September1 in Year C 10

From Twenty-second week to Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

Click on any date to go to the Thought for that Day

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

Pope Benedict's general intention for September is: "That in less developed parts of the world the proclamation of the Word of God may renew people’s hearts, encouraging them to work actively toward authentic social progress."

His mission intention is: "That by opening our hearts to love we may put an end to the numerous wars and conflicts which continue to bloody our world. "

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(September 1) St. Giles (d. 710?)
Despite the fact that much about St. Giles is shrouded in mystery, we can say that he was one of the most popular saints in the Middle Ages. Likely, he was born in the first half of the 7th century in southeastern France. That is where he built a monastery that became a popular stopping-off point for pilgrims making their way to Compostela in Spain and the Holy Land. In England, many ancient churches and hospitals were dedicated to Giles. One of the sections of the city of Brussels is named after him. In Germany, Giles was included among the so-called 14 Holy Helpers, a popular group of saints to whom people prayed, especially for recovery from disease and for strength at the hour of death. Also among the 14 were Saints Christopher, Barbara and Blase. Interestingly, Giles was the only non-martyr among them. Devotion to the "Holy Helpers" was especially strong in parts of Germany and in Hungary and Sweden. Such devotion made his popularity spread. Giles was soon invoked as the patron of the poor and the disabled. The pilgrimage centre that once drew so many fell into disrepair some centuries after Giles' death. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9; Psalm 32; Luke 4:38-44

Jesus

left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, You are the Son of God! But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4: 38-44)

Son of God! Our passage today is from the Gospel of St Luke, and one of the distinctive features of this Gospel is the extensive Infancy narrative it contains. There is twice as much given on the Infancy in Luke than that provided in the Gospel of St Matthew, and it is not hard to divine that Mary is the principal source, whether directly or indirectly. The birth, the mission and the titles of Jesus are introduced by the Angel Gabriel in his address to Mary. The Angel announces to her that she is to

conceive a son whose name will be Jesus. He will be great. What is to be observed is that the first of the titles the Angel gives to him is precisely “the Son of the Most High.” The second is that of Messiah-King, ruling over God’s people in an eternal kingdom. While the chosen people expected the coming of the Messiah, the first and foremost thing which the Angel announces is that Jesus will be the Son of the Highest One. At Mary’s puzzlement in view of her virginity, he emphasizes the point again: “the Holy One to be born will be called Son of God” (Luke1: 32-35). The words of Elizabeth, inspired by the Spirit, may be seen as a vague allusion to this exalted title: “How is it that I am visited by the mother of my Lord?” Christ’s title of Son of God came in the first instance from the Angel Gabriel speaking on God’s behalf. It was a revelation from heaven delivered to Mary his mother. This same revelation is made once again in the Infancy narrative, and this time it comes from the lips of Jesus Christ himself. At the end of their three days’ search, Mary and Joseph found the boy Jesus in the Temple with the doctors. His reply to their exclamation is profoundly revealing, and doubtless is the reason why Mary reported it, and why Luke recorded it. “Why were you seeking me?” Jesus said to them. “Did you not know that I had to be about my Father’s matters (en tois to patros mou)?” From his earliest years Christ had the same consciousness of being the Son of God that he displayed and revealed during his public ministry. Jesus spoke of God as his own Father, and his last breath was a final cry to God under this distinctive title (Luke 23:46).

This, then, is the principal thing about Jesus Christ. He is not the Son of God because he is the Messiah, but if anything, he is the Messiah because he is the Son of God. His divine sonship is the greatest and most fundamental thing about Jesus of Nazareth — and it is the point where there is a parting of the ways. The title “sons of God” was not uncommon in the Old Testament. It referred at times to angels, at times to human judges or rulers, at times to the ruler of Israel, at times to Israel as a people. It was a title used in the pagan world too. But Christ’s use of the title was utterly unique. “Before Abraham ever was,” he said, “I am.” “I and the Father are one,” he claimed. In 42 BCE, Julius Caesar was formally deified as "the divine Julius" (divus Iulius). His adopted son, Octavian (better known by the title "Augustus" given to him 15 years later, in 27 BC) thus became known as "divi Iuli filius" (son of the divine Julius) or simply "divi filius" (son of the Divine One), because of being the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He used this title to advance his political position. But of course all that was meant was that he was the son of a god, a deified ancestor. Christ, though, claimed to be the only Son of the one and only God. Nothing like this had been heard of or imagined in the history of God’s chosen people, and there was no exact parallel to it in the vagaries of polytheism, be they Roman, Greek, Egyptian, or whatever. The leaders of the Jews saw perfectly clearly that, in speaking of God as his own personal Father, Jesus was making himself equal to God, and so they sought even the more to kill him (John 5:18). The point is that this is and was the pre-eminent fact about Jesus of Nazareth, and the devils in our Gospel scene today were wide awake to it. We read that “When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, You are the Son of God! But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ” (Luke 23:46).

The entire underworld was filled with consternation at this new Arrival. They were now confronted with One who transcended all, and before whom they were powerless. The broken and suffering world, ultimately the work of Satan and sin, was now being re-shaped by a hand stronger than any other force in the universe. Jesus Christ was and is all-powerful because he is the Son of the living God, equal to the Father, and sharing fully the Father’s nature. What a tragedy it is to fall away from him! Let us take our stand with him then, and fight to the finish.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 3: 1-9)

The work of God in our life In St Paul's words to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 3: 1-9) he reminds us of a great work that is going on in our souls as a result of the ministry of the Church. We are "God's farm, God's building" (vs.9). God "makes things grow," he writes. The growth is directed towards transforming each of us into another Christ, living his life. This is an astounding adventure, the one thing necessary to be achieved in the brief span of life we have been given. Conversely, we are also God's servants and fellow workers who are called to labour in this farm, this building God is constructing. Our privilege is to play a part in its growth in the likeness of Christ. God will be making things grow through our efforts. In this way the results of our labours will endure for eternity.

So let us use our time to labour, to labour in union with the Lord, knowing that "each will be paid according to his share in the work. We are fellow workers with God; you are God's farm, God's building."
(E.J.Tyler)

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Allow me to give you the advice of an experienced soul: your prayer — and your whole life should be to pray always — ought to be as trusting as “a child’s prayer”.
(The Forge, no.230)

Thursday of the twenty-second week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 2) Blessed John Francis Burté and Companions (d. 1792; d. 1794)
These priests were victims of the French Revolution. Though their martyrdom spans a period of several years, they stand together in the Church’s memory because they all gave their lives for the same principle. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1791) required all priests to take an oath which amounted to a denial of the faith. Each of these men refused and was executed. John Francis Burté became a Franciscan at 16 and after ordination taught theology to the young friars. Later he was guardian of the large Conventual friary in Paris until he was arrested and held in the convent of the Carmelites. Appolinaris of Posat was born in 1739 in Switzerland. He joined the Capuchins and acquired a reputation as an excellent preacher, confessor and instructor of clerics. Sent to the East as a missionary, he was in Paris studying Oriental languages when the French Revolution began. Refusing the oath, he was swiftly arrested and detained in the Carmelite convent. Severin Girault, a member of the Third Order Regular, was a chaplain for a group of sisters in Paris. Imprisoned with the others, he was the first to die in the slaughter at the convent. These three plus 182 others—including several bishops and many religious and diocesan priests—were massacred at the Carmelite house in Paris on September 2, 1792. They were beatified in 1926. John Baptist Triquerie, born in 1737, entered the Conventual Franciscans. He was chaplain and confessor of Poor Clare monasteries in three cities before he was arrested for refusing to take the oath. He and 13 diocesan priests were guillotined in Laval on January 21, 1794. He was beatified in 1955.
“The upheaval which occurred in France toward the close of the 18th century wrought havoc in all things sacred and profane and vented its fury against the Church and her ministers. Unscrupulous men came to power who concealed their hatred for the Church under the deceptive guise of philosophy.... It seemed that the times of the early persecutions had returned. The Church, spotless bride of Christ, became resplendent with bright new crowns of martyrdom” (Acts of Martyrdom). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 3: 18-23; Psalm 23; Luke 5:1-11

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding round him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the

boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man! For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5: 1-11)

Following Christ St Paul never met Christ prior to his Ascension. If he had, he would doubtlessly have alluded to it in his Letters. Inasmuch as Paul studied under Gamaliel in Jerusalem, he may have heard of Jesus of Nazareth when our Lord was engaged in his public ministry, but we do not know. He met the glorious, risen Jesus for the first time on his way to Damascus, while hunting the followers of the Way. One gathers that he met the glorious Christ on other occasions too — for instance, he

speaks of being caught up in the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12: 2-4). Did Paul know much about the life of Jesus Christ apart from what he was told by the risen Jesus himself as a revelation? I suspect he knew from reliable sources a great deal about the life of Jesus Christ. For instance, St Paul in writing of the appearances of Christ after his resurrection, provides us with some information not given in the Gospel accounts. He tells us that after showing himself to Cephas and the Twelve, to which the Gospels allude (Luke 24: 34-36), Christ appeared to “five hundred of the brethren at once ... After that, he was seen by James and all the apostles. And last of all he was seen by me also” (1 Corinthians 15: 5-8). There were plenty of people around who could tell Paul about the life and death of Jesus. But there is this: there is the information gathered and recorded by Luke, Paul’s companion. The Acts of the Apostles alone makes clear that Luke was an associate of Paul in many of his missionary travels, and Paul himself refers to Luke as “the beloved physician," and his "fellow labourer." We do not know when Luke began his remarkable labour of writing his Gospel and the Acts, but presumably it at least was well under way during his years of close friendship with Paul. Paul may have insistently urged him to pursue the work. In this painstaking investigation Luke gained a profound knowledge of the history of Christ’s life and of the years of the Church immediately following the Ascension. We may presume he met and interviewed the mother of Jesus for his Infancy material. St Paul would have had an extraordinarily good source of information in Luke.

The point is that in these two persons, Luke and Paul, companions and collaborators in the great mission, we have individuals who did not know Christ in the flesh on earth, but who gained an extraordinarily intimate knowledge of him. The inspired writings of each as they appear in the New Testament are about equal in length, and their combined writing constitutes approximately half of the New Testament. Luke provided a magnificent statement of the facts, and Paul provided a magnificent statement of the meaning of them. Luke presented his careful history of Jesus Christ, and Paul explains what it means to live in him. Luke presented his history of the early Church, and Paul gives us his master experience and teaching on the Church as Christ’s body. I cannot believe that there was not a profound interchange between the two on what each was thinking and writing. Of course, we cannot be sure that Luke was researching and writing at the same time as he was serving as companion to Paul, but I strongly suspect that at least he was doing some of it. I mention these two examples of ardent disciples who did not know Christ in the flesh, but who followed our Lord as generously as those whom Luke reports in our Gospel today. Luke tells us of Christ’s first companions who received his call and left all to follow him. In our passage today Luke tells us of Simon Peter, and James and John — whom Paul refers to in one of his Letters as the “pillars” of the early Church (Galatians 2:9). What did these “pillars” do when Christ first called them? “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man! For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him” (Luke 5: 1-11). In Luke’s Gospel account, these “pillars” were exemplary benchmarks of instant response to Christ.. He, a “second-generation” Christian, as it were, holds up their example of total response to the call of Christ.

Let us look to their example too. When Simon saw what Christ had done, he was struck with humble and self-abasing awe. “Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” Let us hear that same call in our hearts. Christ wishes each of us to follow him and to participate in his mission. We do this in accordance with our God-given vocation whatever it might be, and according to our circumstances of life. Let us live every day as Christ’s true companions, sharing in his toils so as to share in his Kingdom.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Cor. 3: 18-23)

The wisdom of God One of the things which the deeply convinced Christian who studies the history of philosophy and

human thought notices is, how wide of the mark from Revelation are the ideas of so many great minds. Such a study illustrates what St Paul says in today's first reading (1 Corinthians 3: 18-23), that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. However, if we live in Christ and allow our thinking to be imbued with the revealed wisdom of God, then a great deal in human thought can be recognised as worthwhile and appropriated by the human mind. On that basis we can think very positively of the efforts of the wise of this world. The study of human culture, human thought, and the religions of man can enhance the life of the Christian, provided he approaches it, and judges of it, with the mind of Christ.

