September2 in Year A 11

Friday 24th Week in Ordinary Time to Friday 26th 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: "For all teachers, that they may convey love in truth and educate in authentic moral and spiritual values."

His mission intention is: "That the Christian communities spread throughout the Asian continent may proclaim the Gospel with fervour, bearing witness to beauty with the joy of the faith ."

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Entrance Antiphon Cf. Sir 36: 18 Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you, that your prophets be found true. Hear the prayers of your servant, and of your people Israel.

Collect Look upon us, O God, Creator and ruler of all things, and, that we may feel the working of your mercy, grant that we may serve you with all our heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

(September 16) Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr (d. 253)

Cornelius (d. 253). There was no pope for 14 months after the martyrdom of St. Fabian (January 20) because of the intensity of the persecution of the Church. During the interval, the Church was governed by a college of priests. St. Cyprian, a friend of Cornelius, writes that Cornelius was elected pope "by the judgment of God and of Christ, by the testimony of most of the clergy, by St Cornelius And St Cyprian

the vote of the people, with the consent of aged priests and of good men." The greatest problem of Cornelius's two-year term as pope had to do with the Sacrament of Penance and centred on the readmission of Christians who had denied their faith during the time of persecution. Two extremes were finally both condemned. Cyprian, primate of Africa, appealed to the pope to confirm his stand that the relapsed could be reconciled only by the decision of the bishop. In Rome, however, Cornelius met with the opposite view. After his election, a priest named Novatian (one of those who had governed the Church) had himself consecrated a rival bishop of Rome — one of the first antipopes. He denied that the Church had any power to reconcile not only the apostates, but also those guilty of murder, adultery, fornication or second marriage! Cornelius had the support of most of the Church (especially of Cyprian of Africa) in condemning Novatianism, though the sect persisted for several centuries. Cornelius held a synod at Rome in 251 and ordered the "relapsed" to be restored to the Church with the usual "medicines of repentance." The friendship of Cornelius and Cyprian was strained for a time when one of Cyprian's rivals made accusations about him. But the problem was cleared up. A document from Cornelius shows the extent of organization in the Church of Rome in the mid-third century: 46 priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons. It is estimated that the number of Christians totalled about 50,000. Cornelius died as a result of the hardships of his exile in what is now Civitavecchia (near Rome).

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. In relation to the papacy, Cyprian wrote: "There is one God and one Christ and but one episcopal chair, originally founded on Peter, by the Lord's authority. There cannot, therefore, be set up another altar or another priesthood. Whatever any man in his rage or rashness shall appoint, in defiance of the divine institution, must be a spurious, profane and sacrilegious ordinance" (St. Cyprian, The Unity of the Catholic Church). 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 view of the Church, and was in fact erroneous, 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. (AmericanCatholic.org)

After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Luke 8: 1-3)

The women In the Gospel of St Luke alone, there are some two dozen references to Jesus meeting a woman or talking about a woman or mentioning a woman in a parable. St Luke reports of certain women by name who were his disciples. Christ’s faithful have always admired Mary of Magdalene, and she is celebrated as a saint in the Church’s liturgical year. John depicts her standing at the foot of the Cross with the mother of Jesus (John 19:25). She is among the first, in John’s account, to discover the empty tomb (John 20:1), and is the first to whom the risen Lord appeared and spoke (20: 15). Jesus directed her, a lay-person in the Church as we might describe her now, to announce the Resurrection to the Eleven (20:17). She was filled with love for her Lord. But Luke also cites other women with whom the Magdalene was associated. For instance, in our passage today he refers to Joanna, Susanna, and “many others.” Consider, for instance, Joanna. She was the wife of Chuza, the head of Herod Antipas’s household staff. She had, then, direct connections with the Galilean court and presumably would have personally known Herod, Herodias and the daughter of Herodias — the ones who had John the Baptist’s blood on their hands. It seems that Joanna had received some form of healing from Jesus, for she is listed among the women “who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.” Joanna and her friends assisted Christ’s travelling band in practical ways, and used her “means,” as did others of the women, to support them in their consuming work. At times they had no time even to eat (Mark 3:20 and 6:31). Presumably the “means” included a portion of her allowance from her husband’s court salary. The next specific mention which Luke makes of this faithful woman is on the day of Christ’s Resurrection (ch.24). Obviously, she had been among “the women who had followed (Jesus) from Galilee stood at a distance, watching” his last hours on the Cross (Luke 23:49). She and they “saw the tomb and how the body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath day they rested” (Luke 23:55-56). On the day of the Resurrection Joanna is cited as one of the women who told the apostles that the Angels had declared Jesus to be risen (Luke 24:10). Joanna, a person with high Galilean connections, cared little for the world. Rather, she loved and followed with abandon the rejected and crucified Christ.

That Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Chuza and Susanna are mentioned by name as assisting our Lord during his public ministry, may suggest a certain prominence or fame of theirs in the life of the early Church. Luke refers also to another — to “Mary the mother of James and the other women with them” being at the tomb (Luke 24:10) — these are persons he knew of, perhaps knew personally, and perhaps had consulted in gathering his history. They are just names to us now, and at the time were ordinary persons who had come to know the Lord. That meeting with him, that knowledge of him and friendship with him became the greatest thing in their lives. It was, indeed, a new life and it set all of them on the path to holiness, a share in the life of Jesus Christ. They were not among those who having met Christ, received some blessing from him such as a healing, heard him and were moved by him, but who then, like those who left our Lord on hearing his doctrine of the Eucharist, went back to their own homes. How different from Judas were these women! They stayed with him full of love and faith. Indeed, let us notice this. The Eleven ran off in the Garden when Christ was betrayed. John followed Christ to the Cross on Calvary with the mother of Jesus, and Peter followed from afar. But the women were there. They gazed with grief on the death of their Lord, on his burial and the closing of his sepulchre with the stone. They were the first at the tomb early on the Sunday morning. They were the first to hear from the Angels the fact of the Resurrection, and they were the ones who brought the news of it to the disciples. Indeed, as said above, one of them, Mary Magdalene, was the first to have what we might call an open, public encounter with the risen Jesus. Christ had high regard for the faith and love of these women and they must have received great graces from the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Their special friendship with Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have endured in the years ahead. It is inconceivable that, considering their open, constant and fulsome service of Jesus during his public ministry, their loving service of the Church would not have been singularly generous. They would have, like Mary Magdalene their companion, lived and died in the odour of sanctity.

Let us place ourselves in our Gospel scene today (Luke 8: 1-3) and contemplate these fervent disciples of Jesus among the women Luke takes care to mention. He need not have mentioned them, let alone mentioned them by name — but he did. Thanks to him for doing this! It reminds us that every one of us is known and called by name to discipleship — to know, love and serve Jesus Christ here on earth, so as to see and enjoy him forever in heaven. Let this be our life, then!

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“With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women... Mary..Joanna, Susanna..” Consider the beautiful Gospel scene of today with its picture of the Church in its beginnings. Jesus and the Twelve were constantly on mission proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With them went “as well certain women, ... Mary surnamed the Magdalene..Joanna... Susanna, and several others”. Our Lord accepted them into his company and they travelled with the large group, supporting them from their own resources. Contemplate the simple faith and love of those women, and the community life, let us call it, of the whole band. They loved Jesus and listened to his teaching, allowing it to permeate their minds and hearts. The Church was there in germ, gathered around Jesus. Countless ordinary faithful in one generation after another continue to associate with Jesus in his work as head of the Church. They continue quietly in this company, giving of their means, living in his friendship, and listening to his doctrine as members of the Church. St Paul in the first reading tells Timothy that it is this doctrine that must be taught and handed on. “Anyone who teaches anything different and does not keep to the sound doctrine which is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine which is in accordance with true religion, is simply ignorant and must be full of self-conceit” (1 Timothy 6: 2c-12).

Let us live day by day with Jesus in the life of the Church, supporting in every way the work of the spread of the Kingdom, filling our hearts with his living doctrine as it is preached by those appointed to represent him.

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To have a Catholic spirit means that we should feel on our shoulders the weight of our concern for the entire Church — not just of this or that particular part of it. It means that our prayer should spread out north and south, east and west, in a generous act of petition. If you do this you will understand the cry — the aspiration — of that friend of ours, when he considered how unloving so many people are towards our Holy Mother: “The Church: it hurts me to see her treated so!”

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Sir 36: 18 Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you, that your prophets be found true. Hear the prayers of your servant, and of your people Israel.

When Robert Bellarmine was ordained in 1570, the study of Church history and the fathers of the Church was in a sad state of St Robert Bellarmine

neglect. A promising scholar from his youth in Tuscany, he devoted his energy to these two subjects, as well as to Scripture, in order to systematize Church doctrine against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers. He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain. His most famous work is his three-volume Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian faith. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on the temporal power of the pope and the role of the laity. He incurred the anger of monarchists in England and France by showing the divine-right-of-kings theory untenable. He developed the theory of the indirect power of the pope in temporal affairs; although he was defending the pope against the Scottish philosopher Barclay, he also incurred the ire of Pope Sixtus V. Bellarmine was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII on the grounds that "he had not his equal for learning." While he occupied apartments in the Vatican, Bellarmine relaxed none of his former austerities. He limited his household expenses to what was barely essential, eating only the food available to the poor. He was known to have ransomed a soldier who had deserted from the army and he used the hangings of his rooms to clothe poor people, remarking, "The walls won't catch cold." Among many activities, he became theologian to Pope Clement VIII, preparing two catechisms which have had great influence in the Church. The last major controversy of Bellarmine's life came in 1616 when he had to admonish his friend Galileo, whom he admired. Bellarmine delivered the admonition on behalf of the Holy Office, which had decided that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus (the sun as stationary) was contrary to Scripture. The admonition amounted to a caution against putting forward—other than as a hypothesis—theories not yet fully proved. This shows that saints are not infallible. Bellarmine died on September 17, 1621. The process for his canonization was begun in 1627 but was delayed until 1930 for political reasons, stemming from his writings. In 1930 Pius XI canonized him and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church. (AmericanCatholic.org)

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell Shroud of Turin

on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. When he said this, he called out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.' This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (Luke 8: 4-15)

Moral disposition A common catchcry is that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” — a phrase which can be taken to stress the role of personal dispositions in the perception of external objects. Of course, some would choose to use such a phrase to express pure subjectivism: the philosopher David Hume wrote that “beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them” (Essays, Moral and Political 1742). Setting Hume aside, the importance of personal disposition in perception is immense. If a person is not Fr. Ted Tyler

disposed to hear, to see or to accept something, he may not hear, see or accept it at all. It is remarkable how different one from another various literary critiques can be. One critic sees in a work of literature considerable religious meanings, while another sees nothing of this but only a secular significance. The question then is, what is it that disposes one person to hear, perceive or accept something, and another not? There are many factors, but one of special importance is what one wants and chooses. For years a person may be suffering from a perceived insult, one he cannot bring himself to forgive. He sees it as having been unwarranted and grievous. But as a matter of fact, it may not have been an “insult” at all. Rather, it may have been nothing other than the objective truth, entirely warranted, and as a matter of fact not particularly grievous. Further, it may also have come from a person who actually loved the one who is now filled with a feeling of hostility. The one who is consumed with anger looks on the objective events with certain attitudes, and these profoundly affected his perception of them. These attitudes and dispositions which distorted his perception of what was said to him could have been moral, involving a choice for good or evil as the case may be. That is to say, one’s view of past events, involving bitterness at perceived injury, may be the result of sin and sinful attitudes. The man sunk in sin will look on the world, and judge its condition and significance, in a way very different from the saint. One may even venture to say that the most important factor in one’s perception of the objective world is one’s inner moral condition.

It is in light of this that we ought consider our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel. At the end of telling his parable, our Lord says, “Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. When he said this, he called out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Our Lord is letting his story stand, and inviting those who can hear it, to do so — he is insinuating the meaning and message of the parable. As already said, it is striking at times how various will be the understandings of a novel, a drama or a poem. Some readers may be quite incapable of perceiving its moral and spiritual bearings. Our Lord is telling his audience that his parable has a meaning to it, and that a person must have the “ears” to “hear” it. His disciples asked him about the parable — they were listening, but wanted to know from him its true interpretation. In answer, he told them that the “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'” The minds of his disciples had been enlightened and endowed by “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God,” which is to say by a knowledge of God, his will and his ways. They were attuned to understand, and had the interest to perceive. On this basis our Lord proceeds to explain — reminding us that if we lack the moral dispositions which will enable us to perceive the meaning of what God has revealed, then that will block our reception of the grace God wishes to give us to do so. Our Lord is stressing the moral foundations of our perceptive power. The word of God will have its effect in those who can and will receive it. “Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8: 4-15).

