DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Saturday, October 11, 2014 27th Week in Ordinary Time - Psalter 3 (Green/White) Optional Memorial: St. John XXIII, Pope Readings: Gal 3:22-29; Ps 105:2-7; Lk 11:27-28 Response: The Lord remembers his covenant for ever. Rosary: Joyful Mysteries Verse Highlight: More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it! SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Damien of Molokai Death: 1889 The Leper Priest, the Hero of Molokai. Born in Tremelo, Belgium, on January 3, 1840, he joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in 1860. He was bom Joseph and received the name Damien in religious life. In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he Was ordained. For the next nine years he worked in missions on the big island, Hawaii. In 1873, he went to the leper colony on Molokai, after volunteering for the assignment. Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony. He announced he was a leper in 1885 and continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins. He died on April 15 , on Molokai. Slandered by a Protestant minister, Mr. Hyde, Damien was defended by Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote an impassioned defense of Damien in 1905. He was declared venerable in 1977. Pope John Paul II declared him beatified on June 4, 1995. On February 21, 2009, the Vatican announced that Father Damien would be canonized. The ceremony took place in Rome on October 11, 2009, in the presence of King Albert II of the Belgians and Queen Paola as well as the Belgian Prime Minister and several cabinet ministers, completing the process of canonization. Not without fear and loathing, Pope Benedict underlined, Father Damian made the choice to go on the island of Molokai in the service of lepers who were there, abandoned by all. So he exposed himself to the disease of which they suffered. With them he felt at home. The servant of the Word became a suffering servant, leper with the lepers, during the last four years of his life. He continued, To follow Christ, Father Damian not only left his homeland, but has also staked his health so he, as the word of Jesus announced in todays Gospel tells us, received eternal life. The figure of Father Damian, Benedict XVI added, teaches us to choose the good fight not those that lead to division, but those that gather us together in unity. Damiens symbols are a tree and a dove. In Saint Damiens role as the unofficial patron of those with HIV and AIDS, the worlds only Roman Catholic memorial chapel to those who have died of this disease, at the Eglise Saint-Pierre-Apatre in Montreal, Quebec, is consecrated to him. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, Galatians 3:22-29 22 As it is, scripture makes no exception when it says that sin is master everywhere; so the promise can be given only by faith in Jesus Christ to those who have this faith. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law, locked up to wait for the faith which would eventually be revealed to us. 24 So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us; 26 for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus, 27 since every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ. 28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female -- for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And simply by being Christs, you are that progeny of Abraham, the heirs named in the promise. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 2 Sing to him, make music for him, recount all his wonders! 3 Glory in his holy name, let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice! 4 Seek Yahweh and his strength, tirelessly seek his presence! 5 Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders, the judgements he has spoken. 6 Stock of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob whom he chose! 7 He is Yahweh our God, his judgements touch the whole world. GOSPEL, Luke 11:27-28 27 It happened that as he was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you! 28 But he replied, More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it! REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires. Forgive our failings, keep us in your peace and lead us in the way of salvation. 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: Galatians 3:22-29 (The Law and the Promise - Continued) But the scripture consigned all things to sin: it is not easy to understand this phrase but its meaning becomes clearer in the context of the whole passage: God reveals that all men are under the power of sin, Jews as well as Gentiles, despite the Jews having received the Law (cf. Rom 3:10-18). The reason this is so is, again, the inability of the Law to confer justification; the Law had no power to free us from the devil, sin or death. But now, in the fullness of time, Gods purpose in giving the Law is made manifest -- namely, to protect and guide mankind during its minority, rather as a governess or tutor looks after a child until he has grown up. The tutor keeps an eye on the child: the child cannot do whatever he likes but must be guided by his teacher. And so it is with mankind: it was a minor, of whom the Law was the custodian, so to speak; but when the