Let us grow in the mind of Christ, and introduce others to the spirit and mind of Christ so that human culture can be evangelised from within.
(E.J.Tyler)

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A sick man is brought to Jesus, who looks at him. — Contemplate the scene closely and meditate on his words: confide, fili — take heart, my son.

This is what Our Lord says to you when you feel the weight of your errors. Have faith! In the first place: faith. And then allow yourself to be carried like the paralytic did: with interior and submissive obedience!
(The Forge, no.231)

Friday of the twenty-second week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 3) Saint Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church (540?-604)
Coming events cast their shadows before: Gregory was the prefect of Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries on his Sicilian estate and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome. Ordained a

priest, he became one of the pope's seven deacons, and also served six years in the East as papal representative in Constantinople. He was recalled to become abbot, and at the age of 50 was elected pope by the clergy and people of Rome. He was direct and firm. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and the victims of plague and famine. He was very concerned about the conversion of England, sending 40 monks from his own monastery. He is known for his reform of the liturgy, for strengthening respect for doctrine. Whether he was largely responsible for the revision of "Gregorian" chant is disputed. Gregory lived in a time of perpetual strife with invading Lombards and difficult relations with the East. When Rome itself was under attack, he interviewed the Lombard king. An Anglican historian has written: "It is impossible to conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic state of the Middle Ages without the medieval papacy; and of the medieval papacy, the real father is Gregory the Great." His book, Pastoral Care, on the duties and qualities of a bishop, was read for centuries after his death. He described bishops mainly as physicians whose main duties were preaching and the enforcement of discipline. In his own down-to-earth preaching, Gregory was skilled at applying the daily gospel to the needs of his listeners. Called "the Great," Gregory has been given a place with Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome as one of the four key doctors of the Western Church.
"Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot" (St. Gregory, Homilies on the Gospels). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5; Psalm 36; Luke 5:33-39

They said

to Jesus, John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking. Jesus answered, Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast. He told them this parable: No-one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no-one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no-one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' (Luke 5: 33-39)

The Bridegroom The disciples of John the Baptist were disciples of an outstanding and wonderful master. Their teacher was, according to our Lord himself, without peer. No-one greater than he had been born of woman, our Lord once said — going on, however, to place membership in the Kingdom of Heaven higher still (Matt 11:11).

When we look at the Gospel account, we can see three things marking the religious life of John. He was a man of tremendous prayer and self-denial. The young John “grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the wilderness until his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80). He was dressed with camel skins and ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). He lived for God in prayer and self-denial. At the same time, he directed all — people, publicans and soldiers — to be just and merciful, especially towards the needy (Luke 3: 10-14). In his life and teaching he was in the direct line of the prophets, and in the Sermon on the Mount our Lord presumes the same pillars of religious life (Matthew 6: 2-18): that is, prayer, fasting and works of mercy. John had many disciples, and the Acts of the Apostles records how Christians came across pockets of disciples of John in various parts of Asia Minor. They feature in the Gospels too. In the Gospel of St Matthew (9:14) they approach Jesus following his refutation of the Pharisees at his dining with publicans and sinners. They ask our Lord, why is it that “we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?” In his account of this, St Mark writes that “they” — probably meaning just “people” — came to Jesus and pointed to the practice of fasting by the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees. His disciples, though, did not fast (2:18). In our passage today from Luke (Luke 5: 33-39), it is now Christ’s opponents (the scribes and Pharisees) who put this objection. Further, there is a new twist: The “disciples of John fast often and make prayers, as do those of the Pharisees also,” but “yours eat and drink” (Luke 5:33). So the scribes and Pharisees are putting themselves in the company of John, and are including the practice of prayer.

All up, then, the disciples of John, the people, and the scribes and Pharisees — depending on which Gospel one is reading — place our Lord in the context of the religious tradition of their time and of the Old Testament, and find him wanting. He is not insisting on the standards of prayer and fasting of the religious leaders of the day — the scribes and Pharisees, and of the great prophet John. The disciples of John and various people are perplexed, while the scribes and Pharisees are simply critical. But as our Lord explains, they have got it wrong. He cannot be simply placed among the religious leaders of the day, nor simply among the prophets. He transcends them all, and his presence is a cause of rejoicing for the time being. He is the Bridegroom come among the people. It cannot be regarded as business as usual, in a religious sense. A new start is being made, and the new start has to be totally appreciated. Jesus Christ came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets, and he is the fulfilment of them — “Can any of you convict me of sin?” he challenged his opponents. “I always do what pleases him,” he observed of his relationship with his heavenly Father. He is sinless, and he has come to take away the sin of the world. The fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets in him was a new beginning. It could not be regarded as a mere addition to what was present before — this would be a mere sewing on of yet another patch. Rather a new garment is now present — and a bit of the new cannot be sewn on to the old. Nor is new wine poured into old wineskins. The point in our Lord’s answer is that in him there is something utterly new, but long alluded to in revealed religion. Christ is the Bridegroom — and all who knew the prophets knew of the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom was Yahweh God, and the Bride was his covenanted people. John the Baptist himself had referred to Jesus as the Bridegroom (John 3: 29). Our Lord is telling his interlocutors that they must not regard him as simply yet another prophet or religious teacher. He is the Bridegroom of the chosen people, and the overriding thing at this point was to appreciate that. It is this which he wished his own disciples to understand.

The time would come, with this altogether new basis of religion laid, for his disciples to pray continuously, to live a life of self-denial in imitation of him who chose the path of the cross, and to love all others in the way he loved them. But the basis must first be laid. The basis of revealed religion is the person of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of Heaven consists in union with him and living accordingly. He is the heart, the soul and the Object of religion. This must not be missed — as it could be, with an excessive emphasis on other things. Jesus Christ is the life of the Christian. As St Paul writes, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

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Second reflection: (Luke 5: 33-39)

Then they will fast Our Lord tells his critics that once he, the Bridegroom, is taken away from his disciples, then they certainly will fast

(Luke 5: 33-35). Our Lord refers to the future, indicating our situation now in which Jesus is no longer visibly among us. He is no longer visibly among us, but he is very much with us nevertheless. Our Lord said that anyone who loves him will keep his word, and that then he and his Father will love him and come to him and make their abode with him. So he is in us, and by grace we are in him. The essential purpose of this indwelling is that by the action and power of the Holy Spirit, we will be transformed into the likeness of Christ our Bridegroom. This transformation means, as St Paul often insisted, being crucified with Christ so as to experience the power of his resurrection — his risen life. Being one with the crucified Jesus — especially in the Holy Eucharist and Mass — means following in his footsteps by carrying our cross daily. Thus we must, to use our Lord's word in the Gospel passage, "fast". We must expiate with Jesus for our sins and those of others by daily renunciation.

"But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast."
(E.J.Tyler)

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My son, you can do nothing on the supernatural level through your own strength; whereas when you become God’s instrument you can do everything. Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat! — I can do all things in him who strengthens me. For in his goodness he wishes to use inadequate instruments, like you and like me.
(The Forge, no.232)

Saturday of the twenty-second week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 4) St. Rose of Viterbo (1233-1251)

Rose achieved sainthood in only 18 years of life. Even as a child Rose had a great desire to pray and to aid the poor. While still very young, she began a life of penance in her parents’ house. She was as generous to the poor as she was strict with herself. At the age of 10 she became a Secular Franciscan and soon began preaching in the streets about sin and the sufferings of Jesus. Viterbo, her native city, was then in revolt against the pope. When Rose took the pope’s side against the emperor, she and her family were exiled from the city. When the pope’s side won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed to return. Her attempt at age 15 to found a religious community failed, and she returned to a life of prayer and penance in her father’s home, where she died in 1251. Rose was canonized in 1457. Rose's dying words to her parents were: "I die with joy, for I desire to be united to my God. Live so as not to fear death. For those who live well in the world, death is not frightening, but sweet and precious." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 4: 6-15; Psalm 114; Luke 6:1-5

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the cornfields, and his disciples began to pick some ears of corn, rub them in their hands and eat the grain. Some of the Pharisees asked, Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath? Jesus answered them, Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions. Then Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. (Luke 6: 1-5)

Lord of the Sabbath In modern times we take the five or six-day working week so much for granted that we forget what a radical concept a day of rest was in ancient times. The weekly day of rest had no exact parallel in any other ancient civilisation.

Leisure was for the wealthy and the ruling classes and never for the serving or labouring classes. The idea of a religious rest day each week was unimaginable. I have read a reference to Juvenal and Seneca calling the Sabbath “an example of Jewish indolence.” Ancient Egypt had numerous feasts, but not a regular Sabbath. It is to be noted that among the Ten Commandments — that pivotal charter for the living of revealed religion — the Sabbath is the one command involving a specific religious observance. The Sabbath observance thus holds rank with the other nine commandments. Moreover, it even found an important place in the first account of creation (Genesis 1). God is portrayed as resting at the end of his working week. His people are pleasing to God if they do likewise, then. Not only was the Sabbath observance pivotal in the practice of revealed religion, but it has been a major inheritance of Israel to the world. Though its sanctity is largely lost, the idea of the Sabbath rest at the end of the week is accepted everywhere — even the word “a sabbatical” is in common use. I say this to introduce the critical position of the Sabbath in the religious life of Israel in our Lord’s time, and the sensitive question of how man was to take his religious rest on that day. The Pharisees and their school had developed an elaborate system that, in their view, protected the Sabbath and ensured its fundamental place. Christ disregarded many of their regulations and showed that in their zeal for their own religious customs they had quite forgotten the weightier matters of the divine Law. There was a direct collision between the dominant religious party of the day and our Lord, and a principal issue was the observance of the Sabbath. Jesus sovereignly set aside many of their prescriptions on how this fourth commandment was to be observed. It was becoming increasingly a question of authority. Whose authority was supreme?

Our Gospel today (Luke 6: 1-5) presents one occasion of this conflict. The disciples are spotted picking ears of corn on the Sabbath day and the scribes and Pharisees bring forward their complaint. Jesus’ disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. It is not, Christ replied, and he cited the practice of David. He is pointing to the Scriptures and proving the correctness of his interpretation of the Sabbath. But he does more than show that he is a much greater interpreter of the Sabbath. He is the Sabbath’s Lord! Now, this is an astonishing remark and it was made calmly in the presence of his enemies who were determined to catch him out in his words. No prophet had ever said such a thing — it would have been preposterous to have suggested that Moses made such a claim. The Sabbath was the Lord’s Day, and here was someone stating that he himself was the Lord of the Sabbath. Who was the Lord of the Sabbath, but the Lord God of Israel? While at his trial before the Sanhedrin our Lord claimed to be divine and was put to death for it, he also made similar claims during his public ministry. We read of his being accosted by the religious authorities and, at their questioning, making the plainest of claims. I and the Father are one, he said to them. The Father works, so I work. Before Abraham ever was, I am. Here in our Gospel passage he speaks thus again. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. It is, in effect, yet another allusion to his divinity. He cannot be reduced to yet another religious authority that competes with the authority of the scribes and Pharisees. He is unique and he transcends all. Let our reading of this passage prompt us once again to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of all. Let us also note that in Christ’s answer to the religious authorities he accepts the Sabbath — so let us truly accept it! We ought ask ourselves how we sanctify the Sunday. Is it a mere day of secular rest and recreation, or does it have an active religious dimension? Is it a day given to the Lord, and only in the Lord, a day of rest?

