DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Sunday, August 10, 2014 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Psalter 3 (Green) Readings: 1 K 19: 9, 11-13; Ps 85:9-14; Rom 9:1-5; Mt 14:22-33 Response: Lord, let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation. Rosary: Glorious Mysteries Key Verse: Truly, you are the Son of God. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Lawrence - Martyr Saint Lawrence was one of seven deacons who were in charge of giving help to the poor and the needy. When a persecution broke out, Pope St. Sixtus was condemned to death. As he was led to execution, Lawrence followed him weeping, Father, where are you going without your deacon? he said. I am not leaving you, my son, answered the Pope. in three days you will follow me. Full of joy, Lawrence gave to the poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive vessels to have more to give away. The Prefect of Rome, a greedy pagan, thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Churchs treasure to him. The Saint said he would, in three days. Then he went through the city and gathered together all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. When he showed them to the Prefect, he said: This is the Churchs treasure! In great anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. The Saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted his flesh little by little, but Lawrence was burning with so much ×love of God that he almost did not feel the flames. In fact, God gave him so much strength and joy that he even joked. Turn me over, he said to the judge. Im done on this side! And just before he died, he said, Its cooked enough now. Then he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted to Jesus and that the Catholic Faith might spread all over the world. After that, he went to receive the martyrs reward. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, First Kings 19:9, 11-13 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night there. Then the word of Yahweh came to him saying, What are you doing here, Elijah? 11 Then he was told, Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh. For at that moment Yahweh was going by. A mighty hurricane split the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh. But Yahweh was not in the hurricane. And after the hurricane, an earthquake. But Yahweh was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake, fire. But Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire, a light murmuring sound. 13 And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice came to him, which said, What are you doing here, Elijah? RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14 9 His saving help is near for those who fear him, his glory will dwell in our land. 10 Faithful ×Love and Loyalty join together, Saving Justice and Peace embrace. 11 Loyalty will spring up from the earth, and Justice will lean down from heaven. 12 Yahweh will himself give prosperity, and our soil will yield its harvest. 13 Justice will walk before him, treading out a path. READING 2, Romans 9:1-5 1 This is the truth and I am speaking in Christ, without pretence, as my conscience testifies for me in the Holy Spirit; 2 there is great sorrow and unremitting agony in my heart: 3 I could pray that I myself might be accursed and cut off from Christ, if this could benefit the brothers who are my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites; it was they who were adopted as children, the glory was theirs and the covenants; to them were given the Law and the worship of God and the promises. 5 To them belong the fathers and out of them, so far as physical descent is concerned, came Christ who is above all, God, blessed for ever. Amen. GOSPEL, Matthew 14:22-33 22 And at once he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he sent the crowds away. 23 After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 while the boat, by now some furlongs from land, was hard pressed by rough waves, for there was a head-wind. 25 In the fourth watch of the night he came towards them, walking on the sea, 26 and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. It is a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But at once Jesus called out to them, saying, Courage! Its me! Dont be afraid. 28 It was Peter who answered. Lord, he said, if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water. 29 Jesus said, Come. Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water, 30 but then noticing the wind, he took fright and began to sink. Lord, he cried, save me! 31 Jesus put out his hand at once and held him. You have so little faith, he said, why did you doubt? 32 And as they got into the boat the wind dropped. 33 The men in the boat bowed down before him and said, Truly, you are the Son of God. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Come Holy Spirit, my life is going through a storm, the egoistic winds impel me where I do not wish to go, I cannot resist their force. I am weak and deprived of strength. You are the energy which gives life. You are my comfort, my force and my cry of prayer. Come, Holy Spirit, reveal to me the sense of the Scriptures, give me peace anew, serenity and the joy of living. Amen. ON READING 1: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a (Elijah’s encounter with God) “Taking the desert road that leads to the place where the living and true God reveals himself to this people, Elijah, like Moses before him, hides ‘in a cleft of the rock’ until the mysterious presence of God has passed by (cf. 1 Kings 19:1-14; cf. Ex 33:19-23). But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought; ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ’, crucified and risen (cf. 2 Cor 4:6)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2583). There is a sharp contrast between the spectacular forces of nature, in which God is not present, and the small still voice of a gentle breeze in which Elijah recognizes God to be present (vv. 11-13). “In this way,” writes St Irenaeus, “the prophet, who was greatly