Let us ask persistently for the grace to be, at bottom, good soil. The fact is that where we are coming from can easily be hidden from our own view. We may be unaware of the fundamental principles which are shaping our judgments. But God knows them, and he can change them if they need changing. As God grants us light, let us act on that light and be faithful to it. If we are faithful to the grace granted us, more will be given. If we are not, even what we have may be lost.

“I put to you the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures” What Paul tells Timothy to do and the spirit with which he was to do it, applies to every Christian: “Before God the source of all life and before Jesus Christ ... I put to you Fr. Ted Tyler

the duty of doing all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Cardinal Newman was of the view that what especially marks out the human being is his conscience or sense of duty. Every person is endowed with a sense of duty, though this moral sense can be almost snuffed out or even scarcely developed. But if it is developed (and this is itself a moral obligation to do so) then, with the aid of grace, that sense of duty can guide a person to his perfection. So it is vitally important that a person do his duty — part of which is precisely to develop one’s conscience.

Well then, St Paul puts to the reader the duty of doing all he has been told. In effect this means putting into practice all that our Mother the Church tells us is our duty. Our Lord in the Gospel parable today speaks of those who, being “rich soil”, yield a harvest (Luke 8: 4-15). They are those who “with a noble and generous heart” have “heard the word of God and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.” We must persevere in doing our duty well, really well, the daily work God has given to us. It means doing it “all...with no faults or failures” (1 Timothy 6: 13-16), doing our duty as perfectly as we can. St Josemaria Escriva taught that the path to sanctity consists in doing our work as perfectly as we can out of love for God and in this way making it something holy and acceptable to God.

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“And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches”, St Paul wrote. This sigh of the apostle is a reminder for all Christians — for you, too — of our duty to place at the feet of the Spouse of Christ, of the Holy Church, all that we are and all that we can be: loving her faithfully, even at the cost of livelihood, of honour, of life itself.

Entrance Antiphon I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

Collect O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbour, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Joseph is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already as a child, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career with the Capuchins, he joined the Conventuals. Following a brief assignment caring for the friary mule, Joseph began his studies for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him, Joseph gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628. Joseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross; some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble, patient and obedient, even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God. He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life. The friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him. Joseph was canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the canonization, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded. While levitation is an extraordinary sign of holiness, Joseph is also remembered for the ordinary signs he showed. He prayed even in times of inner darkness, and he lived out the Sermon on the Mount. He used his "unique possession" (his free will) to praise God and to serve God’s creation. "Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession" (St. Joseph of Cupertino, from the reading for his feast in the Franciscan breviary). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Isaiah 55: 6-9; Psalm 145: 2-3, 8-9, 17-18; Philippians 1: 20c-24, 27a; Matthew 20: 1-16a

Jesus said to his disciples, The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever Shroud of Turin

is right.' So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 'Because no-one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last. (Matthew 20:1-16)

God is generous It has been said that youth is the time of hopes and dreams and late adulthood is the time of regrets. Whatever about that generalisation, when a person is young he or she will usually have hopes of a bright future — and it is a very sad thing if this is not the case. When that same person reaches advanced years, it will not be surprising if he or she has very many regrets. The danger will be that he may, as a result of life’s disappointments, hope for very little. In both cases, be it in the time of youth or in the time of advancing years, God’s powerful grace can easily be forgotten. God means us to have the joy born of hope, but our main hope should lie not in our own strength and talents but in the power of God and in the free gift of his grace. In our Gospel passage today (Matthew 20: 1-16a) the master of the vineyard goes out at various times of the day to look for workers for his vineyard. At those different stages he finds people standing idle and sends them into his vineyard, including those he found at the very last hour, the eleventh hour of the day. But what happened at the end of the day when the work was over? The last he employed received a full day’s wage, one denarius, which was the payment received by those who did a full day’s work. What is our Lord’s point here? The point is that God will be generous even to the last who hears the call of the master. “Why be envious because I am generous?” the master says to the others. If we respond to God’s invitation we can count on his generosity, and God expresses his generosity in his gift of grace now, and in the reward of heaven hereafter. Grace is the special gift of God. It is by the power of his grace that God does for us what he has promised and intends. It is on his grace that we must depend whether we are young or old, and not primarily on our own strength. God is generous especially through his grace, and this is the message of today’s gospel. What then, is the grace of God? When we refer to God’s grace, we refer to our share in God's life and the help that continually flows from it. This supernatural help coming from God is his gift and it is undeserved. It enables us to respond to his call to live and work as his children.

At our baptism we are raised to a share in the life of the Blessed Trinity. We thus become members of Christ the Head of the Church, members of God’s family the Church. This share in God’s life increases with the faith-filled reception of the Sacraments, provided it is accompanied by the resolve on our part to live a holy life. Without the grace of God we would be sunk in our sins and quite unable to rise above the helplessness of our fallen human nature, which would mean that we would be unable to reach our homeland in heaven. This gift of God’s grace is sanctifying, making us holy with the holiness of Christ. That grace is called habitual which confirms in us an habitual desire and capacity to live in keeping with God’s call. It enables us to profit from God’s various interventions every day of our lives. Those numerous interventions of God we call his actual graces. They enlighten and inspire us to be more and more generous in fulfilling his will. Christ, by his death on the Cross, won for us a share in the grace of God, and it is on this grace that we depend totally for our salvation and sanctification. Mary the mother of Jesus was “full of grace” — as the Angel declared to her — and she was faithful to God’s grace in everything. She is our Mother in this and she can obtain for us more and more of the grace of the Holy Spirit. She is also our Model in what it means to live a life of grace. The one thing that matters is that we always be in the state of grace, which means that we always live in the friendship of God and do our best every day to avoid any deliberate sin. God is generous in his gift of grace, and this is a lesson from the parable of today’s Gospel. Let us resolve to try to avoid any deliberate venial sin, because that weakens and undermines the life of grace in us. If we sin deliberately, we ought immediately make an act of contrition, and confess it in our next regular Confession. I refer here to deliberate venial sin — let alone any mortal sin, which strikes the soul dead and leaves it bereft of God’s life. Let us then build up our life of prayer, our reception of the Sacraments, and our Christ-like service, ever looking to God’s grace and learning to live by it.

It is the grace of God that will enable us to be faithful to his will and to our God-given work in life. God is generous with his grace, so let us trust in the grace of God. In our Gospel parable today (Matthew 20:1-16), Christ assures us that God will be generous, including to those who come at the last. Let us be ever hopeful, then, relying on God’s generosity to bestow his grace on us, no matter how late in the day might be our turning to him. Let us ever and always be staring again!

Further Reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1996-2005 (Grace)

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Don’t be scared by it. In so far as you can you should fight against the conspiracy of silence they want to muzzle the Church with. Some people stop her voice being heard; others will not let the good example of those who preach with their deeds be seen; others wipe out every trace of good doctrine..., and so very many cannot bear to hear her. Don’t be scared, I say again. But don’t get tired, either, of your task of being a loudspeaker for the teachings of the Magisterium.

Entrance Antiphon I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

Little is known of Januarius's life. He is believed to have been martyred in the Diocletian persecution of 305. Legend has it that after Januarius was thrown to the bears in the amphitheatre of Pozzuoli, he was beheaded, and his blood ultimately brought to Naples. It is Catholic doctrine that miracles can happen and can be recognized—hardly a mind-boggling statement to anyone who believes in God. Problems arise, however, when we must decide whether an occurrence is unexplainable in natural terms, or only unexplained. We do well to avoid an excessive credulity, which may be a sign of insecurity. On the other hand, when even scientists speak about "probabilities" rather than "laws" of nature, it is something less than imaginative for Christians to think that God is too "scientific" to work extraordinary miracles to wake us up to the everyday miracles of sparrows and dandelions, raindrops and snowflakes. “A dark mass that half fills a hermetically sealed four-inch glass container, and is preserved in a double reliquary in the Naples cathedral as the blood of St. January, liquefies 18 times during the year.... This phenomenon goes back to the 14th century.... Tradition connects it with a certain Eusebia, who had allegedly collected the blood after the martyrdom.... The ceremony accompanying the liquefaction is performed by holding the reliquary close to the altar on which is located what is believed to be the martyr's head. While the people pray, often tumultuously, the priest turns the reliquary up and down in the full sight of the onlookers until the liquefaction takes place.... Various experiments have been applied, but the phenomenon eludes natural explanation. There are, however, similar miraculous claims made for the blood of John the Baptist, Stephen, Pantaleon, Patricia, Nicholas of Tolentino and Aloysius Gonzaga — nearly all in the neighbourhood of Naples” (Catholic Encyclopedia). (AmericanCatholic.org)

No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him." (Luke 8:16-18)

How you hear Looking back with a present Catholic perspective, the Protestant Reformation of the two centuries from John Wycliffe (1328-1384) to John Calvin (1509-1564) gave two great reminders: the high importance of Sacred Scripture, and the centrality of faith. Wycliffe formulated one of the two great formal principles of the Reformation—the unique authority of the Bible for the belief and life of the Christian. He also recognised the other great Reformation doctrine, that of justification by faith, though Fr. Ted Tyler

not fully worked out in the form of Luther and Calvin. I say it gave a great reminder, for they were condemned by the Catholic Church for what their doctrines lacked, and for the particular form their doctrines took. That having been said, it is agreed that the Christian life and the life of the Church flourish when Holy Scripture and faith in Jesus are its life. In our Gospel passage today our Lord speaks of “how you listen” to the word of God that comes from his lips. “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8:16-18). Our passage today immediately follows our Lord’s important parable of the sower going out to sow his seed. Our Lord tells his parable (Luke 8: 4-8), makes an immediate appeal to all his hearers that “anyone with ears to hear, let him hear” (8:8), and then comments on those who “understand” (8:9-10). Our Lord sees that many do not have ears with which to hear. Though they look, they do not perceive. Though they listen, they do not understand (8:10). To his disciples, though, “it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (8:10). So the first thing is that an inner attitude is necessary if the word of God which Christ proclaims is to be truly heard and understood. This inner attitude is a grace — it is given from above. Our Lord is speaking of the grace of faith — that faith in him that leads to the acceptance of his word with an understanding of its bearings for life. But then our Lord explains to his disciples what his parable meant. The seed, which is the word of God, can produce a harvest, but it must be received in “good soil,” and “these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold to it and bear fruit with patient endurance” (Luke 8:15).

Those who “hear the word,” then, must hear with obedience. They must do something about it. They have a work to do: it is to hold to the word, and bear fruit with endurance. Merely hearing the word will not do — one must then act on it. This is the setting of our Gospel passage today (Luke 8:16-18), in which our Lord speaks of what the one who has heard the word must do. It is not to be merely heard as a private event, passively received, for “no one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light” (8:16). In Psalm 36:9 we read that in “your light (i.e., revelation) we see light,” and in Psalm 119:105, that “your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” The word of God which we hear we must put on a lampstand, so that others may see their way. The “lampstand” is how we live. As St Matthew records it: “your light must shine before men so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The word of God, heard with faith and understanding by the disciple, is not meant to be hidden but to be brought out into the open so that others may also hear the word of God and bear fruit with patient endurance. But it all hinges on “how you hear.” We must hear with the faith that shows itself in how we live, and with the good works that mark the life of faith. It is an essential feature of the life of faith that the one who believes hold to the word and bear this fruit. That is what he must do — otherwise he will be like the path or the rock or the thorns in the parable. It received the word without bearing fruit, for the word could not take root and bear its fruit. For this reason it is absolutely crucial that, with the aid of grace, we who are disciples of Christ and who recognize his word as coming directly from God, be up and doing. We have a choice: we can act on the word we have heard, or we can fail to act. We must act, and with absolute generosity — and this we shall be able to do with the grace of God. This is the way we are to hear the word of God. As our Lord says: “consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (Luke 8:16-18).

So then, it is not just a matter of believing what we hear. We must be up and doing, bearing fruit with patience. The “fruit” is above all that of personal holiness — the external results in terms of its effect on others we must, having done our best, in large measure leave to God. As St Paul writes, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” It is to have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5: 22-24). There is a lot to do here, and we can do it by the grace of God.