In the Old Testament, God commands his people to be holy, for he is holy (Leviticus 11:44). It is a command repeated by St Peter in his Letter (1 Peter 1:15): “be holy in all your conduct.” The Church has insisted constantly on the gravity of the Sabbath observance, which the Christian marks on the Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection. Let us receive the baton of sanctity and run with it, resolving to make the observance of the Sabbath a fundamental feature of our Christian life, in which we acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 4: 6-13)

Spiritual fatherhood It goes without saying that being a parent is a beautiful vocation. The parent generates new life and in so doing cooperates

with God in bringing into being an immortal person with marvellous possibilities. But when we think of it, merely being a parent, merely bringing a new life into the world is not very grand if it is not accompanied by an earnest effort to bring the life of God to the child. It is this second calling which is obviously the greater. St Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4: 13) that he is their sole spiritual father, having endowed them with life in Christ. By engaging in the mission of the Church in our everyday life we all share in that spiritual parenthood that brings Christ to others. The Church is the spouse of Christ and our spiritual mother. As members of the Church we are all called to a new kind of parentage, helping to generate in others the new life in Christ which God intends for them, and then to come to full maturity in Christ.

How wonderful it will be to meet in heaven those whom we have helped to beget in God!

(E.J.Tyler)

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Whenever you pray, make the effort to have the kind of faith of those sick people we read about in the Gospel. You can be sure Jesus is listening to you.

Prayers this week: Lord, you are just, and the judgments you make are right. Show mercy when you judge me, your servant. (Psalm 118: 137.124)

God our Father, you redeem us and make us your children in Christ. Look upon us, give us true freedom and bring us to the inheritance you promised. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

(September 5) Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the Order she founded in 1950 as a

diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers and an order of priests. Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire), Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death. During her years in public school Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age 18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people. In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call.

The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and, instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.” After receiving permission to leave Loreto, and establish a new religious community and undertake her new work, she took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals (the ordinary dress of an Indian woman) she soon began getting to know her neighbours—especially the poor and sick—and getting to know their needs through visits. The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Other helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the Order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging and street people. For the next four decades Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home.
Speaking in a strained, weary voice at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II declared her blessed, prompting waves of applause before the 300,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. In his homily, read by an aide for the aging pope, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa “one of the most relevant personalities of our age” and “an icon of the Good Samaritan.” Her life, he said, was “a bold proclamation of the gospel.” Like so many others around the world, he found her love for the Eucharist, for prayer and for the poor a model for all to emulate. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Wisdom 9:13-19; Psalm 89; Philemon 9-10.12-17; Luke 14: 25-33

Great crowds were travelling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father

and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-33)

The cost Our Gospel today tells us that great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way. Many in the crowds may have regarded themselves as disciples of Jesus. They were accompanying Jesus, but would they continue to accompany him when they heard all of his teaching,

and when they experienced the difficulties involved in following him? We only have to remember what happened when our Lord, in the sixth chapter of St John, said that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Having heard this, very many left him. That is to say, it was one thing to go along as part of the crowd, perhaps hoping to benefit from his miracles. It was interesting, even exciting, and while it lasted they probably felt that any inconvenience that was involved was worth it. But being a real disciple involved a cost. Were they prepared to pay the cost of being Christ’s disciples? And this is what we ought ask ourselves as we ponder on this text. Am I just one of the crowd accompanying Jesus along his way because it is convenient and keeps life interesting and bearable, or am I prepared to be a true disciple and pay the price? Let us consider what our Lord says about the cost. The crowds following him would have been there for a whole variety of reasons, and would have had a variety of attitudes towards him, and Jesus knew it. He turned to the crowds and spoke to them, and he put it very bluntly. He said: ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25-33). Our Lord wanted to the crowds following him to hear the stark choice. Christ regarded his disciples as those who chose him decisively, and were prepared to go with him no matter what it required. And this is just the danger: we can be influenced away from our Lord by those persons or things we love or like.

We normally accede to the wishes of those we love, and usually the sign that we do not love something or someone is that we disregard that person’s requests. It can look as though we are almost “hating” that person, so great is the upset we cause him or her by our course of action. Our Lord is telling us that love for him is to be the deepest love of our life, the love that comes first. Our Lord was once asked, which is the first commandment of the Law? He answered: “This is the first, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.” Our Lord is not telling us that we are not to love our family and our loved ones. The fourth commandment commands honour to one’s father and one’s mother. Christ’s own command was that we “love one another as I have loved you.” He also said that this would be the sign by which all men would know that we are his disciples, that we love one another. In revealed religion we cannot love God without loving one another. Our Lord asks of us the highest loyalty to and love for himself, knowing that this is in the best interests of all. Living this out might on occasion give the mistaken impression to someone close to us that we are ruthlessly disregarding his or her wishes and feelings. If God makes certain demands and our spouse or family makes contrary demands we have to say “Yes” to God and “No” to spouse and family. St Thomas More had to say “No” to his spouse and family in standing firm in his profession against the King. A spouse may pressure one to engage in fraud, theft, deceit, contraception or even abortion. It has to be “Yes” to God’s law and “No” to the contrary. Another instance might be, being absolutely faithful to one’s spouse even if one is separated from one’s spouse. And it means being faithful to that separated spouse, even if that separated spouse goes on to be unfaithful in further ways. We must put Jesus first, and Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commands.

We shall grow in this love for Jesus if we think long and often on his love for us. St Paul said, “Christ loved me and delivered himself up for me.” Let us think of those words, making them our own, saying them over and over in our hearts. Jesus carried his cross for me, so I am called to carry my own cross after him. “Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus above all else, even above our own life, and no matter what the cost!
(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection on the Gospel for the twenty-third Sunday C

Happiness A well known Australian politician gained notoriety many years ago when he said that life was not meant to be easy. Many ridiculed him for his statement — years later he stood by it, while saying it had been misunderstood. I never did understand the reason for the criticism. In various respects life is not easy, and for many it is in fact quite hard. That is not to say that life is not meant to be happy.

The question is, in what does true happiness consist, and how is it to be attained? Inasmuch as God has implanted in our hearts a deep desire for happiness, we can assume that he means us to attain it, quite apart from the fact that he has actually revealed this to be his plan. Now, it is obviously possible to go through life never being happy because of the choices we make, and then, after all that, losing out on happiness in the next life — again, because of our choices. On the other hand, Our Lord said that if we live in the way he directs, we shall have a hundredfold in this life and eternal glory in the next. How do we gain happiness, then? Many start out on life with certain assumptions about happiness. Some assume that the pursuit of wealth will bring happiness. So their lives are spent in acquiring possessions of various kinds. The pinnacle of their lives is reached when they have a beautiful home and an impressive car, together with a comfortable income. Others assume that becoming very well known and admired in some way will bring happiness. For others it is gaining power and influence. It is very important that we stop to consider just what is driving our lives, because we may not know ourselves. We may have made some very wrong assumptions. God has told us that we will be happy if we live according to his plan. God’s plan is that we know, love and serve him here on earth and as a result, that we see and enjoy him forever in heaven. This, if put into effect, will bring us happiness. And who is God? God is Jesus Christ, just as he is the Father and the Holy Spirit. So, if we know Jesus Christ and love and serve him here on earth, we will be happy, and our happiness will last forever. This is the fundamental point.

The next thing we must know is what it means to love and serve Jesus here on earth in everyday life. Our Lord alludes to this in the parable we heard in today’s Gospel (Luke 14: 25-33). A person needs to sit down and count the cost, calculating what is required to build the tower, or to meet the advancing enemy successfully. The cost, our Lord explains, is to take up one’s cross and follow him daily. It means being prepared to give up anything for him, not allowing anything to come between ourselves and his holy will. It means putting the person of our Lord at the centre of all our daily duties and working for him with dedication, accompanying our work with a life of prayer and self-denial. This will bring the happiness God intends for us in this life, and it will lead to happiness forever. Whereas if we spend our lives seeking more wealth, status, influence or whatever, we will never have the happiness God intended for us. Union with Jesus day by day, with the crosses this involves, is the secret to happiness.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1718-1724 (The desire for happiness & Christian happiness)

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My Mother! Mothers on earth look with greater love on the weakest of their children, the one with the worst health, or who is least intelligent, or is a poor cripple…

—Sweet Lady! I know that you are more of a Mother than all other mothers put together. — And, since I am your son… And, since I am weak, and ill… and crippled… and ugly...
(The Forge, no.234)

Monday of the twenty-third week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 6) Blessed Claudio Granzotto (1900-1947) (Picture)
Born in Santa Lucia del Piave near Venice, Claudio was the youngest of nine children and was accustomed to hard work in the

fields. At the age of nine he lost his father. Six years later he was drafted into the Italian army, where he served more than three years. His artistic abilities, especially in sculpture, led to studies at Venice’s Academy of Fine Arts, which awarded him a diploma with the highest marks in 1929. Even then he was especially interested in religious art. When Claudio entered the Friars Minor four years later, his parish priest wrote, "The Order is receiving not only an artist but a saint." Prayer, charity to the poor and artistic work characterized his life, which was cut short by a brain tumour. He died on the feast of the Assumption and was beatified in 1994. Claudio developed into such an excellent sculptor that his work still turns people toward God. No stranger to adversity, he met every obstacle courageously, reflecting the generosity, faith and joy that he learned from Francis of Assisi.
In the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said that Claudio made his sculpture "the privileged instrument" of his apostolate and evangelization. "His holiness was especially radiant in his acceptance of suffering and death in union with Christ’s Cross. Thus by consecrating himself totally to the Lord’s love, he became a model for religious, for artists in their search for God’s beauty and for the sick in his loving devotion to the Crucified" (L’Osservatore Romano, Vol. 47, No. 1, 1994). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 5: 1-8; Psalm 5; Luke 6:6-11

On another

Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shrivelled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shrivelled hand, Get up and stand in front of everyone. So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? He looked round at them all, and then said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:6-11)

Man of compassion It is always helpful to consider the various Gospel accounts of the same event. At times there are almost identical textual accounts, but there are usually differences. For instance, Mark’s account of the healing of the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue (3: 1-6) follows

Christ’s conflict with the scribes and Pharisees in the previous chapter, and their criticism of his disciples’ disregard of certain prescriptions on the Sabbath rest. They were seen to be picking grain on the Sabbath. Matthew too has the event immediately following on the Pharisees’ criticism of the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath. The two accounts of the picking of the grain are similar though not identical, suggesting a reliance of one text on the other. In each, there then follows the healing of the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue. In Mark’s account — perhaps stemming from Simon Peter — the Pharisees simply watch to see if he would heal so that they might then accuse him. Our Lord takes the initiative, asking the man to stand forth. He then challenges the Pharisees to answer if it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it. They refuse to speak — and our Lord looks on them in anger at the hardness of their hearts. He then heals. In Matthew’s account (12: 9-14), it is not Jesus but the Pharisees who ask the question if it is lawful to cure on the Sabbath. Our Lord answers by pointing to common practice with respect to animals that are in need of rescue on the Sabbath — so of course it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath Day. He then proceeds to heal. Mark’s account is the more graphic. With Mark there is no dialogue between Christ and his critics, and its notable feature is that Christ’s anger is vividly described. In our Gospel today from St Luke, there is a closer agreement with the account of Mark than with Matthew. In Luke there are, though, differences. Firstly, Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking. Secondly, while as in Mark Jesus is described as looking around on the Pharisees after challenging them with his question, there is omitted all reference to his holy anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.