downcast by the transgression of the people and the murder of the prophets, learned to work with greater calm, and thus also the coming of the Lord in human form is signified. In the light of the Law given to Moses, his coming will be seen as an untroubled time when the bent reed will not be crushed nor the flickering flame quenched. The sweet rest and peace of his reign is foreshadowed here as well. After the wind that moves mountains, after earthquake and fire, the calm and peaceful age of his reign will come, in which the Spirit of God will revitalize and gently encourage the growth of man” (Adversus haereses, 4, 20, 10). ON READING 2: Romans 9:1-5 (The Privileges of Israel and Gods Fidelity) In these chapters--as we indicate in the title given to this section of the letter--St Paul deals with Gods plan for the chosen people. The Apostle explains that Israel, as a people, in general has failed to accept the Gospel despite the fact that Gods promises of salvation were made to the Jews in the first instance. There is an apparent contradiction between what is said here--I could wish that I myself was accursed and cut off from Christ--and what is said earlier (cf. 8:31ff) about nothing being able to separate us from the love of Christ. The two ideas in fact complement one another. Gods love moves us to love others so intensely that we are ready to suffer anything if it means the conversion of others to God. Paul is not referring to permanent separation from God, that is, eternal damnation, but to being ready to renounce any material or spiritual favor God might grant us. This means that we should be ready to bear public opprobrium and be taken for evildoers, as Jesus was. Some writers have interpreted the verse as meaning that the Apostle is even ready to renounce eternal happiness, but obviously what we have here is typical oriental exaggeration, rather like what Moses said when he interceded with God on behalf of those Israelites who had fallen into idolatry: [If thou wilt not forgive their sin] blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written (Ex 32:32). Both Moses and Paul know that God loves them and protects them and that the vision of God necessarily involves the indescribable happiness of heaven, but they want to make it plain that they put the salvation of the chosen people ahead of their own personal advantage. The Israelites are the descendants of Jacob, to whom God gave the name Israel (cf. Gen 32:29). The fact that they are children of Israel is the basis of the privileges which God bestows on them in the course of Salvation History--firstly, their status as the people of God, chosen as the adoptive sons of Yahweh (cf. Ex 4:22; Deut 7:6); also their being given the glory of God who dwelt in their midst (cf. Ex 25:8 ; Deut 4:7; Jn 1:14); their good fortune in being able to offer worship proper to the one true God, and in receiving from him the Law of Moses, which spelt out the principles of the natural moral law and revealed other aspects of Gods will; and, finally, their being the recipients of oft-repeated messianic promises. The remarkable honor bestowed on the chosen people is to be seen most clearly in the fact that God himself chose to assume a human nature which had all the characteristics of the Israelite race. Jesus Christ, as true man, is an Israelite according to the flesh, and he is true God because he is God above all, blessed for ever. Similar statements made in other epistles of St Paul about the mystery of the Incarnation manifest Christs two natures and one Person (cf. Rom 1:3-4; Phil 2:6-7; Col 2:9; Tit 2:13-14). In the present passage, this statement appears in the form of a doxology or paean of praise to God, one of the most solemn ways in which Yahweh is exalted in the Old Testament (cf. Ps 41:14; 72:19; 106:48; Neh 9:5; Dan 2:20; etc.). By calling Jesus Christ God, blessed for ever his divinity is being declared in a most explicit manner. ON THE GOSPEL: Matthew 14:22-36 (Jesus Walks on the Water) Jesus and his Disciples are on the side of the lake, at night fall, after the multiplication of the loaves. Part of the passage is also found in Mark (6, 45-52) and in John (6, 16-21). The episode of Peter (vv. 28-32) is found only in Matthew. Some commentators hold that it is a question of an apparition of Jesus after the Resurrection (Lk 24, 37). The difficulties of the Church and the need for a greater faith in the Risen Jesus are thus foreshadowed. 22. And at once he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side while he sent the crowds away. The multiplication of the loaves (14, 13-21) could have generated in the disciples triumphant expectations concerning the Kingdom of God. Therefore, Jesus orders them at once to get away. He ‘obliged’, usually a verb of strong significance. The people acclaim Jesus as a Prophet (Jn 6, 14-15) and wish to make him a political ruler. The disciples are easily drawn by this (Mk 6, 52; Mt 16, 5-12), there is the risk of allowing themselves to be drawn by the enthusiasm of the people. The disciples have to abandon this situation. It has been a very full day, like so many others. First, Jesus works many cures (14:14) and then performs the remarkable miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, a symbol of the future Eucharist. The crowd who have been following Him were avid for food, teaching and consolation. Jesus had compassion on them (14:14), curing their sick and giving them the comfort of His teaching and the nourishment of food. He continues to do the same, down the centuries, tending to our needs and comforting us with His word and with the nourishment of His own body. Jesus must have been very moved, realizing the vivifying effect the Blessed Sacrament would have on the lives of Christians--a sacrament which is a mystery of life and faith and love. It is understandable that He should feel the need to spend some hours in private to speak to His Father. Jesus private prayer, in an interlude between one demanding activity and another, teaches us that every Christian needs to take time out for recollection, to speak to His