jesus we must draw near to his Church,
learning to love the Church just as Christ loves her. On this day when we think
of Mary the Mother of God, we think also of her as the mother of the Church. It
is through her, mother and member of the Church, that Christ has come to us. So
we think of the Church, body, spouse and family of Christ.
This is a very important point. At times it is said that Britain
and Australia are Christian countries, though very secular as well. The United
States is a Christian country, and Protestant in principle. Well, if it can be
said that to some extent our secular culture is Christian, it has to be said
also that its Christianity has mainly Protestant
traits. A Protestant Christianity favours the
image of the Christian life as a matter between me and Jesus, very much a
one-to-one thing, in which there is not much real place for the Church, the
sacraments, the priesthood, the saints, and Mary and Joseph. These elements are
perceived as distractions from the person of Jesus. The Catholic Christian
bewares of this image of the Christian life, and he realizes that it is the
image that our culture favours. Of course the Christian life is a matter between
the individual and Christ, but Christ comes to the individual not alone but as
part of a company, as it were. He comes as head of the Church which he founded
and sustains. Right from the beginning at Bethlehem he comes from God in the
arms of his mother Mary, and in the company of Joseph. The seeker will find him
in the company of his chosen ones. That is to say, he is found in his body the
Church, of which Mary is the foremost member, and the mother and the model, and
of which Joseph is the guardian. Today’s feast ought renew our resolve to make
Christ the centre of our life this coming year, but doing so in union with Mary
our mother, with Joseph our heavenly foster-father and
guardian, with, indeed, the whole Church of God. Catholic Christianity
appreciates this fundamental facet of the manner in which God has come among us.
God dwells with us and sanctifies us in, through and with his Church. Let us
unite ourselves to this great cloud of witnesses surrounding us and dominated by
the figure of Mary the mother of God. Let us resolve with the help of the Church
to seek the union with our Lord that we are called to.
(E.J.Tyler)
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God is very pleased with those who recognise his goodness by reciting
the Te Deum
in thanksgiving whenever something out of the ordinary
happens, without caring whether it may have been good or bad, as the
world reckons these things. For everything comes from the hands of our
Father: so though the blow of the chisel may hurt our flesh, it is a
sign of Love, as he smooths off our rough edges and brings us closer to
perfection.
(The Forge, no.609)
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Monday
before the Epiphany
(January 2) Basil
the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church. (Saints)
Basil
(330-379) was a brilliant student born of a Christian family in
Caesarea, Cappadocia (Turkey). For some years, he followed the monastic
way of life. He vigorously fought the Arian heresy. He became Bishop of
Caesarea in 370. The monks of the Eastern Churches today still follow
the monastic rule which he set down.
Gregory
(330-390) was also from Cappadocia. A friend of Basil, he too
followed the monastic way of life for some years. He was ordained
priest and in 381 became Bishop of Constantinople. It was during this
period when the Arian heresy was at its height. He was called “The
Theologian” because of his great learning and talent for oratory.
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Scripture readings:
1 John 2:
22-28; Psalm 98: 1-4;
John 1: 19-28
Who
is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is
the antichrist — he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has
the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you
have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain
in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us — even eternal
life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you
astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you
do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all
things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit — just as it has taught
you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he
appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
(1 John 2: 22-28
NIV)
In
religion, in philosophy and in general human
thought, there have always been rival claims as
to what or who is the Absolute. Rather, it is perhaps more characteristic of man
to claim that there is no single Absolute, but that Ultimate Reality consists in
the many rather than an Absolute One. After all, outside of revealed religion
and those religions that have been influenced by Judaeo-Christian revelation
(such as Islam), there have not been many
religions testifying to one personal God. And within those that do make such a
claim,
characteristically
there are principles that rival the One Absolute. Mankind lacks a consensus as
to the nature of the Ultimate, and this, of course, is even more characteristic
of a pluralist society such as our own. Our own western societies embrace very
different religions and philosophical views and systems. As a result pluralist
societies produce or favour relativist assumptions. It tends to be assumed that
objective truth is unattainable, and that objective truth is simply private
opinion. The Christian in such a society can unconsciously begin to assume that
it is illegitimate to claim that Jesus Christ is God’s Truth and the only way to
the Father. After all (we can begin to reason), others make the same claims for
their god or for their prophet. That is to say, in the face of this phenomenon
of a plurality of religions each with absolute claims we can begin to think it
is illegitimate both to make absolute claims and to think such ‘absolutist’
thoughts. We can be enticed into thinking that truth is true only to the one
believing it to be true – in other words that truth is not objective. Truth is
relative to the individual. This is the danger constituted by relativism, and
the danger is real. The present Pope has spoken of the dictatorship of
relativism in modern society. Truth is assumed to be a figment of the
imagination.
Today’s Gospel reading (John 1: 19-28) makes
it clear that Jesus is the Ultimate and the Absolute in all that pertains to
God. St John the Baptist bore witness to him – he was not fit to undo the very
sandal straps of Jesus. St John the evangelist was the disciple of the Baptist
and the author of our first reading. In that reading he puts it very bluntly:
“Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus
is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist — he denies the Father and the Son”
(1 John 2: 22-28). Let us this new year
preserve in our hearts a profound sense of the ultimate and absolute status of
Jesus Christ.
Jesus is Lord. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. In this
profession we speak objectively, meaning to present the absolute and objective
truth. Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only name by which men can be
saved.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Make straight
the Lord’s path” (John 1: 19-28)
Comment by Blessed Guerric of Igny
(1080 –– 1157), Cistercian abbot (Sermon 5 for Advent)
“Prepare the way of the Lord.”
Brothers, even if you have advanced greatly on this way, you still have
to prepare it, so that from the point where you have already arrived,
you might always go forward, always stretched out towards what is
beyond. Thus, since the way has been prepared for his coming, with
every step that you take, the Lord will come to meet you, always new,
always greater. So the righteous person is right to pray thus:
“Instruct me, O Lord, in the way of your statutes, that I may exactly
observe them.” (Ps 119:33) And this way is called “the path of
eternity” (Ps 139:24) …… because the goodness of him towards whom we
are advancing is unlimited.
That is why the wise and
determined traveller, even though he has arrived at the goal, will
think of beginning. “Giving no thought to what lies behind,” (Phil
3:13), he will tell himself every day: “Now I begin (Ps 76:11 Vulgata)
…… May it please heaven that we who talk about advancing on this path
might at least have set out! To my understanding, whoever has set out
is already on the good way. However, we must really begin, find “the
way to an inhabited city” (Ps 107:4). For Truth says: “How few there
are who find it!” (Mt 7:14) And many are those “who go astray in the
desert.” (Ps 107:4) ……
And you, Lord, have prepared a
path for us, if we only agree to go on it…… Through your Law, you have
taught us the path of your will by saying: “This is the way; walk in
it, when you would turn to the right or to the left.” (Isa 30:21) It is
the path that the prophet had promised: “A highway will be there…… No
fools go astray on it.” (Isa 35:8)…… I have never seen a fool going
astray when following your path, Lord…… But woe to you who are wise in
your own sight (Isa 5:21). Your wisdom has taken you away from the path
of salvation and has not allowed you to follow the Saviour’s folly…… A
desirable folly, which at the time of God’’s judgment will be called
wisdom and which does not let us go astray, away from his path.
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When human beings have work to do they try to use the right tools for
the job. If I lived in another century, I would have written with a
quill pen: now I use a fountain pen. But when God wants to carry out
some piece of work, he uses unsuitable means, so that it can be seen
that the work is his. You have heard me say this very often. So you and
I, who are aware of the massive weight of our failings, should tell
him: “Lord, wretched as I am, I still understand that in your hands I
am a divine instrument.”
(The Forge, no.610)
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Tuesday
before the Epiphany
(January 3) Today let us
think of St. Genevieve
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 John
2:29-3:6; Psalm 98:1, 3-6;
John 1:29-34
If
you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has
been born of him. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world
does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children
of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when
he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who
has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. Everyone who sins
breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so
that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him
keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
(1 John 2:29-3:6
NIV)
It is
almost self-evident that hope is necessary for life. A person whose life is
pervaded by
a sense of hopelessness is close to being ruined. He cannot continue in that
condition for a long time and function normally. Moreover, not only is it
necessary to hope, but hope is a natural condition that comes instinctively. In
the normal course of things a child with loving parents grows up with a hopeful
attitude. One wonders about so many children in the world who experience great
tragedies of one kind or another. How much of a sense of hope can be expected to
take root in their lives?
The
question is, however, not whether we ought to hope, but what we ought to hope
for. Or rather, while we all hope for the normal things in life such as material
wellbeing, success in our work in life, friendship, and all the things that make
for normal happiness, what is it that we are ultimately hoping for in all these
things? The problem is that any one of them can fail. We can for a variety of
reasons experience failures in our work, disappointment in personal friendships,
and setbacks of a very serious nature in material necessities. If our hope is
not anchored in something more enduring that cannot be taken away, then the
whole basis of hope in our life will could be
tragically undermined.
St John,
in
his first letter from which our first reading today is
drawn, speaks of hope.
It
is a glorious hope based on what we actually are. We are children of
God, and because of this we can hope for a
glorious future. “My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we
are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it
is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really
is” (1 John 2:29-3:6).
The truly secure hope – the hope of the Christian – is God and our heavenly
homeland. Ultimately it is this which we ought be hoping for behind the many
good things for which we hope in life. Furthermore, and most importantly,
“everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure
as Christ.” Our ultimate hope should lead us to strive to be holy, as God is
holy.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Look! There is the Lamb of God.”
(John 1:29-34)
Commentary from Saint Theresia Benedicta of the
Cross [Edith Stein], (1891-1942), Carmelite, Martyr,
Co-patroness of Europe (The Wedding
of the Lamb, September 14, 1940)
In the Book of Revelation, the apostle John sees “a Lamb standing, a
Lamb that had been slain.” (Rev 5:6)…… On the banks of the Jordan, John
the Baptist had called Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world.” Then, the apostle John had understood this word, and now he
understood the image. The one who previously had walked on the banks of
the Jordan and who now had shown himself to him “wearing a white robe,
with eyes that blazed like fire” and with the sword of the judge, he
who is “the First and the Last” (Rev 1:13-17), had truly accomplished
everything that the rites of the Old Covenant had sketched with symbols.
When, on the holiest and most solemn day of the year, the high priest
entered into the Holy of Holies, the place that was terribly holy
because of the divine Presence, he had previously taken two rams: one
on which to lay the sins of the people so that he would take them to
the desert, the other so that his blood would be sprinkled on the tent
and the ark of the covenant (Lev 16). He was the sacrifice that was
offered for the sin of the people…… Then the high priest sacrificed a
burnt offering for himself and for all the people and burned all the
remains of the sacrifice of reconciliation…… That day of reconciliation
was a solemn and holy day……
But what had brought about the reconciliation? It was not the blood of
the sacrificed animals, nor was it the high priest who was a descendant
of Aaron, as Saint Paul said in his letter to the Hebrews (chapter
8-9). It was the ultimate sacrifice of reconciliation, the one that was
prefigured in all the sacrifices prescribed by the Law, and this was
the “high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps 110:4)……
He was also the true paschal Lamb because of whom the exterminating
angel passed by the houses of the Hebrews when he struck the Egyptians
(Ex 12:23). The Lord himself let his disciples understand this when he
ate the paschal lamb with them for the last time and then gave himself
to them as their food.
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We will dedicate all the exertions of our life, great and small, to the
honour of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I am
moved when I recall the work of those brilliant professionals — two
engineers and two architects — cheerfully moving furniture into a
student residence. When they had put a blackboard into a classroom, the
first thing those four artists wrote was: all the glory to God! Jesus,
I know that this pleased you greatly.
(The Forge, no.611)
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Wednesday
before the Epiphany
(January 4) Today let us
think of St. Elizabeth Ann
Seton
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 John 3:
7-10; Psalm 98: 1, 7-9;
John 1: 35-42.
The
next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus
passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him
say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and
asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are
you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where
he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said
and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother
Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he
brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John.
You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
(John 1: 35-42
NIV)
I have
often thought that the Gospel scene of today is one of the most beautiful in the
Gospels. St John the Baptist was himself the object of a holy adulation by the
people, but here he himself watches in wonder and admiration as Jesus passes by.
Jesus is the one John the Baptist exalts. He says to his disciples
“Look, the Lamb of God!” That is to say, he is
the Messiah who has been long promised, the one who will take away the sin of
the world and make the world acceptable to God. One can just imagine the emotion
he felt in uttering those words, as there
passed by him the One who was the object of his own mission as the precursor. In
those words of John the Baptist we have Jesus exalted before our mind’s eye.
But then we find ourselves in the most human of scenes, with
Jesus revealed as overflowing
in what we could call humanity. The two disciples of John who heard the words
uttered about Jesus immediately
began following him. “Turning around, Jesus saw them following
and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where
are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw
where he was staying, and spent that day with him.” The Messiah, on whom was
pinned the hopes of the world and the fulfilment of all God’s promises, is
simple, welcoming, warm, attractive. He is very inviting and full of
hospitality. He must have been immensely convincing, because the next day one of
the two, Andrew, went to his brother and told him the one they had stayed with
was the Messiah.
Our Lord says to each one of us, “Come to me all you who labour
and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.” Let us then come to him every
day and, in the midst of our work, live in him with him in us. He said on one
occasion, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him
and we will come to him and make our home with him.” What happened to those two
disciples should be going on constantly with us. Let us live in Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Come and see.” (John 1: 35-42)
Commentary by Saint Romanos
the Melodious (? – 560), Composer of hymns (Hymn XVII, §
12-1)
Sin has been effaced; incorruptibility has been given us (1 Cor 15:53);
the precursor showed us that we have returned to grace by saying:
“There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He
showed the certificate of settlement to those who had incurred a heavy
debt. He who had already leapt for joy in his mother’s womb, today
proclaimed it and made known the one who has appeared to us and who has
illumined everything.
The Baptist proclaimed the mystery. He called the pastor the lamb, and
not just lamb, but the lamb that effaces all our faults. “There is the
Lamb,” he said. From now on, a scapegoat is no longer necessary (Lev
16:21). Raise your hands to him, all of you, by acknowledging your
sins, for he came to take away the sins of the whole world along with
those of the people. From the height of heaven, the Father sent us this
gift: him who has appeared and who has illumined everything.
He has scattered the harmful night; thanks to him, all is noon. The
light that never sets has shone forth on the world, Jesus our saviour.
In this abundance, the land of Zebulun imitates paradise, for the
torrent of delight irrigates it and a stream of ever living water
springs forth there… Today in Galilee, we contemplate the source of
living water, him who has appeared and who has illumined everything
(cf. Mt 4:15-16; Ps 36:9-10).
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Wherever you may happen to be, remember that the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve. Be sure that anyone who wants to
follow him cannot attempt to act in any other way.
(The
Forge, no.612)
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Thursday before the Epiphany
(January 5) Today let us
think of St. John N. Neumann
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today: 1 John 3:
11-21; Psalm 100: 1-5;
John 1: 43-51
And
he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of
John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). The next
day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow
me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found
Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and
about whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,”
said Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a
true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael
asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before
Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you
are the King of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you
under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” He then added, “I
tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending
and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:
42-51
NIV)
There
is a notable feature which we observe in the
first followers of Our Lord. It is the speed with which they came to believe
that Jesus was the Messiah. The testimony of John the Baptist had been given
about Jesus. They met him. They believed in him. Andrew, we read in the first
chapter of St John’s Gospel, having
met
Jesus went to his brother Simon and told him they had met the Messiah. He
brought his brother to Jesus, and Simon believed. In our Gospel today Our Lord
meets Philip and asks him to follow him. Philip found Nathanael and told him
that “we have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,
and about whom the prophets also wrote.”