In our passage today from the Gospel of St Luke (Luke 6: 6-11), we are told that Jesus entered the Synagogue and was teaching. That is the scene, and Jesus and the Pharisees — as do all in the Synagogue, perhaps — know that the man with the withered hand is present in the congregation. Consider how great a debility this would have been for one in ancient times! The withered hand may have been due to a stroke, or a terrible injury, or some other circumstance. The other two Gospels do not mention a detail which St Luke includes, that it was his right hand that was withered. So it looks as if he was a right-handed man, adding to his helplessness. How limited he would have been in his performance of work, how limited in his ability to answer to his own needs. It was a very significant affliction, and there he was in the congregation. In the face of this human need, all that the Pharisees were thinking of was that the presence of this unfortunate man would give them the chance they are looking for. If the Galilean heals the withered hand, they have won! His compassion will have delivered him into their hands. By contrast Christ, either having finished his Synagogue discourse or interrupting it, courageously takes the initiative and asks the man with the withered hand to stand and step forward, which he does. We know the sequel: Christ challenges his enemies to answer his question, and at their failure to do so, heals the man’s hand. It is a revelation of his power and courage at the service of his compassion. His critics are no match for him, and Christ is shown as never swayed by human respect or opinion. Everyone knows this, too. Elsewhere, in each of the three Synoptic Gospels an account is given of the question posed to Christ about payment of taxes to Caesar. In their introduction to this question, they acknowledge Christ’s absolute integrity. He taught the way of God in all truth (e.g., Luke 20:21), without fear of his hearers’ rank. In our Gospel today, these features of Christ’s personality show. He is compassionate to the needy, fearless before his enemies, and he spoke the truth, whoever the recipient may be. Oh! How admirable a Man, this Man of compassion!

Let us place ourselves in our Gospel scene today and contemplate the Person before us. Never has there been One like him before, and never will there be One like him after. In being his friend, we have every heavenly blessing. Let us not take him for granted. Let us not set ourselves against him as did the Pharisees, understanding well that the slightest deliberate venial sin does precisely this, to a point. We must fight sin, and take our stand with Jesus Christ. He is compassionate, fearless, strong. As St Paul writes, Christ loved me, and gave himself up for me. Christ invites me to love him and to serve him all my days.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 5: 1-8)

Sin In our first reading (1 Corinthians 5: 1-8), St Paul condemns a great sin of which one of the Corinthians is guilty, and for which he excommunicates him. He then uses an image to show how the

Christian can be overcome by sin. He says that "even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough." So, he says, "get rid of all the old yeast." The old yeast is sin. Like yeast, it can affect everything in us. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul writes that the wages of sin are death. In our passage today, St Paul says that we are to get rid of all this old yeast — all of it. This means combating and overcoming all deliberate sin, and making of ourselves "a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be." The "new batch of bread" is not a new and different nature but "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth," our own nature purified of sin and elevated by grace. That is to say, we are to strive to become immersed in Christ.

The power to do this comes from Christ who is present and active in the Sacraments. We must constantly recognise him in them with a lively faith, a faith nourished by prayer and attentiveness to his word.

(E.J.Tyler)

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We lack faith. The day we practise this virtue, trusting in God and in his Mother, we will be courageous and loyal. God, who is the same God as ever, will work miracles through our hands.

—Grant me, dear Jesus, the faith I truly desire! My Mother, sweet Lady, Mary most holy, make me believe!
(The Forge, no.235)

Tuesday of the twenty-third week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 7) Blessed Frederick Ozanam (1813-1853)
A man convinced of the inestimable worth of each human being, Frederick served the poor of Paris well and drew others into serving the poor of the world. Through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, his work continues to the present day. Frederick was the

fifth of Jean and Marie Ozanam’s 14 children, one of only three to reach adulthood. As a teenager he began having doubts about his religion. Reading and prayer did not seem to help, but long walking discussions with Father Noirot of the Lyons College clarified matters a great deal. Frederick wanted to study literature, although his father, a doctor, wanted him to become a lawyer. Frederick yielded to his father’s wishes and in 1831 arrived in Paris to study law at the University of the Sorbonne. When certain professors there mocked Catholic teachings in their lectures, Frederick defended the Church. A discussion club which

Frederick organized sparked the turning point in his life. In this club Catholics, atheists and agnostics debated the issues of the day. Once, after Frederick spoke on Christianity’s role in civilization, a club member said: "Let us be frank, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular. What do you do besides talk to prove the faith you claim is in you?" Frederick was stung by the question. He soon decided that his words needed a grounding in action. He and a friend began visiting Paris tenements and offering assistance as best they could. Soon a group dedicated to helping individuals in need under the patronage of St. Vincent de Paul formed around Frederick. Feeling that the Catholic faith needed an excellent speaker to explain its teachings, Frederick convinced the Archbishop of Paris to appoint Father Lacordaire, the greatest preacher then in France, to preach a Lenten series in Notre Dame Cathedral. It was well attended and became an annual tradition in Paris. After Frederick earned his law degree at the Sorbonne, he taught law at the University of Lyons. He also earned a doctorate in literature. Soon after marrying Amelie Soulacroix on June 23, 1841, he returned to the Sorbonne to teach literature. A well-respected lecturer, Frederick worked to bring out the best in each student. Meanwhile, the St. Vincent de Paul Society was growing throughout Europe. Paris alone counted 25 conferences. In 1846, Frederick, Amelie and their daughter Marie went to Italy; there Frederick hoped to restore his poor health. They returned the next year. The revolution of 1848 left many Parisians in need of the services of the St. Vincent de Paul conferences. The unemployed numbered 275,000. The government asked Frederick and his co-workers to supervise the government aid to the poor. Vincentians throughout Europe came to the aid of Paris. Frederick then started a newspaper, The New Era, dedicated to securing justice for the poor and the working classes. Fellow Catholics were often unhappy with what Frederick wrote. Referring to the poor man as "the nation’s priest," Frederick said that the hunger and sweat of the poor formed a sacrifice that could redeem the people’s humanity. In 1852 poor health again forced Frederick to return to Italy with his wife and daughter. He died on September 8, 1853. In his sermon at Frederick’s funeral, Lacordaire described his friend as "one of those privileged creatures who came direct from the hand of God in whom God joins tenderness to genius in order to enkindle the world." Frederick was beatified in 1997. Since Frederick wrote an excellent book entitled Franciscan Poets of the Thirteenth Century and since Frederick’s sense of the dignity of each poor person was so close to the thinking of St. Francis, it seemed appropriate to include him among Franciscan "greats."
Professor Bailly, the spiritual leader of the first St. Vincent de Paul conference, told Frederick and his first companions in charity, "Like St. Vincent, you, too, will find the poor will do more for you than you will do for them." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 6: 1-11; Psalm 149; Luke 6:12-19

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples

to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all. (Luke 6:12-19)

Our call Our Gospel scene today is situated in the context of several disputes with the religious leaders, healings of the afflicted, Christ teaching in towns, houses and synagogues, and the special call of various of his disciples such as Simon, James and John (chapters 5 and 6). The summons to Levi (Matthew)

is specifically mentioned, followed by the feast in Levi’s house attended by many ‘publicans and sinners,’ as the Pharisees called them. Christ was calling certain individuals, others were gathering around him and were becoming disciples, and there were the crowds following and in attendance. In our passage today Luke refers to these groups: there are “a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of people.” So the disciples are of a considerable number — a “multitude” of them. These are in greater attendance on Jesus than the crowds and have chosen to learn from him. They are drawn to his person and teaching and manifest various levels of commitment to him. We read elsewhere in the Gospels that Jesus sent seventy-two out ahead of him in pairs to prepare the people for his coming by their preaching. We read in the Gospel of St John that many disciples abandoned our Lord precisely over his teaching — it was his teaching on the Eucharist that led to their walk-out. But others were faithful. For instance, we read in the Letters of St Paul that five hundred of the brethren witnessed the risen Jesus on one occasion. They were disciples who had been faithful to him, though doubtlessly to varying degrees and in different ways. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were among the rulers of the Jews, but secretly. Martha, Mary and Lazarus all from the one family, were disciples and dear friends of Jesus, though not, it seems, actively engaged with him in his mission. Matthias had been a disciple of our Lord from the beginning, and he was chosen to replace Judas as one of the Twelve. So Christ had many disciples, and there was the crowd that followed along. Well now, in which group are we?

A new stage in our Lord’s work had been reached. The crowds were flocking to him — and that would wax and wane. There were many disciples, and several had been personally summoned by our Lord to follow him. This they did — though some refused. One instance of a refusal was the rich young man. He came to our Lord with his question about how to get to heaven. After their initial dialogue, our Lord looked on him and loved him. He then invited him to leave all and follow him. But he refused and went off home, sad. There may have been others, but many were following our Lord. So our Lord now moves to begin the decisive work of building his Church which would be the bearer and the beginning of the Kingdom. The foundation stones had to be selected. New patriarchs had to be gathered around him to share his friendship and his life, and to be the basis of the new chosen people, the Kingdom. So serious was this that he spent the whole night in prayer to God — we do not read of this process happening in any other call. For instance, several passages before our text of today, our Lord goes out of the house, catches sight of Levi, and calls him to follow him (5:27). It is a simple invitation, and Levi immediately responds. It is the same with Simon, James and John (5:11). We are not told if, say, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, were among the disciples because of Christ’s personal invitation to them, or whether it was due to their own decision to have him for their Master. Whatever be the personal path of this or that disciple within the concourse of his disciples, Christ now makes a supremely formal call to some of them. Of course, there is never a mistake with Christ. He formally selects certain of them to be members of the Twelve. Imagine his hand falling on Judas. There was no mistake. Judas had the calling to be an Apostle of Christ, one of the Twelve, a great saint. He had been led by the grace of God through his youth to the point of his meeting with Jesus Christ. Christ knew and loved him personally, and selected him above numerous others. What an honour! What a unique trust, to be one of the very Twelve.

Some have taught that ultimately our destiny is determined. I think this is maintained in order to preserve the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. How could God be sovereign if, contrary to his will, someone were to be damned? But no. Judas was destined by God to be a great saint. That was the divine plan. Christ deliberately chose him to be one of the Twelve. What promise he must have had — with, of course, his faults too. But how badly he turned out! He was an unspeakably grave disappointment to our Lord. Each of us is called, just as Simon Peter, Levi, and Judas were called. Let us live up to our God-given promise, and not make the Holy Spirit sad.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Luke 6: 12-19)

Christ's choice In this pivotal passage (Luke 6: 12-19) St Luke tells us of our Lord at prayer all night long to his heavenly Father. He was preparing to establish his

Church and to choose its foundations — the Twelve Apostles. We can only imagine the care and love he put into that choice, reflecting as it did the choice of the Father. It was the choice of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There could be no mistake about it. As we think of that choice, we ought think of the choice he has made of each of us. St Paul tells us that before the world began God chose us, chose us in Christ to be holy and full of love in his sight. We are called each of us by name. We can imagine our Lord calling each of the Twelve, and calling each of them by name. From all eternity they too had been chosen, as have we. Christ gave the Apostles a work to do. They were to be his ambassadors, his "apostles". They were to be sent out by him to represent him and to do his work.

Each of us in our own way and according to our vocation is called to be an ambassador for Christ. Each of us is called to be another Christ by the transforming power of his grace, doing his work in and through our own work. Let us sanctify our work, thus sanctifying ourselves and others in the process, and being apostles in fact.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A firm resolution: to abandon myself in Jesus Christ with all my wretchedness. Whatever he may want, at any moment, Fiat — let it be done!