“So take care how you hear; for anyone who has will be given more” There is one scene in the Passion of our Lord we ought consider: it is his meeting with Herod. Pilate decided to send our Lord to Herod, perhaps to avoid his responsibility. Herod was Fr. Ted Tyler

delighted as he had wanted to see and hear our Lord for some time. He had heard a lot about him, and was very curious. But our Lord refused to say a word. Herod plied him with questions and wanted him to work a miracle. But our Lord maintained his stony silence. Herod wanted to see and hear, but his entire attitude was sinful. That is one instance that exemplifies what our Lord warns in today’s Gospel: “Take care how you hear; for anyone who has will be given more; from anyone who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.” On another occasion our Lord said, “It is not those who say to me, Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but rather the one who does the will of my Farther in heaven.” Our hearing of the word of God in Scripture and in the life and Tradition of the Church must be filled with the desire to do God’s will, to put that word into practice. In this we have constantly before us in the life of the Church the example of Mary, the Church’s mother and model. She heard the word, and said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.” Let us yearn to hear and understand the word of God so as to be able obediently to put it into practice in our daily life. In this way our ordinary life will achieve its grandeur, as did the ordinary life of Mary, of Joseph, and of our Lord during those thirty years at Nazareth when together they lived the ordinary life of typical townspeople.

Let us take care how we hear (Luke 8: 16-18). If we have the attitude which God expects in his children, we shall be given more. If we do not, even what we think we have will be taken away.

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Become more Roman each day by day. Love that blessed quality which is the ornament of the children of the one true Church, for Jesus wanted it to be so.

Entrance Antiphon I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

(September 20) Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions (1821-1846)

This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15, Andrew travelled 1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six St Andrew Kim Taegon Korea

years he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a seminarian, aged 45. Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for bringing taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest St Andrew Kim Taegon In Korea

managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883. When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 he canonized, besides Andrew and Paul, 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women, 45 men. Among the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced with hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of 13, Peter Ryou, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death. Today, there are almost 4.7 million Catholics in Korea. "The Korean Church is unique because it was founded entirely by lay people. This fledgling Church, so young and yet so strong in faith, withstood wave after wave of fierce persecution. Thus, in less than a century, it could boast of 10,000 martyrs. The death of these martyrs became the leaven of the Church and led to today's splendid flowering of the Church in Korea. Even today their undying spirit sustains the Christians in the Church of silence in the north of this tragically divided land" (Pope John Paul II, at the canonization). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you. He replied, My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice. (Luke 8: 19-21)

Hearing and doing In the Gospel of St Luke, no other disciple of Jesus Christ accompanied him to the extent of Mary his mother. Her involvement with him began before he was born: the Angel told her that “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus” (Luke 1: 31). She heard the word that came from God, accepted it in faith and put it into practice: “‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her” (Luke 1: 38). Her kinswoman Elizabeth praised her especially for her faith in the word of God uttered to her: “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord” (Luke 1: 45). Mary herself accepts and exults in what God does for her: “the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is his name” (1: 49). At Bethlehem, “the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger” (2: 6-7). Hearing from the shepherds what had been said of the Child, “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (2:19). Together with Joseph she “brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (2:22), and from Simeon she heard the prophecy that “a sword will pierce your own soul too” (2:35). Then “when they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth” (2: 39). Many things she did not understand, but she continued with constant faith and obedience. Finding her Son in the Temple after three days, Luke tells us that “they did not understand what he said to them... (and) His mother treasured all these things in her heart” (2: 50-51). These precious references to Mary occur within Luke’s infancy narrative and they give us the most copious presentation of the mother of Jesus provided in any Gospel. She is a most holy and humble believer, completely given over to the plan of God. In Luke’s Gospel, our Lord is reported as referring indirectly to his “mother” on two occasions during his public ministry. One is the incident reported in our passage today, and the other occurs when a woman from the crowd cries out in admiration of him, saying that the woman who bore him is blessed.

So then, granted what Luke has shown of Mary the mother of Jesus during the hidden years of his infancy and youth, we must assume that Luke seized on these two incidents as precious in their implications for Christ’s greatest though most hidden disciple. Our Gospel passage today (Luke 8: 19-21) has its parallel in Matthew 12:46-50 and in Mark 3:31-35. We immediately notice, though, a difference in two details. In each of the three Synoptics, “his mother and his brothers” come and await him outside, wanting to speak with him. In Matthew and Mark, Christ gestures towards his disciples (Matthew has our Lord pointing to them, Mark has our Lord looking at them) and says “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven (Mark has “God”) is my brother and sister and mother!” But in Luke’s report, there is no mention of our Lord pointing to the disciples in front of him. He is told that “your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” Our Lord simply makes a general, universal statement: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:20-21). It is as if Luke, in omitting the reference to the immediate circle of disciples in front of our Lord, is showing that Christ intended his response to be of universal application. Moreover, inasmuch as the mother of Jesus featured so prominently at the outset of his Gospel, Luke’s inclusion of Christ’s reference to his mother on this occasion is surely very deliberate. Luke wished to highlight a fundamental feature of the life of Mary the mother of Jesus. The universal statement especially applies to Mary. But there is a further detail. We notice that Luke does not simply have “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven (or “God”),” but rather “those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21). That is to say, Luke emphasises both the hearing and the doing of the will of God — in line with the emphasis of the important parable of the sower, the seed and the good soil that precedes this maxim (Luke 8:4-18). A major stress was given by Christ on “how you hear.” Pay attention, he had said, to “how you hear, for to those who have, more will be given” (Luke 8:18). This is exactly what Luke has shown in his portrayal of the mother of Jesus — she first heard the word admirably, and obeyed it admirably.

Mary knew how to hear, and she heard. She treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. Having heard to perfection, she did what was asked of her: Behold the servant of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word. Let us look on Mary with trust, appealing to her for her motherly intercession. Let us entrust ourselves to her heavenly care, asking that she obtain for us the grace to be good soil, able to hear the word of God and put it into practice. It is thus that we shall bring forth in patient endurance the harvest intended by God.

“They finished the building in accordance with the order of the God of Israel” When we consider the history of human societies and cultures we cannot but notice what is virtually the universal presence of religion. Man could be described as — yes, a “rational animal,” but also as a “religious animal.” He worships and he prays. Cities and towns show the presence of places of worship — temples. The temple gathers the community and houses its religious life, and is always a notable feature of man in community. All this is a pointer to the religion that God would reveal, for one of the features of revealed religion is the great emphasis placed on the Temple of God. In our first reading from the Old Testament book of Ezra, King Darius orders the reconstruction of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. No pains are to be spared in the work of its restoration. Detailed descriptions are given of the work and efforts that went into it. The prophet Haggai’s mission was to inspire the task ahead. During the whole life of the chosen people of God up to and including the life of our Lord himself, the Temple was of the utmost importance in the revealed plan of God. In a moment of high drama, Christ cleansed the Temple out of zeal for his Father’s House. As we think of the place of the Temple in the religion of the Old Testament, let us remember its even greater emphasis in the New. Our Lord described himself as a Temple — “destroy this temple and in three days I shall raise it up.” He was referring to the Temple that was his body. The Christian Church has its focus in the place of worship where Christ resides in his Tabernacle. The Eucharist is celebrated and reserved there, and the Eucharist is the summit and the source of the entire Christian life, whether of the Church or of the individual member of the Church.

Let us resolve to consider the church where we live, the church wherein dwells the Eucharistic Jesus, the centre and focus of our lives, and of the life of our parish. To do this is in accord with the plan of God for the religion he revealed.

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Devotion to Our Lady in Christian souls awakens the supernatural stimulus we need in order to act like domestici Dei, as members of God’s family.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Mt 28: 19-20 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, says the Lord.

Collect O God, who with untold mercy were pleased to choose as an Apostle Saint Matthew, the tax collector, grant that, sustained by his example and intercession, we may merit to hold firm in following you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Matthew was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces, collecting taxes from other Jews. The Romans were not scrupulous about what the "taxfarmers" got for themselves. Hence the latter, St Matthew

known as "publicans," were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews. The Pharisees lumped them with "sinners" (see Matthew 9:11-13). So it was shocking to them to hear Jesus call such a man to be one of his intimate followers. The Gospel tells us that "many" tax collectors and "those known as sinners" came to the dinner in Matthew’s house. The Pharisees were still more badly shocked. What business did the supposedly great teacher have associating with such immoral people? Jesus' answer was, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners" (Matthew 9:12b-13). Jesus is not setting aside ritual and worship; he is saying that loving others is even more important. From such an unlikely situation, Jesus chose one of the foundations of the Church, a man others, judging from his job, thought was not holy enough for the position. But he was honest enough to admit that he was one of the sinners Jesus came to call. He was open enough to recognize truth when he saw him. "And he got up and followed him" (Matthew 9:9b). We imagine Matthew, after the terrible events surrounding the death of Jesus, going to the mountain to which the risen Lord had summoned them. "When they saw him, they worshipped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them [we think of him looking at each one in turn, Matthew listening and excited with the rest], 'All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age'" (Matthew 28:17-20). Matthew would never forget that day. He proclaimed the Good News by his life and by his word. Our faith rests upon his witness and that of his fellow apostles. (AmericanCatholic.org)

s Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me, he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'? On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Matthew 9: 9-13)

Matthew The call of Matthew as given in our Gospel passage today features in all three Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew’s Gospel, our Lord begins his ministry with the call of Simon and Andrew, and James and John, and great crowds from Galilee and beyond follow him (4:25). After this, the long summary of his teaching is given in the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5 to 7). Several incidents are Fr. Ted Tyler

then reported including his forgiveness of the sins of the paralytic and healing of his paralysis. Then there follows the second occasion when he calls a man to follow him. On this second occasion it is “Matthew” he calls (Matthew 9:9). There are various references to his “disciples” (eg., 9:14, 9:19, 9:37), and we read of “his twelve disciples” when he gives them a share in his own powers. They are designated as “the twelve apostles,” and their names being given (10:1-5). Among them is “Matthew the tax collector” — the man called by Christ in 9:9, our passage today. The call of Matthew is the only specific call of an Apostle in Matthew’s Gospel other than the four (chief ones) who were first. In Mark the pattern is the same. In Mark, at the beginning of the public ministry, our Lord calls Simon and Andrew and then James and John (1:16-20), followed by various teachings and healings in his ministry. As in Matthew, there is the forgiveness of the sins of the paralytic and his physical healing, and then Christ calls “Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth” (2:14). There are other references to Christ’s “disciples” and there is the appointment of the Twelve whom he named Apostles — among whom is Matthew (3:18) and “James son of Alphaeus.” We need not tease out the details of these names. In Luke’s Gospel, Christ calls Simon (Andrew is not mentioned), James and John (5:9-11), and once again after the forgiveness and healing of the paralytic, there is the call by Christ of “a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth” (5:27). Luke adds the important detail that Levi “left everything” for his master (5:28). A little later there is the choosing of the Twelve, among whom is “Matthew.. and James of Alphaeus” — the same list as is given in Mark.

While John gives details of the call of other disciples (such as Philip and Nathanael), in the three Synoptics, apart from Simon, Andrew, James and John, as already said the only Apostle whose call is described is “Levi,” or “Matthew.” So Matthew has a special place in the Gospel accounts. There is this to be noticed too. In Matthew’s list of the Twelve, “Matthew” is the only one whose working profession is noted: he is “Matthew the tax collector.” Mark does not note this, nor does Luke who, though, had especially recorded that Matthew “left everything.” Matthew’s recording for posterity that he, one of the Twelve, was a “tax collector” was doubtlessly due to his humble gratitude for his inestimable call. It follows Christ’s forgiveness of the sins of the paralytic, perhaps suggesting Matthew’s own consciousness of sin and forgiveness by Christ’s redemptive death. Importantly, his call is followed by the accusation of the Pharisees that the Master was associating and dining with “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:11). Matthew was one of them — and at the forefront in the sense that he was a direct companion of the holy and powerful prophet of Galilee. Christ responds to the Pharisees by saying that he had come to call “sinners” (9:13), and that the Pharisees should learn the meaning of the dictum of Scripture that God desires mercy of his people. Matthew had been the recipient of the mercy of Jesus Christ, and perhaps the singular mention of his call in each of the three Synoptics is meant by them to illustrate the wonders of God’s mercy. St Paul would say of himself (1 Timothy 1: 12-16) that he was the greatest of sinners: “I received mercy... Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy..” St Paul saw himself as an “example to those who would come to believe in him” — so, I am sure, did St Matthew. He puts himself forward in his Gospel as a “tax collector,” a sinner called by grace and mercy. Christ stated to the Pharisees that he came to save such as he, and all who read the Gospel ought take to heart his story, which, as already said, appears in each of the three Synoptics.