Philip, then, had quickly arrived at the true faith. Our passage today is mainly
concerned with Nathanael and how he arrived at this faith. We are perhaps
correct in regarding these narratives as intended by the evangelist to provide
normative instances of arriving at faith in Jesus. Let us notice that there was
not in Nathanael a propensity to believe simply anything. At Philip’s testimony
Nathanael expressed at least surprise and perhaps even doubt about Jesus. The
reason seems to have been that Philip told him that Jesus came from Nazareth.
Jesus’ having been from Nazareth may have been a very good reason to have been
surprised or doubtful.
Be
that as it may, as soon as Nathanael met Jesus he was
given a sign by Jesus that Jesus knew him well, and that Jesus knew what had
just been happening in his life. He saw him under the fig tree. There was
something about this circumstance, and something about the person of Jesus
himself, that totally convinced Nathanael that Jesus was the long-awaited
Messiah, and the Son of God too. Obviously the full sense of this initial
insight would come to him only gradually as he was taught by Jesus. But
Nathanael had quickly arrived at the true faith. How had this happened? One very
important factor was that there was something about Nathanael’s moral character
that disposed him to grasp who Jesus really was and to accept him as such. Our
Lord’s immediate summing up of Nathanael gives us the clue: “Here
is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false”
(John 1: 42-51). Nathanael was of a high moral
character, completely sincere and fully given over to the truth. This disposed
him to recognise Jesus for who he was.
Let us take our cue from that and strive to be entirely upright,
sincere in everything, having nothing to do with falsehood in any sense, wanting
simply whatever God wants, and being willing to receive from him anything he
gives, offers, or disposes. This sincerity and avoidance of falsehood is a form
of purity of heart, and as our Lord tells us in the Sermon on the
Mount, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they
shall see God.”
(E.J.Tyler)
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“You shall see the sky opened”
(John 1: 42-51)
Commentary by Guillaume of Saint-Thierry
(1085-1148), Benedictine, then Cistercian monk
(Meditative prayers VI, 5-7)
If it is enough to see two or three united in your name here below so
as to see you in their midst (Mt 18:20) ……, what can we say about the
place where you have united all the saints who have “made a covenant
with you by sacrifice” and who have become like “the heavens that
proclaim your justice”? (Ps 50:5-6)
Your beloved disciple was not the only one who found the path that
ascends to heaven; he was not the only one to whom an open door in
heaven was shown (Rev 4:1). For you declared it to everyone by your own
mouth: “I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be safe.” (Jn
10:9) So you are the door, and according to what you added, you open it
to everyone who wants to enter.
But of what use is it to us to see an open door in heaven while we are
on earth, if we don’t have the means to ascend there? Saint Paul gives
us the answer: “He who ascended is the very one who descended.” (Eph
4:9) Who is he? Love. For, Lord, it is love that goes up to you from
our hearts, because it is love that came down from you to us. Because
you loved us, you came down to us; by loving you, we will be able to
ascend to you. You who said: “I am the door,” in your name I beg you to
open yourself before us. Then we will see more clearly to which
dwelling you are the door and when and to whom you open it.
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God has a special right over us, his children: it is the right to our
response to his love, in spite of our failings. This inescapable truth
puts us under an obligation which we cannot shirk. But it also gives us
complete confidence: we are instruments in the hands of God,
instruments that he relies on every day. That is why, every day, we
struggle to serve him.
(The Forge, no.613)
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Friday
before the Epiphany
(January 6) Today let us
think of
Blessed Andre Bessett (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 John 5:5-13;
Psalm 147: 12-15,
19-20;
Mark 1:7-11 or Luke 3: 23-38.
And
this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs
of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with
water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” At that time Jesus came
from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was
coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit
descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son,
whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
(Mark
1:7-11
NIV)
At
times it has been said that one of the more unfortunate developments in
our
culture is the growing lack of reverence for people. I do not mean a complete
lack of reverence because it is characteristic of our society that we respect
certain individuals for their attainments, be they in business, sport, academia
or whatever. The adulation certain people receive obviously bears witness to
that. No, I refer to the growing lack of respect as a normal feature of everyday
life, respect for ordinary people, respect for one’s fellows, one’s family
members or whoever. The sign of respect is usually good manners, genuine
listening, and so forth. It is perhaps a special hazard for Australians with
their ockerism and their mateship, and this reverence and respect is perhaps
something that certain ethnic groups and new arrivals (provided they retain
their characteristic respectfulness) can inject into our culture in a new way.
Whatever about that as an
observation, we certainly need to deepen the virtue of reverence in our
spiritual life. Just as we can take others for granted and lose respect for our
everyday colleagues and associates, so too we can fail to reverence Our Lord
himself. We can take him and the things of God for granted. Our reverence for
Our Lord ought be most profound because he is not only man (great and unique as
he is in his humanity), but because he is God. The appropriate attitude towards
him is adoration, a loving adoration. In this respect the Church places before
us the inspiring example of St John the Baptist, who in today’s gospel preaches
that he is not fit to kneel down and undo Our Lord’s sandal straps (Mark
1:7-11). Our attitude ought be like that, and such an attitude is sanctioned by
God our Father who at Our Lord’s baptism exalts him with the declaration that he
is his beloved Son on whom his favour rests. It is as if God the Father could
not resist intervening to hold up his Son for unique praise.
Christ Our Lord is the
greatest and holiest individual of human history. Let us then preserve in our
hearts a profound and loving respect for his Person, and never take him for
granted, nor those sacred things that are connected with him in one way or
another.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Son of Abraham……, son of Adam”
(Luke 3:
23-38)
Commentary by Joseph Cardinal
Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] (The God of Jesus Christ)
He became a child. What does it mean to be a child? It means first of
all: to be in submission, to be dependent, to be in need, to entrust
oneself to others. As a child, Jesus does not come only from God, but
also from other human beings. He was born from the womb of a woman from
whom he received his flesh and blood, the beating of his heart, his
gestures and language. He received life from the life of another
person. Having thus drawn from other beings what is his own, is not
something purely biological. It means that Jesus also received his ways
of thinking and ideas from human beings who existed before him and
finally from his mother, and that his human soul was imbued with these.
That is to say that with what he inherited from his ancestors, he
entered upon the entire path that they had come until that time and
which with Mary goes back to Abraham and finally to Adam. He took the
weight of that history upon himself, he lived it and bore it in order
to transform all the refusals, all the detours into an utterly pure
yes: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was not alternately ‘yes’ and ‘no’;
he was never anything but ‘yes’.” (2 Cor 1:19)
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God expects his instruments to do what they can to be fit and ready:
you should strive to make sure you are always fit and ready.
(The Forge, no.614)
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Saturday
before the Epiphany
(January 7) St
Raymond of Penyafort, priest (1175-1275). Born in Barcelona,
Spain, he was the third Superior-General of the Dominican Order. He is
famous for his work in the freeing of slaves. He wrote the five books
of the Decretals which are now a valuable part of the Canon Law of the
Church. The Summa Casuum, which is about the correct and fruitful
administration of the Sacrament of Penance, is the most notable of his
works. (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 John 5:
14-21; Psalm
149: 1-5;
John 2: 1-11
On
the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine
was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, why
do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.” His mother said
to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars,
the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to
thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they
filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to
the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted
the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come
from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the
bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then
the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved
the best till now.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in
Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith
in him.
(John 2:
1-11
NIV)
Today
the Church presents us with the beautiful Gospel scene of the wedding feast of
Cana.
We meditate on it in the second luminous mystery of the Rosary on Thursdays. It
is a very human scene, and doubtless Jesus and Mary knew one or both of the
parties being married, because they had been invited – and Our Lord’s disciples
were invited too (John 2: 1-11). As we think of them accepting the invitation
and being there in all their genial friendliness, perhaps the first thing we
ought contemplate is Our Lord’s very accessibility. He is the eternal God, and
by becoming man he makes himself immediately accessible to us his creatures. His
ready participation in the wedding feast of Cana is but an instance of this.
There we have God himself, sitting and standing among his creatures, mingling
with them as if among equals.
But there is
more. We notice how his mother, having seen that they had run out of wine,
approached her Son to inform him of the mishap. She knew that he had embarked on
his mission, though it was not yet public and the time had not yet arrived when
he intended to display his divine power. Nevertheless she put the need before
him, and expected him to act – and forewarned the servants accordingly. Our Lord
could not refuse her and worked the miracle that showed his glory. Our Lord not
only makes himself accessible in his very presence. He also makes his saving
power accessible to us.
In the first
reading of today (1 John 5: 14-21), St John tells us “that if we ask the Son of
God for anything and it is in accordance with his will, he will hear us; and
knowing that whatever we may ask he hears us, we know that we have already been
granted what we ask of him.” So then, whenever we are in need, let us imagine
ourselves with Jesus and Mary at the wedding feast. And indeed, revelation
informs us that our whole relationship with Jesus is that of Bride to
Bridegroom, we being the Bride. Let us then approach Jesus with confidence when
we are in need, and approach him in the company of Mary, his mother and our
mother, to present our petition. Let us say to him – better, let us ask Mary to
say to him — that we have run out of wine. He will help us in the way he knows
best and at the time he knows best. Help us he will. He did not refuse his
Mother. With her doing the asking, how could he refuse?
(E.J.Tyler)
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“What you have done is keep the choice
wine until now.” (John 2: 1-11)
Comment by St Ephrem
(306 – 373), Deacon and Doctor of the Church (Diatessaron XII, §§ 1-2)
In the desert, our Lord multiplied the loaves of bread, and in Cana, he
changed the water into wine. Thus, he got people used to his bread and
to his wine until the time when he gave them his body and his blood. He
let them taste a transitory bread and wine, so that the desire for his
life-giving body and blood might grow in them…… He attracted us by
means of these things that are pleasant to the palate, in order to lead
us even more to that which gives life in full to our souls. He hid
sweetness in the wine he made, so as to show his guests what
incomparable treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.
As his first sign, he gave a wine that gave joy to the guests, so as to
show that his blood would give joy to all nations. For if wine plays a
part in all of earth’s joys, in the same way, every true deliverance is
linked to the mystery of his blood. He gave the guests at Cana
excellent wine, which transformed their mind, so as to let them know
that the teaching with which he would quench their thirst would
transform their heart.
This wine, which first of all was only water, was changed in jars, a
symbol of the first commandments, which he brought to perfection. The
transformed water is the Law brought to its fulfilment. The people who
were invited to the wedding drank what had been water, but without
tasting that water. In the same way, when we hear the former
commandments, we taste them not with their former savour, but with their
new one.
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I have come to see that every Hail Mary, every greeting to Our Lady, is
a new beat of a heart in love.
(The Forge, no.615)
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The Epiphany of the
Lord
(January 8) Let
us also think of St Thorfinn
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture readings: Isaiah
60:1-6; Psalm 72: 1-2,
7-8, 10-13; Ephesians
3:2-3:5-6; Matthew 2:1-12
After
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from
the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king
of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When
King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had
called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked
them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied,
“for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of
Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come
a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the
Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He
sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As
soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After
they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in
the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw
the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they
opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and
of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they
returned to their country by another route.
(Matthew 2:1-12
NIV)
At the
beginning of the new year let us set priorities and ask ourselves what we shall
do with the time God might grant us. We have just finished the Christmas season
during which we have contemplated the gift to us of the Son of God. He has come
among us in order to be our friend, our saviour and our treasure, and he will
continue with us to sanctify us and to make us his own. But today, the feast of
the Epiphany, we think of the pagan wise men coming to do homage to Jesus
(Matthew 2:1 -12). With this image of the Magi
in our hearts we have a further question to ask ourselves: What is my attitude
to all those beyond the Church, all those who do not have a living faith in Our
Lord at all, all those whom the Magi represent and whom God our Father wishes to
lead to Jesus?
Just before
Our Lord ascended into heaven he gave his disciples a final command. He
said, “Go and make disciples of all the
nations, and behold I am with you to the end of time.”
Yes, Our Lord wants each
of us to be faithful to him and to grow greatly in his friendship. But
friendship with Jesus involves taking part in his
mission of
making all people his disciples. In a word, part and parcel of the Christian
life is being apostolic. Yet strangely, not many Catholic Christians have learnt
to be apostolic in their everyday lives. They have accepted the assumption that
religion is a private matter, a matter of mere personal fidelity, a matter to be
kept to oneself. The upshot of this assumption is that in their everyday life at
home, at work, among friends or wherever, the average church-going Catholic does
not draw those around him closer to the person of Our Lord, and even less to
where Christ in his full reality is to be found – namely, to the Catholic Church
which he founded. God’s revealed truth is not shared with those who do not have
it. That is not what Our Lord expects of us his disciples.
Inasmuch as
the characteristic milieu of the lay member of the Church is the world, then if
the world is to be brought to Jesus it will be the daily work of the lay person.
In the lay faithful the Church brings Christ to the world and the world to
Christ. And Christ ought not be imagined as vaguely out there and difficult to
locate. No, he can be precisely located. He is with his body the Church for he
is the Church’s head. In God’s plan he is found in and through the Church. So in
the matter of being apostolic in everyday life, let us ask ourselves, What have
I done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What will I do for him? The focus of
my spiritual life ought not simply be my own fidelity to my spiritual and
religious duties of Sunday Mass, regular Confession,
daily Prayer, and observing the Commandments. Of course these things are
utterly essential, but if I want to be a true friend of Our Lord, I must also
include making his mission my own in my everyday life. Have I yet made Christ’s
mission the mission of my own life? Am I raising my children in such a way that
they will want to bring Christ to the world around them too, or do I and do they
look on this as the work of priests only, or at most,
of those who have an aptitude and an
aptitude for it? If this issue leaves me cold, then how real is the person of
Jesus to me and how real to me are the things that he himself wants? He wants
the world to be brought to him for in him lies salvation.
Today we
celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. The Church places before us for our
contemplation the image of the pagan wise men from the East following the star
that led them to the Child Jesus. It is an image that reminds us that Jesus came
not only for the Jews, and not only for us, but for the entire world. Those
pagan men from the East represent the world that does not yet know Jesus. We
must be like that star, leading others to where Jesus
is to be found, namely with Mary and Joseph and the rest of the Church.
The fact that the wise men from the East did follow the star perseveringly,
making their enquiries along the way, ought give hope to every lay member of the
Church who wishes to be apostolic. There is something in the heart of man, just
as it was in the heart of those wise men, which will prompt him to follow the
star. There is within man something that prompts him to seek to be good, and
implicitly to seek God. Of course he must be faithful to that prompting and very
many are not. For our part, we are called to be like stars lighting up the night
and leading others to Christ whom they do not yet know.
On this feast of the Epiphany let us prayerfully implant in our
hearts the Gospel scene of today and keep it warm and alive there. That Gospel
event reveals to us our calling to be apostolic, and in the figure of the Magi
it reveals man’s yearnings for the person of Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“They prostrated themselves and did
him homage.” (Matthew 2:1 -12)
Commentary by St John
Chrysostom (345 – 407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Homilies on St. Matthew, 7-8)
Brothers, let us follow the magi, let us leave our pagan customs. Let
us depart! Let us make a long journey so as to see Christ. If the magi
had not left and gone a long way from their country, they would not
have seen Christ. Let us also leave earth’s interests. So long as they
remained in their country, the magi saw only the star; but when they
left their homeland, they saw the Sun of justice (Mal 3:20). Or rather,
let us say: if they had not generously set out on their journey, they
would not even have seen the star. Thus, let us also rise up, and even
if everyone in Jerusalem is troubled, let us run to where the Child is……
“On entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother. They
prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their
coffers and presented him with gifts.” What motivated them to prostrate
themselves before this child? There was nothing remarkable in the
Virgin or in the house, no object that could have struck their eye and
attracted them. And yet, not content with prostrating themselves, they
opened their treasure, gifts that are not given to a human being but
only to God –– frankincense and myrrh symbolize divinity. What was
their reason for acting in this way? The same as that which made them
decide to leave their homeland, to depart on this long journey. It was
the star, that is to say, the light with which God had filled their
heart and which led them little by little to a more perfect knowledge.