The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8)

(September 8) The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Church has celebrated Mary's birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 (nine months earlier). Scripture does not give an account of Mary's birth. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child that will advance God's plan of salvation for the world. Such a story (like many biblical counterparts) stresses the special presence of God in Mary's life from the beginning. St. Augustine connects Mary's birth with Jesus' saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. "She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed." The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary's Son as the dawn of our salvation and asks for an increase of peace.
"Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices, for she who is queen and the Father's immaculate bride buds forth from the stem of Jesse" (adapted from Byzantine Daily Worship). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Micah 5:1-4 or Romans 8:28-30; Psalm 12; Matthew 1:1-16.18-23

This is how the birth

of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel— which means, God with us. (Matthew 1: 18-23)

Mary our mother In the beginning, we read, God created the heavens and the earth. The Book of Genesis tells us that darkness hung over the deep, and the spirit or breath of God hovered over the abyss, awaiting God to give the word. Then God spoke, making the heavens,

the earth, the sun and the stars, the waters, the animals, the fish, the birds, and the vegetation. And, Genesis tells us, God saw that it was good. All this was preparing for his supreme work which was the creation of man. And so God said, let us make man in our own image and likeness. Man will be master of all this world and I shall entrust it all to him for him to rule and to populate. The account in Genesis presents the creation of our first parents as something wonderful, the climax of God’s work, and as almost a new beginning in its own right, for God created man in his own likeness. He was filled with gifts of nature and of grace. But, as we read in the next account, how disappointing and how badly it suddenly turned out! Prompted by Satan, our first parents wished to be independent of God. They contravened God’s command, thinking that by so doing they would be like gods. They sinned and so all was spoilt. A great wound, a mortal wound, was struck deep in human nature. Sin entered the human race and with sin death, and so death with all its implications spread through the whole human race. It was a bad beginning, but then God from his love surprised fallen man. He promised a new beginning in the fulness of time. And so it was that he prepared a special people for the coming of a Redeemer, a new Adam, whose arrival would bring untold blessings to all. So great was this Redeemer that God also prepared a new Eve, one who would be the mother of the new Adam, the mother of the Redeemer, and through Him the new mother of all mankind. And this what we celebrate today, the feast of the birth of Mary the mother of the Redeemer, the mother of God and our heavenly mother. She is a daughter of Eve, but is the new Eve, far more glorious than the first precisely because she heard the word of God and fulfilled it.

The first Eve, mother of all the living, besmirched herself and all her posterity with sin. The second Eve clothed herself in faith and obedience, and so was clothed in glory. This was because she heard the word of God and fulfilled it. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it, our Lord said, when a woman from the crowd praised the mother of so great a son. How great a mother! The Easter Vigil Exultet sings, O happy fault, which won for us so great a Redeemer. O happy fault committed by the first Eve, too, to win for us so great a mother, the second Eve, who would lead us to her Son. The angel Gabriel stood before her, addressing her with the most profound respect and love as before one who was full of grace and favour with God. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she said to him, be it done unto me according to your word. At that point she became the mother of God. Let our minds slip back to the beginning when God entrusted Adam to Eve’s keeping, Eve whom He had formed from Adam’s side. Now God entrusts his own Son, the new Adam, to her keeping, to her who was the new Eve. He prepared for his Son a wonderful mother, and this wonderful mother is ours. At the Annunciation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father entrusted his Son to Mary’s keeping. Let us, then, by the grace of this same Holy Spirit, entrust ourselves to her keeping. Years later she would stand before the Cross of her Son, watching what sin was doing to Him, and in intimate union with Him in the work of our redemption. From the Cross she would hear His words as He said to His beloved disciple, “There is your Mother.” The Church has always understood those words as applying to each of us. The new Eve, Mary the mother of the Redeemer, is our mother, and Christ has entrusted each of us to her, and wants each of us to entrust ourselves to her. That is what consecration to Mary means, it means a complete entrusting of ourselves to her care and guidance. So let us do that as we think of the birthday of our mother, the new Eve.

Mary is our mother and our model. She is the mother and model of the whole Church. God has given to the world a mother, the mother of all mankind. Let us entrust ourselves to her completely, every day remembering what she said at the wedding feast of Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.” If we let her, every day she will help us do that. Let us love her, pray to her, be guided by her.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection (Matthew 1: 18-23)

Mary our mother and model One of the most powerful philosophical minds of the twentieth century was Martin Heidegger, whose life, though, was not admirable in other respects. His master work was Being and Time (Sein und Zeit). It is one of the most celebrated philosophical works

produced in Germany in the twentieth century. Whatever of Heidegger’s system, the title of his book reminds us that our being is inescapably temporal. We are inexorably caught up in passing time. Our lives pass rapidly, and so we constantly change for better or for worse — depending ultimately on our choices. As St Paul says (1 Cor. 7: 25-31) "our time is growing short." We should live in the world, then, fully aware that "the world as we know it is passing away." Cardinal Gabriel Garrone wrote in his book Que Faut-il Croire? (1967) of the "vast worth of every minute of our earthly life used with complete dedication, and the dignity of our human condition that makes us truly arbiters of our eternal destiny" (p.122). We have limited time on our hands, with much to do for God, and with eternal repercussions. Let us not waste our time to gain the treasure of sanctity. Time is short, eternity is long, as Cardinal Newman wrote at the end of one of his most famous works. Let us use to the full each day granted us as if it were our only and our last.

Let our constant inspiration be the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose birthday we celebrate today (September 8). She is the morally perfect human person, born free of original sin, and free of the slightest trace of sin all her days. Her days were ordinary and somewhat hidden, but lived to capacity with extraordinary holiness. She is our mother and our model.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Never lose heart, for Our Lord is always ready to give you the necessary grace for the new conversion you need, for that ascent in the supernatural field.
(The Forge, no.237)

Thursday of the twenty-third week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 9) St. Peter Claver (1581-1654)
A native of Spain, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena (now in Colombia), a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615.

By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief centre for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned by Pope Paul III and later labelled "supreme villainy" by Pius IX, it continued to flourish. Peter Claver's predecessor, Jesuit Father Alfonso de Sandoval, had devoted himself to the service of the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work, declaring himself "the slave of the Negroes forever." As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God's saving love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves. His apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force, indeed, the apostle of Cartagena. He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders as well as country missions, during which he avoided, when possible, the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the slave quarters instead. After four years of sickness which forced the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected, he died on September 8, 1654. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp. He was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.
Peter Claver understood that concrete service like the distributing of medicine, food or brandy to his black brothers and sisters could be as effective a communication of the word of God as mere verbal preaching. As Peter Claver often said, "We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips." (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 8: 1-7.11-13; Psalm 138; Luke 6:27-38

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you.

If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners', expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6: 27-38)

Humiliation Towards the end of the 1850s, Newman finished his period as first Rector of the Catholic University in Dublin. It had been a period of severe frustration and some injustice. Especially hurtful was the injustice coming from Bishops and collaborators. For instance, in a letter to an Oratorian

colleague (Father John Flanagan) he writes, “A great deal has happened since you went. Father Faber tells people openly that Cardinal Wiseman said to him of me ‘He has shelved himself.’ Faber is so open (about it)...” (January 5, 1859). Soon after, he wrote to a convert and in the course of the letter, observed that “I wish to bear my cross, which (strange to say) has been almost lifelong, without talking of it ... and I am sure a lighter cross could not be, nor would I change it, nor be without it... in my heart and judgment I wish to have my reward, whatever it is, hereafter not here — Yet it is a burden to my feelings, which others relieve by such kind words as yours are, to reflect that I busy myself from morning to night, with so little thanks from any one. Now for thirteen years, I have been in many true senses a servant; ... with no object or will of my own; yet never was a time, when apparently I am more likely than now to be visited with those suspicions and jealousies which in one shape or other have been my portion through life. Well I am used to it, and it does not matter to me...” (Epiphany, 1859). Newman, outstanding Christian mind of the nineteenth century, had long and hidden experience of being humiliated, slighted, maligned. Moreover, he had the intellectual sagacity to be fully aware of what was said of him. But he bore it in the spirit of Christ and his sufferings led him to sanctity. Beatified by Pope Benedict in September 2010, he is yet another example of the power of suffering to lead to holiness — suffering borne in union with Jesus Christ. Our Lord time and again told his disciples that the Messiah had to suffer in order to enter his glory. When Simon Peter tried to dissuade him from the path of the Cross, our Lord severely reprimanded him, calling him Satan. The plan of God is that glory is attained by obedient suffering, and especially humiliation.

Humiliation causes real suffering. If a person speaks disrespectfully, or harshly, or in a way that misrepresents — i.e., if one is humiliated — this causes an injury. In previous eras it often led to a duel, with one or other of the parties being killed. The injured party could not live with the insult, and either he or the offending party was destroyed by sword or bullet. It is well-known that in sixteenth-century Spain (Spain being the superpower of Europe), personal honour was the supreme value, and slights to that honour were of grave import. There are still cultures in which a daughter who is regarded as wayward is put to death by the family — it is an ‘honour-killing,’ as if this perceived slight to their honour in the eyes of others justified the crime. Human respect is a core value of the human being, and when it is wounded, the spirit of man revolts. But Christ has come with an altogether opposite message. He points to himself as meek and humble of heart in bearing slights and opprobrium. From all eternity he possessed the glory of God, and he became one of us to bear the loss of this glory, even to death on a cross. He died ingloriously, and glory was its fruit. That the Cross is to be accepted and embraced is the most difficult of the teachings of Christ. If what is borne is not difficult, then it is not truly the Cross that is being borne. In our Gospel today (Luke 6: 27-38) our Lord speaks of those who act towards us as would enemies. We are to love them and pray for them. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” The problem is made more acute when it is good people who do the harm, and, from their perspective, do it for right and good motives. “Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that.”

When we are injured by others in word or in deed, let us immediately think of Christ and his teaching. He was injured as no-one else was, and he forgave. That is our model. Let us strive to imitate him, asking for the grace of God to do so. We have a specimen of his teaching in our Gospel today. Let us pray for the grace to live according to it, because it can only be done with the assistance of grace. With the aid of this grace, humiliation, insult and injury will lead to glory. What saint attained sanctity without suffering and humiliation? Let that be our consolation, then.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 8: 1-7.11-13)

The Christian conscience In his first letter to the Corinthians

(ch.8: 1-7.11-13) St Paul offers some directions on something that is often appealed to: the authority of one's conscience. In effect St Paul says that the conscience of the "enlightened" person can be very unenlightened. In the case that he refers to here, it is of a person who has a correct understanding of what is objectively permitted (in this case, the eating of food that has been sacrificed to idols). But he takes no regard of the good of another who lacks this understanding and who observes his action. To take no regard of the good of the other means that one's conscience is unenlightened. Acting accordingly will result in injury to that other person's "weak conscience", and it will be "Christ against whom you sinned." The weaker person's conscience is unenlightened too, but St Paul is not concerned with him in this passage.

During the whole of our life we ought be imbued with the mind and charity of Christ. We must be ever concerned with the sanctification and salvation of our brothers, even if it means curtailing our liberty to do what our conscience tells is perfectly permissible. Let us work daily to grow in the love and mind of Christ in everything.

(E.J.Tyler)

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“Blessed be God!” you said to yourself after having finished your sacramental Confession. And you thought: it is as if I had just been born again.

You then continued calmly: “Domine, quid me vis facere? — Lord, what would you have me do?”