We read in the Gospel of St Luke (Luke 18: 9-14) Our Lord’s famous parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, each praying in the Temple. The tax collector stood down the back praying over and over his prayer for God’s pardon: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner!” He it was who went home at rights with God. One wonders if, at least to a point, our Lord fondly drew upon his love for Matthew the Apostle in formulating this parable. Doubtlessly, Matthew did embody the prayer and the spiritual attitude of the publican in our Lord’s parable. Let us do likewise.

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“As Jesus was walking on he saw a man named Matthew ...... and he said to him, ‘Follow me’. And he got up and followed him." How beautiful is this scene! Our Lord calls the least to a position so critical for the future of his Church, to be one of the Twelve. It is an aspect of our Lord’s Fr. Ted Tyler

maxim that the last will be first. At the heart of the call is the simple invitation to Matthew to follow him, and to do so totally. This invitation our Lord extends to each of us who are baptised. We are all called to follow our Lord and to do so with the utmost dedication and a full heart. What does this entail? It entails many things but St Paul puts it clearly when he exhorts the reader to ‘let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.’ Our Lord expresses it this way: ‘Come to me, all you that labour and are over burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’ Following our Lord means endeavouring to live in a thorough-going way the virtues of Christ, and our Lord tells us which virtues are especially important: his humility and his meekness. As we think of the history of mankind and of our own personal history, let us frankly recognise the prevalence of pride. Our pride has to be replaced with Christ-like humility, and with that humility, meekness. The very occasions when our pride is hurt by others offer the opportunity to work at humility, by accepting the humiliation. The cultivation of gratitude counters pride. Above all, frequent acts of sorrow for sin and fervently and frequently approaching the Sacrament of Penance will offer regular opportunities for humility to be cultivated, together with the grace of God to sustain our efforts.

Let us accept with St Matthew Christ’s invitation to follow him in mind and spirit daily.

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Imitate the Blessed Virgin. Only by openly admitting that we are nothing can we become precious in the eyes of our Creator.

Entrance Antiphon I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

Lawrence (Lorenzo) was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served S tLawrence Ruiz And Companions

as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He married and had two sons and a daughter. His life took an abrupt turn when he was accused of murder. Nothing further is known except the statement of two Dominicans that "he was sought by the authorities on account of a homicide to which he was present or which was attributed to him." At that time three Dominican priests, Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet and Miguel de Aozaraza, were about to sail to Japan in spite of a violent persecution there. With them was a Japanese priest, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and a layman named Lazaro, a leper. Lorenzo, having taken asylum with them, was allowed to accompany them. But only when they were at sea did he learn that they were going to Japan. They landed at Okinawa. Lorenzo could have gone on to Formosa, but, he reported, "I decided to stay with the Fathers, because the Spaniards would hang me there." In Japan they were soon found out, arrested and taken to Nagasaki. The site of wholesale bloodshed when the atomic bomb was dropped had known tragedy before. The 50,000 Catholics who once lived there were dispersed or killed by persecution. They were subjected to an unspeakable kind of torture: After huge quantities of water were forced down their throats, they were made to lie down. Long boards were placed on their stomachs and guards then stepped on the ends of the boards, forcing the water to spurt violently from mouth, nose and ears. The superior, Antonio, died after some days. Both the Japanese priest and Lazaro broke under torture, which included the insertion of bamboo needles under their fingernails. But both were brought back to courage by their companions. In Lorenzo's moment of crisis, he asked the interpreter, "I would like to know if, by apostatizing, they will spare my life." The interpreter was noncommittal, but Lorenzo, in the ensuing hours, felt his faith grow strong. He became bold, even audacious, with his interrogators. The five were put to death by being hanged upside down in pits. Boards fitted with semicircular holes were fitted around their waists and stones put on top to increase the pressure. They were tightly bound, to slow circulation and prevent a speedy death. They were allowed to hang for three days. By that time Lorenzo and Lazaro were dead. The three Dominican priests, still alive, were beheaded. When government officials asked, "If we grant you life, will you renounce your faith?," Lorenzo responded: "That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him I will give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so, do with me as you please." Pope John Paul II canonized these six and 10 others, Asians and Europeans, men and women, who spread the faith in the Philippines, Formosa and Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about? And he was eager to see him. (Luke 9: 7-9)

Perplexity Luke tells us that Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, who at Herodias’s instigation had put John the Baptist to death, began to hear “all” (these things) about Jesus. Herod was “in perplexity” about it. We are also told of some of the things that were being said — the rumours were rife. Jesus was one of the prophets come back to life: John, or Elijah, or one of the other ancient prophets. Herod could not understand what was going on — but he was eager to see someone who might be back from the dead and a wonder-worker. Luke tells us later that when Pilate found no fault in Jesus (Luke 23:4) during his trial, he sent him to Herod. The tetrarch of Galilee was “highly delighted, for he had long desired to see him because he had heard many things about him, and hoped to see some miracle worked by him” (Luke 23: 8). In our passage today, Herod is in a state of “perplexity,” and his perplexity was a factor of his moral degradation, rendering it probably impossible for him to attain the truth. But there are other forms of perplexity in respect to religious truth and the Person and teaching of Christ. One of St Mary MacKillop’s dearest and most faithful friends during Mary’s turbulent reversals was a non-Catholic. This admirable lady frankly admitted to Mary her religious scepticism. It was not a scepticism that she herself formally and consciously chose. It was an affliction, an unintended barrier to the faith which she so admired in Mary MacKillop. She too was “perplexed” at the thought of the Person of Jesus and the Catholic Church. But she was manifestly a good person, one of Mary MacKillop’s best supporters, and a valued friend of the saint. As far as I am aware, her scepticism remained with her to the last. Apart from the fallen condition common to all, her religious “perplexity” was utterly different from the “perplexity” of the evil Herod. Such a person as she illustrates the Church’s teaching that the “faith” which brings religious certainty is a gift from above. It is instanced in Simon Peter’s grasp of the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. This was not from “flesh and blood” but was a gift from the Father in heaven.

I remember reading an article by a leading philosopher in Australia — he held the chair of Philosophy in an Australian university — who described himself as a “theist” at the outset of his article. As a matter of fact, he was a Catholic. He gave it as his opinion that philosophical speculation alone would not bring certitude in respect to the reality of God. That is to say, his own view was that in real life, rational processes alone would not take a person beyond scepticism in respect to religious realities. I was once watching an interview with a leading American scientist whose thought also led him into the discipline of religion. He narrated how one of his friends — a Catholic priest — had asked him what was holding him up from being a Christian. He told his priest-friend that faith was a gift, and he did not have that gift. I suspect that his reply to the priest was given in irony — it was a reply that used Catholic teaching to add a certain aura to his own scepticism, which he did not show any desire to discard. Again, after an academic career of philosophical atheism, the British philosopher Antony Flew (1923 – 2010) declared that he was a “theist.” What this meant was that he accepted a Mind that accounted for the design that he saw everywhere, especially in the basic components of life. One could not help but rejoice that this eminent and influential thinker — who was repaid with scorn by his academic fellow-atheists — had moved significantly from the intellectual desert in which he had for so long wandered. But how little was the distance he covered when compared with any profoundly religious wife and mother at the end of her long and deeply religious life! There is no scepticism in her! There is no doubt as to the great being of God, nor as to his Son the Redeemer, nor as to the Redemption he effected by his Cross and Resurrection, nor as to the Church his creation, nor as to the one and only thing that matters — union with Jesus. Her faith is the answer to the characteristic scepticism and perplexity that binds fallen man when faced with God and his divine revelation. Her faith is God’s gift. It is that of Simon Peter, who declared before Jesus Christ that he is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Her faith gives her life eternal.

Herod heard of Jesus Christ, and was “in perplexity” (Luke 9: 7-9). From generation to generation, man will hear of Jesus Christ from the Church and the Church’s children. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, indeed to look on him is to look on the Father. He and the Father — utterly distinct as Persons though they be — are one. If man relies purely on his own resources, purely on “flesh and blood” in what he makes of this testimony, then he will be “perplexed.” He must ask aid from God above, and ask humbly and persistently. The greatest of blessings is that of divine faith enabling him to overcome his scepticism, and to believe. This is the answer to scepticism.

“But Herod said, ‘..who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see him.” Herod was desirous to see Jesus. He ‘had heard about all that was being done by Jesus’, and there were various views as to who he was. Eventually he did see Jesus when, during his Passion, Pilate sent our Lord over to him to be judged. But our Lord refused to speak to him. Herod was granted no relationship with our Lord at all because his dispositions were utterly unworthy of it. We are reminded of that parable our Lord told of the master inviting numerous people to the wedding feast. When the master came in one was found not wearing a wedding garment. He was cast outside into the darkness. By contrast, consider Zacchaeus the leading tax collector in Jericho when our Lord was passing through. He wanted to see Jesus too, and because he was short of stature he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed the tree to get a better view of our Lord who was to pass by that way. When our Lord reached the tree he looked up, saw Zacchaeus, and himself spoke and began the relationship. He asked Zacchaeus to come down as he was to dine in his house that day. Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed the Lord, joyfully promising to change his whole way of life. Our Lord rejoiced at the saving of a soul, ‘because this man too is a son of Abraham.’ Zacchaeus had the dispositions out Lord was looking for, and which Herod manifestly lacked. What were those dispositions? Obviously one was faith, but also the sense of sin and the readiness to repent. He recognised in our Lord and in friendship with him the answer to the need of his soul for pardon and a new life.

Let us ask for the grace of a deep sense of our personal sinfulness, a lively faith in Christ as our Saviour, and a humble trust in his merciful love, a love that will take the initiative in drawing us into his friendship. His friendship is eternal life both here and hereafter.

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I am convinced that John, the young Apostle, is at the side of Christ on the Cross because our Mother draws him there. The Love of Our Lady is so powerful!

Entrance Antiphon I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

In one of the largest such ceremonies in history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul's pontificate. More than 300,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter's

Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. "This is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's teaching," said the pope. He also stressed Padre Pio's witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love, the Holy Father stressed, such suffering can lead to "a privileged path of sanctity." Many people have turned to the Italian Capuchin Franciscan to intercede with God on their behalf; among them was the future Pope John Paul II. In 1962, when he was still an archbishop in Poland, he wrote to Padre Pio and asked him to pray for a Polish woman with throat cancer. Within two weeks, she had been cured of her life-threatening disease. Born Francesco Forgione, Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice (1898-1903 and 1910-17) his father worked in Jamaica, New York, to provide the family income. At the age of 15, Francesco joined the Capuchins and took the name of Pio. He was ordained in 1910 and was drafted during World War I. After he was discovered to have tuberculosis, he was discharged. In 1917 he was assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, 75 miles from the city of Bari on the Adriatic. On September 20, 1918, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass, Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus. When the vision ended, he had the stigmata in his hands, feet and side. Life became more complicated after that. Medical doctors, Church authorities and curiosity seekers came to see Padre Pio. In 1924 and again in 1931, the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned; Padre Pio was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to hear confessions. He did not complain of these decisions, which were soon reversed. However, he wrote no letters after 1924. His only other writing, a pamphlet on the agony of Jesus, was done before 1924. Padre Pio rarely left the friary after he received the stigmata, but busloads of people soon began coming to see him. Each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church, he heard confessions until noon. He took a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came to see him. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional ministry would take 10 hours a day; penitents had to take a number so that the situation could be handled. Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew details of their lives that they had never mentioned. Padre Pio saw Jesus in all the sick and suffering. At his urging, a fine hospital was built on nearby Mount Gargano. The idea arose in 1940; a committee began to collect money. Ground was broken in 1946. Building the hospital was a technical wonder because of the difficulty of getting water there and of hauling up the building supplies. This "House for the Alleviation of Suffering" has 350 beds. A number of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession of Padre Pio. Those who assisted at his Masses came away edified; several curiosity seekers were deeply moved. Like St. Francis, Padre Pio sometimes had his habit torn or cut by souvenir hunters. One of Padre Pio’s sufferings was that unscrupulous people several times circulated prophecies that they claimed originated from him. He never made prophecies about world events and never gave an opinion on matters that he felt belonged to Church authorities to decide. He died on September 23, 1968, and was beatified in 1999. At Padre Pio's canonization Mass in 2002, Pope John Paul II referred to that day's Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30) and said: “The Gospel image of 'yoke' evokes the many trials that the humble Capuchin of San Giovanni Rotondo endured. Today we contemplate in him how sweet is the 'yoke' of Christ and indeed how light the burden are whenever someone carries these with faithful love. The life and mission of Padre Pio testify that difficulties and sorrows, if accepted with love, transform themselves into a privileged journey of holiness, which opens the person toward a greater good, known only to the Lord.” "The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain" (A Saying of Padre Pio). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, Who do the crowds say I am? They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life. But what about you? he asked. Who do you say I am? Peter answered, The Christ of God. Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be put to death and on the third day be raised to life. (Luke 9: 18-22)