If there hadn’t been that light, how could they have given such homage
when what they saw was so poor and humble? If there is not material
grandeur but only a crib, a stable, a mother who is lacking in
everything, it is so that you might see the magi’s wisdom more clearly,
so that you understand that they came not to a human being but to a
God, to their benefactor.
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Our life — a Christian’s life — has to be as ordinary as this: trying
every day to do well those very things it is our duty to do; carrying
out our divine mission in the world by fulfilling the little duty of
each moment. Or rather, struggling to fulfil it. Sometimes we don’t
manage, and when night comes, in our examination, we’ll have to tell
Our Lord, “I am not offering you virtues; today I can only offer you
defects. But with your grace I will be able to count myself a victor.
(The Forge, no.616)
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The Baptism of the
Lord
(Monday
of the first week of Ordinary Time II)
(January 9) Let us also
think of St. Adrian of
Canterbury (Saints)
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Scripture today:
Isaiah 42: 1-4,
6-7 or Isaiah 55: 1-11; Psalm 29: 1-4,
9-10;
Mark 1: 7-11
And
this was John’s message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the
thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you
with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” At that time Jesus
came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus
was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit
descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son,
whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
(Mark 1: 7-11
NIV)
In the
Gospel passage for today the Church brings us to the threshold of our Lord’s
public ministry, his baptism in the river Jordan by John
(Mark 1: 7-11). He had spent thirty years in
humble obscurity with the ordinary men and women of his own village. Their lot
had been his, showing that he shared our humanity completely. The one exception
was sin – that he could not share for he was God. Our Lord was like unto us in
everything except that, being divine, he was utterly sinless.
Despite his
sinlessness we see him stepping forward to be baptised by John as if he were a
member of sinful fallen humanity; as if he were a man conscious of his
sinfulness and desiring to repent of it.
The washing
of John’s baptism signified both the desire of the penitent to be washed free of
his sins, and his trust that God in his goodness would indeed forgive him his
sins. What then did the desire of our Lord to be baptised by John signify, for
he was sinless? It surely signified that our Lord was choosing to be at one with
sinful humanity, and though sinless himself, he was taking on himself in some
redeeming sense the sins of mankind. He himself would wash away the sin of the
world by his obedient sufferings, and the baptism he would institute for his
Church would bring this washing away of sin to each individual.
And so we are brought to contemplate the loving humility of
Christ, and in him, of God. The baptism of our Lord was a revelation of God’s
character, we might say. He is profoundly humble, being prepared to be counted
among sinners though utterly sinless. He is immensely loving, being prepared out
of love to take on the world’s sin and do away with it by expiation. This is
what God is like, and because of what Christ
has done we are his children. Let us resolve to imitate him by living lives
united to Christ in his humility and loving commitment to the salvation of men.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit” (Mark 1: 7-11)
Commentary from St Maxime of
Turin (? –– 420), Bishop (Sermon
for the feast of the Epiphany)
Today, the Lord Jesus has come to be baptized. He wanted to wash his
body in the water of the Jordan. Someone might say: “Why did he who was
the Holy One want to be baptized?” So listen. Christ was baptized, not
in order to be sanctified by the water, but so that he himself would
sanctify the water and would purify the waves that he touched by his
personal action. Thus, we have to do with the consecration of the water
much more than with that of Christ. For the moment the Lord was washed,
all the waters became pure in view of our baptism. The spring was
purified so that grace might be obtained for the people who would come
afterwards. Thus Christ was the first to go to his baptism so that the
Christian people might follow him without hesitation.
And in this I perceive a mystery. Did not the column of fire go ahead
into the Red Sea in this way, so as to encourage the children of Israel
to walk behind it? It crossed the water first so as to break a path for
those who would follow. According to the testimony of the apostle Paul,
this event was a symbol of baptism (1 Cor 10:1f.). Without any doubt,
when the people were covered by the cloud and carried by the water, it
was a kind of baptism. And all that was fulfilled by the same Christ
our Lord, who in the column of his body now precedes the Christian
people to baptism, just as he preceded the children of Israel across
the sea in the column of fire. The same column, which in times past
enlightened the eyes of those who were walking, now gives light to the
hearts of the believers. Then it marked a solid path in the waves, now
in this bath it strengthens the steps of faith.
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I wish with all my heart that God, in
his mercy, in spite of your sins
(may you never offend Jesus again!), may make you constantly live that
blessed life which is to love his Will.
(The Forge, no.617)
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Tuesday
of the first week of Ordinary Time II
(January
10) Today
let us think of St Peter
Orsoelo (Saints)
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Scripture today:
1 Samuel 1:
1-20; 1 Samuel 1:
1, 4-8;
Mark 1: 14-28
There
was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim,
whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the
son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the
other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year this
man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at
Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the
LORD. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of
the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah
he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb.
And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order
to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the
house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.
Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t
you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Once
when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli
the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple. In
bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow,
saying, “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and
remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give
him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on
his head.” As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah
was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.
Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting
drunk? Get rid of your wine.” “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman
who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out
my soul to the LORD. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been
praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and
may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” She said, “May your
servant find favour in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and
her face was no longer downcast. Early the next morning they arose and worshiped
before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with
Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah
conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I
asked the LORD for him.”
(1 Samuel 1: 1-20
NIV)
At the
beginning of the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year the Church
presents
us with the story of Samuel, a great and noble soul in the history of salvation.
He had a great mission in the
history of
God’s people which was crowned by his anointing of David to be the future king
who would replace the unfaithful Saul. Now, the point to be noticed in today’s
first reading is that Samuel was the answer to heartfelt prayer. His mother was
Hannah, and “in the bitterness of her soul she prayed to the Lord with many
tears and made a vow, saying “O LORD Almighty, if you
will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your
servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of
his life” In the words of explanation she gave to Eli, she “was pouring
out my soul to the LORD”.
(1 Samuel 1: 1-20)
The Lord
heard her prayer and gave her a very great son indeed. Our mind passes over the
centuries to Elizabeth the kinswoman of Mary and Zechariah her husband. The
angel Gabriel said to Zechariah that their prayer had been heard and they would
have a son. He was John the Baptist the forerunner. In the case of each – Samuel
and John the Baptist – God had answered fervent and persistent prayer.
We can learn from this that the world depends on the humble,
persistent and fervent prayer of God’s chosen ones, and that God will be rich in
mercy in answering our prayers. The great problem is that we tend not to believe
in the power of prayer, which generally means that we tend not to believe in
God’s power, in his goodness and his love. At least we tend to think that these
attributes in God are, at most, limited, and lurking behind this can lie the
unconscious assumption that the God of revelation does not really exist. It all
means that we can, after all
–
and without clearly realizing it
–
be worshipping what is in fact a false god. So a lot is involved in the prayer
of petition. Our salvation and the salvation of the world depend on it.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“On the Sabbath …… he taught in a
spirit of authority”
(Mark 1: 14-28)
Commentary from St Ambrose (340 –– 397),
Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
(Commentary on the Gospel according
to St. Luke, IV, 57)
The Lord began to heal on a Sabbath to show that the new creation
begins at the point at which the first one stopped, to mark from the
beginning that the Son of God is not under the Law, but superior to the
Law, that he does not destroy the Law, but that he fulfills it (Mt
5:17). The world was not created by the Law, but by the Word, as we
read: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.” (Ps 33:6) Thus,
the Law is not destroyed but fulfilled, in order to renew the fallen
human being. That is why the apostle Paul said: “Put aside your old
self…… and put on a new man who …… is formed anew in the image of his
Creator.” (Col 3:9)
It is right that he begin on the Sabbath so as to show that he is the
Creator…… who is continuing the work that he himself began in the past.
Like the worker who is setting about repairing a house, he begins, not
with the foundations, but with the roof…… He first works on the point
where he had ended previously. He begins with the least, so as to come
to what is more important. Even human beings can deliver from demons –
by the word of God, certainly – but commanding the dead to rise is in
the power of God alone.
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In God’s service there are no unimportant posts: all are of great
importance. The importance of a post depends on the spiritual level
reached by the person filling it.
(The Forge, no.618)
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Wednesday
of the first week of Ordinary Time II
(January 11) Today let us think of St Benet Biscop (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel 3: 1-10,
19-20; Psalm 40: 2, 5,
7-10; Mark 1: 29-39
The
boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the
LORD was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were
becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place.
The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of
the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel
answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said,
“Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie
down.” Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet
been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and
went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the
LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls
you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’”
(1 Samuel 3:1-10
NIV)
Yesterday we
began our weekday hearing of the inspired story of the great Samuel. He was
truly great, and perhaps holier than David would ever be, whom he anointed to be
king. I say that because we do not read of any serious sins or infidelities on
Samuel’s part, whereas we do read of them in the life of David. David was great
and holy too, but holy in large measure because he was a great penitent. So
then, is there a clue to Samuel’s moral and religious greatness? Our first
reading today gives us that clue: he never let the word of God fall to the
ground.
Our passage
today tells us of the memorable incident in Samuel’s childhood when
he first came to know the Lord. The Lord began to call him, “Samuel, Samuel!”
and the child Samuel answered, “Here I am.” He did not know it was the Lord
calling him, rather he thought it was Eli and so went running to Eli to ask what
he wanted (1 Samuel 3: 1-10, 19-20). The
incident shows a readiness in Samuel to serve and to obey right from his
earliest years. The natural moral disposition for a faithful service of God in
the future was present. Then under Eli’s direction he recognised that the Lord
was calling him and he responded accordingly. He heard God’s word and obeyed it.
Our text tells us that “Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him and let no word
of his fall to the ground.” Because of this Samuel came to be accredited by the
people “as a prophet of the Lord.”
The issue is clear. We must let no word of the Lord fall to the
ground. If this has not been our story from our earliest years (as it was with
Samuel) then we must repent and set ourselves on this course. Then we must be
faithful to it, constantly repenting of infidelities. As our Lord says, “it is
not those who say to me ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Let us take our cue from
Samuel who in this was a pointer to the One who was to come, and who, as the
Letter to the Hebrews tells us, on entering the world said, “Here I am, Lord, I
come to do your will.”
(E.J.Tyler)
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Aren’t you glad to have the sure confidence that God is interested in
even the tiniest details of his creatures?
(The Forge, no.619)
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Thursday
of the first week of Ordinary Time II
(January 12) Let us also think of St Kentigen, and St Marguerite Bourgeoys
(1620-1700) (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel 4;
1-11; Psalm 44: 10-11,
14-15, 24-25;
Mark 1: 40-45
And
Samuel’s word came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against
the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.
The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread,
Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them
on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel
asked, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let
us bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us
and save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent men to Shiloh, and
they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned
between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with
the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the LORD’s covenant came into
the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing
the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew
camp?” When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the
Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “We’re in
trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us
from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians
with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you
will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!” So
the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to
his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot
soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas,
died.(1 Samuel 4; 1-11
NIV)
In our
passage from the first book of Samuel today we are presented with a pressing
question which bewildered the Israelites, and it is a question which has risen
in the hearts of so many believers
since.
It is a variation of the problem of evil: why has God allowed this to happen?
The Israelites were conscious that their God was the true and the supreme God,
and yet when they fought against the Philistines they were defeated decisively.
The elders of Israel said, “Why did the LORD bring
defeat upon us today before the Philistines?” (1
Samuel 4: 1-11) They could not understand it. So they decided to get
the Ark of God from Shiloh, the Ark which was God’s gift. It was the foremost
sign of the covenant established by God with his people in which he promised to
be their God if they observed his laws. When the Ark arrived it gave them
immense hope, and struck fear into the hearts of the Philistines. And yet once
again they were completely defeated and to compound the misfortune the Ark of
God was captured too.
Our text
does not tell us the answer to the question why God allowed this to happen. But
we notice that the Israelites failed to consider at least one possible answer.
They may have thought that if they simply were to have the things of God among
them (for example, the Ark) all would be well. Did they consider whether their
way of life was displeasing to God and a factor in his not showing his presence
among them by giving them the victory? Whether this was the reason is quite
another matter and we have no guarantee whatever from the text that it is.
However, but the events at least remind us of the general point that it is not
enough – though it is certainly necessary – to have the instruments and signs of
God’s presence among us. We must also be striving to live in a way worthy of
God’s presence, in a way pleasing to him. We are reminded of our Lord’s answer
to those who asked him about the people who had been recently killed. He said to
them, Do you suppose that they were greater sinners than the others? No, I tell
you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.
Our passage today can serve to remind us that we must repent, and
decide to live in a way pleasing to God and not simply be satisfied with having
the assurance of God’s presence among us. Let us resolve to live in such a way
that the thought of God’s presence actually shapes the moral course of every
detail of our lives, all our thoughts, words and actions.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Show him again that you really want to be his. “Jesus, help me. Make me
really yours; may I burn and be consumed, by dint of little things that
no one notices.”
(The Forge, no.620)
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Friday
of the first week of Ordinary Time II
(January 13) St Hilary, Bishop
and Doctor of the Church. Born in Poitiers at the beginning of
the fourth century, Hilary was consecrated bishop of that city in the
year 350. He combatted the Arians relentlessly for which reason he was
exiled by the Emperor Constantine. For the purpose of strengthening the
Catholic Faith and interpreting sacred Scripture he published works
which are outstanding in their wisdom and learning. He died in the year
367. (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel 8: 4-7,
10-22a;
Psalm 89: 16-19;
Mark
2: 1-12.
A
few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had
come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the
door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a
paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus
because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after
digging through it, lowered the mat the paralysed
man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there,
thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming!
Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that
this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are
you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins
are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may
know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said
to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up,
took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and
they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
(Mark 2: 1-12
NIV)
There
are many reasons why people remain in the Christian faith they have accepted
from their earliest years, and there are various reasons why people seek to meet
and know our Lord. Some reasons are worthier than others. We remember, for
instance, how King Herod heard about the miracles of Jesus and wanted to meet
and to see him. But our Lord referred to him as a fox, and when they finally met
up during our Lord’s Passion, our Lord would not so much as speak to him. That
is to say, we ought be seeking Jesus for the right reasons and wanting from him
specifically what he came to give.
In our
Gospel passage today our Lord was preaching the word inside a packed house
with people spilling out at the front door. Some people came to him bringing a
paralytic carried by four men. But
the crowd in front of Jesus was so dense that the newcomers could not get in. So
they climbed on to the roof, made an opening
and lowered the paralysed man in front of Jesus for him to cure him. They had
come to Jesus for a laudable purpose, to obtain a physical healing. There was
nothing wrong with that, and indeed they would receive what they had come for.
But what did our Lord do when he saw the sick person in front of him? He forgave
him his sins (Mark 2: 1-12). Perhaps he saw
the man was conscious of his sinfulness. In any case, the first thing our Lord
wanted to do was to take away his sins. Only then did he heal.
Many things can draw us to Jesus and lead us to hold on to our
faith in him. Those reasons can be varied in value. But we should learn to
listen to Jesus carefully in prayer, and to the Church which represents him and
teaches in his name, and thus learn what above all he wants to give us. Great
crowds followed our Lord, but when he explained his doctrine of the Eucharist
the majority of them left, including many of his disciples. Our Lord wants to
sanctify us and to reconcile us to God. This is above all what we ought be
seeking in our striving to be with Jesus. He brings to us grace and truth and
life in God. Our fundamental need is for holiness and the victory over sin – and
it is especially this which God sent his Son to give to us. Let us then keep a
true focus, while asking Jesus for all our needs and those of others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The Holy Rosary: the joys, the sorrows and the glories of the life of
Our Lady weave a crown of praises, repeated ceaselessly by the Angels
and the Saints in Heaven — and by those who love our Mother here on
earth. Practise this holy devotion every day, and spread it.
