DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Friday, September 19, 2014 24th Week in Ordinary Time - Psalter 4 (Green) Optional Memorial: St. Januarius, Bishop Readings: 1 Cor 15:12-20; Ps 17:1, 6-7, 8, 15; Lk 8:1-3 Response: Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be filled. Rosary: Sorrowful Mysteries Verse Highlight: The men followed him and some Holy Women. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Januarius, Bishop Patron of blood banks; Naples; volcanic eruptions St. Januarius was born in Italy and was bishop of Benevento during the Emperor Diocletion persecution. Bishop Januarius went to visit two deacons and two laymen in prison. He was then also imprison along with his deacon and lector. They were thrown to the wild beasts, but when the animals did not attack them, they were beheaded. What is believed to be Januarius blood is kept in Naples, as a relic. It liquifies and bubbles when exposed in the cathedral. Scientists have not been able to explain this miracle to date. St. Januarius lived and died around 305 A.D. and his feast day is September 19th. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, First Corinthians 15:12-20 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ cannot have been raised either, 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without substance, and so is your faith. 15 What is more, we have proved to be false witnesses to God, for testifying against God that he raised Christ to life when he did not raise him -- if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For, if the dead are not raised, neither is Christ; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is pointless and you have not, after all, been released from your sins. 18 In addition, those who have fallen asleep in Christ are utterly lost. 19 If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are of all people the most pitiable. 20 In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 17:1, 6-7, 8, 15 1 [Prayer Of David] Listen, Yahweh, to an upright cause, pay attention to my cry, lend an ear to my prayer, my lips free from deceit. 6 I call upon you, God, for you answer me; turn your ear to me, hear what I say. 7 Show the evidence of your faithful love, saviour of those who hope in your strength against attack. 8 Guard me as the pupil of an eye, shelter me in the shadow of your wings 15 But I in my uprightness will see your face, and when I awake I shall be filled with the vision of you. GOSPEL, Luke 8:1-3 1 Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, 2 as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 Joanna the wife of Herods steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Almighty God, our creator and guide, may we serve you with all our hearts and know your forgiveness in our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ON READING 1: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (The Basis of our Faith, The Cause of our Resurrection) St. Paul very forcefully states that the resurrection of Christ is an essential truth of the Christian faith; without it that faith is vain. For, by rising from the dead Christ completes the work of Redemption. Dying on the cross meant victory over sins; but it was necessary also that he should rise from the dead and thereby conquer death, the outcome of sin (cf. Rom 5:12). It was necessary that Christ should rise again in order to manifest the justice of God; for it was most appropriate that he who through obedience to God was degraded, and loaded with ignominy, should by him be exalted. He rose also to confirm our faith, which is necessary for justification; for the resurrection of Christ from the dead by his own power affords an irrefutable proof that he was the Son of God. Again the resurrection nourishes and sustains our hope. As Christ rose again, we rest on an assured hope that we too shall rise again; the members must necessarily arrive at the condition of their head. Finally, the resurrection of our Lord, it should also be taught, was necessary to complete the mystery of our salvation and redemption. By his death Christ liberated us from sin, by his resurrection he restored to us the most important of those privileges which we had forfeited by sin (St Pius V Catechism, I, 6, 12). In these verses St. Paul is really giving indirect arguments in support of Christs resurrection, by pointing out what an absurd situation we would be in if Jesus Christ had not risen: our faith would be in vain (vv. 14,17,18), as would our hope (v.19); the Apostles would be false witnesses and their preaching valueless (vv 14-15); and we would still be in our sins (v. 17). Christians, in other words, would be of all men most to be pitied (v. 19). 20-28. The Apostle insists on the solidarity that exists between Christ and Christians: as members of one single body, of which Christ is the head, they form as it were one organism (cf. Rom 6:3-11; Gal 3:28). Therefore, once the resurrection of Christ is affirmed, the resurrection of the just necessarily follows. Adams disobedience brought death for all; Jesus, the new Adam, has merited that all should rise (cf. Rom 5:12-21). Again, the resurrection of Christ effects for us the resurrection of our bodies not only because it was the efficient cause of this mystery, but also because we all ought to arise after the example of the Lord. For with regard to the resurrection of the body we have this testimony of the Apostle: As by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:21). In all that God did to accomplish the mystery of our redemption he made use of the humanity of Christ as an effective instrument, and hence his resurrection was, as it were, an instrument for the accomplishment of our resurrection (St Pius V Catechism, I, 6, 13). Although St. Paul here is referring only to the resurrection of the just (v. 23), he does speak elsewhere of the resurrection of all mankind (cf. Acts 24:15). The doctrine of the resurrection of the bodies of all at the end of time, when Jesus will come in glory to judge everyone, has always been part of the faith of the Church; he [Christ] will come at the end of the world, he will judge the living and the dead; and he will reward all, both the lost and the elect, according to their works. And all those will rise with their own bodies which they now have so that they may receive according to their works, whether good or bad; the wicked, a perpetual punishment with the devil; the good, eternal glory with Christ (Fourth Lateran Council, De Fide Catholica, chap. 1). ON THE GOSPEL: Luke 8:1-3 (The Holy Women) In today’s Gospel we have the continuation of yesterday’s episode which spoke about the surprising attitude