READING and REFLECTIONS For Thursday, January 08, 2015 Thursday after Epiphany - Psalter Week 2 (White) Readings: 1 Jn 4:19-5:4; Ps 72:1-17; Lk 4:14-22 Response: Lord, every nation on eartn will adore you. Rosary: Luminous Mysteries Verse: This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening....This is Josephs son, surely. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Thorfinn In the year 1285, there died in the Cistercian monastery at TerDoest, near Bruges, a Norwegian bishop named Thorfinn. He had never attracted particular attention and was soon forgotten. But over fifty years later, in the course of some building operations, his tomb in the Church was opened and it was reported that the remains gave out a strong and pleasing spell. The Abbot made inquiries and found that one of his monks, and aged man named Walter de Muda, remembered Bishop Thorfinn staying in there monastery and the impression he had made of gentle goodness combined with strength. Father Walter had in fact, written a poem about him after his death and hung it up over his tomb. It was then found that the parchment was still there, none the worse for the passage of time. This was taken as a direction from on high that the Bishops memory was to be perpetuated, and Father Walter was instructed to write down his recollections of him. For all that, there is little enough known about St. Thorfinn. He was a Trondhjem man and perhaps was a Canon of the Cathedral of Nidaros, since there was such a one named Thorfinn among those who witnessed the agreement of Tonsborg in 1277. This was an agreement between King Magnus VI and the Archbishop of Nidaros confirming certain privileges of the clergy, the freedom of episcopal elections and similar matters. Some years later, King Eric repudiated this agreement, and a fierce dispute between Church and state ensued. Eventually the King outlawed the Archbishop, John, and his two chief supporters, Bishop Andrew of Oslow and Bishop Thorfinn of Hamar. Bishop Thorfinn, after many hardships, including shipwreck, made his way to the Abbey of TerDoest in Flanders, which had a number of contacts with the Norwegian Church. It is possible that he had been there before, and there is some reason to suppose he was himself a Cistercian of the Abbey of Tautra, near Nidaros. After a visit to Rome he went to TerDoest, in bad health. Indeed, though probably still a youngish man, he saw death approaching and so made his will; he had little to leave, but what there was, he divided between his mother, his brothers and sisters, and certain monasteries, churches and charities in his dioceses. He died shortly after on January 8, 1285. After his recall to the memory of man as mentioned in the opening paragraph of this notice, miracles were reported at his tomb and St. Thorfinn was venerated by the Cistercians and around Bruges. In our own day, his memory has been revived among the few Catholics of Norway, and his feast is observed in his episcopal city of Hamar. The tradition of Thorfinns holiness ultimately rests on the poem of Walter de Muda, where he appeared as a kind, patient, generous man, whose mild exterior covered a firm will against whatever he esteemed to be evil and ungodly. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, First John 4:19--5:4 19 Let us love, then, because he first loved us. 20 Anyone who says I love God and hates his brother, is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother. 1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and whoever loves the father loves the son. 2 In this way we know that we love Gods children, when we love God and keep his commandments. 3 This is what the love of God is: keeping his commandments. Nor are his commandments burdensome, 4 because every child of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 72:1-2, 14-15, 17 1 [Of Solomon] God, endow the king with your own fair judgement, the son of the king with your own saving justice, 2 that he may rule your people with justice, and your poor with fair judgement. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their lives, their blood is precious in his sight. 15 (Long may he live; may the gold of Sheba be given him!) Prayer will be offered for him constantly, and blessings invoked on him all day. 17 May his name be blessed for ever, and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the world, and all nations call him blessed. GOSPEL, Luke 4:14-22 14 Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him. 16 He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, 17 and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: 18 The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord. 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to speak to them, This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening. 