Christ the Key Joseph Smith Jr. (1805 – 1844), born in Vermont and reared in western New York, was the American founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith claimed that in the 1820s an angel directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a religious history of ancient American peoples. He published what he said was an English translation of the plates as the Book of Mormon. I mention the Book of Mormon merely to indicate what some might expect of a Revelation, were a Revelation to occur at Fr. Ted Tyler

all. It might happen as a one-off event, given in a text which would be written in heaven or dictated word-for-word by heaven. The Koran is deemed to be such — self-sufficient and dictated word-for-word by heaven. But historical Revelation is not so simple. Beginning with the experience of Abram in Ur, it occurred piecemeal over some eighteen or nineteen hundred years, and for close to half that time there may not have been formal texts at all. The insistent testimony of key individuals, beginning with Abram and his son and grandson, then the patriarchs, Moses (of course), certain “judges,” certain kings and prophets, was pivotal to the general acceptance of the Revelation by the chosen people. This Revelation was recorded in a range of inspired writings of various types. Now, given this uneven and unexpected history, the question, of course, was how to interpret the Inspired Writings? To give but one example of the problem — there is a mass of divine prescriptions set out across the first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch — or the book of Moses. The early Jews called this part of the Bible the law, or torah (law), or the book of the law — from the very nature of its contents. It was full of the Law — prescriptions detailing the divine will. But now, how was this to be interpreted in the sense of it being prioritized? For instance, which of all these commandments was the first and the greatest? On one celebrated occasion (Matthew 23: 36, and Luke 10:25), Christ was interrogated on this very point, and he instantly pointed to one sentence in one Book (Deuteronomy 6:5) and to another in a different Book (Leviticus 19:18) as the key to the entire Law and all the Prophets.

In fact, viewing the matter as an observer, one might say that the appearance of Jesus Christ amounted to the emergence of a great Interpretation of historical Revelation. He presented himself as the divine Interpreter of all that had been revealed, and as himself being the Interpretation and Fulfilment of it. As its Interpreter, Interpretation and Fulfilment, he was hotly opposed by many, especially the ruling religious clique, and in particular the Temple aristocracy. He was rejected by them in favour of their interpretation and summarily put to death — but his death was itself embraced by him as being central to the divine Plan, and hence to the true interpretation of Revelation and the Scriptures. This is one aspect of our Gospel passage today (Luke 9: 18-22). Christ is praying, and following this he asks his disciples who the crowds were saying he was — he was one of the prophets come back to life, they told him. “But you — who do you say that I am? he asked them. Peter said in reply, ‘The Messiah of God’.” Now, St Matthew gives a much more complete account of this pivotal conversation (16:13-28), especially in respect to Christ’s words about building his Church. In Matthew, moreover, Simon Peter’s answer to Christ’s question has greater completeness. Simon replies (in Matthew), “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). It seems that Matthew saw this as an enormously important exchange, and so took greater pains over its fuller content — just as Luke had given greater space and a different emphasis than Matthew in his account of Christ’s infancy. Luke is content with giving the first part of Simon’s answer: “You,” Jesus, “are the Christ.” Now, what this more limited statement does for us is to stress the unique place of Jesus within the entire Jewish Revelation. He is “the Messiah” — he is the Interpretation and the Fulfilment of the Scriptures. Matthew’s account does this too, of course, but Luke restricts himself to this. Jesus is the promised Messiah. The Scriptures are to be understood in the light of Jesus of Nazareth. As in Matthew, Christ immediately speaks of his rejection, his death and resurrection. It is a suffering, rejected and risen Messiah that the Inspired Writings had been pointing to. This is the key to historical Revelation.

Let us learn to love the corpus of the Sacred Scriptures, just as Jesus Christ loved them. He often quoted them in his teaching and in his controversies. He knew them — as we might say — “backwards.” He knew them to the depths because it was his own Holy Spirit who inspired them, that same Spirit who filled him and led him at every instant of his most holy and sublime life. The Holy Scriptures are our best resource in coming to know the Lord Jesus, and he is their grand key. He is the Interpreter, the Interpretation and the Fulfilment of the Scriptures. Ah! Christ Jesus!

"But take courage now, Zerubbabel .. — it is the Lord who speaks. To work! I am with you" Deism was a philosophy that Fr. Ted Tyler

acknowledged the existence of a God who began the world and established its laws, and then intervenes no further. While we do not hear much now of the philosophy of deism, I suspect it is the hidden philosophy of very many without their being aware of it. Many who would not explicitly deny the existence of God regard him as entirely uninvolved. A decisive element in a living belief in God is the readiness to appeal to his power. If a person believes in the power of God to the extent of appealing to it and counting on it, then we may say that person has a living belief, a conviction that God is a Reality who matters. Well now, in the Christian life we are commanded by our Lord to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We are to work on growing in the perfection of love, with him as our model. It will make all the difference to our perseverance in this endeavour if we truly believe in the power of God — his saving and sanctifying power — and readily appeal to it.

In today’s first reading, the word of the Lord was addressed to the prophet Haggai. He was to go to Zerubbabel and to Joshua and command them to set to work on the rebuilding of the Temple, which had long been in ruins. ‘Who is there among you that saw this Temple in its former glory? And how does it look to you now?’ The danger was that the task would seem too great. But God would be with them to aid them with his power: so, to work! ‘Courage, all you people of the country! — it is the Lord who speaks. To work! I am with you.. and my spirit remains among you. Do not be afraid!’ Words such as these ought inspire us in the Christian life, for each Christian is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. No matter how great the work of personal sanctification, God is with us and it is he, with all his power, who commands us to begin and to get to work. Entrusting ourselves to his divine power, let us say always and ever again: ‘Now I begin!’

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We will never achieve true supernatural and human cheerfulness, real good humour, if we don’t really imitate Jesus: if we aren’t humble, as he was.

Entrance Antiphon I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.

Pacifico was born into a distinguished family in San Severino in the Marche of Ancona in central Italy. After joining the Friars Minor, he was ordained. He taught philosophy for two years and then began a successful preaching career. Pacifico was an ascetic man. He fasted perpetually, eating no more than bread, soup or water. His "hair shirt" was made of iron. Poverty and obedience were two virtues for which his confreres especially remembered him. At the age of 35, Pacifico contracted an illness that eventually left him deaf, blind and crippled. He offered his sufferings for the conversion of sinners, and he cured many of the sick who came to him. Pacifico also served as the superior of the friary in San Severino. He was canonized in 1839. Pacifico lived out the words of St. Francis cited below. His preaching and ministry were linked to his life of penance. "Moreover, I advise and admonish the friars that in their preaching, their words should be examined and chaste. They should aim only at the advantage and spiritual good of their listeners, telling them briefly about vice and virtue, punishment and glory, because our Lord himself kept his words short on earth" (St. Francis, Rule of 1223, Ch. 9). (AmericanCatholic.org)

While everyone was marvelling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it. (Luke 9: 43b-45)

Listen carefully! Our Lord at various times asked his hearers to listen, and to listen carefully. In the Gospel of St Mark (4:3), our Lord begins to teach the large crowd many things in parables “and in his teaching he said to them: Listen! (akouete) ...” Then at the end of his parable of the Sower going out to sow, he said to them, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (4:9). To his disciples who asked him about the parables, he explains that all comes in parables “in order that they may ... listen but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven” (4:12). This means, obviously, that the crowds do not listen in order to understand, so as to repent and be forgiven. So our Lord speaks obliquely to them because of the way they listen to him. In his explanation that follows, there are various categories of persons who “hear” the Word, and it is because of the way they hear that nothing comes of it. Finally there are those who “hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (4:14-20). It is imperative that one hear the Word with the willingness to accept it. Our Lord immediately goes on to speak of placing the lamp upon the lampstand — obviously, this is the Word being made the light of life by accepting and obeying it. “Let anyone with ears to hear,” our Lord says, “listen! Pay attention to what you hear... for to those who have, more will be given..” (Mark 4:21-25). Our Lord proceeds to tell the parable of the mustard seed, and Mark concludes: “With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it” (4:33). The issue was their ability to “hear” the Word, and this had always been the crux of the matter. The prophet Jeremiah was directed by the Lord to proclaim, “Pay attention to this, foolish and senseless people who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not” (Jeremiah 5:21). Later again the same prophet states, “Though you refused to listen or pay heed, the Lord has sent you without fail all his servants the prophets” (25:4). In Matthew 13:14, our Lord quotes the word of God to the prophet Isaiah 6:10, that the people will listen but not understand. Their ears will be dull. The question of how we hear is a fundamental issue in the work of our salvation.

So it is that in our Gospel text today (Luke 9: 43b-45), our Lord tells his disciples to let his words sink into their ears: he wants them to listen with the utmost care and take his words to heart. They must listen! Peter, James and John had seen him transfigured in glory (Luke 9: 28-36) on the mountain. On the next day he drove out a demon from a child, and “all were astounded at the greatness of God.” Everyone “was amazed at all that he was doing” (9:43). It is precisely then, amid the euphoria of general acclaim, when his disciples could be carried away by the heady thought of popular approval and success, that our Lord told them to listen carefully to what he was saying. He, the Son of Man, was going to be betrayed and done away with. Significantly, they did not understand his plain language. Direct as it was, its meaning was concealed from them, so they could not perceive it. These statements of Holy Scripture about our Lord’s own disciples show that understanding, and in particular religious understanding, is not just a matter of hearing with the ears and having the intellectual ability to grasp the meaning of words. However plainly put, some things will not be understood if they are not listened to in a certain way. How we listen will determine if we “hear” what is being said. In turn, how we listen will be determined by our inner state. If our inner state is of a certain character, the meaning of what we hear will be hidden, concealed, from us. Despite our Lord’s repeated explanation to his disciples that he had to suffer in order to enter his glory, and that he would indeed suffer grievously, be put to death, and would rise on the third day, it seems to have made no impression on his disciples. Our Gospel text today tells us also that they “were afraid to ask him about what he had said” (Luke 9:45). It was a mystery to them, despite its clarity. The state of a man’s heart and soul will govern what he will understand and how he will judge — in a word, “how” he will “hear.” As our Lord says a little earlier: “Look, then, to how you hear!” (Luke 8:18). We must hear the Word with a certain attitude: the desire to accept it, and to put it into practice.

It may be said — and not disrespectfully, we hope — that the revelation of Jesus Christ brought with it an important message to the philosophy of human knowledge. You will never “know” certain things unless your heart is right. Such things are inaccessible to mere physical hearing and mere intellectual reflection, if behind such acts of apprehension there is a certain state of heart. A state of heart that is undesirous of what God wants will not properly “hear” what he says. We must take great care “how” we hear, and we must “hear” with moral diligence. In a word, we must “hear” with a species of love. Let us pray for the grace so to hear, then!

"At a time when everyone was full of admiration ... Jesus said to his disciples: ... The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men." It is natural to find joy in one’s work, and when the work is well done it is natural to be complimented for it. In our Lord’s case we are told that during his public ministry people said that he had done all things well. It must be presumed that throughout his life he did all things well, including during the long period of his hidden years at Nazareth. It is obvious that during his years at Nazareth our Lord blended in normally and, indeed, exceptionally well within his wider family and within the community at Nazareth — which itself was also an instance of our Lord doing all things well. For this he would have been admired as an excellent human being. So then, in our Gospel passage our Lord is being admired: ‘everyone was full of admiration for all he did.’ But precisely then our Lord reminds his disciples that an ignominious end was coming upon him. As his closest associates they, perhaps, were being carried away by all the adulation coming to their master. Our Lord reminds them of what he would refer to repeatedly: that the Son of Man would have to suffer in order to enter into his glory. If our Lord chose to remind them of the cross during the good times of his work and ministry, we too ought allow him to remind us of the cross during our good times.