of Jesus with regard to women, when he defends the woman, who was known in the town as a sinner, against the criticism of the Pharisee. Now at the beginning of chapter 8, Luke describes Jesus who goes through the villages and towns of Galilee and the novelty is that he was not only accompanied by the disciples, but also by the women disciples. Luke 8, 1: The Twelve who follow Jesus. In one phrase alone, Luke describes the situation: Jesus goes through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the Twelve are with him. The expression “to follow Jesus” (cf. Mk 1, 18; 15, 41) indicates the condition of the disciple who follows the Master, twenty-four hours a day, trying to imitate his example and to participate in his destiny. The Gospel refers a number of times to women accompanying our Lord. Here St. Luke gives us the names of three of them--Mary, called Magdalene, to whom the risen Christ appeared beside the Holy Sepulchre (John 20:11-18 ; Mark 16:9); Joanna, a lady of some position, whom we also meet among the women who went to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection (Luke 24:10), and Susanna, whom the Gospel does not mention again. The role of these women consisted in helping Jesus and His disciples out of their own resources, thereby showing their gratitude for what Christ had done for them, and in cooperating in His ministry. Men and women enjoy equal dignity in the Church. Within the context of that equality, women certainly have specific characteristics which must necessarily be reflected in their role in the Church: All the baptized, men and women alike, share equally in the dignity, freedom and responsibility of the children of God.... Women are called to bring to the family, to society and to the Church, characteristics which are their own and which they alone can give--their gentle warmth and untiring generosity, their love for detail, their quick-wittedness and intuition, their simple and deep piety, their constancy... A womans femininity is genuine only if she is aware of the beauty of this contribution for which there is no substitute --and if she incorporates it into her own life (St. J. Escriva, Conversations, 14 and 87). The Gospel makes special reference to the generosity of these women. It is nice to know that our Lord availed Himself of their charity, and that they responded to Him with such refined and generous detachment that Christian women feel filled with a holy and fruitful envy (cf. St. J. Escriva, The Way, 981). Luke 8, 2-3: The women follow Jesus. What surprises is that at the side of the men there are also women “together with Jesus”. Luke places both the men and the women disciples at the same level because all of them follow Jesus. Luke has also kept some of the names of some of these women disciples: Mary Magdalene, born in the town of Magdala. She had been cured, and delivered from seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, steward of Herod Antipa, who was Governor of Galilee; Suzanne and several others. It is said that they “served Jesus with their own goods” Jesus allows a group of women “to follow” him (Lk 8, 2-3; 23, 49; Mk 15, 41). The Gospel of Mark when speaking about the women at the moment of Jesus’ death says: “There were some women who were observing at a distance and among them Mary of Magdala, Mary, the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome, who followed him and served him when he was still in Galilee, and many others who had gone up with him to Jerusalem (Mk 15, 40-41). Mark defines their attitude with three words: to follow, to serve, to go up to Jerusalem. The first Christians did not draw up a list of these women disciples who followed Jesus as they had done with the twelve disciples. But in the pages of the Gospel of Luke the name of seven of these women disciples are mentioned: Mary Magdalene, Jeanna, wife of Chuza, Suzanne (Lk 8, 3), Martha and Mary (Lk 10, 38), Mary, the mother of James (Lk 24, 10) and Anna, the prophetess (Lk 2, 36), who was eighty-four years old. Number eighty-four is seven times twelve: the perfect age! The later Ecclesiastical tradition does not value this fact about the discipleship of women with the same importance with which it values the following of Jesus on the part of men. It is a sin! The Gospel of Luke has always been considered as the Gospel of women. In fact, Luke is the Evangelist who presents the largest number of episodes in which he underlines the relationship of Jesus with the women, and the novelty is not only in the presence of the women around Jesus, but also and, above all, in the attitude of Jesus in relation to them. Jesus touches them and allows them to touch him without fear of being contaminated (Lk 7, 39; 8, 44-45.54). This was different from the teachers of that time, Jesus accepts women who follow him and who are his disciples (Lk 8, 2-3; 10, 39). The liberating force of God, which acts in Jesus, allows women to raise and to assume their dignity (Lk 13, 13). Jesus is sensitive to the suffering of the widow and is in solidarity with her sorrow (Lk 7, 13). The work of the woman who prepares the meal is considered by Jesus like a sign of the Kingdom (Lk 13, 20-21). The insistent widow who struggles for her rights is considered the model of prayer (Lk 18, 1-8), and the poor widow who shares the little that she has with others is the model of dedication and donation (Lk 21, 1-4). At a time when the witness of women is not accepted as something valid, Jesus accepts women and considers them witnesses of his death (Lk 23, 49), of his burial (Lk 22, 55-56) and of his resurrection (Lk 24, 1-11. 22-24). FINAL PRAYERS: God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my concerns. Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin, and guide me on the road of eternity. (Ps 139,23-24) Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance everywhere I go; Flood my soul with your spirit and life; Penetrate and possess my whole being so completely That all my life may be only a radiance of yours; Shine through me and be so in me That everyone with whom I come into contact May feel your presence within me. Let them look up and see no longer me—but only Jesus. Amen. -- John Henry Cardinal Newman It is by God’s mercy that we are saved. May we never tire of spreading this joyful message to the world. -- Pope Francis Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. -- St. Jerome The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever in everlasting silence; and in silence the soul has to hear it. -- St. John of the Cross
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 21:50:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015