—And you yourself came up with the reply: “With the help of your grace I will let nothing and no one come between me and the fulfilment of your most Holy Will: Serviam — I will serve you unconditionally!”
(The Forge, no.238)

Friday of the twenty-third week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 10) St. Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)
Saint Thomas, the glory of the Spanish Church in the sixteenth century, was born in the diocese of Toledo in 1488. His mother was a Christian of extraordinary tenderness for the poor. God worked a miracle for her one day, when her servants had given

away absolutely all the flour in their storeroom. When another beggar came to the door, she told them to go back once more and look again, and they found the storeroom filled with flour. Her little son followed his mother’s example, and one day gave away, to six poor persons in succession, the six young chicks which had been following the hen around in the yard. When his mother asked where they were, he said, "You didn’t leave any bread in the house, Mama, so I gave them the chicks! I would have given the hen if another beggar had come." At the age of fifteen years he began his studies and succeeded so well he was judged fit to teach philosophy and theology in a college of Alcala, and then at Salamanca. When his father died he returned to Villanova to dispose of his patrimony. He made his house into a hospital, keeping only what was needed for his mother, and gave the rest to the poor. At the age of twenty-eight he entered the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine at Salamanca, becoming professed in 1517. When ordained a priest three years later, he continued his teaching of theology, but also began to preach so remarkably well that he was compared with Saint Paul and the prophet Elias. The city was reformed, and after the Emperor Charles V heard him once, he returned and often mingled with the crowd to listen,

finally making Saint Thomas his official preacher. He became Prior of his Order in three cities, then three times a Provincial Superior. His sanctity continued to increase, and he was nominated archbishop of Valencia in 1544; he had refused a similar offer sixteen years earlier, but this time was obliged to accept. After a long drought, rain fell on the day he assumed his new office. He arrived as a pilgrim accompanied by one fellow monk, and was not recognized in the convent of his Order when the two travellers came asking for shelter during the rain. He was obliged to reveal his identity when the Prior, who wondered where the awaited archbishop might be, asked him if perchance it was he. The new Archbishop was so poor that he was given money for furnishings, but he took it to the hospital for the indigent. On being led to his throne in church, he pushed the silken cushions aside, and with tears kissed the ground. His first visit was to the prison. Two-thirds of his episcopal revenues were annually spent in alms. He daily fed five hundred needy persons, made himself responsible for the bringing up of the city’s orphans, and sheltered neglected foundlings with a mother’s care. During his eleven years’ episcopate, not one poor maiden was married without an alms from the archbishop. Spurred by his example, the rich and the selfish became liberal and generous. And when, on the Nativity of Our Lady, 1555, after one week of illness, Saint Thomas was about to breathe his last, he gave his bed to a poor man and asked to be placed on the floor. It has been said that at his death he was probably the only poor man in his see.
When a refractory priest had not heeded his bishop’s remonstrances, Saint Thomas took him into a room apart, uncovered his shoulders and knelt before his crucifix, saying: "My brother, my sins are the reason you have not changed your life and listened to my warnings. It is just for me to bear the penalty of my fault." And he scourged himself cruelly. This frequent practice brought many to tears and reform of their lives. In this way a perfect Pastor inspired his entire flock with truly Christian sentiments. He was canonized in 1658. (Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 9: 16-19.22-27; Psalm 83; Luke 6:39-42

Jesus also told the people this parable: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Luke 6:39-42)

Sawdust Of its nature, the universe is a cauldron of change. There is constant alteration and movement. This vast fact, as explored by great minds, is a principal way to God who is the changeless One — himself never altering because of the limitless richness of his being.

Change! Motion! Alteration! Hurricanes come and go. Gradually forest lands become deserts. The world’s population over one century is entirely replaced by another, and so it has been for aeons. Periods of peace burst into the flames of war. Autocratic regimes are engulfed in revolutions, to be replaced by succeeding dictatorships or democracies. Man sees before him beauty and ugliness in unfolding succession, and he strives to manage this changing world for his own flourishing. But I propose this, that what we see in the external world is but a reflection of the cauldron and drama within man’s own heart. The drama without is a reflection of the drama within. Indeed, the action within is of decisive importance for the action without. Our Lord said that it is not what goes inside a man that makes him unclean — which is to say, it is not the state of the world that is the decisive problem. It is what comes out of a man’s heart that makes him unclean. It is sin which corrupts man, and we know from Revelation that it was the original sin of man that corrupted the world. Sin entered the world through one man, and with sin death entered and spread to the whole human race. The heart of man — which is to say his conscience and the sanctuary that is his inner spirit — is the real engine that drives the course of the outer, visible universe. Scarcely possible as it is to imagine, what would the world have been like if from the beginning mankind had been, and had remained, holy? What would the world have been like had it been populated by saints rather than sinners? It is the heart of man that contains the key to the health, the flourishing, and the temporal and eternal prosperity of man. But let us take the point to a more practical and concrete issue. What is it in the heart of man that makes a tremendous difference to the life and community of man? I suggest it is largely how we judge our brother.

In his inspired Letter, St James speaks of the power of the human tongue to shape the world. “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide the rest of their bodies. It is the same with ships: however large they are, and despite the fact that they are driven by fierce winds, they are directed by very small rudders on whatever course the steersman’s impulse may select. The tongue is something like that” (3:3-5). St James continues with his simile, showing how the world is affected by what comes out of a man. “See how tiny the spark is that sets a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is such a flame. It exists among our members as a whole universe of malice. The tongue defiles the entire body. Its flames encircle our course from birth, and its fire is kindled by hell” (3:5-6). But the tongue is but manifesting what is going on in the heart. St James asks, “Where do the conflicts and disputes among you originate? Is it not your inner cravings that make war within your members? What you desire you do not obtain, and so you resort to murder. You envy and you cannot acquire...” (4:1-2). It is what man thinks and wants and chooses that shapes his life and the world around him. Let us be more precise. It is how in his heart he judges his brother that makes such a decisive difference. He is injured, either deliberately or unconsciously, and he judges his brother darkly. He may not be injured at all, but he observes how his brother acts, and he criticizes, judges, despises him. That posture of the heart is decisive. We see sawdust in our neighbour’s eye, and we think there is a lot of it there, indeed far too much. We dislike it, and we dislike him. In our Gospel today, Christ is explicit. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?” (Luke 6:39-42). The world is a far poorer place for the majority of its inhabitants judging harshly of their neighbours.

Let us begin with ourselves. Let us especially be on guard over our hearts when we feel injured. We ought aim to be virtuous in heart, especially when it is difficult. Indeed we ought aim at heroic virtue, with the example of Jesus Christ constantly before us and the promise of his grace. If we feel inconvenienced, rebuffed, injured, not considered, let us resolve to pardon, to look on the attainments and virtues of our neighbour rather than on his defects. Above all, let us pray for those who injure us, knowing that this is the path pursued by Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Let us not judge and condemn our brother, for in that way God will not judge and condemn us.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 9: 16-19.22-27)

Our spiritual responsibilities I remember watching an interview of the great actor, Charlton Heston. He said that one of the biggest problems now is that people

do not take responsibility for their actions. That is to say, people need a greater sense of personal responsibility. What was it that drove St Paul to such lengths in his missionary life and work? By his own account (1 Cor. 9: 16-19.22-27) it was his sense of responsibility. It was not something he had chosen to do. Rather it was "a responsibility that has been placed in my hands." His reward was to have fulfilled that responsibility by bringing the Gospel to others free of charge. Each one of us has a share in this same responsibility to bring Christ and his Gospel to others wherever we are, be it in family, work, parish, or wherever. If we fail to fulfill this responsibility, no-one else will be there in our place to do it. There will remain a lack at that point, and that lack will reverberate elsewhere and beyond.

Let us be alive to our spiritual responsibilities to ourselves, to our own sanctification, and to the sanctification of others. We take others with us towards heaven or towards hell. What happens to them is to some extent our responsibility, just as what happens to us is our responsibility.

(E.J.Tyler)

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We read in the Gospel that the Magi, videntes stellam — when they saw the star — were filled with great joy.

—They rejoiced, my son, they were immensely glad, because they had done what they were supposed to do; and they rejoiced because they knew for certain they would reach the King, who never abandons those who seek him.
(The Forge, no.239)

Saturday of the twenty-third week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 11) St. Cyprian (d. 258)
Cyprian is important in the development of Christian thought and practice in the third century, especially in northern Africa. Highly educated, a famous orator, he became a Christian as an adult. He distributed his goods to the poor, and amazed his

fellow citizens by making a vow of chastity before his baptism. Within two years he had been ordained a priest and was chosen, against his will, as Bishop of Carthage (near modern Tunis). Cyprian complained that the peace the Church had enjoyed had weakened the spirit of many Christians and had opened the door to converts who did not have the true spirit of faith. When the Decian persecution began, many Christians easily abandoned the Church. It was their reinstatement that caused the great controversies of the third century, and helped the Church progress in its understanding of the Sacrament of Penance. Novatus, a priest who had opposed Cyprian's election, set himself up in Cyprian's absence (he had fled to a hiding place from which to direct the Church—bringing criticism on himself) and received back all apostates without imposing any canonical penance. Ultimately he was condemned. Cyprian held a middle course, holding that those who had actually sacrificed to idols could receive Communion only at death, whereas those who had only bought certificates saying they had sacrificed could be admitted after a more or less lengthy period of penance. Even this was relaxed during a new persecution. During a plague in Carthage, he urged Christians to help everyone, including their enemies and persecutors. A friend of Pope Cornelius, Cyprian opposed the following pope, Stephen. He and the other African bishops would not recognize the validity of baptism conferred by heretics and schismatics. This was not the universal view of the Church, but Cyprian was not intimidated even by Stephen's threat of excommunication. He was exiled by the emperor and then recalled for trial. He refused to leave the city, insisting that his people should have the witness of his martyrdom. Cyprian was a mixture of kindness and courage, vigour and steadiness. He was cheerful and serious, so that people did not know whether to love or respect him more. He waxed warm during the baptismal controversy; his feelings must have concerned him, for it was at this time that he wrote his treatise on patience. St. Augustine (August 28) remarks that Cyprian atoned for his anger by his glorious martyrdom.
“You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother.... God is one and Christ is one, and his Church is one; one is the faith, and one is the people cemented together by harmony into the strong unity of a body.... If we are the heirs of Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be lovers of peace” (St. Cyprian, The Unity of the Catholic Church). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 10: 14-22; Psalm 115; Luke 6:43-49

Jesus said, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do

not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. (Luke 6: 43-49)

Rock Earthquakes hit strongly in places as divergent as California, Tennessee, New York, Japan and Brazil. Accordingly, more builders, architects and property owners look for ways to build earthquake-resistant housing. Many construction companies specialize in building these types of structures,

and while no design can totally prevent earthquake damage, certain building systems can lessen it. At the time I write this, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the main United States government agency that supports research and education in earthquake engineering. But all through history there has been the problem of constructing buildings that will resist earthquakes. People of the Inca civilization were masters of the polished dry-stone walls where blocks of stone were cut to fit together tightly without any mortar. It is estimated that the Incas were among the best stone masons in human history, and archaeologists state that many junctions in their masonry were so perfect that even blades of grass could not fit between the stones. Peru is a seismic land, and for centuries the mortar-free construction proved to be apparently more earthquake-resistant than using mortar. The stones of the dry-stone walls built by the Incas could move slightly and resettle without the walls collapsing. Of course, it is not only earthquakes that destroy man’s dwellings and meeting places. Tidal waves, torrents of rain and floods sweep them away too. Raging bush and forest fires destroy numerous homes in advanced countries such as Australia and parts of the United States. Speaking of the man who has a solid foundation in life, our Lord uses the example of buildings that are constructed on a secure basis. “He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.” Our Lord had been a carpenter-builder. Doubtlessly he had built homes, and would have laid them on a rock foundation — and the area of his home district of Nazareth was quite rocky. The point of his words in the Gospel today, though, is that our life must be based on a true and secure foundation.

If our life is not built on such a foundation, just as buildings are very vulnerable to flood, wind, fire and earthquake, so will our life be exposed to the danger of complete collapse. A person may make his way to the top of his field, enjoying the favour of the most important persons, and commanding exceptional influence on his society. Despite appearances, though, he is not secure. When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, the priest Thomas Wolsey (1471-1530) became the King's almoner. Wolsey's career prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in virtually all matters of state and was extremely powerful within the Church. He finally became Lord Chancellor, the King's chief adviser and enjoyed great freedom. Within the Church he became Archbishop of York, the second most important see in England, and then was made a cardinal in 1515, giving him precedence over even the Archbishop of Canterbury. But it all came undone over the Great Matter of the King’s marriage. Wolsey could not get the annulment, and he fell totally from favour, being finally arrested for treason and dying soon afterwards. His own private life as a priest was a disgrace. The point here is that his life was built on ambition, and so it was constructed on ground lacking any foundation. His fall was great and tragic. Seven years his junior, Thomas More succeeded Wolsey as Chancellor of England. His was an entirely different case. He was an eminent lawyer, a social philosopher, published author, and statesman. During his life he gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist, a close friend of Erasmus, a bitter opponent of Martin Luther and of Tyndale’s Bible. He was Lord Chancellor for three years, when he resigned over the Great Matter of the divorce. His silence spoke volumes. He would not allow for the divorce, nor for Henry’s declaration that he was Head of Christ’s Church. He went to the scaffold, a saint and a martyr of Christ and the Church. His life was built on rock, the rock that is Christ and his teaching. What a difference between the two — the one an unfaithful and worldly priest, the other a holy layman.