Father, God. On Jesus frequent personal prayer see, for example, Mark 1:35; 6:47; Luke 5:16; 16:12. Matthew 14:23. After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone. Jesus finds himself in front a situation in which the Galilean crowd becomes enthusiastic because of the miracle and runs the risk of not understanding His mission. In this very important moment, Jesus withdraws alone in prayer, as in Gethsemane (Mt 26, 36-46). This remarkable episode of Jesus walking on the sea must have made a deep impression on the Apostles. It was one of their outstanding memories of the life they shared with the Master. It is reported not only by St. Matthew, but also by St. Mark (6:45-52), who would have heard about it from St. Peter, and by St. John (6:14-21). Storms are very frequent on Lake Gennesaret; they cause huge waves and are very dangerous to fishing boats. During His prayer on the hill, Jesus is still mindful of His disciples; He sees them trying to cope with the wind and the waves and comes to their rescue once He has finished praying. This episode has applications to Christian life. The Church, like the Apostles boat, also gets into difficulties, and Jesus who watches over His Church comes to its rescue also, after allowing it to wrestle with obstacles and be strengthened in the process. He gives us encouragement: Take heart, it is I; have no fear (14:27); and we show our faith and fidelity by striving to keep an even keel, and by calling on His aid when we feel ourselves weakening: Lord, save me (14:30), words of St. Peter which every soul uses when he has recourse to Jesus, his Savior. Then our Lord does save us, and we urgently confess our faith: Truly you are the Son of God (14:33). Matthew 14:24. While the boat, by now some furlongs from land, was hard pressed by rough waves, for there was a head-wind. This verse where the boat is noticed, without Jesus, in danger, can be close to verse 32 where the danger ceases when Jesus and Peter get into the boat. Matthew 14:25. In the fourth watch of the night he came towards them, walking on the sea. Jesus appears to his disciples in an extraordinary way. He transcends the human limitations, he has authority on creation. He acts as God alone can do it (Job 9, 8; 38, 16). Matthew 14:26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. ‘It is a ghost’, they said, and cried out in fear. The disciples were struggling with the contrary wind, they had lived a very impressing day and now a sleepless night. At night (between three and six), in the middle of the sea, they were really terrified in seeing one coming towards them. They did not think in the possibility that it could be Jesus. Their vision is too human , and they believe in ghosts (Lk 24, 37). The Risen Lord though, has overcome the force of chaos represented by the waves of the sea. Matthew 14:27. But at once Jesus called out to them, saying. ‘Courage! It is me! Do not be afraid!. The presence of Jesus drives away all fear (9, 2.22). In saying “It is me” he evokes his identity (Es 3, 14) and manifests the power of God (Mk 14, 62; Lk 24, 39; Jn 8, 58; 18, 5-6). Fear is overcome by faith. Matthew 14:28. It was Peter who answered: ‘Lord, he said, ‘If it is you, tell me to come to you across the water’. Peter seems to want still another confirmation of the presence of Jesus. He asks for a sign. Matthew 14:29. Jesus said, ‘Come’. Then Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus across the water. Nevertheless, Peter is ready to run the risk, getting out of the boat and trying to walk on the agitated waves, in the midst of a strong wind (v. 24). He faces the risk of believing in the Word: ‘Come’. St. John Chrysostom (Hom. on St. Matthew, 50) comments that in this episode Jesus taught Peter to realize, from his own experience, that all his strength comes from our Lord and that he could not rely on his own resources, on his own weaknesses and wretchedness. Chrysostom goes as far as to say that if we fail to play our part, God ceases to help us. Hence the reproach, O man of little faith (14:31). When Peter began to be afraid and to doubt, he started to sink, until again, full of faith, he called out, Lord, save me. If at any time we, like Peter, should begin to weaken, we too should try to bring our faith into play and call on Jesus to save us. Matthew 14:30. But then noticing the wind, he took fright and began to sink: ‘Lord’, he cried, ‘save me!’ Perseverance is also necessary in the choice of faith. The contrary forces (the wind) are so many, that there is the risk of sinking. The prayer of petition saves him.. Matthew 14:31. Jesus put out his hand at once and held him. ‘You have so little faith, he said, ‘why did you doubt?’ Peter is not left alone in his weakness. In the storms of Christian life we are not alone. God does not abandon us even if apparently is absent and does nothing. Matthew 14:32. And as they got into the boat the wind dropped. As soon as Jesus got in the boat the forces of evil cease. The force of hell shall not prevail over it. Matthew 14:33. The men in the boat bowed down before him and said: ¡Truly, you are the Son of God.’ Now comes that profession of faith which had been prepared in the preceding episode of the multiplication of the loaves, purified by the experience of getting away from the Bread of eternal life (Jn 6, 1-14). Now Peter can also confirm his brothers in faith, after the trial. FINAL PRAYERS: Lord Jesus, sometimes we are full of enthusiasm and forget that You are the source of our joy: In the moments of sadness we do not seek you or we want your miraculous intervention. Now we know that you never abandon us, that we should not fear. Prayer is also our force. Increase our faith, we are ready to risk our life for your Kingdom. Amen. Send down the fire of your justice, Send down the rains of your love; Come send down the Spirit, breathe life in your people, and we shall be people of God. -— Marty Haugen 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: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 22:20:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015