22 And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, This is Josephs son, surely? REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: God our Father, through Christ your Son the hope of eternal life dawned on our world. Give to us the light of faith that we may always acknowledge him as our Redeemer and come to the glory of his kingdom, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ON READING 1: 1 John 4:19-5:4 (God is Love. Brotherly Love, the Mark of Christians - Continued, Everyone Who Believes in Jesus Overcomes the World) 1 John 4, 19. Commenting on this passage, St Augustine exclaims: How could we have loved him if he had not first loved us? By loving him, we become his friends; but e loved us when we were his enemies, in order to make us his friends. He loved us first and gave us the boon of loving him. We did not yet love him, but on loving him we become beautiful. What is a misshapen and deformed man doing, loving a beautiful woman? Can he, by loving, change and become beautiful?. Our soul, my brethren, is ugly due to iniquity; loving God makes it beautiful. What kind of love is this which makes the lover beautiful? God is always beautiful, never deformed, never changeable. He, who is ever beautiful, first loved us (In Epist. loann. ad Parthos, 9, 9). We love: this can also be translated as we should love one another, repeating 4:11. But here it seems to have an emphatic meaning: we are capable of loving. 1 John 4, 20-21. He is a liar: this is a very harsh statement (cf. 1:6-10; 2:4): being a liar means being on the devils side, for the devil is the father of lies (cf. Jn 8:44). Loving God means keeping all the commandments (cf. Jn 14:15; 15:10), and the principal commandment is that of charity; therefore, it is not possible to love God without loving ones neighbor. Clement of Alexandria records a beautiful phrase of Christian tradition on this point when he says, Seeing your brother is seeing God (Stromata, 1, 19; 2, 15). St. John concludes this exhortation to charity by giving a new format to Christs commandment, which makes it quite clear that love of neighbor is inseparable from love of God: true charity is a current that runs from God to the Christian and from the Christian to his fellow men. The true disciple of Christ is marked by love both of God and of his neighbor (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 42). 1 John 5, 1-5. The fifth chapter is a summary of the entire letter, focusing on faith in Jesus Christ (vv. 6-12) and the confidence that faith gives (vv. 13-21). In the opening verses (vv.1-5) St. John points to some consequences of faith: he who believes in Christ is a child of God (v. 1); he loves God and men, his brothers (v. 2); he keeps the commandments (v. 3) and shares in Christs victory over the world (vv. 4-5). 1 John 5, 1. He who loves the parent...: it is axiomatic that one who loves his father also loves his brothers and sisters, because they share the same parent. The New Vulgate clarifies the scope of this maxim in this letter by adding the word Deum: He who loves God his father... loves him who is born of God; Christian fraternity is a consequence of divine filiation. 1 John 5, 4. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith: faith in Jesus Christ is of crucial importance because through it every baptized person is given a share in Christs victory. Jesus has overcome the world (cf. Jn 16:33) by his death and resurrection, and the Christian (who through faith becomes a member of Christ) has access to all the graces necessary for coping with temptations and sharing in Christs own glory. In this passage the word world has the pejorative meaning of everything opposed to the redemptive work of Christ and the salvation of man that flows from It. ON THE GOSPEL: Luke 4:14-22 (Jesus Fasts and is Tempted in the Wilderness - Continued, Jesus Preaches in Nazareth) Animated by the Spirit, Jesus returns toward Galilee and begins to announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Being in the community and teaching in the Synagogues, he reaches Nazareth, where he grew up. He was returning to the community, where, since he was small, had participated in the celebration during thirty years. The following Saturday, according to his custom, he went to the Synagogue to be with the people and to participate in the celebrations. Jesus rises to go to read. He chooses a text from Isaiah which speaks about the poor, of the prisoners, of the blind and the oppressed. The text reflects the situation of the people of Galilee, in the time of Jesus. In the name of God, Jesus takes a stand to defend the life of his people, and with the words of Isaiah, he defines his mission: to proclaim the Good News to the poor, to proclaim freedom to the prisoners, to restore sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. Going back to the ancient tradition of the prophets, he proclaims: “a year of grace of the Lord”. He proclaims a jubilee year. Jesus wants to reconstruct the community, the clan in such a way that once again it may be the expression of their faith in God! And then, if God is Father/Mother of all we should all be brothers and sisters of one another. In ancient Israel, the great family, the clan or the community, was the basis of social living together. It was the protection of the families and of the persons, the guarantee of the possession of the land, the principal channel of tradition and of the defence of the people. It was a concrete way of embodying the love of God in the love for neighbour. To defend the clan, the community, was the same as defending the Covenant with God. In Galilee at the time of Jesus, there was a two-fold segregation, that of the politics of Herod Antipas (4 BC to 39 AD) and the segregation of the official religion. And this because of the system of exploitation and of repression of the politics of Herod Antipas supported by the Roman Empire. Many people were homeless, excluded and without work (Lk 14, 21; Mt 20, 3.5-6). The result was that the clan, the community, was