(The Forge, no.621)
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Saturday
of the first week of Ordinary Time II
(January 14) Today
let us think of St Felix of
Nola
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel
9:1-4.17-19.10:1; Psalm 21: 2-7;
Mark 2:13-17
Once
again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to
teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax
collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed
him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and
“sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who
followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating
with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he
eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It
is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners.” (Mark
2:13-17
NIV)
There
is a figure of the Old Testament who was marked out by God for special promise
and a special work in life. He was Saul the son of Kish, the first of the
anointed kings of Israel. We are told that “when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told
him, ‘That is the man of whom I told you; he shall rule my people’.”
(1 Samuel
9:1-4.17-19.10:1) He had a great work in life ahead of him, a work given to him
by God himself. Undoubtedly he had the necessary qualities, and God’s help would
have accompanied him. Yet he turned out very badly. This was due to his choosing
to disobey God, and more fundamentally because he chose not to repent from his
disobedience.
Other
examples in the Scriptures of disobedience and failure to repent could also be
mentioned.
Solomon himself ended badly, and many other kings of Israel. We think too of
Judas, especially chosen by
Christ to be
one of the Twelve. Now, in our Gospel scene today (Mark
2:13-17), we see our Lord with the tax collectors and sinners. Levi
the tax collector was called by our Lord to follow
him, “and he got up and followed him.” Then a number of “tax collectors
and sinners” sat at the table with Jesus and his disciples. They wanted to be
with him which itself shows that while Jesus hates sin he loves the sinner,
especially if the sinner wishes to repent. He told his
critics (the scribes and the Pharisees) that
he was the doctor for the sinner, and had come to call sinners to repentance.
Let us apply all this to ourselves. Let us think of the choice
God has made of each of us. St Paul tells us that before the world was
made, God chose us; chose us in Christ to be
holy and full of love in his sight. What then — we ought ask ourselves — have I
done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What shall I do for him? I have the
present moment and possibly some time ahead. I must then repent, begin again,
and give my life over to the work God has given me to do. I must resolve to do
it well, to avoid sin, and to serve God in everything.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“The man got up and became his
follower.” (Mark 2:13-17)
Commentary by St Augustine
(354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Confessions X, 27)
Late did I love you, o ancient and new Beauty; late did I love you. You
were within me, while I was outside of myself. I sought you outside; I
flung myself disgracefully onto the beautiful things of creation. You
were with me, and I was not with you. Those things that would not exist
if they were not in you, held me back, far away from you. You called,
and your cry forced itself upon my deafness. You shone, and your
brilliance chased away my blindness. You gave forth your perfume, I
breathed it, and behold, now I long for you. I tasted you, and I am
hungry for you, I thirst for you. You touched me, and I have burned
with desire for the peace that you give.
When I am united with you with my whole being, I shall no longer feel
pain or fatigue. My life, utterly filled with you, will then be true
life. You make lighter the person whom you fill. Now, since I am not
yet filled with you, I weigh upon myself…… Lord, have mercy on me! My
bad sorrows fight with my good joys. Will I come out of this battle
victorious? Have mercy on me, Lord! Poor being that I am! Here are my
wounds. I do not hide them from you. You are the doctor, I am ill. You
are merciful, and I am wretched.
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Baptism makes us faithful.
This is a word that was used — like the
saints — by the first followers of Jesus to refer to one
another. These words are still used today: we speak of the faithful of the Church.
(The Forge, no.622)
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The Second Sunday of
Ordinary Time B
(January 15)
Today let us think of St Paul, hermit (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture: 1 Samuel
3:3-10.19; Psalm 40: 2, 4,
7-10; 1
Corinthians 6:13-15.17-20; John 1:35-42
The
next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus
passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him
say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and
asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are
you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where
he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said
and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother
Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42And he
brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John.
You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
(John 1:35-42
NIV)
Early
in 2006,
it was reported that hundreds of Muslims were crushed from
the
surging crowds gathered in Arabia to celebrate their religious festival and to
venerate their founder, Mahomet. Vast numbers of Muslims from all over the world
were there. In various parts of Asia there are
great religious festivals too. In India, for instance, there are occasions when
great numbers of Hindus gather and come and go on pilgrimage. What are we to
make of this? The strong religious life of peoples shows that characteristically
man is not a secular but a religious being. He tends towards God not only by
God’s calling but by his very nature. We in our Western society and culture are
accustomed to seeing people uninterested in a religious life, but this is an
aberration in human history. The normal thing is that man desires God and wants
to worship him. The problem is that he is liable to do so in great darkness and
not in the light of truth. He is apt to worship false gods.
In our
Gospel today (John 1:35-42) we are placed in
a very beautiful scene. The two disciples of John the Baptist, having heard his
testimony about Jesus, begin to follow him.
What is at the root of their doing this? It is that they want to know and to be
with God. That is why they were disciples of John in the first place. That is
why they followed Jesus having heard the words of John about him. They sensed
that to be with Jesus and to hear from him would be to draw close to God. And so
when our Lord turned to them and asked what they were seeking, they could have
said that they were seeking God. But rather they asked him where he lived,
vaguely implying that they knew Jesus would bring them close to God. And so he
said, come and see. And they stayed with him the rest of that day. Think of
their time with Jesus! There we have a picture of man earnestly seeking God and
God coming to meet him in order to receive him into his personal friendship.
As we think
of this Gospel scene, let us appreciate anew
the desire for God which has been planted in our hearts by our Creator. We ought
ask ourselves if we are cultivating this desire and keeping it pure and focussed
on its proper object. Our own Western culture strongly
tempts a person to consider God as scarcely an objective reality. Our society
thinks that God is a mere personal opinion, and
that it does not matter much what one’s views on God are, nor what one’s
religion is, provided one is moral. People tend to think that when it comes to
public life man should manage without God. The
result of this is that the very desire for God, so natural and instinctive to
human nature and so universal among cultures, can diminish and be replaced with
the desire for other things. So then, we must make a point of cultivating a
burning desire for God, and protecting our
desire for him from all that could harm or diminish it. We must do all we can to
see this desire for God grow in society and in all men.
There is a
further point of great importance. We ought also guard against the assumption
that the truth about God is not of great importance, and thinking that any faith
will do as long as we are good and moral. For, wonderful as is the very desire
for God, and tragic as it is when this desire is lost or greatly reduced,
nevertheless the fact is that error about God abounds. The objective truth about
God that comes from him is, relatively speaking, so little known. We see vast
numbers of people passionately committed to what their religion or philosophy
says about God – be it Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or whatever. Yet these
religions and philosophical views differ radically, and their claims about God
contradict one another. This contradiction among claimants shows to any observer
that many must be wrong, for statements that contradict one another cannot all
be correct in the same respect. The typical response of very many to this
religious diversity is to think that ultimate truth does not matter and
that it is impossible to attain truth anyway –
or worse, that there is no objective truth. We must resist this resolutely.
There is a truth, and that which contradicts it is false. The duty ahead is to
attain the truth and to live by it.
We know the truth. It has been revealed by God. That truth is
Christ, his person and his teaching. It is imperative that we know this revealed
truth, that we hold on to it, and that we bring it to others, encouraging them
to seek with determination the truth revealed by God and adhere to it
perseveringly. This means bringing them to the person of Christ where he is to
be found, in the Church his body. Let us think of those two disciples searching
for God. They were put in direct touch with Christ by John the Baptist, and
Christ took them to where he dwelt. Where does Christ dwell? He dwells in the
Church, his Body and his Spouse. It is there that Christ will be found and he,
the head of the Church, is the answer to man’s quest for God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“We
have found the Messiah!”
(John 1:35-42)
Commentary from Basil of Seleucia (? ––
468), Bishop (Sermon in praise of St. Andrew, 4)
Taking Peter with him, Andrew led his brother according to the flesh to
the Lord, so that, like himself, he might become a disciple. That was
Andrew’s first achievement. He caused the number of disciples to grow;
he introduced Peter, in whom Christ found the head of his disciples.
That was so true that later, when Peter behaved admirably, he owed this
to what Andrew had sown. The praise given to the one is also reflected
on the other, for the goods of the one belong to the other, and the one
glories in the other’s merits.
What joy Peter obtained for all when he immediately answered the Lord’s
question, breaking the disciples’ embarrassing silence…… Peter alone
said: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Mt 16:16) He
spoke in the name of all; in one sentence, he proclaimed the Saviour
and his plan of salvation. How greatly does this proclamation agree
with that of Andrew! The words, which Andrew spoke to Peter when he led
him to Christ — “We have found the Messiah” – were confirmed by
the heavenly Father when he himself inspired Peter with them (Mt
16:17): “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God!”
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God does not let himself be outdone in generosity. Be very sure that he
grants faithfulness to those who give themselves to him.
(The Forge, no.623)
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Monday
of the second week of Ordinary Time II
(January
16) Today
let us think of St Fursey
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today: 1 Samuel
15:16-23; Psalm 50: 8-9,
16b-17, 21 and 23;
Mark 2:18-22
“Stop!”
Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied. Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own
eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you
king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely
destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have
wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the LORD ? Why did you pounce on the
plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD ?” “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul
said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the
Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle
from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice
them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.” But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of
idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as
king.” (1
Samuel 15:16-23
NIV)
One of the most insidious obstacles to growth in the Christian
life is the
tendency to find excuses and reasons to commit sin. The imperious voice of
conscience is muffled by reasons that are accepted to justify doing what is
wrong. In our first reading today, Samuel confronted Saul with his disobedience.
The Lord (Samuel says) had commanded Saul to exterminate the Amalekites (we are
not told why) and this ban included their possessions
(1 Samuel
15:16-23).
But Saul thought better of this and allowed the people to take some booty. He
replied to Samuel that he had a good reason to allow this – it was in order to
sacrifice the booty to God. But Samuel said that he had disobeyed God, and
because of that the kingship was to be taken away from him.
The thought
of this biblical interchange serves to remind us that the one thing that
ultimately matters is the will of God. Nothing ought be allowed to replace it,
least of all our own private judgment as to what would be more fitting, more
useful or more convenient. All too often in some big things and in numerous
little things we find ourselves substituting duty for some other motive,
especially the motive of the useful, the effective or the pragmatic. Especially
insidious is finding excuses for deliberate venial sin. Gradually one’s
conscience is dulled and one becomes to a greater or lesser extent morally
blind, ceasing to see anything wrong in what the
conscience is prohibiting. Spiritual progress is rendered impossible because
darkness envelops one’s moral and spiritual
life. As with Saul, the conscience has been ignored.
Let us then
resolve to be careful to follow our conscience (enlightened and shaped by our
Catholic Faith) in the small things of everyday life as they present themselves.
If we do not, it will catch up with us as it did with Saul. Sooner or later the
judgment of God will come. If it comes in this life,
it will be largely corrective, and will be the mercy of God forewarning
us of the judgment to come. So then, let us continuously repent, especially of
venial sin.
So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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“The Bridegroom is among them”
(Mark 2:18-22)
Commentary by Blessed Jan van Ruusbroec
(1293-1381), Canon Regular
Ornement des Noces spirituelles
[Ornament of spiritual Marriage], Prologue
“The groom is here! Come out and greet him!” (Mt 25:6) …… This groom is
Christ, and the bride is human nature created by God “in his image,
after his likeness” (Gen 1:26) and placed by God, since the beginning,
in the most worthy place, the most beautiful, the richest and most
fertile ground, which is called paradise. God submitted all creatures
to this human nature, he clothed it with grace and gave it a
commandment so that, by observing it, it might be forever assured of
stable and faithful union with its Spouse, free of all pain, of all
suffering, of every fault.
Then came the cunning one, the infernal enemy, who was filled with
jealousy of the bride and therefore took the form of a cunning serpent
and deceived the woman; together, they deceived the man, and thus the
whole of human nature. Thus, by his false advice, the enemy delighted
human nature, the bride of God, and poor and destitute, a captive and
oppressed, human nature was exiled into a foreign land……
But when God saw that the time had come, and when the suffering of his
beloved had filled him with pity, he sent his only Son to earth…… in
the womb of the Virgin Mary. There, the Son wedded his fiancée,
our nature, by uniting her to himself.
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Don’t be afraid to be demanding on yourself. Many souls do so in their
hidden inner life, so that only Jesus may shine out. I wish you and I
would react as that person did who wanted to be very close to God, on
the feast of the Holy Family. In those days it was celebrated within
the octave of the Epiphany. “I have had a number of little crosses.
There was one yesterday that hurt so much it made me weep. Today it
made me think that my Father and Lord Saint Joseph, and my Mother, Holy
Mary, won’t have left this child of theirs without its Christmas
present. The present was the light that made me see my thanklessness to
Jesus in my failing to correspond to his grace; and to see how
the most Holy Will of God, who wants me as his instrument.”
(The Forge,
no.624)
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Tuesday
of the second week of Ordinary Time II
(January 17) St
Anthony, abbot (251-356). Called the Patriarch of Monks, St
Anthony retired to the desert when he was eighteen years of age. He was
the first abbot to form a stable rule for his family of monks dedicated
to the Divine Service. He led an austere life which was always
consciously directed to the better service of God. (Saints)
See this Website's
Details of Saints for Any Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel
16:1-13; Psalm 89: 20-22,
27-28;
Mark 2:23-28
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will
you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your
horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have
chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will
hear about it and kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I
have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will
show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” Samuel did
what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town
trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” Samuel replied,
“Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and
come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and
invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought,
“Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.” But the LORD said to
Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had
him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one
either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD
chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel
said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all
the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is
tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he
arrives.” So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine
appearance and handsome features. Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; he
is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of
his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in
power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
(1 Samuel
16:1-13
NIV)
Today in
our first reading we have the inspired account of the anointing of David son of
Jesse to be king. Saul had disobeyed God and in consequence had the kingship
taken from him. In the choice by God of David we see a pattern that recurs in
sacred history. God often chooses what seems weak and unpromising to the eyes of
the world, but which nevertheless bears great
fruit. We may ask, what is the key to this phenomenon? It lies in what the Lord
said to Samuel while he was reviewing the sons of Jesse:
“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:1-13) The implication of this is
that David had a heart that was given to the Lord. Once Samuel anointed him, we
are told that “the spirit of the Lord seized on David and stayed with him from
that day on.”
Each of us has been chosen by God in Christ before the world
began, to be holy and full of love in his
sight. This eternal choice of us culminated in our
baptism, when the Holy Spirit came upon us and has been with us ever
since. God is and will be working in our life, but the pivotal issue will be
where our own hearts lie. Is sin reigning in our heart? The heart of David lay
with the Lord, and so must our hearts too. If they are, due to God’s power and
grace our lives will bear the fruit God intends for them, as was the case with
David himself. Of special importance in this is our daily work. We must commit
our hearts to the Lord in our work and in the fulfilment of our daily
responsibilities. We must aim to do our work for God, and to do it thoroughly.
However hidden and unpromising our responsibilities may appear to man who “looks
at the appearances”, “the Lord looks at the heart.” Our work will then sanctify
us, it itself will be sanctified, and through it others will be sanctified. Thus
will our lives bear fruit.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“The Sabbath was made for
man” (Mark 2:23-28)
Commentary by Joseph
Cardinal Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] (Lenten Sermons 1981)
In the creation account, the Sabbath is described as the day when the
human being, in the freedom of adoration, participates in God’s
freedom, rest and peace. To celebrate the Sabbath is to celebrate the
covenant. This means that we return to our origin and discard the
blemishes that our many activities brought with them. It means setting
out towards the new world where there will no longer be slaves and
masters, but only the free children of God, towards a world in which
man, animals and the earth will take part together and fraternally in
God’s peace and in God’s freedom…
[But] the human being refused rest, the relaxation that came from God,
adoration with its peace and its freedom, and thus he ended up by
submitting to activism. He enslaved the world to its activities and
thus enslaved himself. For that reason, God had to give the human being
the Sabbath, which man did not want. By refusing the cycle of freedom
and relaxation that come from God, the human being drew away from his
condition as God’s image and thus tread the world underfoot. That is
why he had to be torn away from his enslavement to his own work. In
order to do that, God had to let him find again his authenticity, had
to free him from the domination of activism. St. Benedict wrote:
“Nothing must be preferred to the service of God” – in first place,
adoration, the freedom and the rest that comes from God. Thus, and only
thus, the human person can truly live.