That is to say, as his disciples we ought keep the Cross ever before us, knowing that it is when the Cross comes that there is the best opportunity to be at one with the Master in his saving work. Our Lord was increasingly insistent on this point as the culminating moment of his life approached. The culminating moment was not the moment of admiration from the people, but the moment of rejection and suffering. Let us pray for the grace to be able to keep the Cross of Christ at the forefront of our life.

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To give oneself sincerely to others is so effective that God rewards it with a humility filled with cheerfulness.

Entrance Antiphon Daniel 3: 31, 29, 30, 43, 42 All that you have done to us, O Lord, you have done with true judgment, for we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments. But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.

Collect O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

This is the only Franciscan couple to be canonized or beatified formally. Elzear came from a noble family in southern France. After he married Delphina, she informed him that she had made a vow of perpetual virginity; that same night he did the same. For a time Elzear, Count of Ariano, was a counsellor to Duke Charles of Calabria in southern Italy. Elzear ruled his own territories in the kingdom of Naples and in southern France with justice. Elzear and Delphina joined the Secular Franciscans and dedicated themselves to the corporal works of mercy. Twelve poor people dined with them every day. A statue of Elzear shows him curing several people suffering from leprosy. Their piety extended to the running of their household. Everyone there was expected to attend Mass daily, go to confession weekly and be ready to forgive injuries. After Elzear’s death, Delphina continued her works of charity for 35 more years. She is especially remembered for raising the moral level of the king of Sicily’s court. Elzear and Delphina are buried in Apt, France. He was canonized in 1369, and she was beatified in 1694. St. Bonaventure wrote: "Francis sought occasion to love God in everything. He delighted in all the works of God's hands and from the vision of joy on earth his mind soared aloft to the life-giving source and cause of all. In everything beautiful, he saw him who is beauty itself, and he followed his Beloved everywhere by his likeness imprinted on creation; of all creation he made a ladder by which he might mount up and embrace Him who is all-desirable" (Legenda Major, IX, 1). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Ezechiel 18: 25-28; Psalm 25:4-5,8-9,10,14; Philippians 2: 1-11; Matthew 21: 28-32.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders: "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. (Matthew 21: 28-32)

On merit Perhaps the first thing we think of, when thinking of God, is his great power. In the Creed we state that we believe in God the Father Almighty. He is almighty, yet he has called us to collaborate with him by working on what he has created. A couple marry and bring children into the world — they collaborate in this with the creative action of God. They work at their tasks and improve society and the world — and in this too they collaborate with the sustaining work of the Creator. The result is that while Fr. Ted Tyler

everything comes from the creative hand of God, at the same time by our work we gain the merit of improving the world. Yet we can do this only by the power, the creative and sustaining power, of God. Something parallel to this happens in the work of our salvation and sanctification. Only God saves. He alone can sanctify. Yet we have been given the freedom to work with God for our salvation and sanctification, and we can do this only by his power. This means that while there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man, God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. We attain holiness and heaven only by the grace of God, but then man’s calling is to freely collaborate with God’s initiative and grace. It is in this sense that we merit a place in heaven: it is a reward for our having chosen to live according to his will. God truly rewards us for our fidelity. Yet this fidelity and exercise of choice is done in Christ, and depends on the power and the grace of God. As St Augustine writes, “our merits are God’s gifts” (Sermo 298, 4-5). In the early Church there was a priest by the name of Pelagius who taught that it is those who put personal effort into the work of salvation and sanctification who are saved and sanctified. But Pelagius also said that this personal effort, and not the grace of God, was all that was needed. St Augustine devoted himself to combatting this error. The Church teaches that no-one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification at the beginning of conversion. But then we must generously collaborate with divine grace.

On this basis, which is to say, moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification. That is to say, the Church teaches both the necessity of grace and of our own efforts. Our Gospel today (Matthew 21: 28-32) invites us to bear in mind our own part in all that God wills for us, which is our sanctification. When the Church teaches that by our efforts we can “merit,” she is insisting on nothing other than our own active collaboration. We merit the reward of eternal life in heaven by choosing to be perseveringly faithful. It is God’s work, but it is our work too, and our work is sustained by the power of God. In today’s Gospel, our Lord tells the story of a man and his two sons. The man asked the first to go and work in his vineyard. The son refused, but then repented and went to work in his father’s vineyard. The other son was asked to do the same. This second son replied that he would, but then did not go at all. Our Lord is saying that what we actually choose to do is of critical importance, though of course for this we depend totally on his gift of grace. Our place in heaven and the eternal reward we finally “merit” will depend on our being like the son who actually chose to do what the father wanted. He repented and did his father’s will. The important thing is the doing. All indeed depends on the help and grace of God, but without our cooperation — by the doing of God’s will — the grace of God will not bear fruit because God made us free. However much grace may be given to us, still, it is for us to choose or not to choose to do what God asks. All will depend on what, with God’s grace and only by means of God’s grace, we actually choose to do. In this sense, our salvation and sanctification depend on us. We “merit” our eternal reward — and it will therefore be a true reward, though this will be itself the gift of God. We ought be constantly praying for the grace of God to enable us to do his will, and then resolutely deciding to do it. We have the responsibility to make the choice.

A person may be unforgiving for years. In his heart of hearts he does nothing about this. He prays, but he does not actually make the effort and the leap of forgiving, because he secretly does not want to. The critical point here is that his own free action in the matter is lacking. Perhaps he expects God to change him by his grace and forgets that he must choose to change — as did the son in the Gospel who said he would not, but did. This applies to the immensely important work of putting on the virtues of the heart, so that we acquire the mind of Christ — by his grace, of course. Let our Gospel today remind us that we are called not only to acknowledge God’s grace, but to act according to it. We are meant (by the grace of God) to “merit” our reward.

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Our humiliation, our self-effacement, our disappearing and passing unnoticed, should be complete, entire, total.

Nothing is known of their lives except that they suffered martyrdom in Syria during the persecution of Diocletian. A church erected on the site of their burial place was enlarged by the emperor Justinian. Devotion to the two saints spread rapidly in both East and West. A famous basilica was erected in their honour in Constantinople. Their names were placed in the canon of the Mass, probably in the sixth century. Legend says that they were twin brothers born in Arabia, who became skilled doctors. They were among those who are venerated in the East as the "moneyless ones" because they did not charge a fee for their services. It was impossible that such prominent persons would escape unnoticed in time of persecution: They were arrested and beheaded. Nine centuries later, Francis of Assisi (October 4) rebuilt the dilapidated San Damiano chapel outside Assisi. (AmericanCatholic.org)

An argument started among the disciples of Jesus as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and made him stand beside him. Then he said to them, Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all— he is the greatest. Master, said John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us. Do not stop him, Jesus said, for whoever is not against you is for you. (Luke 9: 46-50)

Being great When Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, ascended to the Macedonian throne, the country was virtually at the brink of collapse and its neighbours were ready to put an end to its existence. The Macedonian state was further weakened by internal turmoil. With consummate intelligence, Philip took the state in hand and in 358 BC he met the Illyrians in battle with his reorganized Macedonian phalanx, and utterly defeated them. The Macedonian army grew in size overnight and invaded Illyria itself, conquering all Illyrian tribes deep into the country, stopping short near the Adriatic coast. Philip made the military a way of life for the Macedonian men. It became a professional occupation that paid well enough that the soldiers could afford to do it year-round. Then began a stunning series of military victories and diplomatic steps that brought him to the pinnacle of Greek power and the threshold of his intended invasion of Persia — but then, of course, he was assassinated and the baton passed to his illustrious son. But what was the purpose of all this? It was the same as that of dynasty after dynasty in the history of the world — it was to found, establish and extend a kingdom. It was to be a kingdom of this world, and Alexander would take the Macedonian kingdom to its limits. The Roman Empire that eventually followed Alexander’s ruthless adventures was also all about a kingdom. Behind this inveterate quest for a kingdom was a lunging, craving pride and thirst for temporal glory. As the first book of Maccabees says of Alexander, “He advanced to the ends of the earth, gathering plunder from many nations; the earth fell silent before him, and his heart became proud and arrogant” — and then he died (1 Maccabees 1:3-5). The whole point was to reach the top and to receive a species of worship. It is well described by Satan when he attempted to entice Christ to seek a similar world-wide kingdom: he showed him “all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. He said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms ... prostrate yourself in homage before me, and it shall all be yours’” (Luke 4:5-7). Christ sent Satan packing.

This is the context in which we ought understand our Gospel passage today. Our Lord’s disciples knew that God’s kingdom was being announced by the One who would be its King. It would be the greatest of kingdoms and no earthly power could possibly prevail over it. It would conquer, and it would have the victory. The Twelve loved Christ and had, with the tragic exception of Judas Iscariot, given their hearts to him. They would be his generals, the patriarchs of the new people, the foundation stones of the new grand edifice. But they had profound misconceptions of the reality ahead of them — their model was that of the temporal kingdom. Even after he had risen from the dead, as Luke (the author of our Gospel passage) describes in the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples envisioned the “Kingdom” as a political restoration and advance of the “kingship” to the children of Israel (Acts 1:6). So it is that in our passage today we find them thinking of what all who sought kingdoms and kingship sought: position, status, glory, power. We read that “An argument started among the disciples of Jesus as to which of them would be the greatest” (Luke 9: 46). It was precisely this which constituted Satan’s temptation of Jesus Christ, and it was precisely this which Satan had sought in heaven itself. He had sought the place of God, the greatest. His first intervention at the dawn of history was in this very direction. He tempted the Woman to be like a god, able to “know” — i.e., decide on for herself — good and evil. The Woman chose to be like a god, and went to the Man who chose the same. They wanted to be the greatest. It is the grand temptation of free creatures. Why am I not God? Why cannot I be God, or a god like God, able to decide for myself what is good and what is evil, what should or should not be done, what is true and what is false, what is real and what is not real? I shall be the greatest! Christ was the New Man, and he chose the opposite: “Then he said to them, Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all— he is the greatest” (Luke 9: 46-50).

All through history the kingdoms of this world and their kings advance and conquer by pride, position, power and glory. The result is that they become the greatest — for a time, and only in a sense. Such are the kingdoms of this world. But, as Christ said to Pilate the representative of one of the greatest kingdoms in human history, his kingdom was not of this world, though in him it was already in it. The path to victory of his kingdom was by being the “least.” It would come by means of humble obedience to God, by meekness, holiness and unswerving adherence to the good. Let us set out on the path to victory, then — by following in the footsteps of the Crucified.

“The Lord of hosts says this. Now I am going to save my people ... I will bring them back” So much of what God asks of us appears to be beyond our powers — and, indeed, it is beyond our powers. God asks of us that we dedicate ourselves to the work he has given us in life and to try to be successful in it. He asks that in the midst of our everyday work we endeavour to bring the souls of those around us closer to him and to his friendship. He asks that we seek and attain sanctity. These are difficult goals and were it to depend on our own powers alone it would be, of course, impossible. The danger is that we may give up through lack of faith in the power and the presence of God. In our first reading today the prophet Zechariah utters very consoling prophecies to the people of God. He promises that God will renew Jerusalem. That was God’s plan: “the squares of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in the squares.” Our passage tells us that the temptation was not to believe that God could do this: “If this seems a miracle to the remnant of this people (in those days), will it seem one to me?” God promises his people that “I will bring them back to live inside Jerusalem. They shall be my people and I will be their God”. God was asking for faith from his people, faith in his plan for them, and the readiness to act according to it.

We too must keep before us the plan of God for us. St Paul tells us very plainly: “This is the will of God: your sanctification.” If it is God’s plan to bring us to holiness, we must constantly believe that it is possible, and act accordingly. In we find our thoughts, words and deeds to be at variance with this plan, then we ought then and there repent and start again, trusting not in ourselves but in his saving will and power. It is this faith in God which will give us the hope and the love enabling us to open ourselves constantly to his grace, always beginning again. So, now I begin!

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Sincere humility. What can upset a person who delights in being insulted because he knows that he deserves nothing better?

The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent's eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more St Vincent De Paul

ambition than to have a comfortable life. It was the Countess de Gondi (whose servant he had helped) who persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among the poor, the vassals and tenants and the country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley-slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. Later Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of St. Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, "whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city." He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries. Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person — even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been "hard and repulsive, rough and cross." But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others. Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frederic Ozanam.