fullness of time came God sent his son Jesus Christ, who set us free from sin, from death and from the Law itself, our tutor. That is why the Apostle says, Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian. This faith is the new life which has taken over from the harsh discipline of the Law. To us, centuries later, these arguments and teachings of St. Pauls may seem irrelevant. We need to put ourselves in the position of a Jew of his time -- a zealous upholder of the Law, and yet unable to cope with the sheer weight of all its precepts and accretions -- who, now that he has converted to faith in Christ, has a real sense of liberation: he has been freed from all his old shackles and is now eager to show his former Jewish brothers that they too can attain the same freedom in Christ Jesus. The Law, like the whole of the Old Testament, had this function in relation to the New -- to prepare the way for its promulgation. Everything in the books of the Old Testament refers directly or indirectly to our Lord Jesus Christ and his work of redemption: the two Testaments are intimately connected, as Tradition teaches and the Second Vatican Council reminds us: God, the inspirer and author of the books of both Testaments, in his wisdom has so brought it about that the New should be hidden in the Old and that the Old should be made manifest in the New. For, although Christ founded the New Covenant in his blood (cf. Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), still the books of the Old Testament, all of them caught up into the Gospel message, attain and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament (cf. Mt 5:17, Lk 24:27; Rom 16:25-26; 2 Cor 3:14-16) and, in their turn, shed light on it and explain it (Dei Verbum, 16). St. John of Avila, commenting on this passage, says, The Holy Spirit was not content with saying that we are bathed and anointed: here he says that we are clothed, and the clothing we are given is not just something beautiful and costly: it is Jesus Christ himself, who is the sum total of all beauty, all value, all richness, etc. What he means is that the beauty of Jesus Christ, his justice, his grace, his riches, his splendor, shine out from us with the splendor of the sun and is reflected as in the purest of mirrors (Lecciones Sobre Gal, ad loc.). St. Paul uses this metaphor of our being decked out in Christ in many other passages (cf. Rom 13:14; 1 Cor 15:43; Eph 4:24; 6:11; Col 3:10; etc.) to describe the intimate union between the baptized person and Christ, a union so intense that the Christian can be said to be another Christ. In the order of nature, it may be said, all men are radically equal: as descendants of Adam, we are born in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26-27). The different functions which people have in the life of society do not alter this basic, natural equality. From this point of view there is no real difference, nor should there be, between one person and another, no difference even between man and woman: both are made in the image and likeness of God. In the order of grace, which the Redemption inaugurates, this essential, original equality was restored by Christ, who became man and died on the Cross to save all. St. John Paul II points out that this true meaning of the dignity of man is enhanced by the Redemption: In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly expressed and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28). The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly -- and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being -- must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ.He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must appropriate and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself (Redemptor Hominis, 10). From this radical equality of all men is derived that universal fraternity which should govern human relations: Our Lord has come to bring peace, good news and life to all. Not only to the rich, nor only to the poor. Not only to the wise, nor only to the simple. To everyone. To the brethren, for brothers we are, children of the same Father, God. So there is only one race, the race of the children of God. There is only one color, the color of the children of God. And there is only one language, the language which speaks to the heart and to the mind, without the noise of words, making us know God and love one another (St. J. Escriva, Christ Is Passing By, 106). ON THE GOSPEL: Luke 11:27-28 (Responding to the Word of God) Todays Gospel is very brief, but it has a very important significance in the Gospel of Luke in general. It gives us the key to understand what Luke teaches regarding Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in the so called Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2). Luke 11, 27: The exclamation of the woman. At that time as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said: Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you! The creative imagination of some apocryphal books suggests that the woman was a neighbour of Our Lady, there in Nazareth. She had a son called Dimas, who with other boys of Galilee at that time, went to war with the Romans, was made a prisoner and killed at the side of