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When the holy women reached the tomb they found that the stone had been
rolled aside. This is what always happens: when we make up our minds to
do what we should, the difficulties are easily overcome.
(The Forge, no.625)
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Wednesday
of the second week of Ordinary Time II
(January 18) Today
let us think of St. Priscilla (Saints)
See also this Website's
Details of Saints for Any
Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel 17:
32-33.37.40-51; Psalm 144: 1-2,
9-10;
Mark 3: 1-6
Another time he went into the synagogue,
and a man with a shrivelled hand was there.
Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him
closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with
the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of
everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or
to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around
at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the
man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely
restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how
they might kill Jesus.
(Mark 3: 1-6
NIV)
At times
we hear dismissed all talk of the anger of God at sin. He is a God of love
and
compassion, and therefore, we are told, to speak of God being angry is
inappropriate and demeaning to
his divine nature. It is an anthropomorphism.
Well, let us consider today’s Gospel passage (Mark 3:
1-6). Our Lord was faced with the silent hostility of the Pharisees
who were watching “to see if he would heal” on
the Sabbath day. Our Lord confronted them with his question and they refused to
answer. Their sinful obstinacy was impenetrable. What was our Lord’s response?
He was angry: “Then, grieved to find them so obstinate, he looked angrily round
at them and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and
his hand was completely restored.” His anger
was an expression of his loving grief at the intractability of sin.
Let us
beware lest we too be obstinate with God, especially in seemingly little things.
This is the seriousness of deliberate venial sin, the little sins we commit with
eyes wide open and our conscience informed. We can quietly shut out the voice
of conscience and repeatedly commit venial sins, which means we are repeatedly
ignoring the voice of the Holy Spirit. We are to that extent making ourselves
obstinate, intractable – like the Pharisees. St Paul speaks of us making the
Holy Spirit sad by our sins, and our Gospel today speaks of the Son of God
becoming angry and grieved at the sins of the Pharisees before him. What is the
answer to this? It is repentance. It is most important that there be an ongoing
pattern of repentance from venial sin in our life. This repentance is expressed
and assisted by frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Penance. It is impossible
to attain holiness unless we become strong in the virtue of repentance,
especially repentance from venial sin.
God is love and he is holiness. Obstinate sin and the refusal to repent will
make him angry.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“When the Pharisees went outside, they
immediately began to plot with the Herodians how they might destroy
Jesus.” Comment from Meliton
of Sardes (? – 195), Bishop (Homily on Easter, 82-90)
You have not seen God; you did not recognize the Lord; you did not know
that it was he, the First-born of God, the one who was begotten before
the morning star (Ps 110:3), the one who caused light to break forth,
who caused the day to shine by separating it from the darkness, who
fixed the first limits, suspending the earth, drying up the abyss,
unfolding the firmament…, who created the angels in heaven, setting up
the thrones there, and who formed the human person on the earth. It is
he who chose Israel, who guided it from Adam to Noah, from Noah to
Abraham, from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob and to the twelve patriarchs.
It is he who led your fathers to Egypt, who protected and nourished
them there. It is he who gave them light by means of a column of fire
and who covered them with a cloud, who divided the Red Sea and made
them cross through it. It is he who gave them manna from heaven, who
gave them to drink from the rock, who gave them the Law and the
promised land, who sent them the prophets, and who raised up their
kings. It is he who came to you, caring for those who were suffering
and raising the dead… It is he whom you want to put to death, it is he
whom you will betray for money…
How much have you valued the good things that were given you? … Now
value the dried up hand that he restored to the body. Now value the
people born blind, whom he has returned to the light by a word. Now
value the dead whom he has raised from their tomb after three or four
days. The gifts he has given you are priceless. And you…, you have
given him what is bad in return for the good, and suffering in return
for joy, and death in return for life.
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Be convinced that if you do not learn to obey you will never be
effective.
(The
Forge, no.626)
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Thursday
of the second week of Ordinary Time II
(January 19) Today let us think of St Wulfstan (Saints)
See also this Website's
Details of Saints for Any
Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel
18:6-9. 19:1-7; Psalm 56: 2-3,
9-13;
Mark 3:7-12
When the men were returning home after
David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel
to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with
tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.” Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him.
“They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only
thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that time on Saul
kept a jealous eye on David. Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants
to kill David. But Jonathan was very fond of David and warned him, “My father
Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go
into hiding and stay there. I will go out and stand with my father in the field
where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the
king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done
has benefited you greatly. He took his life in his hands when he killed the
Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were
glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him
for no reason?” Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the
LORD lives, David will not be put to death.” So Jonathan called David and told
him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as
before. (1 Samuel 18:6-9.19:1-7
NIV)
One of
the beautiful figures of the Old Testament is that of
Jonathan, the son of Saul and the beloved friend of David. He was noble
in his character, he respected his father and was unswervingly loyal in his
friendship with David. Especially impressive is his filial respect for his
wayward father and his upright friendship with David, and in our first reading
today we see an instance of this (1 Samuel
18:6-9.19:1-7). His friendship with David leads him to warn David of
the harm to him that his father was contemplating; and
his loving respect for his father Saul leads him to convince his father
not to commit the sin of attempting to murder David.
Jonathan
is surely an inspiring figure who teaches us
the beauty, the value, and the nature of true friendship. As his example
indicates, friendship is a great good in life and it is a gift from God. But is
ought be shaped by the will of God and his laws, and all that is done in the
name of friendship or to increase it, should be
such as to please God and not to offend him. It is obvious that a friendship can
lead a person away from the obedience due to God (and we merely have to think of
how Eve tempted Adam to sin), but Jonathan
shows how a friendship can lead to a good and higher path. All this is to say
that friendship ought be a holy friendship rather than a sinful one.
An
immense amount of good can be done precisely through the cultivation of good and
holy friendships. As already mentioned, Jonathan warned David of danger. Through
our friendships we can warn others of dangers we see are ahead of them. As
mentioned, Jonathan reasoned with his father and convinced him not to sin. We
can do this with our relatives friends, and
often it will be only through a respectful friendship with them that this can be
done at all. In turn we can be warned and wholesomely corrected to better ways
by our friends. Furthermore, our friendship with others can prompt us to
intercede for them in our prayers to God and to have Masses said for them, be
they living or dead. The spread and cultivation of good and holy friendships is
itself a most important apostolate in life.
Let us commit ourselves to the work of cultivating such friendships as are
pleasing to God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“A great multitude came to him ……
because they had heard what he had done”
Comment by St Ephrem
(306 –– 373), Deacon and Doctor of the Church (Diatesseron, Final Prayer)
O mercy, sent and poured out over all human beings! In you, Lord, this
mercy dwells, you who in your compassion for all human beings, went out
to meet them. By your death you opened for them the treasures of your
mercy…… For your profound being is hidden from the sight of man, but it
is sketched in his least movements. Your work gives us an outline of
their Author, and the creatures point out to us their Creator (Wis
13:1; Rom 1:20), so that we might touch him who shies away from
intellectual seeking, but who shows himself in his gifts. It is
difficult to succeed in being present to him face to face, but it is
easy to draw near to him.
Our thanksgiving is insufficient, but we adore you in all things for
your love of all human beings. You distinguish each one of us by the
deepest of our invisible being, we who are all basically connected by
Adam’’s one nature…… We adore you, you who placed each one of us into
this world, who entrusted to us everything that is here, and who will
take us out of this world at an hour that we do not know. We adore you,
you who placed speech into our mouths so that we might tell you our
requests. Adam acclaims you, he who rests in peace, and we, his
posterity, with him, for we all benefit from your grace. The winds
praise you……, the earth praises you……, the seas praise you……, the trees
praise you……, the plants and the flowers also bless you…… May all
things come together and unite their voice in praising you, competing
with one another in thanksgiving for all your kindnesses, and united in
peace to bless you. May all things join together in raising up a work
of praise for you.
It is up to us to stretch out towards you with all our will, and it is
up to you to pour out on us a little of your fullness, so that your
truth might convert us and that thus our weakness might disappear, in
which without your grace, we cannot reach you, the Master of gifts.
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When you are told what to do, let no one show more alacrity than you in
obeying; whether it is hot or cold, whether you feel keen or are tired,
whether you are young or less so, it makes no odds. Someone who “does
not know how to obey” will never learn to command.
(The Forge,
no.627)
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Friday
of the second week of Ordinary Time II
(January 20) St
Fabian, pope and martyr (died 240). St Fabian was Pope frm 236
to 250 AD. He promoted the consolidation and development of the Church.
He divided Rome into seven diaconates for the purpose of extending aid
to the poor. The papacy acquired such prestige during this time that he
incurred the ire of the Emperor Decius. (Saints)
St. Sebastian
He suffered martyrdom in Rome at the beginning of the persecution
of Diocletian. His tomb in the place named Ad Catacumbas on the Via
Appia has been venerated by the faithful from earliest times. (Saints)
See also this Website's
Details of Saints for Any
Particular Day
Scripture today:
1 Samuel 24:
3-21; Psalm 57: 2-4, 6
and 11;
Mark 3: 13-19
He came to the sheep pens along the way;
a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were
far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he
said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you
wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his
robe. He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my
master, the LORD’s anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed
of the LORD.” With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to
attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. Then David went out of the
cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him,
David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to
Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? This day
you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the
cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lift my
hand against my master, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’ See, my father, look
at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did
not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or
rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.
May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you
have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, ‘From
evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you. Against whom has the
king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? May the LORD
be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may
he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.” When David finished saying
this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. “You
are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have
treated you badly. You have just now told me of the good you did to me; the LORD
delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his
enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the
way you treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the
kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the LORD
that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s
family.”
(1 Samuel 24: 3-21
NIV)
At the
end of December 2005 Sydney witnessed the so-called race riots, beginning at
Cronulla. Many were wondering how, in Sydney of all places, this ever came to
pass. News of it went all over the world. One person who was interviewed said
that the gradual loss of respect in Australian society was a factor. Be that as
it may, a comment such as that can prompt us to reflect on the importance of
mutual reverence and respect for others in social life, for it is clear that
some people are habitually respectful and others habitually lack respect. Most,
I suppose, lie somewhere in between. It is obvious that the virtue of respect is
pivotal in social life, a respect showing itself in good manners, justice, and
many other virtues.
In our
first reading today from the first book of Samuel (1
Samuel 24: 3-21), Saul is pursuing
David but unknowingly falls into his power. David could have easily killed him,
but refused to harm him. He cut off the border of Saul’s cloak and even
reproached himself for doing that. Later from a distance he revealed himself to
Saul and showed him that he could have harmed him but refrained from doing so.
All of this he did with reverence and respect for the person of Saul. David
reverenced Saul’s person as the anointed king of Israel, even though the king
was wrongly seeking to harm him. In this David is an example to us.
We have
so many reasons to manifest and to grow in the virtue of reverence and respect
for others. Each person we deal with is a creature of God, God’s handiwork made
in his image. God constantly holds each person in being. We are all in this
sense God’s children and he is our common Father. This gives to each human being
an immense dignity worthy of reverence. Our Lord has told us that at our
judgment, whatever we have done to the least he will count as having been done
to him. As well as this, each baptised person in the state of grace is a temple
of God, in which the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit constantly dwell.
Due to baptism each member of the Church is an adopted child of God, sharing in
the sonship of the Son, not by nature of course
but by grace.
We have so many reasons to show constant reverence towards others. And consider
what respect God showed towards us in sending his Son to become one of us, and
then laying down his life for each of us!
(E.J.Tyler)
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"That he might send them forth to
preach” (Mark 3: 13-19)
Commentary from The Letter of Diognetes
XI (around 200)
I am not saying anything strange, I am not seeking what is paradoxical.
Rather, docile to the teaching of the apostles, I in turn want to teach
the nations. I want to pass on the tradition exactly to those who also
want to become disciples of the Truth. Who…… would not hasten to learn
entirely all that the Word of God clearly taught his disciples? For in
manifesting itself, that Word, which was not understood by those who
did not believe in him, showed the truth to his disciples; speaking
openly, he told his disciples everything. He recognized them to be his
faithful ones, and they received from him knowledge of the mysteries of
the Father.
That is why the Word was sent into the world. And so that he might be
shown to the whole world, …… he was proclaimed by the apostles, so that
the nations might believe in him. He who was from the beginning (1 Jn
1:1), manifested himself in newness, and his disciples recognized in
him what was old. In the heart of his saints, he is always born anew
young …… Through him, the Church is filled with richness. Grace opens
up, is multiplied in the saints. It gives the understanding of faith,
uncovers the mysteries of the Father; it gives understanding of the
times…… It is offered to those who seek it and who respect the rule of
faith and faithfully keep the tradition of the Fathers.
Here the fear of the Law is sung; here the grace of the prophets is
acknowledged, the faith of the Gospels is strengthened, the tradition
of the apostles is kept; the grace of the Church leaps for joy. Do not
sadden this grace. Then you will know the secrets, which the Word of
God reveals through whom he wishes, when it pleases him. Draw near,
listen, and you will know all that God entrusts to those who truly love
him.
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It’s remarkably stupid for a Director to be content with a soul
rendering four when it could be rendering twelve.
(The Forge, no.628)
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Saturday
of the second week of Ordinary Time II
(January 21) St
Agnes, virgin and martyr (died 304) St Agnes came from a noble
Roman family. She was about thirteen years old when she suffered
martyrdom. She was tortured and beheaded. Her name is included in the
Roman Canon. Pope Damasus wrote a celebrated epitaph about her. (Saints)
See also this Website's
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
2 Samuel
1:1-4.11-12.19.23-27; Psalm
79; Mark 3:20-21
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a
crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his
family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is
out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20-21
NIV)
Our
Gospel scene today is brief but very revealing in what it presents about Jesus.
Our Lord and his disciples are besieged by the crowds pressing around him and
making their demands on him.
We are told that they could not even have a meal
(Mark 3:20-21). There we have a picture of our
Lord giving himself over to the service of others without respite and drawing
his disciples into that constant and overflowing zeal. We may ask ourselves,
what would our Lord be doing were he to be physically and visibly in our midst
now? He would be given over to his mission of service and drawing his disciples
– depending on their vocation – into this work too. Our Lord was a man of work.
On one occasion our Lord was attacked for healing on the Sabbath. He said: my
Father is working, so I work too. We then, who
are made in God’s image are made to work, which is to serve God and others by
our work. Our vocation is to serve, to serve God and others and we do this in
our work, by working for them. Even our life of prayer can be understood as part
of our work for God. For that reason liturgies are at times called services: in
them we serve God by public prayer. We are here on earth to serve and not to be
served — just as, our Lord tells us, the Son of man came not to be serve but to
serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many.
There is a second detail in our Gospel passage today. Our Lord’s relatives,
seeing how utterly given over to his mission he was, thought he was out of his
mind and set out “to take charge of him.” This implies that during those years
at Nazareth he fitted in completely. He was a true and unobtrusive member of his
wider family, making himself subject to the
limitations of the Incarnation. St Luke specifically mentions
how, after
being found in the Temple as a child, he
returned to Nazareth with his parents and was subject to them. Our Gospel
passage today implies that he made himself subject to his family and the local
situation humbly and fully. The Incarnation was very real. That itself is a
further sign of how fully the Son of God came to serve and not to be served, and
to give his life as a ransom for the many. Let us resolve to follow the example
of our Lord and to fill up our life with the work of service, service of God and
of our fellow man.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Jesus: a man eaten, a gift of
God
(On the Eucharist)
Comment by Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575 ––
1629), Theologian, Founder of the Oratory
Jesus Christ is God’s gift to humankind and humankind’s gift to God. He
is God’s gift to humankind; he puts himself into the hands of human
beings through the effectiveness of his word, and he must be received
as such by human beings. In the Eucharist, he is given to human beings,
and given in the fullness of all his reality and all his mysteries, and
he is given as life and food for eternal life.