"Strive to live content in the midst of those things that cause your discontent. Free your mind from all that troubles you, God will take care of things. You will be unable to make haste in this [choice] without, so to speak, grieving the heart of God, because he sees that you do not honour him sufficiently with holy trust. Trust in him, I beg you, and you will have the fulfilment of what your heart desires" (St. Vincent de Paul, Letters). (AmericanCatholic.org)

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village. (Luke 9: 51-56)

Summit of all As a person looks back on the decades of his life, he may well see a seemingly insignificant event as having been the most important event of his life. A girl is in her late teens — she has grown up on a remote farm and happens to be holidaying briefly in the metropolis which is a day’s difficult journey from her home. She is in the home of acquaintances and a relative of theirs visits and they meet. He takes her out to a dance, and gradually they become acquainted. Seventy years later she is drawing near the Fr. Ted Tyler

end of her long life and she looks back on that meeting. They were married, raised a large family with all its ups and downs. He has been dead many years, and she is now a profoundly religious old lady. Her life turned on that seemingly insignificant meeting. It is the same with human history as a whole — it is studded with what at the time did not seem to be especially important events. But it turned out that they were extremely important for what they led to. A prime minister is having a brief break from his pressing national work and makes a decision to go for a swim at the beach. He is a good swimmer, and loves swimming. Out he goes, and he is drowned, with his body never found. That spur-of-the-moment decision leads, in one sense or another, to the gradual fall of his government. Or again, the tiniest mishap can lead to world-wide consequences. In late June, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was officially visiting Sarajevo. A first assassination attempt had been unsuccessful. Later Franz Ferdinand's open car was reversing, after having taken the wrong turn as it drove past, near the Latin Bridge. After realizing the mistake, the driver put his foot on the brake, and began to back up. In doing so the engine of the car stalled and the gears locked, giving Gavilro Princip, Franz Joseph’s about-to-be assassin, his opportunity. Princip stepped forward, pistol-whipped a nearby pedestrian, and fired two shots from a distance of about five feet using a semi-automatic pistol. The Archduke was killed, and Europe was plunged into the worst world war that had ever been seen to that point. That driver’s mistake of putting his foot on the brake changed the course of history. My point is that seemingly insignificant events can be momentous.

To say the least, one’s observation of this fact ought lead to the resolve to do everything, even the tiniest things, in the presence of God and according to his good pleasure. The tiniest duties are important, and while we cannot direct history, we can at least do what we do in accord with what seems to be the will of God. God, the Lord of history, can then be asked to look after the rest. How different would history be if all, including the ordinary unknown individual, resolved to do God’s will in the little things! If Gavilro Princip had but served God in the little things on that fateful day, all would have been different in June and July of 1914. But my point here is not precisely this — it is rather that what seems to be small and insignificant can be full of moment and importance. It is this which brings us to our Gospel today (Luke 9: 51-56), as we picture our Lord resolutely setting out for Jerusalem. His disciples did not understand it — what they did sense was the danger. Our Lord had set his face towards Jerusalem. He knew it was there that he would accomplish his passing from this world to his heavenly Father. No-one, except for his own most holy mother who was out of sight, knew the momentous stakes that were involved in these simple steps he was taking. It was the redemption of the whole world that was about to be effected. The sin of the world was about to be taken away by the Lamb of God who would be sacrificed. Let our attention turn from the Work to the One who was to do it. All-powerful, he was humble and meek. On his way to Jerusalem, so fateful and so full of unending promise, he encountered the pettiness of the human heart. The Samaritans would not receive him simply because he was on his way to Jerusalem — their religious antagonist in belief and worship. Full of indignation on behalf of their wonderful Master, James and John sprang to their proposal: Lord, let us call down fire from heaven on these wilful and wicked dolts! Perhaps they thought of Sodom and Gomorrah. The response of Christ’s heart was to reprove his ardent disciples: the way you speak is not my way! His almighty power, saving the world, would be manifest in apparent weakness.

As we place ourselves in our Gospel scene today, let us appreciate yet again that what was about to happen was the most important thing in the entire history of the universe. All other events are satellites and appendages, relatively speaking, of this grand and immeasurably momentous event. Christ was going up to Jerusalem, and his face was resolutely set in that direction, and there the great Deed would be done. As mankind’s Priest, he would offer himself up as a Victim for the sin of the world. The Atonement would be effected, and man would be, in principle, set free. He, the holy One of God, would do it. Let us ask for the grace to follow in his footsteps, then!

“But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village.” Our Lord once said to his disciples that the great Fr. Ted Tyler

men of this world make their authority felt, and that this was not to happen among them. History shows that the great men of this world impose themselves on others and get their way. They are concerned for their own precedence. How different from this was the way that our Lord trod. He was not only a man, a great man, but in the first place, he was and is God. He was a divine Person. Yet throughout the Gospels we see him refraining from using his divine power for his own advantage, and instead following the path of humility, meekness, courtesy. Our Lord was, let us say it without disrespect, the supreme Gentleman. In our Gospel passage today, our Lord is on his way to Jerusalem (and to his death) and “because he was making for Jerusalem”, the “people would not receive him.” Our Lord’s disciples, James and John, reacted in the way so many Christians have reacted in the face of things done that are wrong and disrespectful of God. They wanted the perpetrators severely punished. But our Lord was humble, meek and respectful. In matters that related to his own interest and convenience he was entirely accommodating. Instead, he and his disciples “went off to another village.”

Let us then resolve to be like Christ in the many situations of life that involve a personal affront. Let us not initiate a duel over it, rather let us be Christ-like gentlemen.

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My Jesus: what’s mine is yours, because what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine I abandon in you.

If saints have been falsely characterized as "otherworldly," the life of Wenceslaus stands as an example to the contrary: He stood for Christian values in the midst of the political intrigues which characterized 10th-century Bohemia. He was born in 907 near Prague, son of the Duke of Bohemia. His saintly grandmother, Ludmilla, raised him and sought to promote him as ruler of Bohemia in place of his mother, who favoured the anti-Christian factions. Ludmilla was eventually murdered, but rival Christian forces enabled Wenceslaus to assume leadership of the government. His rule was marked by efforts toward unification within Bohemia, support of the Church and peace-making negotiations with Germany, a policy which caused him trouble with the anti-Christian opposition. His brother Boleslav joined in the plotting, and in September of 929 invited Wenceslaus to Alt Bunglou for the celebration of the feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (September 26). On the way to Mass, Boleslav attacked his brother, and in the struggle, Wenceslaus was killed by supporters of Boleslav. Although his death resulted primarily from political upheaval, Wenceslaus was hailed as a martyr for the faith, and his tomb became a pilgrimage shrine. He is hailed as the patron of the Bohemian people and of former Czechoslovakia.
"While recognizing the autonomy of the reality of politics, Christians who are invited to take up political activity should try to make their choices consistent with the gospel and, in the framework of a legitimate plurality, to give both personal and collective witness to the seriousness of their faith by effective and disinterested service of men" (Pope Paul VI, A Call to Action, 46). (AmericanCatholic.org)

As they were walking along the road, a man said to Jesus, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." He said to another man, "Follow me." But he replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (Luke 9: 57-62)

Following the Lord In the on-line blog (of 2011) entitled “Philosophy Now,” Joel Marks gives us a “moral manifesto” (written 2010). Joel Marks was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of New Haven in West Haven, Connecticut. He writes that for “the last couple of years I have been reflecting on and experimenting with a new ethics, and as a result I have thrown over my previous commitment to Kantianism. In fact, I have given up morality altogether!” Broadly speaking, Kant’s “Categorical Imperative” Fr. Ted Tyler

is taken by many to be the one philosophy that justifies Duty and our treating other people as ends in themselves, and not merely as means to achieving our own ends. Marks tells us that he is an atheist of the “hard atheism” variety, and that atheism implies a-morality. Without God, he avows, there is no morality. “In sum,” he continues, “while theists take the obvious existence of moral commands to be a kind of proof of the existence of a Commander, i.e., God, I now take the non-existence of a Commander as a kind of proof that there are no Commands, i.e., morality.” Morality had been “the essence” of Marks’s “existence, both personally and professionally.” Now, he says, it is no more. The new basis of his actions and his life is desire. For whatever reason or reasons, or even no reason, various things matter to him — and his motivation to act is the relevant desire. Preference, then, is the ultimate determinate of action. We human beings can discover plenty of internal resources for motivating certain preferences. Such horrors as the molesting of children will continue to be horrors precisely because of the principle of preference, and this will ensure that such things are prohibited and punishable by society. Well, such a line of thought is ridiculous and, to say the least, flies in the face of the hard fact of objective moral obligation and the Natural Law, which common sense and the life of society accepts. I refer to the philosophical curiosity of Joel Marks merely to introduce the great reality of Duty. Duty should be the objective determinant and anchor of human action, and the antidote to the vagaries and blindness of mere preference.

Let us not pursue here the foundations of morality — despite Marks, we can take as settled that there is an objective obligation to be moral and to observe various specific moral obligations, even were there no social sanctions to enforce them. But even if we grant the reality of duty and the objective requirement of a moral life, what, we might ask, will be its ultimate motivation? Is it, for instance, mere self-respect? Is it from respect for my very self that I continue to refuse to engage in what my conscience tells me to be an immoral course? Or is it out of respect for the other whom I regard as of equal importance to me? This brings us to our Gospel passage today (Luke 9: 57-62), in which our Lord requires an absolute personal devotion to himself, leading us to do whatever he commands and to follow him wherever he goes. “As they were walking along the road, a man said to Jesus, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’ But he replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’” I myself doubt that there is an enduring prospect for one who wishes to lead a good and moral life, a life that will proceed progressively to great goodness, if all he has before him is the moral obligation itself. If all he has is his sense of objective duty, I doubt his prospects of being highly moral. He will need a Love in his life, a Love that itself is insistent on morality and goodness. We are made for love and we are made for duty, and the two must be found in synthesis. That synthesis is present in the revelation of a holy God who commands that we love him and that we be holy. Be holy, God says, for I am holy (Leviticus 20:26, and 1 Peter 1:16). Now, as St Paul writes, in Jesus Christ there dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). In following and loving him we are following and loving the Lord God himself, and this absolutely requires a moral life, indeed a highly moral life. The slightest deliberate sin requires repentance.

In our Gospel today, Jesus Christ expects the highest personal devotion to him. This is the motivation for the living of a high moral life, and the saints demonstrate this. In his Letter to the Duke of Norfolk (1875), Newman referred to the Conscience as the “aboriginal vicar of Christ, a prophet in its informations, a monarch in its peremptoriness, a priest in its blessings and anathemas”. In the plan of God, Jesus Christ is the true love of the heart of man, and it is he who is the foundation of the commitment to live the moral life. Let us, then, follow wherever he may go, and do whatever he may command.

“This the king granted me, for the kindly favour of my God was with me.” I remember years ago attending a lunch-time seminar at Sydney University. A priest who was a member of the Philosophy department of the Faculty of Arts was giving a paper on Fr. Ted Tyler

prayer. He was defending the proposition that prayers can be known to have been answered. In his audience were two professors of Philosophy, both of whom were at least agnostics, possibly atheists. The priest’s paper aroused much discussion. The topic being discussed was no mere academic question but a very existential one. Many people begin with prayer for something they want and need, but give up because, they think, they see no results. In our first reading from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah is asked by the King, “What is your request?” Nehemiah tells us that “I called on the God of heaven and made this reply to the King.” The King granted his request and at the end of the passage Nehemiah gives the reason for his success: “for the kindly favour of my God was with me.” The passage is very much about God answering prayer. Towards the end of his life Cardinal Newman, speaking on the matter of God answering our prayers, suggested that God seems to answer our prayers mainly by extension. By this he meant that God seems generally to stretch, at critical points, the natural forces that are at work so as to grant the object of our prayers. In this way he respects as much as possible the natural laws of the world that he himself has instituted and sustained. If this is the case I suppose it accounts for the fact that often we do not realize that God has answered our prayers till after the event — it has come silently and unobserved. Newman went on to suggest that we ought pray for what appears to us as the likely will of God.

God’s will is full of surprises. It is merciful, abundantly generous, flexible and reflective of his power. God wants us to ask for all that we need and to have confidence in his power. What would have happened to the wedding feast at Cana had not Mary asked her Son to do something? So let us pray and petition with confidence and faith, but at the same time trying to know and be submissive to the God who wishes to hear the prayers of his children.

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Are you able to undergo those humiliations which God asks of you, in matters of no importance, matters where the truth is not obscured? You are not? Then you don’t love the virtue of humility.

