Mass Reading & Meditation for August 8, 2013 Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest Reading 1NM 20:1-13 The whole congregation of the children of Israel arrived in the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people settled at Kadesh. It was here that Miriam died, and here that she was buried. As the community had no water, they held a council against Moses and Aaron. The people contended with Moses, exclaiming, “Would that we too had perished with our kinsmen in the LORD’s presence! Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this desert where we and our livestock are dying? Why did you lead us out of Egypt, only to bring us to this wretched place which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates? Here there is not even water to drink!” But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them, and the LORD said to Moses, “Take your staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the congregation and their livestock to drink.” So Moses took his staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered. He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, “Listen to me, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?” Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the people and their livestock to drink. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the children of Israel, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel contended against the LORD, and where the LORD revealed his sanctity among them. Responsorial PsalmPS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to him. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us. For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tested me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. GospelMT 16:13-23 Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Meditation: Matthew 16:13-23 Saint Dominic, Priest “Who do you say that I am? (Matthew16:15)” The first person to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope was French acrobat Charles Blondin. Actually, Blondin crossed several times. A true showman, he never used a harness and yet he walked: backwards, on stilts, and blindfolded. He did somersaults, and even wheel barrowed out a stove and cooked omelets on it! But while spectators watched from the safety of land, perhaps the most courageous thing that happened on the wire was that his manager, Harry Colcord, rode across the falls on Blondin’s back! Having observed Blondin for some time, Colcord didn’t just give lip service to Blondin’s abilities, but demonstrated—at the risk of his life—his full faith in him. Similarly, today’s Gospel reading finds Jesus asking his observers for more than just opinion or impersonal knowledge about who he is. He wants his disciples to grasp the depth of who he is, and put their full faith into him. And so Peter responds, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). At first blush, it seems that Peter made the leap that Colcord made. But he wasn’t really there yet. The foundation was there, but Peter would still struggle and misstep before becoming Saint Peter, pontiff and martyr. He would still run away when Jesus was arrested. He would still deny him three times. But after a few false starts and a steep learning curve—plus the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost—Peter did step out onto the high wire and demonstrate that he was ready to commit his whole life to Jesus. You may feel more like Peter and less like Colcord. But that’s okay. Jesus was patient with Peter, and he is patient with you. Day after day, he gives you opportunities to step out—many of them small, but occasionally something big. As you try your best to walk by faith and yield your temptations to him, he will become your strength. And even if, like Peter, you lose our nerve—think of him walking on the water—Jesus will pick you up and keep working with you. He never tires of asking, “Who do you say that I am?” And he never tires of giving you man different opportunities to answer him in faith and trust. “Jesus, you have given your life for me. Help me to put my whole life into your hands.” Numbers 20:1-13; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9 St. Dominic (1170-1221) If he hadn’t taken a trip with his bishop, Dominic would probably have remained within the structure of contemplative life; after the trip, he spent the rest of his life being a contemplative in active apostolic work. Born in old Castile, Spain, he was trained for the priesthood by a priest-uncle, studied the arts and theology, and became a canon of the cathedral at Osma, where there was an attempt to revive the apostolic common life described in the Acts of the Apostles. On a journey through France with his bishop, he came face to face with the then virulent Albigensian heresy at Languedoc. The Albigensians (Cathari, “the pure”) held to two principles—one good, one evil—in the world. All matter is evil—hence they denied the Incarnation and sacraments. On the same principle, they abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink. The inner circle led what some people regarded as a heroic life of purity and asceticism not shared by ordinary followers. Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it. He saw immediately why the preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of the Albigenses. Understandably, they were not impressed by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at the best inns and had servants. Dominic therefore, with three Cistercians, began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal. He continued this work for 10 years, being successful with the ordinary people but not with the leaders. His fellow preachers gradually became a community, and in 1215 he founded a religious house at Toulouse, the beginning of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). His ideal, and that of his Order, was to link organically a life with God, study and prayer in all forms, with a ministry of salvation to people by the word of God. His ideal: contemplata tradere: “to pass on the fruits of contemplation” or “to speak only of God or with God." Stories: Legend has it that Dominic saw the sinful world threatened by God’s anger but saved by the intercession of Mary, who pointed out to her Son two figures: One was Dominic himself, the other a stranger. In church the next day he saw a ragged beggar enter—the man in the vision. He went up to him, embraced him and said, “You are my companion and must walk with me. If we hold together, no earthly power can withstand us.” The beggar was Francis of Assisi. The meeting of the two founders is commemorated twice a year, when on their respective feast days Dominicans and Franciscans celebrate Mass in each other’s churches and afterward sit at the same table “to eat the bread which for seven centuries has never been wanting” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints). Comment: The Dominican ideal, like that of all religious communities, is for the imitation, not merely the admiration, of the rest of the Church. The effective combining of contemplation and activity is the vocation of truck driver Smith as well as theologian Aquinas. Acquired contemplation is the tranquil abiding in the presence of God, and is an integral part of any full human life. It must be the wellspring of all Christian activity. Patron Saint of: Astronomers Dominican Republic -- Have a Blessed Day
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:37:37 +0000
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