Christ tells us what is the true foundation of life, whatever life may bring in terms of temporal fortunes. Such fortunes come and go, but the foundation has to be true. That foundation is hearing the word of God as it comes to us from the mouth of Christ and the teaching of his representative the Church, and putting it into practice. Successful or unsuccessful in matters of this life as the case may be, the one necessary thing is that we strive to know what God wants and has taught, and then to put it into practice. Let that be our daily goal, and all will be well. As Saint Thomas More said, though I lose my head, I’ll come to no harm.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 10:14)

The first of the ten commandments St Paul tells us we "must keep clear of idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:14). This may seem obvious to us in our educated and civilized age. It refers to the very first of the ten commandments, on which all the others depend: I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods besides me.

The point of St Paul's directive then follows. Those who are sacrificing to idols "sacrifice to demons who are not gods. I have no desire to see you in communion with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons." That is to say, they are subjecting themselves to the influence of the devil and acknowledging other things in place of the one God. In our day and age it may be difficult to imagine educated people worshipping idols. But it is not impossible at all to "worship" (let us say) sources of influence other than the one God whom the Church proclaims. One thinks of various forms of fortune telling, astrology, lucky charms, new age techniques, and even openly professed paganism such as the worship of earth goddesses. All of this, St Paul reminds us, opens us to the influence of Satan, and involves a substitution of something in the place of God. It is a serious sin, and it is going on in the modern world.

Let us devote ourselves to God alone, determining to make the sole object of our life to know, love and serve Christ his Son, and to renounce sin and anything that substitutes for God or that entices us away from Him.

(E.J.Tyler)

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When you really come to love God’s Will you will never, even in the worst state of agitation, lose sight of the fact that our Father in Heaven is always close to you, very close, right next to you, with his everlasting Love and with his unbounded affection.
(The Forge, no.240)

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Prayers this week: Give peace, Lord, to those who wait for you and your prophets who will proclaim you as you deserve. Hear the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel. (Sir. 36. 18)

Almighty God our creator and guide, may we serve you with all our heart and know your forgiveness in our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

(September 12) Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3); both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters. The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church.
“Lord our God, when your Son was dying on the altar of the cross, he gave us as our mother the one he had chosen to be his own mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant that we who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother, with confidence in her protection may receive strength and comfort in all our needs” (Marian Sacramentary, Mass for the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Exodus 32: 7-11.13-14; Psalm 50; 1 Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15: 1-32

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbours and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance. “Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbours and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent

everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns, who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15:1-32)

God our Father The Gospel of today tells the sad story of the son who was wasteful of all that his father had given him (Luke 15: 1-32), and of its beautiful upshot in his restoration. Let us remember, though, that the purpose of the parable was to explain our Lord’s own behaviour.

The scribes and Pharisees had criticized him for welcoming sinners and eating with them. The all-holy God who hated sin, they assumed, would not do that. The parable is primarily an image of God, drawn by Jesus his Son. It shows God to be a loving and forgiving father, the thought of whose love ought shape our lives. It is on this merciful love that we may constantly depend, provided we come humble and repentant, acknowledging God’s goodness and our own sinful condition. In the first reading from the Old Testament book of Exodus, the all-holy God shows himself to Moses as angry at the sin of his people who were abandoning him for an idol they had made. God is the all-holy One, and his chosen people are incorrigibly sinful. At the start of the saga of the deliverance of the chosen people, Moses had heard the Voice saying to him from the Burning Bush, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Ex.3:5). Moses was a sinner too, and so could not come near the all-holy God. Throughout the Old Testament there is a progressive revelation of what this holy God is like. His holiness is gradually revealed to be a merciful love. He is a father and a husband to his wayward people. In the process of this revelation of God, the Scriptures reveal what man is like. The people of God are sinful, incorrigibly sinful. Still, God promises to pour out his Holy Spirit to change the hearts of his children and unite them to himself. This was the promise, and it was fulfilled by our Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross. Because of his death on the Cross, God has given us his Spirit and his grace enabling us to repent and live for him.

We who are like the prodigal son are able to return, precisely because God is like the father of the prodigal son. Like the sinners and the publicans whom our Lord welcomed and with whom he dined, we too can feel confident in the love of God our Father for us. Our Lord reveals God to be a wonderful father. Now, when this is said of God, we ought not understand it primarily in terms of earthly fathers, although if one has a good earthly father that can help. Rather, we learn of the fatherhood of God from Jesus. We must enter into union with our Lord, and by his grace and teaching learn from him what his heavenly Father, who is our God and Father, is like. Eternal life involves a personal knowledge of God our Father — “Eternal life is this,” our Lord said at the Last Supper, “to know you, God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” It is Jesus Christ who can and will give us a personal knowledge of the Father, because God is his own natural Father. “No one can come to the Father except through me”, our Lord said. “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” Jesus called himself our brother. “Go and tell the brothers,” he said to Mary Magdalen when he rose from the dead, “that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Our whole life should be lived on the basis of a constant awareness of what Jesus our God and brother has revealed — that the great and infinite God is our Father, and that we are his beloved children. I am God’s adopted child! This means that I can approach God with childlike confidence, and live constantly in his presence. Yet I must be humble, contrite, and reverent, as a child who knows he is profoundly loved yet who knows also that he so often offends his great, revered, loving and all-perfect Father. He is a Father who is loving and forgiving, and yet holy and non-accepting of sin. He will always say to us what our Lord said to the sinful woman, go now, and do not sin again.

Let us make constant use of the Lord’s Prayer in our daily life, but not just routinely. It ought be the principal prayer of our daily life, the prayer that teaches us to call God our Father, and to recognise that we are his children. It is the prayer that will help us to become the children he wants us to be, holy, humble, repentant, determined to be like our loving Father in all things.
(E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.2777-2785 (We dare to approach in confidence to say: Our Father)

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Second reflection: Luke 15:1-32

Sin Our Gospel today tells us about sin, but the starting point of the narrative is God’s love. “The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained.” They were complaining, not about the sinners,

but about Jesus — about “this man” who “welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:1-32). Jesus told the parable to show the scribes and Pharisees that what he was doing is what God does. God is a father, overflowing with indulgence. “A man had two sons. The younger said to the father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” And so “the father divided the property between them.” God has given us life, family, so many opportunities and new starts. Above all he has given us His own Son, and with His Son he has given the opportunity of an eternity with Him for ever. When the sinful son at last came home, his father, seeing him a long way off, ran to embrace him. Then when his son said, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you,” the celebrations began. The father was always ready to forgive, had the wayward son only returned. So it is with our heavenly Father. That revelation of God’s love is the starting point for what the parable reveals of the enormity of sin. Sin ruined the younger son, and were it not for his repentance and return to his loving father, he would have been lost. In God’s sight, sin is the greatest of tragedies. It was the sin of our first parents which spoilt God’s creative work, and it was the sin of mankind which led God to send his Son for love of man. Precisely because God loves the sinner and hates the sin, he seeks out sinful man unremittingly. It is because he sees the enormity of sin that God took such great steps to take it away. Our Lord tells us that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance. When the wayward son returned, the celebrations began, and there was more rejoicing over him than there was for the older son who had never left his father’s presence. He had been rescued from the enormity of sin.

The tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of sinners in order to hear what Jesus had to say. While Christ wished to tell them that God loves them and wants them to turn away from their sins, still, they had to repent. He told this to all — not only to the tax collectors and sinners, but to the scribes and Pharisees too. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent! This message of repentance is what our Lord began his public ministry with, and it is his message for every generation. The danger is that we can settle into a comfortable acceptance of our sins, especially our venial sins. We can persist in committing venial sins, rarely confessing them, rarely being sorry for them and rarely trying to root them out of our lives. The danger is that we become complacent about venial sin. Of course, it is a terrible thing to be living in mortal sin. If a person commits a mortal sin whether of thought, word or deed, it is imperative that he be like the prodigal son, and confess the sin and seek forgiveness, above all in the holy Sacrament of Penance. But there is also the danger of taking a casual attitude towards venial sin, whether of thought or word or deed. We can contentedly remain in our sins, thinking that they do not matter, and gradually coming to think that we are not really sinners anyway. It is through deliberate and unrepented venial sin that sin can grow in our lives, that we can lose the sense of sin. It is through venial sin that the way can be prepared for mortal sin. What is notable about the Pharisees is that they did not think of themselves as sinners. They had lost the sense of sin. Let us strive to please God by turning away from venial sin every day. It would be a good strategy to concentrate on a persistent venial sin for, say, six or twelve months till it has been uprooted. We should be making frequent use of the Sacrament of Penance to be reconciled to God after the manner of the prodigal son, and to have daily venial sin cleansed from our hearts. Whenever we turn away from sin, including deliberate venial sin, we bring joy to God and to those who are with God in heaven. “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.”

When we do not care about venial sin, we are likely to count ourselves among the ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance. I do not commit many sins! We do, but we do not think they are important, and as a result we become scarcely conscious of their presence in our lives. We ought be working continually on developing a sense of sin, a growing spirit of repentance, and praying for this as a grace of the Holy Spirit. We ought be more and more sorry for our sins, striving through acts of contrition and regular Confession to recognise them, renounce them, and with God’s grace resolving to live a holy life as Christ’s friend.

(E.J.Tyler)

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If the outlook in your interior life, in your soul, is darkened, allow yourself to be led along by the hand, as a blind man would do.

—In time the Lord will reward this humble surrendering of your own judgement by giving you clarity of mind.
(The Forge, no.241)

Monday of the twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time C/II

(September 13) Saint John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church (died 407)
The ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his name means "golden-mouthed") from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in

Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John began his episcopate under the cloud of imperial politics. If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours. His life-style at the imperial court was not appreciated by some courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favours. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man. His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into their office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam's fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives. When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards. Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became excited in the pulpit, John was a sure target for criticism and personal trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine foods. His faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia, provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and chastity were concerned. His action taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor was viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy, uncanonical extension of his authority. Two prominent personages who personally undertook to discredit John were Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel and impious Herodias were associated with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.

Scripture today: I Corinthians 11: 17-26.33; Psalm 39; Luke 7: 1-10

When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,

and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come here, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. (Luke 7:1-10)

Second reflection: (1 Corinthians 11: 17-26.33)

The Holy Eucharist Saint Paul explicitly tells us that the risen Jesus himself told him about the institution of the Eucharist. "For this is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread..." (1 Cor. 11: 17-26).

St Paul was a contemporary of our Lord, and quite possibly he had heard of him while during his public ministry and perhaps too at the time of his passion and death. But it was only the heavenly, risen Jesus who had spoken to him, and he spoke to him at length. One of the many things he told St Paul was about the Eucharist, its institution and its meaning. At the end of the passage referred to above, St Paul gives the meaning of the Eucharist. He says that "Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death." Every time the Eucharist is celebrated, our Lord's death is made present, and proclaimed sacramentally. Being made present, we are present sacramentally at Calvary, and, united with Christ at Calvary, we become equipped in our turn to proclaim his death in our everyday life.

Let us put the Eucharist at the centre of our lives, and thus allow the death of Jesus to be proclaimed, and together with that, the power of his resurrection in a life of holiness.