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 103 (102): 20 Bless the Lord, all you his angels, mighty in power, fulfilling his word, and heeding his voice.

Collect O God, who dispose in marvellous order ministries both angelic and human, graciously grant that our life on earth may be defended by those who watch over us as they minister perpetually to you in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named. Michael ("Who is like God") appears in Daniel's vision as "the great prince" who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God's armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honouring Michael and the angels in the fifth century. Gabriel ("Strength of God") also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing Michael's role in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah. Raphael's activity ("Medicine of God") is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the family fortune. The memorials of Gabriel (March 24) and Raphael (October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael's. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 or Rev 12:7-12ab; Psalm 138:1-5; John 1:47-51

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false. How do you know me? Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you. Then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel. Jesus said, You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig-tree. You shall see greater things than that. He then added, I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. (John 1: 47-51)

Archangels In our Gospel today (John 1: 47-51), our Lord refers to the angels of God. There is a bit of a problem with “angels” in our day, a day of ambiguity in respect to historical revelation. There are religious people for whom “angels” are a non-entity. There are also those who are otherwise quite Catholic-minded in the practice of their religion, but for whom “angels” are a non-entity. They never think of them, nor do they pray to them. There are Christians for whom “angels” are a ridiculous distraction from Jesus Christ. Fr. Ted Tyler

On the other hand there are many today who are endeavouring to “connect with their angels” or have some sort of spiritual experience with them. Some Ouija Boards have become “Angel Boards,” and there are “Angel Cards” or “Oracle Cards.” Some people claim to have contact with angels, and that angels speak through them. There are many books by New Age authors on angels, and there are people who hold workshops for people to contact angels. I am sorry to have to say it, but such doubtlessly well-intentioned people are daft. Whatever spirits are contacted in such ways — if spirits they are — they are certainly not those whom in the Gospels our Lord refers to as “angels.” They are not the angels to whom Holy Scripture attributes the specific names of Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. The Church’s liturgy celebrates the feast of these three angels, entitled “archangels” because of the eminence of their messages and missions from God to man, and they are venerated in the tradition of the Church. The witness of Scripture and Tradition is absolutely clear. While in the post-Vatican II Missal of Pope Paul VI these three Archangels are celebrated together on this day September 29, in the 1962 pre-Vatican II Missal of Blessed John XXIII (now the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite), today is the feast of St Michael, March 24 that of St Gabriel, and October 24 that of St Raphael. There is this to be observed immediately from these liturgical facts: the reality of these three Archangels is absolutely certain, and secondly they are filled with holiness before God. In morality and sanctity, they are utterly unlike the spirits of New Age imaginings, just as they are unlike the lesser deities of so many religions, including the classical.

The name of the archangel Michael means, in Hebrew, who is like unto God? His name appears in Scripture four times, twice in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 10:13 and Daniel 12), once in the Epistle of St. Jude ("When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses") and once in the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse 12:7: "And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon.") As a matter of fact, the Fathers often assert that St. Michael is present in Scripture where his name is not mentioned. They say he was the cherub who stood at the gate of paradise, "to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24), the angel who stood in the way against Balaam (Numbers 22:22) and the angel who routed the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35). The Church recommends to us that we invoke St. Michael to help us in our fight against Satan. The Archangel Raphael appears in the Septuagint Bible in the Book of Tobias, and the Church’s celebration of him with a Feast of the Liturgical Year confirms the witness of this Old Testament Book. When Tobias (Tobit 12) was occupied in his works of mercy and charity, the angel Raphael offered his prayer to the Lord. He was sent by the Lord to heal him of his blindness and to deliver Sara, his son's wife, from the devil. We also read in the Gospel of St John 5:1-4, that at the pool where the multitude of the infirm awaited the moving of the water, "an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatever infirmity he lay under". Some commentators regard this angel as Raphael, the angel of healing in Tobias. The archangel Gabriel appears in the Book of Daniel (ch. 8, 9 and probably 10), and in the infancy narratives of St Luke, Gabriel foretells to Zachary the birth of the Precursor, and to Mary that of the Saviour. To Mary, whom he addresses as “full of grace, the Lord is with you,” he says that “I am Gabriel, who stand before God” (Luke 1:19).

Let us learn more about the angels and Archangels and love them. Today we think of the latter, those who are specifically mentioned in Holy Scripture, by name. If Christ is our Friend, then so too are the angels and Archangels. They are without sin, having chosen totally for God their Creator. They serve him constantly, and are filled with life and happiness. They are determined to get us over the line that matters — the judgment of God — and into our true homeland of heaven where they await us. The angelic world is a vast kingdom of its own, with ranks. It is a kingdom at the service of Christ the King. Our Lord said in the Garden that at a word he could summon twelve legions of angels to his support. Michael would have been at the head of them. Let us love and pray to them! There are two Standards, and our three archangels carry Christ’s Standard.

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Pride dulls the edge of charity. Ask Our Lord each day for the virtue of humility, for you and for everyone. Because as the years go by, pride increases if it is not corrected in time.

Most of the saints are remembered for some outstanding virtue or devotion which they practiced, but Jerome is frequently remembered for his bad temper! It is true that he had a temper and could use a vitriolic pen, but his love for God and his Son Jesus Christ was extraordinarily intense; anyone who taught error was an enemy of God and truth, and St. Jerome went after him or her with his mighty and sometimes sarcastic pen. St Jerome

He was above all a Scripture scholar, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. He also wrote commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today. He was an avid student, a thorough scholar, a prodigious letter-writer and a consultant to monk, bishop and pope. St. Augustine said of him, "What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known." St. Jerome is particularly important for having made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate. It is not the most critical edition of the Bible, but its acceptance by the Church was fortunate. As a modern scholar says, "No man before Jerome or among his contemporaries and very few men for many centuries afterwards were so well qualified to do the work." The Council of Trent called for a new and corrected edition of the Vulgate, and declared it the authentic text to be used in the Church. In order to be able to do such work, Jerome prepared himself well. He was a master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Chaldaic. He began his studies at his birthplace, Stridon in Dalmatia (in the former Yugoslavia). After his preliminary education he went to Rome, the centre of learning at that time, and thence to Trier, Germany, where the scholar was very much in evidence. He spent several years in each place, always trying to find the very best teachers. After these preparatory studies he traveled extensively in Palestine, marking each spot of Christ's life with an outpouring of devotion. Mystic that he was, he spent five years in the desert of Chalcis so that he might give himself up to prayer, penance and study. Finally he settled in Bethlehem, where he lived in the cave believed to have been the birthplace of Christ. On September 30 in the year 420, Jerome died in Bethlehem. The remains of his body now lie buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. "In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. In this exile and prison to which for the fear of hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, I many times imagined myself witnessing the dancing of the Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them: In my cold body and in my parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was able to live. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am not now what I then was" (Jerome’s Letter to St. Eustochium). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” (Luke 10:13-16)

Faith One of the great shifts that gradually occurred between the century of the Protestant Reformation and the twentieth century was, on the one hand, a break between religious faith and morality, and on the other, the exaltation of morality and the demotion of religious faith. In the Christian religion, the triune God is the fount of morality. Life in Jesus Christ is the living source of the moral life. The Ten Commandments of the Book of Exodus is a paradigm of this profound relationship between religion and morality: the first three of the Commandments govern our relationships with the one God, and this is the basis of the next seven Commandments which concern the general moral life and our relationships with our fellow-man. Our Lord himself said, if you love me you will keep my commandments, and, love one another as I have loved you. Love for Christ leads to a moral life, and it provides in Jesus the exemplar of it. Our religion, understood as our love for God, is the foundation and heart of our moral life. With the eruption of the Reformation, then overtaken by the Enlightenment, two things emerged. Firstly, “Reason” was seen as the light of the individual and society, supplanting Revelation as the ground of religion. Christian dogmas were subject to the sanction and approval of “Reason” and were, accordingly, largely rejected as not being “rational.” The God of a reasonable religion was seen to be the deist god. Secondly, morality became more important than religion anyway, and it was a morality the ground of which was, likewise, “Reason.” Religion, and in particular faith in revealed religion, was dispensable while a morality founded on reason remained necessary for the human life. Of course, all this has led to the modern philosophical questioning of any objective morality — but that is a further story. What I am pointing to here is the modern assumption, emerging over the last few centuries, that religious faith is peripheral in importance to the human life and its prospects. Provided you are a good and moral person (however this is conceived), your particular religious faith is an entirely secondary and optional matter.

But this really is an assumption, and the stakes are high. Now, an observer of the general sweep of human history and its philosophical and religious thought would have to regard Jesus Christ as very important indeed. Well, what has he to say of this? He said that religious faith, and in particular faith in himself, is of immense importance. To say the very least, therefore, it ought not be assumed that it is unimportant simply because it is the modern way of looking at things. All of this brings us to our Gospel passage today (Luke 10:13-16), in which our Lord speaks of the towns which were ignoring his message and disregarding the call and duty to believe in him. There is, incidentally, something important to be remembered when we speak of the call to believe in Jesus Christ. It is that there is no personality in the whole of the Scriptures who called for devotion to and faith in himself in the way Jesus Christ did. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brothers the patriarchs, Moses, Samuel and the Judges, David and the great Prophets after him — none of these outstanding personalities and witnesses to divine revelation required of the people of God a religious faith in themselves that compared with the faith in himself that Jesus Christ requested and required. It is one of the many unique features of the Person and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth — and of course it flowed from his claim to be the divine Son of the Father almighty. He taught that life everlasting depended on our faith in him — it being understood, of course, that this “faith” was a living faith showing forth a life of obedience to his commands. It led to and required a highly moral life. Just before he ascended into heaven he commanded his disciples to go to the whole world, not to teach the nations to be moral, but to make of them his disciples. However, this meant teaching them to observe all he had commanded. So it was that discipleship involved the moral life. But faith was the foundation, and the whole world was called to this faith. It is critical that man believe, that he have faith in Christ. In our Gospel today we see this point uttered by Christ in dramatic terms. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” They did not believe in him.

The fundamental work of the life of man is to believe in God, which means belief in Jesus Christ. God has sent his Son to reveal and to effect his plan for man and his salvation. Our benefiting from what God has done in his Son our Redeemer hinges on our faith in him. This is no light matter — it is the foundation of everything. It is of critical importance that the world and every man come to believe in Jesus Christ and then live each day according to that religious belief. It is a belief that is dogmatic, objective, creedal. Let us ask for the gift of faith then, and live by it.

“To us the look of shame we wear today... because we have sinned in the sight of the Lord” Pope Pius XII many years ago made a judgment on the modern era which has been repeated by the Church on different occasions since. He said that the sin of the modern world is the loss of the sense of sin. That is to say, the sense of personal sinfulness and of the evil of sinning has been largely lost — we do not have the sense that we are sinners, and the sins we commit do not seem to us to be very wrong at all. He said, furthermore, that this loss of the sense of sin is itself sinful — it is not just a chance fact, a mere happening. For both reasons a great change of heart is needed. God sent his Son to save the world precisely from sin, and if we have little realization of sin we shall feel little need for our Saviour Jesus Christ. Our first reading today from the book of Baruch (Baruch 1: 15-22) provides us with a magnificent Old Testament confession of personal sinfulness. It expresses the best of the soul of God’s people when moved by the Holy Spirit. All the citizens of Jerusalem and the people of Judah with its rulers, priests, prophets and ancestors included, confess their guilt and disobedience before God and his commandments. The disasters that have come upon them are recognised as having been judgments on sin. It is essential that we recognise our sinfulness, if we are ever to repent of it and be saved and sanctified. Our Lord on one occasion when hearing of the accidental death of several persons said that, while their death did not mean that they were greater sinners than others in Jerusalem, unless people (who told him of the event) repented they too would perish. The wages of sin, St Paul writes in Romans, are death, and Christ came to save us from the death brought by sin.

Let us begin by praying for a genuine sense of sin. This will enable us to confess our sins both from the heart and in the Sacrament of Penance, and to amend. This amendment must be ongoing all through life. What a grace to die truly penitent!

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Is there anything more displeasing than a child acting the grown-up? How can a poor man — a child — be pleasing to God if he “acts grown-up”, puffed up by pride, sure that he’s worth something and trusting only in himself?

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
24th Week of Ordinary Time A-1						16	17
25th Week of Ordinary Time A-1	18	19	20	21 St Matthew, Apostle	22	23	24
26th Week of Ordinary Time A-1	25	26	27	28	29 Archangels	30