weakened. The families and the persons remained without any help, without any defence. And the official religion maintained by the religious authorities of the time, instead of strengthening the community, in a way in which it could receive and accept the excluded, strengthened this segregation even more. The Law of God was used to legitimize the exclusion of many people: women, children, Samaritans, foreigners, lepers, possessed, Publicans, sick, mutilated, paraplegic. It was all the contrary of the Fraternity which God had dreamt for all! And this was the political and economic situation, as well as the religious ideology, everything conspired to weaken the local community more and hinder, in this way, the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ program, based on the prophecy of Isaiah, offered an alternative. After finishing the reading, Jesus updated the text applying it to the life of the people, saying: “Today, this reading, which you have heard with your own ears, has been fulfilled!” His way of joining the Bible with the life of the people, produced a two-fold reaction. Some remained surprised, amazed and admired. Others had a negative reaction. Some were scandalized and wanted to have nothing more to do with him. They said: “Is he not the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4, 22). Why were they scandalized? Because Jesus says to accept and receive the poor, the blind, the oppressed. But they did not accept his proposal. And thus, when he presented his project to accept the excluded, he himself was excluded! Luke 4, 16-30. For the Jews the Sabbath was a day of rest and prayer, as God commanded (Exodus 20:8-11). On that day they would gather together to be instructed in Sacred Scripture. At the beginning of this meeting they all recited the Shema, a summary of the precepts of the Lord, and the eighteen blessings. Then a passage was read from the Book of the Law -- the Pentateuch -- and another from the Prophets. The president invited one of those present who was well versed in the Scriptures to address the gathering. Sometimes someone would volunteer and request the honor of being allowed to give this address -- as must have happened on this occasion. Jesus avails Himself of this opportunity to instruct the people (cf. Luke 4:16ff), as will His Apostles later on (cf. Acts 13:5, 14, 42, 44; 14:1; etc.). The Sabbath meeting concluded with the priestly blessing, recited by the president or by a priest if there was one present, to which the people answered Amen (cf. Numbers 6:22ff). Luke 4, 18-21. Jesus read the passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 where the prophet announces the coming of the Lord, who will free His people of their afflictions. In Christ this prophecy finds its fulfillment, for He is the Anointed, the Messiah whom God has sent to His people in their tribulation. Jesus has been anointed by the Holy Spirit for the mission the Father has entrusted to Him. These phrases, according to Luke (verses 18-19), are His first messianic declaration. They are followed by the actions and words known through the Gospel. By these actions and words Christ makes the Father present among men (John Paul II, Dives In Misericordia, 3). The promises proclaimed in verses 18 and 19 are the blessings God will send His people through the Messiah. According to Old Testament tradition and Jesus own preaching (cf. note on Matthew 5:3), the poor refers not so much to a particular social condition as to a very religious attitude of indigence and humility towards God, which is to be found in those who, instead of relying on their possessions and merits, trust in Gods goodness and mercy. Thus, preaching good news to the poor means bringing them the good news that God has taken pity on them. Similarly, the Redemption, the release, the text mentions, is to be understood mainly in a spiritual, transcendental sense: Christ has come to free us from the blindness and oppression of sin, which, in the last analysis, is slavery imposed on us by the devil. Captivity can be felt, St. John Chrysostom teaches in a commentary on Psalm 126, when it proceeds from physical enemies, but the spiritual captivity referred to here is worse; sin exerts a more severe tyranny, evil takes control and blinds those who lend it obedience; from this spiritual prison Jesus Christ rescued us (Catena Aurea). However, this passage is also in line with Jesus special concern for those most in need. Similarly, the Church encompasses with her love all those who are afflicted by human misery and she recognizes in those who are poor and who suffer the image of her poor and suffering Founder. She does all in her power to relieve their need and in them she strives to serve Christ (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 8 ). Luke 4, 18-19. The words of Isaiah which Christ read out on this occasion describe very raphically the reason why God has sent His Son into the world -- to redeem men from sin, to liberate them from slavery to the devil and from eternal death. It is true that in the course of His public ministry Christ, in His mercy, worked many cures, cast out devils, etc. But He did not cure all the sick people in the world, nor did He eliminate all forms of distress in this life, because pain, which entered the world through sin, has a permanent redemptive value when associated with the sufferings of Christ. Therefore, Christ worked