Jesus Christ is humankind’s gift to God, as he is God’s gift to
humankind. He is the one as sacrament; he is the other as sacrifice. In
times past, people offered the fruit of the earth that was given us to
God; and now we offer a fruit from God himself to God, a fruit [that
grew] in her own womb, a fruit that the virginal ground of Mary,
clothed with the power of the Most High, produced and that for this
reason the prophet Isaiah called both “the fruit of the earth” and
“God’s seed” (4:2).
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You have to obey — and you have to command — always with great love.
(The
Forge, no.629)
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Third
Sunday of Ordinary Time B
(January 22) St
Vincent, deacon and martyr (died 304). St Vincent of Saragossa,
Spain, one of the greatest deacons of the Church, suffered martyrdom in
Valencia in the persecution under Diocletian. He was born in Huesca,
Spain. (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today: Jonah
3:1-5.10; Psalm 25: 4-9;
1 Corinthians
7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20
After John was put in prison, Jesus went
into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said.
“The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” As Jesus walked
beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net
into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I
will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother
John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they
left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
(Mark 1:14-20
NIV)
It is a
very good idea to reflect frequently on what thoughts, what beliefs and what
goals drive us in our daily life. What is it that will make life worthwhile to
us? I was speaking recently to a young
university graduate, and asked her what
work she wanted to do in life. She said she wasn’t interested in work as such –
she looked on her work as simply something she had to do. I had the impression
that she had not worked out what she really believed to be important. In our
Gospel passage today, our Lord presents us in
simple terms with what we ought believe in: “The time has come and the kingdom
of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.” We have it there in a
nutshell: the Gospel in its totality ought have our full assent. The Good News
is Jesus and his teaching and grace. As God
made man, he moves among us addressing us as
friends and inviting us to live in his friendship. Our response has to be one of
faith in his person and in his teaching, a full assent coming from our whole
being.
This
introduces us to the question of what it is to believe, of what it is to have
faith. Our Lord in the Gospel invites his hearers to believe: repent and
believe, he says. By faith a man with his whole being assents to God and to what
he reveals. Scripture calls this the obedience of faith. Years ago I remember
being in a religious discussion group made up of about five doctors. I was
surprised at how poor an understanding they had of their Catholic Faith. But
even worse, I noticed how some of them seemed to think that in all matters of
religion, one basically makes up one’s own mind
as to what to believe, instead of relying on a higher authority. Of course, in
higher studies a person is encouraged to decide for himself, and not to go on
authority. But in respect to our Christian belief, once the Christian accepts
that Christ is God and our Redeemer, he then
accepts whatever Christ has revealed. He bases his
belief on Christ’s authority. He does so not because he happens to agree
with it, but because it is Christ who has revealed it. And so when our Lord in
today’s Gospel invites us to believe in the Good News,
he is inviting us to submit our intellect and will to him with our whole
being. Faith is obedience to God. We believe on God’s authority.
There is
a further step in all this. The Catholic grasps that Christ dwells in his body
the Church as her Head, and through the power
and action of the Holy Spirit, guides the
Church to teach in his name. Therefore the Church’s teaching is the teaching of
Christ. This is one thing a young person must learn when it comes to religion,
because many adults have never learnt it and it is possible to go right through
life without appreciating it. Many adults go through life thinking that in
matters of religious belief,
ultimately it is right and proper to be
making up one’s own mind, that is to say without recourse to and dependence on a
higher authority. The result is that one’s religion is a religion based simply
on one’s private judgment, rather
than on the divine authority of God’s
revelation. Christ, dwelling in his Church, makes the Church God’s living
Oracle. The Church is the Oracle of God. If
what one believes is simply what one works out for oneself, then one’s religion
is a religion of man and not the religion revealed by
God, by which he means to redeem and sanctify us.
There is
a further point which our Lord makes clear in the Gospel today. Before we can
hope to give to Christ and his Church the assent of mind and heart which we call
faith, we must repent. Our Lord tells us to repent and believe the Gospel. That
is to say, in order to embrace fully and with our whole being the person and
divine teaching of Christ, we must submit to him. We must submit our mind and
our will to him. To submit to our Lord and to his teaching as it comes to us in
the teaching of the Church requires that we be prepared to put aside our own
will and preferences. It requires submission and obedience, which goes against
our pride and inclinations. Cardinal Newman once said that the essence of
religion is authority and obedience. He was referring to the authority of God
and the obedience of faith. To exercise this
obedience of faith we have to repent of pride and independence of mind. On the
basis of this repentance we can enter into an authentically religious
relationship with Christ and his teaching Church.
Let us then resolve to renounce anything within us that might lead to resist
accepting and living our Catholic Faith. That is to say, let us resolve to do
what our Lord says: repent and believe the Good News.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further Reading:
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church No. 144-165
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“They left and became his
followers” (Mark
1:14-20)
Commentary by St Jerome (347––420),
Priest, Translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
(Homilies on the Gospel of Mark)
“Jesus said to them, ‘Come after me; I will make you fishers of men.’”
Happy transformation of fishing! Simon and Andrew are what Jesus caught
fishing…… These men are made similar to fish, caught by Christ, before
going themselves to catch other people. “They immediately abandoned
their nets and became his followers.” True faith knows no delay. As
soon as they heard him, they believed, they followed him, and they
became fishers. “They immediately abandoned their nets.” I think that
with those nets, they abandoned all the vices of the life of this
world……
“Proceeding a little farther along, he caught sight of James, Zebedee’s
son, and his brother John…… He summoned them on the spot. They
abandoned their father Zebedee, who was in the boat with the hired men,
and went off in his company.” You will tell me: faith is daring. What
indication did they have, what sublime characteristic had they noted
that made them follow him as soon as he called them? We realize that
evidently something divine came forth from Jesus’ gaze, from the
expression on his face, which incited those who looked at Jesus to turn
towards him…… Why am I saying all this? It is to show you that the
Lord’s word was active, and that through the least of his words, he was
working on his task: “He commanded and they were made.” (Ps 148:5) With
the same simplicity, he called and they followed……: “Hear, O daughter,
and see; turn your ear, forget your people and your father’’s house. So
shall the king desire your beauty.” (Ps 45:11-12)
Listen well, brother, and follow the path of the apostles; listen to
the Saviour’s voice, ignore your father according to the flesh and see
the true Father of your soul and your mind…… The apostles left their
father, left their boat, left all their riches of that time; they
abandoned the world and its countless riches; they renounced all that
they owned. However, God does not consider the mass of riches, but
rather the soul of the person who renounces them. Those people who left
only a few things would also have renounced a large fortune if the need
had arisen.
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Help me with your prayer. I want all of us within Holy Church to feel
that we are members of the same body, as the Apostle asks of us. I want
us to be vividly and profoundly aware, without any lack of interest, of
the joys, the troubles, the progress of our Mother who is one, holy,
catholic, apostolic, Roman. I want us to live as one, each of us
identified with the cares of the others, and all identified with Christ.
(The Forge, no.630)
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Monday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II
(January 23)
St Timothy
(died 97) was the son of a pagan father and a Hebrew-Christian mother,
Eunice. He was a disciple of St Paul and accompanied him in the
evangelization of many cities. St Paul consecrated him Bishop of
Ephesus. According to a fourth century story, he was beaten to death by
a mob when he opposed the observance of a pagan festival. (Saints)
St Titus
was also a friend and disciple of St Paul who ordained him Bishop of
Crete. (Saints)
St Paul wrote to these two disciples
three pastoral letters, which spoke of the structure of the Church.
Today let us
also think of St John the
Almsgiver (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
2 Samuel 5: 1-7,
10; Psalm 89: 20-22,
25-26; Mark 3: 22-30
And the teachers of the law who came
down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons
he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables:
“How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that
kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot
stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has
come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his
possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. I
tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is
guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an
evil spirit.”
(Mark 3:22-30
NIV)
In our
Gospel passage today we are confronted with a strange phenomenon. There in the
midst of the people and the scribes from Jerusalem was the all-holy Christ, God
himself, in whom there was, of course, not a trace of sin. Moreover he was
casting out demons. But what do we see some of the observers do? They accuse him
not merely of sin, but of being in active league with Satan!
(Mark 3: 22-30). How
could such a thing come to pass? It was because of sin, the sin that in this
case reigned in the minds of Christ’s accusers. It shows not only the real
presence of sin, but its great power.
We not
only see sin at work in Christ’s accusers. Our passage also presents us with
Christ’s words about Satan, in whom sin and pride and hatred of God reigns
without any possibility of diminution or repentance. It is well to wonder at the
terrible phenomenon of Satan and his angelic minions. Our Lord refers to them in
this passage as a kingdom and a household. Words such as these imply that Satan
and his fellow demons are organized in their hostile campaign against the
kingdom and the household of God. To think that God’s creatures could thus rebel
against him!
But of
course we should recognise that every time we deliberately
sin, we are aligning
ourselves with the scribes of this passage on the one hand and with Satan
on the other. That is to say, we must resolutely renounce sin and intrepidly
renew that renunciation daily and regularly in the Sacrament of Penance. Sin is
what Christ came to overcome. He has overcome it and broken its power. By prayer
and the grace of the Holy Spirit we must make the results of Christ’s work our
own. Let us then commit ourselves to Christ and have
nothing to do with Satan and with sin.
This is the will of God, St Paul writes, your sanctification. So then, now I
begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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His kingdom is indivisible and eternal
(Treatise on the
Gospel of Luke, 7, 91-92)
Commentary from St Ambrose (340-397),
Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
“If a kingdom is torn by civil strife, that kingdom cannot last.” Since
people said that he was expelling the demons with the help of
Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he wanted to show by this word that
his kingdom is indivisible and eternal. It was with good reason that he
also answered Pilate: “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” (Jn
18:36) Thus Jesus says of those who do not put their hope in Christ but
who think that the demons are expelled by the prince of demons, that
theirs is not an eternal kingdom… When faith is torn, how can the
divided kingdom survive? … If the kingdom of the Church must survive
eternally, it is because its faith is undivided, because it is one
body: “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of
all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all.” (Eph 4:5-6)
What a crazy sacrilege! Whereas the Son of God became flesh in order to
crush the impure spirits and to tear his booty away from the prince of
the world, and whereas, by sharing his spoils – which is the mark of
the conqueror – he also gave to human beings the power to destroy the
spirit of evil, some call the power of the devil to their aid. And yet
[as Luke says], it is “the finger of God” (Lk 11:20) or, as Matthew
says, “the Spirit of God” who expels the demons. By this, we understand
that the Kingdom of God is indivisible, just as a body is indivisible,
since Christ is the right hand of God and the Spirit seems to be
comparable to God’s finger.
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Convince yourself, my child, that lack of unity within the Church is
death.
(The Forge, no.631)
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Tuesday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II
(January 24) St
Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church (1567-1622).
Born in Thorens, Savoy (France). With apostolic zeal, St Francis de
Sales fought Calvinism. He was Bishop of Geneva. With St Frances
Fremyot de Chantal, he formed the Order of the Visitation. He wrote the
Introduction to the Devout Life,
a classic of spiritual direction, together with other works such as On the Love of God. He died in
Lyons and was canonized in 1655. In 1877 Pius IX proclaimed him Doctor
of the Church. Pius XI declared him to be Patron Saint of Journalists
and Other Writers. (Saints)
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Scripture today:
2 Samuel
6:12-15.17-19; Psalm 23;
Mark 3:31-35
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.
Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around
him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in
a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does
God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
(Mark 3:31-35
NIV)
As we think of the
great course of human history, we think also of the
ongoing course of human
thought as expressed especially in literature, philosophy and religion. Great
efforts have been put into understanding life and its meaning. Many of these
efforts have had a greater or lesser success, some have
been a dismal failure.
Ultimately, though, we notice in human thought profound differences of opinion
in the fundamental issues. The history of philosophy is a case in point.
Consider, for instance, the difference between the philosophy of Aristotle and
that of Nietzsche. Again, consider the differences in religion, such as that
between Islam and Buddhism. What does all this profound diversity and
disagreement point to? It surely points to man’s need of a divine Revelation,
man’s need for light from God. This light has come and is present in the person
and teaching of Christ, who is the light of the world.
Now the
surprising thing is that, while great mysteries
are included in this Revelation (as is to be expected, since it is divine),
astonishingly simple teaching is also included. Consider today’s Gospel
reading, in which our Lord receives a message
to the effect that his mother and his relatives were outside asking for him. He
looked around at those sitting before him and said, “Here are my mother and my
brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister
and mother” (Mark
3:31-35). We
have, in those simple words coming from the
Son of God himself, the key to ultimate success
in life. If only we do the will of God, we will
be close to God and God will look upon us as his own.
In the company of Jesus and, as it were, as part of his circle gathered around
him, let us endeavour to do the will of God in the ordinary things of daily
life, no matter what might be the cost.
(E.J.Tyler)
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His mother’s faith, his brothers’
faith: learning
from Mary, the “eucharistic” woman
Comment by Pope John Paul II (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, VI, 55)
In a certain sense Mary lived her Eucharistic faith even before the
institution of the Eucharist, by the very fact that she offered her
virginal womb for the Incarnation of God's Word. The Eucharist, while
commemorating the passion and resurrection, is also in continuity with
the incarnation. At the Annunciation Mary conceived the Son of God in
the physical reality of his body and blood, thus anticipating within
herself what to some degree happens sacramentally in every believer who
receives, under the signs of bread and wine, the Lord's body and blood.
As a result, there is a profound analogy between the Fiat which Mary
said in reply to the angel, and the Amen which every believer says when
receiving the body of the Lord. Mary was asked to believe that the One
whom she conceived “through the Holy Spirit” was “the Son of God” (Lk
1:30-35). In continuity with the Virgin's faith, in the Eucharistic
mystery we are asked to believe that the same Jesus Christ, Son of God
and Son of Mary, becomes present in his full humanity and divinity
under the signs of bread and wine. “Blessed is she who believed” (Lk
1:45).
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Pray to God that in the Holy Church, our Mother, the hearts of all may
be one heart, as they were in the earliest times of Christianity; so
that the words of Scripture may be truly fulfilled until the end of the
ages: the company of the faithful were all of one heart and one soul. I
am saying this to you in all seriousness: may this holy unity not come
to any harm through you. Take it to your prayer.
(The Forge, no.632)
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The Conversion of St Paul, Apostle.
(Wednesday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II)
(January
25) The conversion of Saul of
Tarsus, while he was on his way to Damascus, is one of the most
touching miracles in the history of the early Church. It shows us how
faith comes from grace and from man’s free cooperation. The doctrine of
the Mystical Body of Christ receives proof and a clear illustration
when Christ says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” We should
realize that the best way to hasten the unity of all Christians is to
foster our own daily personal conversion. (Saints)
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Scripture today:
Acts
22:3-16 or Acts
9:1-22; Psalm 117: 1bc,
2; Mark 16: 15-18.
Then Paul said: “I am a Jew, born in
Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly
trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you
are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both
men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the
Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in
Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be
punished. About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from
heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me,
‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.” ‘I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. My companions saw the
light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into
Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ My
companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light
had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of
the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me
and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able
to see him. Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his
will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be
his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you
waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
(Acts 22:3-16
NIV)
Alternative account:
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out
murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and
asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any
there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as
prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light
from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to
him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I
am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the
city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men
travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did
not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he
could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he
was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. In Damascus there was a disciple
named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he
answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and
ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen
a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the
harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with
authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the
Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name
before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show
him how much he must suffer for my name.” Then Ananias went to the house and
entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus,
who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that
you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something
like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was
baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent
several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the
synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished
and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call
on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief
priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in
Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
(Acts 9:1-22
NIV)
Conversion is often considered simply as a turning away from sin. It is this,
of
course, but the sense of conversion as a turning away from falsehood to the
truth is often completely forgotten.