Jesus. He was the good thief (Lk 23, 39-43). His mother, having heard about the good that Jesus did to people, remembered her neighbour, Mary, and said: Mary must be very happy to have such a son! These words proclaim and praise the Blessed Virgins basic attitude of soul. As the Second Vatican Council explains: In the course of her Sons preaching she [Mary] received the words whereby, in extolling a Kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God (cf. Mark 3:35; Luke 11:27-28 ) as she was faithfully doing (cf. Luke 2:19-51) (Lumen Gentium, 58). Therefore, by replying in this way Jesus is not rejecting the warm praise this good lady renders His Mother; He accepts it and goes further, explaining that Mary is blessed particularly because she has been good and faithful in putting the word of God into practice. It was a complement to His Mother on her fiat, be it done (Luke 1:38). She lived it sincerely, unstintingly, fulfilling its every consequence, but never amid fanfare, rather in the hidden and silent sacrifice of each day (St. J. Escriva, Christ Is Passing By, 177). See the note on Luke 1:34-38. Commenting on this passage St. John Paul II said: Virgo fidelis, the faithful virgin. What does this faithfulness of Mary mean? What are the dimensions of this faithfulness? The first dimension is called search. Mary was faithful first of all when she began, lovingly, to seek the deep sense of Gods plan in her and for the world. Quomodo fiet? How shall this be?, she asked the Angel of the Annunciation. The second dimension of faithfulness is called reception, acceptance. The quomodo fiet? is changed, on Marys lips, to a fiat: Let it be done, I am ready, I accept. This is the crucial moment of faithfulness, the moment in which man perceives that he will never completely understand the how: that there are in Gods plan more areas of mystery than of clarity; that is, however he may try, he will never succeed in understanding it completely. The third dimension of faithfulness is consistency to live in accordance with what one believes; to adapt ones own life to the object of ones adherence. To accept misunderstanding, persecutions, rather than a break between what one practises and what one believes: this is consistency. But all faithfulness must pass the most exacting test, that of duration. Therefore, the fourth dimension of faithfulness is constancy. It is easy to be consistent for a day or two. It is difficult and important to be consistent for ones whole life. It is easy to be consistent in the hour of enthusiasm, it is difficult to be so in the hour of tribulation. And only a consistency that lasts throughout the whole life can be called faithfulness. Marys fiat in the Annunciation finds its fullness in the silent fiat that she repeats at the foot of the Cross (Homily in Mexico City Cathedral, 26 January 1979). Luke 11, 28 : The response of Jesus. Jesus responds, giving the greatest praise to his mother: More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Luke speaks little about Mary: here (Lk 11, 28) and in the Gospel of the infancy (Lk 1 and 2). For him, Luke, Mary is the Daughter of Sion, image of the new People of God. He represents Mary as the model for the life of the communities. In Vatican Council II, the document prepared on Mary was inserted in the last chapter of the document Lumen Gentium on the Church. Mary is the model for the Church. And especially in the way in which Mary relates with the Word of God, Luke considers her as an example for the life of the communities: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Mary teaches us how to accept the Word of God, how to incarnate it, live it, deepen it, make it be born and grow, allow it to shape us, even when we do not understand it, or when it makes us suffer. This is the vision which is subjacent in the Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2). The key to understand these two chapters is given to us by todays Gospel: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it! Let us see in these chapters how Mary enters into relationship with the Word of God. FINAL PRAYERS: Sing to him, make music for him, recount all his wonders! Glory in his holy name, let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice! (Ps 105,2-3) From all eternity, O Lord, you planned my very existence and my destiny. You wrapped me in your love in baptism and gave me the faith to lead me to an eternal life of happiness with you. You have showered me with your graces and you have been always ready with your mercy and forgiveness when I have fallen. Now I beg you for the light I so earnestly need that I may find the way of life in which lies the best fulfillment of your will. Whatever state this may be, give me the grace necessary to embrace it with love of your holy will. I offer myself to you now, trusting in your wisdom and love to direct me in working out my salvation and in helping others to know and come close to you, so that I may find my reward in union with you for ever and ever. Amen. -- From Finding God in All Things: A Marquette Prayer Book 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: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 22:49:44 +0000
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