miracles not so much to release the people concerned from suffering, as to demonstrate that He had a God-given mission to bring everyone to eternal salvation. The Church carries on this mission of Christ: 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 lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). These simple and sublime words, which conclude the Gospel of St. Matthew, point out the obligation to preach the truths of faith, the need for sacramental life, the promise of Christs continual assistance to His Church. You cannot be faithful to our Lord if you neglect these supernatural demands -- to receive instruction in Christian faith and morality and to frequent the Sacraments. It is with this mandate that Christ founded His Church. And the Church can bring salvation to souls only if she remains faithful to Christ in her constitution and teaching, both dogmatic and moral. Let us reject, therefore, the suggestion that the Church, ignoring the Sermon on the Mount, seeks a purely human happiness on earth, since we know that her only task is to bring men to eternal glory in Heaven. Let us reject any purely naturalistic view that fails to value the supernatural role of divine grace. Let us reject materialistic opinions that exclude spiritual values from human life. Let us equally reject any secularizing theory which attempts to equate the aims of the Church with those of earthly states, distorting its essence, institutions and activities into something similar to those of temporal society (St. J. Escriva, In Love with the Church, 23 and 31). Luke 4, 18. The Fathers of the Church see in this verse a reference to the three persons of the Holy Trinity: the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) of the Lord (the Father) is upon Me (the Son); cf. Origen, Homily 32. The Holy Spirit dwelt in Christs soul from the very moment of the Incarnation and descended visibly upon Him in the form of a dove when He was baptized by John (cf. Luke 3:21-22). Because He has anointed Me: this is a reference to the anointing Jesus received at the moment of His Incarnation, principally through the grace of the hypostatic union. This anointing of Jesus Christ was not an anointing of the body as in the case of the ancient kings, priests and prophets; rather it was entirely spiritual and divine, because the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him substantially (St. Pius X Catechism, 77). From this hypostatic union the fullness of all graces derives. To show this, Jesus Christ is said to have been anointed by the Holy Spirit Himself -- not just to have received the graces and gifts of the Spirit, like the saints. Luke 4, 19. The acceptable year: this is a reference to the jubilee year of the Jews, which the Law of God (Leviticus 25:8) lays down as occurring every fifty years, symbolizing the era of redemption and liberation which the Messiah would usher in. The era inaugurated by Christ, the era of the New Law extending to the end of the world, is the acceptable year, the time of mercy and redemption, which will be obtained definitively in Heaven. The Catholic Churchs custom of the Holy Year is also designed to proclaim and remind people of the redemption brought by Christ, and of the full form it will take in the future life. Luke 4, 20-22. Christs words in verse 21 show us the authenticity with which He preached and explained the Scriptures: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus teaches that this prophecy, like the other main prophecies in the Old Testament, refers to Him and finds its fulfillment in Him (cf. Luke 24:44ff). Thus, the Old Testament can be rightly understood only in the light of the New -- as the risen Christ showed the Apostles when He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (cf. Luke 24:45), an understanding which the Holy Spirit perfected on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:4). Luke 4, 22-29. At first the people of Nazareth listened readily to the wisdom of Jesus words. But they were very superficial; in their narrow-minded pride they felt hurt that Jesus, their fellow-townsman, had not worked in Nazareth the wonders He had worked elsewhere. They presume they have a special entitlement and they insolently demand that He perform miracles to satisfy their vanity, not to change their hearts. In view of their attitude, Jesus performs no miracle (His normal response to lack of faith: cf., for example, His meeting with Herod in Luke 23:7-11); He actually reproaches them, using two examples taken from the Old Testament (cf. 1 Kings 17:9 and 2 Kings 5:14), which show that one needs to be well-disposed if miracles are to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they are ready to kill Him. This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding Jesus. We can understand Him only if we are humble and are genuinely resolved to make ourselves available to Him. FINAL PRAYERS: May his name be blessed for ever, and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the world, and all nations call him blessed. (Ps 72,17) Lord, teach me to be generous, to serve you as you deserve: to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward, but that of knowing that I do your will. Amen. -- St. Ignatius Loyola 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: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 20:56:47 +0000
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