When we speak of the conversion of St Paul
(Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22),
we do not
think primarily of his turning away from the darkness of sin as from the
darkness of error. He regarded Jesus as an impostor
and rejected the claim that he was the Messiah, let alone the Lord (God).
Accordingly he fought the Church and its claims about Jesus. His conversion was
a triumph of the truth due to the power of grace, and it shows the priority of
the truth in God’s action and in human endeavour. It also shows what havoc error
brings, because it was due to his errors that
St Paul was doing such damage to the Church. We ought pray not only that we will
constantly turn away from sin, but also that we
will know how to constantly shun doctrinal
error.
The
conversion of St Paul also bears witness to a very specific truth to which St
Paul was converted. For many years now we have heard in one form or another the
cry: Christ yes, the Church no! That is to say, many are quite prepared to
accept Christ but wish to reject the Church. In the conversion of St Paul Christ
identifies himself with the Church and asks Saul why he is persecuting him. “I
am Jesus of Nazareth, and you are persecuting me.” Saul’s rejection
of, and attack on the
Church, are actions directed against the person of Jesus. The truth is
that the Church has a mysterious identification with the divine person of Jesus
while remaining a very human community. The Church is the spouse of Christ, and
is one Body with him. The Church is his creation. Furthermore, if the Church is
rejected, then its teaching about Christ is
rejected to a greater or lesser extent. All too often the result of the cry: the
Church, no! is that the truth of Christ is in effect rejected, abandoned, lost.
If we wish to give our yes to Christ, we must give it to the Church, for the
revealed truth about Christ comes from what is uttered and taught by the Church.
Paul attacked and harassed the Church because of its teaching on Christ.
Christ’s intervention and encounter with Paul led to his conversion to the
doctrine not only of Christ but of the Church. He saw that the Church is the
body of Christ – that what was done to the Church was done to Christ. Let us use
the thought of the conversion of St Paul to renew our commitment to the truth of
Christ and his Church.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Isn’t this the man who was
persecuting us?”
(Acts
9:1-22)
Commentary from St Cyril of
Jerusalem (313-350), Bishop of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church
(Baptismal Catechesis 10)
“It is not ourselves we preach but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves
as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Cor 4:5) So who is this witness
who is preaching Christ? The one who previously was persecuting him.
How marvellous! The former persecutor is now here preaching Christ.
Why? Was he bought? But there is nobody who could have persuaded him in
this way. Did the sight of Christ on this earth blind him? Jesus had
already been raised up to heaven. Saul had gone out from Jerusalem to
persecute the Church of Christ, and three days later, in Damascus, the
persecutor had been transformed into a preacher. What had influenced
him? Other people quote members of their party as witnesses for their
friends. But I, on the contrary, have brought you a former enemy as a
witness.
Do you still doubt? The testimony of Peter and of John is great, but ……
they were people from the house. When the witness is a former enemy, a
man who later will die for Christ’s sake, who could still doubt the
value of his testimony? I admire the Holy Spirit’s plan……: he lets
Paul, the former persecutor, write his fourteen letters…… Since his
teaching could not be contested, the Holy Spirit had him who was
previously the enemy and the persecutor write more than Peter and John.
That is how our faith can be strengthened for all of us. For concerning
Paul, everyone was stupefied: “Isn’t this the man we was persecuting
us? Did he not come here purposely to apprehend us?” (cf. Acts 9:21)
Don’t be stupefied, Paul says. I know very well for myself that “it is
hard to kick against the goad.” (Acts 26:14) “Because I persecuted the
church of God, I do not deserve the name apostle.” (1 Cor 15:9)
“Because I did not know what I was doing in my unbelief, I have been
treated mercifully, and the grace of our Lord has been granted me in
overflowing measure.” (1 Tim 1:13-14)
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Faithfulness to the Pope includes a clear and definite duty: that of
knowing his thoughts, which he tells us in Encyclicals or other
documents. We have to do our part to help all Catholics pay attention
to the teaching of the Holy Father and bring their everyday behaviour
into line with it.
(The Forge, no.633)
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Thursday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II
(August 26) Australia Day.
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Scripture today:
2 Samuel
7:18-19.24-29;
;
Mark
4:21-25
Then
King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: “Who am I, O Sovereign
LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this
were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the
future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man,
O Sovereign LORD?
You have established your people Israel
as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God. And now, LORD
God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his
house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever. Then men
will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant
David will be established before you. O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have
revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your
servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. O Sovereign LORD, you are
God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your
servant. Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue
forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your
blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”
(2 Samuel 7:18-19.24-29
NIV)
In the
first reading for Thursday of the third week of Ordinary Time
(2 Samuel 7:18-19.24-29),
David responds in praise and thanksgiving to the astounding
revelation of God’s promise to him and to his House. God had promised him that
his throne and his House would last forever. It was a prospect far beyond
David’s wildest dreams, and all he can do in our passage is humbly ask that God
will keep to his promise. Little did David know the true extent and greatness of
what God intended for his throne and his House. From him and from his House
would come the Saviour of the world, the Incarnate God, and from his House would
come the Catholic and Universal Church. But let us learn from David’s words and
sentiments. Just as David marvelled at what God planned to do for him, we ought
learn to appreciate what God has done for us. Just as David did, let us ask for
the grace to submit to God’s plan and let us pray that it be fulfilled in us.
To begin
with, in Christ God has taken us out of the realm of darkness and placed us in
his Kingdom of light. Our Lord said of John the
Baptist that no one born of woman was greater than he, but the least in the
Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he – Our Lord is making the point about the
greatness of the Kingdom, and we are privileged to be children of this Kingdom.
We, each of us who are baptized and are members
of the Catholic Church which Christ founded, could
easily have passed our entire lives not sharing in this inestimable blessing. So
many millions have not this blessing; they do
not and will not have it. The blessing is to be in Christ and to have Christ in
us, our hope of glory. We share in the life of grace, which is the life of God
while here on earth, preparing us to be engulfed in it for eternity.
Let us then fill our minds with all that God has done for us, just as David did.
He did not receive in his lifetime what we have received. As our Lord told his
disciples, “Many kings and prophets longed to
see what you see and never saw it!” However,
let us learn from his sentiments as expressed in our passage today, and let us
also resolve to live up to our high vocation of being in Christ. Our calling is
to be another Christ. As St Paul writes, “It is
not I who live but Christ who lives in
me.”
(E.J.Tyler)
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Being a lamp on the lamp
stand (Mark
4:21-25)
Commentary from Paul VI,
Pope 1963 –– 1978 (Evangelii Nuntiandi,
70)
Lay people, whose particular vocation places them in the midst of the
world and in charge of the most varied temporal tasks, must for this
very reason exercise a very special form of evangelization.
Their primary and immediate task is not to establish and develop the
ecclesial community — this is the specific role of the pastors — but to
put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility latent but
already present and active in the affairs of the world. Their own field
of evangelizing activity is the vast and complicated world of politics,
society and economics, but also the world of culture, of the sciences
and the arts, of international life, of the mass media. It also
includes other realities which are open to evangelization, such as
human love, the family, the education of children and adolescents,
professional work, suffering. The more Gospel-inspired lay people there
are engaged in these realities, clearly involved in them, competent to
promote them and conscious that they must exercise to the full their
Christian powers which are often buried and suffocated, the more these
realities will be at the service of the kingdom of God and therefore of
salvation in Jesus Christ, without in any way losing or sacrificing
their human content but rather pointing to a transcendent dimension
which is often disregarded.
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I pray every day with all my heart that God may give us the gift of
tongues. Such a gift of tongues does not mean knowing a number of
languages, but knowing how to adapt oneself to the capacities of one’s
hearers. It’s not a question of “simplifying the message to get through
to the masses”, but of speaking words of wisdom in clear Christian
speech that all can understand. This is the gift of tongues that I ask
of Our Lord and of his Holy Mother for all their children.
(The Forge, no.634)
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Friday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II
(January 27) St
Angela Merici, virgin (1470-1540). St Angela was born in
northern Italy. In 1516, she founded the Order of the Ursulines, the
first teaching order for women approved by the Church. Italy then was
rife with violence and open immorality. St Angela believed that the
formation of Christian women is society’s greatest need. (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
2 Samuel
11:1-4.5-10.13-17; Psalm 51: 3-7,
10-11;
Mark 4:26-30.
He also said, “This is what the kingdom
of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he
sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All
by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the
full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it,
because the harvest has come.” Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of
God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?”
(Mark 4:26-30
NIV)
Our Lord
constantly stressed faith and he looked out for it. Now, there are various
phenomena that can tempt one to abandon one’s faith. One is what might appear to
be divine inactivity. One hopes in God and hopes that he will act, and yet all
the while God can appear to be silent and doing nothing about the problem or the
evil one is enduring. St John the Baptist pointed Our Lord out to his disciples
as the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Yet we read in the
Gospel how, some little while after our Lord
began his public ministry, John sent his
disciples to ask him if he really was the One who was to come. Clearly, John saw
nothing that pointed to this. The phenomenon before him did not represent the
divine activity that he expected. Our Lord in reply pointed to what he was
doing, and sent the message that the one who did not stumble at what they saw in
him would be blessed.
Our Lord
in our Gospel passage today (Mark 4:26-30)
uses parables to show that, just as in nature
growth is real, constant, and yet imperceptible, so too the same pattern is
present with the Kingdom of God. The phenomenon may seem to be one of inactivity
but this is not so. The seed is constantly sprouting and growing – how, the
sower does not know. So too the mustard seed, the smallest of the seeds, grows
to become the biggest shrub of them all. God’s reign (in the person of Jesus) is
like that. Our Lord is speaking of the action of God in human hearts and in the
course of the world drawing man and creation to him. Christ’s message and his
gift is that of grace and its work. Our hope lies in the hidden action of God’s
grace, whatever be the appearances. Whatever be the apparent lack
of fruit in our efforts to serve God, if we
truly serve him in union with our Lord, those efforts will bear fruit. If our
efforts do not have the apparent results we would like, let us leave the
appearances to God. Our hope lies in the power and presence of God’s grace.
Let us resolve to believe in God’s reality – that he is present and that he is
God. That is to say, let us resolve to be persons of unfailing faith in the
almighty power and loving mercy of God. He is always present and active in our
humble efforts for him, whatever be the phenomena, whatever be the appearances.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Sown into the ground (Mark 4:26-30) Comment from The Letter of Diogenet
(around 200) VI
Christians are in the world what the soul is in the body. The soul is
spread forth in all the members of the body just as the Christians are
in the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body and yet it is
not the body, just as the Christians dwell in the world but are not of
the world (Jn 17:16). Invisible, the soul is kept as a prisoner in a
visible body. The same is true of the Christians. It can be seen that
they are in the world, but the worship they give God remains invisible.
Although the soul has not harmed the body, the flesh detests the soul
and wages war on it, because the soul prevents the body from enjoying
pleasures. In the same way, the world detests the Christians, though
they do it no harm, because they are opposed to its pleasures. The soul
loves this flesh, which detests it, as well as its members, just as the
Christians love those who detest them.
The soul is enclosed in the body; yet it is the soul that upholds the
body. The Christians are like people held in the prison of the world;
yet it is they who uphold the world. Immortal, the soul dwells in a
mortal tent. Thus, the Christians camp in what is corruptible, while
waiting for the celestial incorruptibility (1 Cor 15:50)…… The post God
has assigned them is so noble that they are not permitted to desert.
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A few are wicked, and many are ignorant: that is how the enemy of God
and of the Church reigns. Let us confound the wicked, and enlighten the
minds of the ignorant. With the help of God, and with our effort, we
will save the world.
(The Forge, no.635)
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Saturday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II
(January 28) St
Thomas Aquinas, Dominican priest and doctor of the Church
(1224-1274). He was educated at the Abbey of Monte Cassino and at the
University of Naples. In about 1244 he joined the Dominican Order.
Considered one of the greatest philosophers and theologians of all
time, St Thomas gained the title of “Angelic Doctor”. He had an
undisputed mastery of scholastic theology and a profound holiness of
life. Pope Leo XIII declared him Patron of Catholic Schools. His
monumental work, the Summa Theologiae, was still unfinished when he
died. (Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
2 Samuel 12:1-7.10-17; Psalm 51: 12-17;
Mark 4:35-41
The LORD
sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a
certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number
of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he
had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared
his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter
to him. Now a
traveller came to the rich man, but the rich
man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for
the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged
to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned
with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the
man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over,
because he did such a thing and had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You
are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you
king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
Now, therefore, the sword will never
depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your own.’ This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household
I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your
wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives
in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad
daylight before all Israel.’” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against
the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going
to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show
utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” After Nathan had gone home, the
LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and
spent the nights lying on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside
him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food
with them.
(2 Sam. 12:1-7.10-17
NIV)
In
yesterday’s reading from the Second Book of Samuel
(2 Samuel 11:1-10.13-17) we
were presented with the account of a terrible crime perpetrated by David. He
committed adultery on the one hand and then proceeded to orchestrate in secret
the murder of Uriah, the woman’s husband. He then married the woman. It brought
down on him the condemnation of Nathan the prophet, and the punishment of
God (2 Sam.
12:1-7.10-17). There was no excuse.
It was an heinous crime, though done in secret.
Let us remember that God sees all, and even if in the eyes of the world a
person’s serious sins are unknown, God’s judgment and punishment will come.
That, perhaps, is the immediate lesson to be drawn from the incident the
inspired text describes.
But
there is another extremely important detail. Let us put it in a different
context. We remember how when Samuel confronted Saul for disobeying the
directive of God, Saul initially denied he had disobeyed
God. He evaded the
acknowledgment of his sin, and one gets the
impression that Saul was very slow to repent, if he ever truly repented at all.
But in David’s case, we see an immediate and full repentance on being accused of
sin by Nathan the prophet: “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the
Lord.’” That it was a genuine and heartfelt
repentance, even if
immediate, is indicated by Nathan’s answer, speaking on behalf of God:
“The Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. ...Yet ... the
child that is born to you is to die”
(2 Samuel 12:1-7.10-17).
It is this immediate readiness humbly to acknowledge his sin and to
repent, that deserves our attention and
emulation. It is one of David’s distinguishing characteristics, and it is one of
the distinguishing deficiencies of our age. It has often been pointed out that
the sin of our age is the lack of a sense of sin.
Characteristically, we moderns find it hard to acknowledge in God’s
presence our sins.
The words of Nathan reveal God’s hatred of sin, but they also reveal God’s
readiness to forgive if we repent. Let us resolve then to cultivate the virtue
of repentance by a regular and humble recognition of our sins, acknowledging
them sincerely in the presence of God, and seeking his pardon in prayerful acts
of Contrition and in sacramental Confession.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Beaten by the wind and the waves
(Mark 4:35-41)
Comment by St Augustine
(354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 63, 1-3)
With the Lord’s grace, I am going to talk to you about today’s gospel.
With God’s help, I also want to encourage you not to let faith sleep in
your hearts in the midst of the storms and swells of this world.
Without any doubt, the Lord Jesus Christ exercised his power over sleep
no less than over death, and when he was sailing on the lake, the
Almighty could not succumb to sleep if he did not want to do so. If you
think he did not have this power, it is because Christ is asleep in
you. If on the contrary, Christ is awake in you, your faith is also
awake. The apostle Paul said: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through
faith.” (Eph 3:17)
So Christ’s sleep is the sign of a mystery. The people in the boat
represent the souls that go through the life of this world on the wood
of the cross. Furthermore, the boat is a figure of the Church. Yes,
truly, all the faithful are temples where God dwells, and the heart of
each one of them is a boat sailing on the sea. It cannot go down if the
mind maintains good thoughts. You have been insulted: it is the wind
that is whipping you. You became angry: it is the rising tide. Thus,
when the wind is whistling and the tide is rising, the boat is in
danger. Your heart is in danger, it is shaken by the waves. The insult
aroused in you the desire for vengeance. And you took vengeance, thus
giving way to the fault of another, and you were shipwrecked. Why?