(E.J.Tyler)

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To be afraid of anything or anybody, but especially of the person who directs our soul, is unworthy of a son of God.
(The Forge, no.242)

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (September 14)
(Tuesday of the twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time C/II 2010)

(September 14) The Victory of the Holy Cross (Picture: Titulum crucis in Rome)
Early in the fourth century St. Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy

places of Christ's life. She razed the Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Saviour's tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. The story is that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman. The cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century, according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus' head: Then "all the people pass through one by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the cross, they move on." To this day the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica's dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, 15 years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.
"How splendid the cross of Christ! It brings life, not death; light, not darkness; Paradise, not its loss. It is the wood on which the Lord, like a great warrior, was wounded in hands and feet and side, but healed thereby our wounds. A tree has destroyed us, a tree now brought us life" (Theodore of Studios). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-38; Phil 2:6-11; John 3:13-17

Jesus said to Nicodemus, No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven— the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:13-17)

The Cross One of the most striking features of the world is its activity. As we look out on a tranquil scene, and on pictures of the world at large, we might initially be tempted to think of the world as in repose, even static. But of course, the world is a huge, throbbing, churning factory. It never stops its work of causation and production. Every part of it is acting upon other things and being acted upon by still other things. As, by analogy with human beings, we might say that a machine is at work, so

the world is ever at work. Everywhere things are in formation, being caused to appear and function, or being replaced. Mountains gradually rise, valleys form, the animals build their abodes and hunt for food while being hunted themselves. Man, the pinnacle of this sea of activity, himself leads the way in his work. He is the one, par excellence, who works. He is born, and he soon begins to work. In the Book of Genesis we read that God blessed the man and the woman he had created, saying to them: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth” (1:28). Man had the prerogative of giving to all things their names (2: 19-20). It is by his work that he gains this dominion, but it is a dominion that must be exercised as one subject to the moral law of his Creator. He may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but he must not eat or even touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:16-17; 3:3). All this is to say that man, constituted lord of the world, is meant by the Creator to strive for dominion. He is intended to achieve. He is meant for victory. But what has happened? He fell in defeat, and it was his own undoing. He fell because he sought a dominion according to his own law and not according to God’s. He touched and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (3:6). So, intended for dominion, he became enslaved, and the victor was sin and death. Man was crushed in defeat and cast out of the garden. Having taken from the forbidden tree, gone was his power to take from the tree of life, and thus live forever (3:22).

Thus did there enter upon the world a Figure never intended by the Creator. That Figure was a dark, blood-stained, grinning ogre. It was unconquerable, and it would smash every human being. No matter how common the victories of man in his work, he was bound for defeat because his meeting with this dark Figure was inevitable. It was the one enemy he could not outdo, no matter how much he struggled and fought it off. It sought him out, whoever he may be, and it would overcome. That Figure is Death. I remember watching a movie in which, to save his family, a good man courageously stepped forward to fight a hard and evil champion. He began very well, striking many telling blows and matching force with force, but from the outset it appeared that his defeat was inevitable. And so it was. He was overcome and destroyed. Man cannot now win. He is subject to Death because of the Original Sin that separated him from God and rendered him prone to personal sin. What, then, is the answer, if there be one? The answer is Death. At the beginning, God promised a grand reversal. The heel of the woman’s offspring would strike the serpent’s head. Surprise of God! When an enemy advances, one looks about for weapons with which to resist and overcome. But Death would be the weapon. God sent his own divine Son to turn the inexorable tide from death to life eternal, and his great tool, his weapon of war, would be death itself. He freely and obediently submitted to death which, like a terrible engine of war, came towards him intending to destroy. The engine was fuelled by Satan and his minions. The Prince of this world was on his way, and his host was Death. In the plan of God, it was by submitting to death in bearing witness to his truth that Christ would overcome death. This must never happen to you! Peter said to Christ, and Christ rebuked him as Satan, for he was not thinking as God thinks, but as man. And so Jesus Christ went to his death in fulfilment of the plan of God. He died a terrible death outside the City, a seeming defeat, the defeat that is universal for man, and in that defeat he gained the victory. It was the triumph of the Cross.

In Jesus Christ, the defeat that is the Cross is the triumph of the Cross. Man now knows how to defeat the grand enemy of every man, which is Death. The weapon of victory is obedient submission to the will of God in suffering and death. When suffering and death come, they become our friends instead of our enemies, if we but submit to the will of God in union with the suffering and crucified Christ. Suffering and death, accepted in this way, become the path to glory forever. It is the distinctive teaching of Christ and Christianity that the Cross is man’s means of happiness and life. Let us look to Christ and to union with him, then!
(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Philippians 2: 6-11)

The triumph of the Cross There is an expression we often hear: "the top dog." Many try to be the top dog. I remember one family had a dog that had been the family dog for some time. Then another dog was brought into the family, a large pup, and

soon after its arrival the family dog dug up all its largest bones and put them together. Then it stood over them, while the other dog watched, all agitated, barking from a distance. The family dog was showing by the display of all the large bones in its possession that it was the top dog, and the other dog could see it and felt it. In this particular respect, how like dogs many people are! But what do we see God do, the one infinite God with whom no creature can remotely compare in glory? God chose to be lowly and humble. St Paul says that the Son of God did not cling to his divine "condition" but assumed the "condition of a slave, and became as men are: and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross" (Phil. 2: 6-11). This then was his glory, his lifting up, the manifestation of his divine character, to lower himself in his love for us. It was a triumph of pure and humble love, the clearest revelation of God's true glory. The glory of the Lord was revealed on the Cross.

Let us pray for the grace to be like God in humbling ourselves, to accept and choose as did the Son of God the lowest place, leaving it to him to raise us up in glory.

(E.J.Tyler)

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Are you not moved to hear some affectionate word addressed to your mother?

—Well, the same thing happens to Our Lord. We cannot separate Jesus from his Mother.
(The Forge, no.243)

Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15)
(Wednesday of the twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time C/II 2010)

(September 15) Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast has its origin in that Christian devotion which associates her with the Passion of her Son. Pope Pius VII extended this devotion to the whole Church and, in 1912, St Pius X fixed the feast on this day, within the octave of the Nativity of our Mother the Virgin. Our Mother the Virgin Mary teaches us to live, together with her, beside the Cross of her Son. In her suffering as co-redeemer, she reminds us of the tremendous malice of sin and shows us the way of true repentance.

For a while there were two feasts in honour of the Sorrowful Mother: one going back to the 15th century, the other to the 17th century. For a while both were celebrated by the universal Church: one on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the other in September. The principal biblical references to Mary's sorrows are in Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27. The Lucan passage is Simeon's prediction about a sword piercing Mary's soul; the Johannine passage relates Jesus' words to Mary and to the beloved disciple. Many early Church writers interpret the sword as Mary's sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross. Thus, the two passages are brought together as prediction and fulfilment. St. Ambrose (December7) in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son's wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary stood there in perfect solidarity with him.

At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed." (Stabat Mater) (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Hebrews 5: 7-9; Psalm 30; John 19:25-27 or Luke 2:33-35

Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:33-35)

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)

Mother of sorrows St Matthew’s account of the infancy of Jesus Christ goes for some 48 verses over two chapters. St Luke’s account goes for 132 verses over two chapters, not far short of three times the length of Matthew’s account. Although the division into chapters came well after the writing of the Gospels, it is of interest to note that Luke’s two infancy chapters are among the longest of his chapters — the first being the longest, and the second being among the longest. His infancy narrative

(chapters 1 and 2) is the longest section of his Gospel, slightly longer in terms of verses than even his account of the Passion and Death of Christ (chapters 22 and 23), which includes the betrayal and the preparations for the Last Supper. If we add the final chapter (24) on the Resurrection appearances, then of course, the final chapters exceed in length the Infancy chapters. But these facts alone suggest the importance that Luke attached to his account of the infancy of Christ. It also may suggest a special link between the Infancy and the Passion. In terms of weight and length, the Gospel seems to be pegged down at either end, one by the Infancy, the other by the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. Luke begins his Gospel by telling us that many had drawn up an account of the Gospel events as attested by eye-witnesses. He too has accurately investigated from their source (or beginning) “all (these) things” (1:3). It seems manifest that a principal source for the long Infancy narrative was Mary the mother of the Lord. One of the notable features of this narrative is the progressive revelation Mary is given of the mission of her divine Son and of her own role. The Angel tells her that he will be Son of the Most High and Son of David. He will be the Messiah-King, and of his kingdom there will be no end (1:32-33). Her role is also stated: she is to be truly his mother. This will be by the power of the Most High and by the coming upon her of the Holy Spirit, and that therefore he, the Messiah, will be called Son of God (1:35).

A notable advance in this revelation comes with the words of Simeon, speaking under inspiration (2: 28-35). The Lord’s Messiah, whom he holds in his arms, is God’s salvation for the peoples, the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. Then the Cross is strongly intimated. The Cross had not been mentioned by the Angel, who had emphasized his glory and triumph. But now there is this further revelation. The Child will be the cause of the rise and the fall of many in Israel, and he will be spoken against. He will be a sign of contradiction. He will be opposed. So his mission will be achieved amid great strife. The glory will come, but at the cost of much pain. Then Simeon, still under inspiration, turns to the mother. The Angel had announced to her that in God’s plan she was to be truly his mother. Now she is informed that she is to suffer with him, and suffer profoundly. In the midst of the very sentence declaring that the Child will be hotly opposed, she is told that her soul will be thrust through with a sword. While the sword of hostility will strike her Son, “a sword will go through your soul also” (kai sou de autees) (2: 34-35). So the mother of the Messiah will be a mother who suffers and dies with him — she will suffer and die in her soul. The Cross looms large before the first and foremost Christian, the one who is full of grace and who is blessed among all women. The Son of God and Messiah will be attacked and resisted, and she who is his mother and first disciple will be martyred with him in spirit. She is to be the mother of sorrows. Her mission is to give him to the world and to accompany him in carrying the Cross. That is what Luke says. John’s Gospel is a distinct testimony, overflowing with richness. John tells us about Mary at the scene of the crucifixion (John 19:25-27). She is entrusted to him by Christ himself, and she lived the rest of her life in his care. Perhaps Luke had not only spoken to Mary about the Infancy, but to John too. The Church has always understood Christ’s final gift of Mary to John as being also a gift of Mary to the Church. She, the mother of sorrows, is mother of Christ and mother of all Christ’s faithful.

Our Lord laid down the condition of discipleship. If any one wishes to come after me, he said, let him deny himself, take up his cross every day, and come after me. Our Lady was taught this at the very beginning. Being his mother would mean bearing his Cross with him. If we wish to be Christ’s disciples, we must learn the same lesson. Mary our mother in Christ can teach us this by her example and her all-powerful intercession. Let us ask her to pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Let us ask that we might have the grace to accept wholeheartedly, and with abandonment to the will of God, the cross as it comes to us, both now and at the end.
(E.J.Tyler)

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Second reflection: (Luke 2: 33-35; John 19: 25-27)

Our Lady of Sorrows Perhaps the most fundamental issue in a serious following of our Lord is the attitude we choose to

take to suffering. Suffering is a necessary component of the following of Christ. In some sense this obedience in suffering is the high point of the Christian life and the moment of its greatest fruitfulness. This is clear from the fact that it was this in the life of our Lord himself — the Cross was the summit of his life and the source of our redemption. This is a most difficult thing to embrace, and it is a gift of grace to be able to do so, requiring as well a repeated effort on our part. But we have a mother to help us on our way to it, she who was the first and foremost Christian, the first to carry the Cross of Christ with him, the one who in Christ bore the greatest sorrows. She, the mother of sorrows, can teach us how to do it, how to take up our cross each day and follow in the footsteps of the crucified Master.

Let us pray to Our Lady of Sorrows, taking her as our mother and model into our home as did John after Calvary, the home of our souls where dwells the Blessed Trinity if we are in the state of grace. Let us ask her to gain for us the grace to live accepting with love the Cross of Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)

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When you find yourself tired and exhausted, approach Our Lord confidently, as that good friend of ours did, and say: “Jesus, see what you can do about it. Even before I begin to fight, I am already tired.”

—He will give you his strength.
(The Forge, no.244)

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
22nd week Ordinary Time C/II				1	2	3	4
23rd week Ordinary Time C/II	5	6	7	8 Birth of The Blessed Virgin Mary	9	10	11
24th week Ordinary Time C/II	12	13	14 The Triumph of The Cross	15 Our Lady of Sorrows