Because Christ went to sleep in you, that is to say, you forgot Christ.
So awaken Christ, remember Christ, may Christ awaken in you. Think of
him.
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We have to try to ensure that in all fields of intellectual activity
there are upright people, people with a true Christian conscience, who
are consistent in their lives, who can use the weapons of knowledge in
the service of humanity and of the Church. Their presence will be
necessary because in the world there will always be, as there were when
Jesus came on earth, new Herods who try to make use of knowledge
— even
if they have to falsify it — to persecute Christ and those who belong
to him. What a great task we have ahead of us!
(The Forge, no.636)
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Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time B
Today let us
think of St. Gildas the Wise
(Saints)
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Scripture: Deuteronomy
18:15-20; Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-9; 1
Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28
They went to Capernaum, and when the
Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were
amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as
the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by
an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you
come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said
Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and
came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked
each other, “What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives
orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over
the whole region of Galilee.
(Mark 1:21-28
NIV)
It is
often observed that when we look ahead time seems to move slowly, and when we
look back, time seems to have passed very quickly. Usually when we look back on
the day, it seems to have passed quickly, so too with the past week, the past
month, the past year. When we come to the end of our lives, the whole
of our
life will seem to have passed quickly and we shall wonder what we have done with
it. Life is short, and we had better learn this quickly because eternity is very
long. During life we often think of the future so as to prepare for it. Parents
choose a school for their children in view of their future. Students study with
a view to their future exams and their future careers. A young couple prepares
for their future marriage and their future family. A man embarks on a career
path in view of a future he hopes will be his. People save and contribute to
superannuation in view of their future retirement. And yet a great many people
do not think of their future beyond death – and that future is the real future
which will never end. Everything depends on what our future will be then. Then
our present state will seem a brief flash of time, and yet we will recognise
clearly how all-important it was. Everything, our entire eternity, depends on
how we live this brief flash of time which we call our life.
What is
it that awaits the person after death? What awaits him will pivot on whether he
has been faithful to the dictates of his conscience and to the commandments of
God as Christ and the Church teach them. Immediately after death there is the
judgment of God, following which the soul is either saved forever or lost
forever. If a person is saved, there would normally be a purification in
Purgatory from all the effects of sin before being admitted in an entirely holy
state into the presence of God forever. On admission into the definitive
presence of God the bliss of heaven begins, the bliss of being face to face with
the God who is infinite love, goodness and beauty. It will mean being engulfed
in total happiness forever. Our life will have been a success if it results in
gaining heaven. It will have been a catastrophic failure if it results in the
loss of heaven. Our merit and place in heaven will depend on the degree to which
we have loved and obeyed God on earth, and the degree to which we have led
others to God and to heaven. In view of this we have an awesome responsibility
to save our own souls and the souls of others.
In
heaven our souls will be with God and with the saints and angels till the end of
time when we receive our glorified bodies back again. During that period between
our death and the end of time we shall spend our time in heaven enjoying the
company of God and of all in heaven, and with the angels and saints praying
fervently to God for those still on earth. Then, at
the end of time, Christ will come again to
judge the living and the dead, and of his kingdom there will then be no end.
Heaven and Hell will be made the final place for those who deserve the one or
the other. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth, yes, a new earth,
transformed and glorified as our final home ,just
as our bodies will have been transformed and glorified in some mysterious and
wonderful sense. All will be utter happiness and love. We will live forever in a
new heaven and a new earth in which every tear will have been wiped away. We
find it almost impossible to imagine a place and a state of utter happiness
because it is completely beyond our experience. Here
on earth our times and moments of happiness are limited and mixed with
unhappiness. But there in heaven every trace of sorrow will be gone in a new
heaven and a new earth, transformed and purified of all that is not the joy and
goodness of God. It will last forever and forever, such that however far in the
future we will be with God in this heavenly joy, there will still be an eternity
of it ahead.
Let us think of our final home a lot. How can we get there? In our Gospel we
read of Christ in conflict with Satan (Mark 1:21-28).
We must make a choice between Christ and Satan, between the love of God and love
of self and sin. We gain heaven by following our Lord very closely, by trying to
put on the mind and heart of Christ. Now not I, St Paul writes, but Christ lives
in me. Christ is in you, St Paul writes, your hope of glory. So then, let us so
live that Christ lives in us now, in order to live in us forever where there
will be the new heaven and the new earth, world without end.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“A completely new teaching in a spirit
of authority!” (Mark 1:21-28)
Comment by St Bonaventure (1221-1274),
Franciscan priest, bishop, cardinal, Doctor of the Church
Sermon ‘Christus unus omnium magister’
“Only one is your teacher, the Messiah.” (Mt 23:10)…… For Christ is
“the reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the
Father’s being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (Heb
1:3) He is the origin of all wisdom. The Word of God in the heights is
the source of wisdom. Christ is the source of all true knowledge, for
he is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14:6)…… As way, Christ is
the teacher and the origin of knowledge according to faith…… That is
why Peter teaches in his second letter: “We possess the prophetic
message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely
fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place.” (1:19)……
For through his coming in the spirit, Christ is the origin of all
revelation, and through his coming in the flesh, he is the
strengthening of all authority.
He comes first in the spirit as the revealing light of every prophetic
vision. According to Daniel: “He reveals deep and hidden things and
knows what is in the darkness, for the light dwells with him.” (2:22)
This is the light of divine wisdom, which is in Christ. According to
John, Christ said: “I am the light of the world. No follower of mine
shall ever walk in darkness” (8:12), and “While you have the light,
keep faith in the light; thus you will become sons of light.” (12:36)……
Without this light which is Christ, no one can penetrate the secrets of
faith. And that is why we read in the Book of Wisdom: “O God, send
forth that Wisdom from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne
dispatch her that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know
what is your pleasure…… For what man knows God’s counsel, or who can
conceive what the Lord intends?” (9:10-13) No one can come to the
certainty of revealed faith except through Christ’s coming in the
spirit and the flesh.
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In your work with souls
— and all your activity should be work with
souls — be filled with faith, with hope, with love, because all the
difficulties will be overcome. To confirm this truth for us, the
Psalmist wrote: You, O Lord, will laugh at them: You will bring them to
nothing. These words confirm those other words: the enemies of God
shall not prevail. They will not have any power against the Church, nor
against those who serve the Church as instruments of God.
(The Forge, no.637)
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Monday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(January 30)
Today let us
think of St Hyacinthe
Mariscotti
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
2 Samuel 15:13-14.30; 16:5-13; Psalm 3: 2-7;
Mark 5:1-20
They went across the lake to the region
of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came
from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind
him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and
foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was
strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he
would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he
ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice,
“What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that
you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you
evil spirit!” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he
replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them
out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The
demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave
them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd,
about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were
drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and
countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to
Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting
there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen
it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man – and told about
the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their
region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed
begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family
and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on
you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had
done for him. And all the people were amazed.
(Mark 5:1-20
NIV)
Today
we have a long and beautiful Gospel passage to contemplate, the passage
describing Our Lord’s visit to the country of the Gerasenes. One gets the
impression of a region in which Satan had been
fairly undisturbed till this
point, for at Christ’s encounter with the possessed man the unclean spirits beg
him “not to send them out of the district.” The
implication is that they have made their home there. Our text presents us with a
man possessed by many devils – ‘My name is legion, for there are many of us,’
answered he unclean spirit who was “legion’s” spokesman. This possession placed
the man beyond all human restraint or help. Night and day among the tombs and
the mountains he was beside himself in constant suffering, howling and gashing
himself with stones (Mark 5:1-20).
The prospects changed with the arrival of Jesus, and the unclean
sprits knew it. The spirits immediately
acknowledged the power and the holiness of Jesus, and appealed to Jesus to let
them be.
What
does all this reveal? It surely reveals what was happening on a broader and even
cosmic scale. The world, broken and held in thrall by Satan and his devils was
witnessing the arrival and the redeeming activity of the all-powerful and
all-holy One. The Messiah had arrived on the scene and Satan knew his stay and
hold on the world was ultimately coming to an end. So,
on the one hand we have the beautiful figure of Jesus who displays his
powerful love for the possessed man. On the other hand we have Satan and his
“unclean” evil spirits. Christ frees the man from the power of the demons who
possess him. We notice too how even our Lord’s treatment of the devils is
somewhat gentle, acceding to their desperate request that they be allowed to go
into the herd of pigs and make their home there. Their stay in the pigs did not
last long, for the pigs were driven to their death as a result. Then when our
Lord is asked to leave by the local inhabitants he allows that request too. Our
Lord in all his power is, we might say, the divine and very human gentleman.
Let us contemplate the humility, the love and the meekness of Jesus who is at
the same time all-powerful. Let us make our choice for Jesus, rejecting all that
pertains to Satan. Pope Benedict XVI’s first Encyclical was on God is Love. It
is a truth written all across the pages of the Gospel and shining forth in the
face of Jesus. Let us learn from Jesus, and let
his Spirit inform all we do in the life of the Church and in the life of
Society.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Go home to your family and make it
clear to them how much the Lord in his mercy has done for you.” (Mark 5:1-20) Commentary from the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Lumen Gentium, 17
As the Son was sent by the Father (cf. Jn 20:21), so he too sent the
apostles, saying: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you. And behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the
world" (Mt 21:18-20). The Church has received this solemn mandate of
Christ to proclaim the saving truth from the apostles and must carry it
out to the very ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). Wherefore she makes
the words of the Apostle her own: "Woe to me, if I do not preach the
Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16), and continues unceasingly to send heralds of the
Gospel until such time as the infant churches are fully established and
can themselves continue the work of evangelizing. For the Church is
compelled by the Holy Spirit to do her part that God's plan may be
fully realized, whereby he has constituted Christ as the source of
salvation for the whole world. By the proclamation of the Gospel she
prepares her hearers to receive and profess the faith. She gives them
the dispositions necessary for Baptism, snatches them from the slavery
of error and of idols and incorporates them in Christ so that through
charity they may grow up into full maturity in Christ. Through her
work, whatever good is in the minds and hearts of men, whatever good
lies latent in the religious practices and cultures of diverse peoples,
is not only saved from destruction but is also cleansed, raised up and
perfected unto the glory of God, the confusion of the devil and the
happiness of man. The obligation of spreading the faith is imposed on
every disciple of Christ, according to his state. Although, however,
all the faithful can baptize, the priest alone can complete the
building up of the Body in the Eucharistic sacrifice. Thus are
fulfilled the words of God, spoken through his prophet: "From the
rising of the sun until the going down thereof my name is great among
the gentiles, and in every place a clean oblation is sacrificed and
offered up in my name" (Mal 1:11). In this way the Church both prays
and labours in order that the entire world may become the People of
God, the body of the Lord and the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that
in Christ, the head of all, all honour and glory may be rendered to the
Creator and Father of the universe.
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Our holy Mother the Church, in a magnificent outpouring of love, is
scattering the seed of the Gospel throughout the world; from Rome to
the outposts of the earth. As you help in this work of expansion
throughout the whole world, bring those in the outposts to the Pope, so
that the earth may be one flock and one Shepherd: one apostolate!
(The Forge, no.638)
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Tuesday
of the fourth week of Ordinary Time II
(January 31) St
John Bosco, priest (1815-1888). St John Bosco founded the
Salesian Society, named in honour of St Francis de Sales, and the
Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians. His lifework was the welfare of
young boys and girls, hence his title “Apostle of Youth. He had no
formal system or theory of education. His methods centred on
persuasion, authentic religiosity, and love for young people. He was an
enlightened educator and innovator.
(Saints)
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Particular Day
Scripture today:
2 Samuel
18:9-10.14.24-25.30-19:3; Psalm 86: 1-6;
Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had again crossed over by
boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he
was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there.
Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little
daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be
healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed
around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve
years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had
spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard
about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because
she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her
bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the
crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against
you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus
kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had
happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him
the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in
peace and be freed from your suffering.” While Jesus was still speaking, some
men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,”
they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus
told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone
follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to
the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and
wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and
wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he
put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who
were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said
to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ).
Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At
this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone
know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
(Mark 5:21-43
NIV)
In our
Gospel today we are presented with a succession of events that depended for
their success on something absolutely fundamental for the following of Christ:
faith – faith in his person and word. Jairus the synagogue official came to
Jesus, pleading with him to come and cure his
desperately ill daughter, who in the event
died. Then, while they were on the way
there, a sick woman in the crowd secretly
reached out and touched our Lord’s cloak, convinced that if she did so she would
be healed. She was instantly cured of her complaint and our Lord told her why
she had been healed: her faith had saved her
(Mark 5:21-43).
Then when they arrived at the house and discovered that the girl had died, Jesus
assured the official, “Do not be afraid, only have faith.” He then raised her to
life.
The
passage teaches us in dramatic and concrete fashion
that, in the plan of God, our benefiting
from the blessings that come to us through the person and work of his
Son normally depend on
faith — faith in his person and in his word.
When our Lord was about to ascend into heaven, he
charged his disciples to go throughout the world and make disciples of all the
nations – believers, that is. They were to bring the world to belief in him, to
faith. Now, we can sometimes take this priceless possession, our own faith in
Jesus, very much for granted. We ought always remember that we have received it
as a gift. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit received at our baptism and since
then strengthened by numerous supernatural aids. It actually inclines us to
believe in Jesus and to accept his word. Due to God’s gift we tend to faith. But
were it not for this divine help, our fallen
condition would incline us to depend simply on our own resources and (fallen)
intellect. This in turn would tend to take us in the direction of religious
scepticism.
Let us remember too, that our faith can easily
remain at a mediocre level, largely neglected and unexercised, and in danger of
a serious decline. On the other hand it can be fanned into the flame God intends
it to be and thus be the foundation for real holiness. Let us then learn from
our Gospel today how fundamental our faith is for our entire relationship with
God. Your faith has saved you, our Lord told the woman. Our prospects of an
eternity with Jesus depend on this faith that
we have been given as a gift. Let us then resolutely cultivate it and in our
daily life strive to share it with others.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Taking her hand he said to her, ……
'Get up'." (Mark 5:21-43)
Commentary on
Saint John IV, by St
Cyril of Alexandria (380-444), Bishop, Doctor of the Church
Even in raising people from the dead, the Saviour is not content with
acting solely by means of his word, although it is the bearer of divine
commands. If I might put it this way, he takes his own flesh as
collaborator in this magnificent work, so as to show that it has the
power to give life and to make visible that it is entirely one with
him. For it is really his own flesh and not a foreign body. That is
what happened when he raised the synagogue official’s daughter. When he
told her: “My child, get up!” he took her by the hand. As God, he gave
her life through an almighty commandment, and he also gave her life
through the contact with his holy flesh, thus testifying that one
single divine power was at work in his body and in his word. In the
same way again, when he came to the village of Naim where they were
burying the only son of a widow, he touched the coffin saying: “Young
man, I bid you get up.” (Lk 7:13-17)
Thus, he not only gives his word the power to raise the dead, but in
order to show that his body is life-giving, he also touches the dead,
and by his flesh he causes life to pass into their dead bodies. If the
simple contact with his sacred flesh gives back life to a body that is
decomposing, how great a profit will we find in his life-giving
Eucharist, when we make it our food? It will totally transform those
who will have taken part in it into what is his own, that is to say,
into immortality.
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We want Christ to reign! All the glory to God! This ideal of warring
and winning with Christ’s weapons will only become a reality with
prayer and sacrifice, through faith and Love. Well then: pray, believe,
suffer, Love!
(The Forge, no.639)
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