DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Monday, September 22, 2014 25th Week in Ordinary Time - Psalter 1 (Green) Readings: Pro 3:27-34; Ps 15:2-5; Lk 8:16-18 Response: The just one shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord. Rosary: Joyful Mysteries Verse Highlight: No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint Thomas of Villanueva, Bishop Birth: 1488 - Death: 1555 Augustinian bishop. Born at Fuentellana, Castile, Spain, he was the son of a miller. He studied at the University of Alcala, earned a licentiate in theology, and became a professor there at the age of twenty-six. He declined the chair of philosophy at the university of Salamanca and instead entered the Order of St Augustine at Salamanca in 1516. Ordained in 1520, he served as prior of several houses in Salamanca, Burgos, and Valladolid, as provincial ofAndal usia and Castile, and then court chaplain to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (r. 1519-1556). During his time as provincial of Castile, he dispatched the first Augustinian missionaries to the New World. They subsequently helped evangelize the area of modern Mexico. He was offered but declined the see of Granada, but accepted appointment as archbishop of Valencia in 1544. As the see had been vacant for nearly a century, Thomas devoted much effort to restoring the spiritual and material life of the archdiocese. He was also deeply committed to the needs of the poor. He held the post of grand almoner of the poor, founded colleges for the children of new converts and the poor, organized priests for service among the Moors, and was renowned for his personal saintliness and austerities. While he did not attend the sessions of the Council of Trent, he was an ardent promoter of the Tridentine reforms throughout Spain. READINGS FROM THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE: READING 1, Proverbs 3:27-34 27 Refuse no kindness to those who have a right to it, if it is in your power to perform it. 28 Do not say to your neighbour, Go away! Come another time! I will give it you tomorrow, if you can do it now. 29 Do not plot harm against your neighbour who is living unsuspecting beside you. 30 Do not pick a groundless quarrel with anyone who has done you no harm. 31 Do not envy the man of violence, never model your conduct on his; 32 for the wilful wrong-doer is abhorrent to Yahweh, who confides only in the honest. 33 Yahwehs curse lies on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the upright. 34 He mocks those who mock, but accords his favour to the humble. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 5 2 Whoever lives blamelessly, who acts uprightly, who speaks the truth from the heart, 3 who keeps the tongue under control, who does not wrong a comrade, who casts no discredit on a neighbour, 4 who looks with scorn on the vile, but honours those who fear Yahweh, who stands by an oath at any cost, 5 who asks no interest on loans, who takes no bribe to harm the innocent. No one who so acts can ever be shaken. GOSPEL, Luke 8:16-18 16 No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, it is put on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. 17 For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be made known and brought to light. 18 So take care how you listen; anyone who has, will be given more; anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he thinks he has. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Father, guide us, as you guide creation according to your law of love. May we love one another and come to perfection in the eternal life prepared for us. 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: Proverbs 3:27-34 (The Way of the Wise) In the fourth lesson, the teacher gives his disciple some practical rules of behaviour that he needs to follow if he is to be a wise man. People who take these rules to heart can rest at ease, for the Lord is protective of those who keep to wisdoms path (vv. 25-26). One of the most valuable services that wisdom provides is to teach a person how to maintain good relationships with others. That goal is achieved when one sincerely seeks the good of others and is not slow to lend help when asked (vv. 27-31); one needs to have a right intention and be straightforward. Only a person like that can be on close terms with the Lord (v. 32). The intimate conversation of God consists in the revelation of his secrets to the souls of men, and in elucidating them by his presence. It is said that he holds his intimate conversations with the simple because, by the light of his presence, he reveals the divine mysteries to the souls of those who are not steeped in shadow by their duplicity (St. Gregory the Great, Regula pastoralis, 3, 11). To the humble he shows favour (v. 34). The New Testament twice refers to this in the context of how to make the best use of the Lords gifts. In the First Letter of St. Peter, after addressing elders and younger people about the need for harmony between them, he says: Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you (1 Pet 5:5-7). And the Letter of St. James, after recalling those same words, says. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter he turned to mourning and your joy to dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you (Jas 4:7-10). ON THE GOSPEL: Luke 8 : 16-18 (The Parable of the Lamp, The Meaning of the Parables - Continued) Today’s Gospel presents three brief phrases pronounced by Jesus. They are phrases scattered in different places which Luke collected here after the parable of the seed (Lk 8, 4-8) and of his explanation to the disciples (Lk 8, 9-15). This literary context, in which Luke places the three phrases, helps us to understand how he wants people to understand these phrases of Jesus. Luke 8, 16: The lamp which gives light. “No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed; no, it is put on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. This phrase of Jesus is a brief parable. Jesus does not explain, because all know what he is speaking about. This belonged to everyday life. At that time, there was no electric light. Just imagine this! The family meets at home. The sun begins to set. A person gets up, lights the lamp, covers it with a vase or places it under the bed. What will the others say? All will scream out: “But are you crazy... place the lamp on the table!” In a Biblical meeting somebody made the following comment: The Word of God is a lamp which is necessary to light in the darkness of the night. If it remains closed up in the Book of the Bible, it will be like the lamp under a vase. But when it is placed on the table it gives light to the whole house, when it is read in community and is connected to life. In the context in which Luke places this phrase, he is referring to the explanation which Jesus gave about the parable of the seeds (Lk 8, 9-15). It is as if he would say: the things which you have just heard you should not keep them only for yourselves, but you should share them with others. A Christian should not be afraid to give witness and spread the Good News. Humility is important, but the humility which hides the gifts of God given to edify the community is false (1Cor 12, 4-26; Rom 12, 3-8). This parable contains a double teaching. Firstly, it says that Christs doctrine should not be kept hidden; rather, it must be preached throughout the whole world. We find the same idea elsewhere in the Gospels: What you hear whispered, proclaim it upon the housetops (Mt 10:27); Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole of creation... (Mk 16:15). The other teaching is that the Kingdom which Christ proclaims has such ability to penetrate all hearts that, at the end of time, when Jesus comes again, not a single human action, in favor or against Christ, will not become public or manifest. • Luke 8, 17: That which is hidden will be manifested. “·There is nothing hidden which will not be manifested, nothing secret which will not be known and brought to light”. In the context in which Luke places this second phrase of Jesus, it also refers to the teachings given by Jesus particularly to the disciples (Lk 8, 9-10). The disciples cannot keep these only for themselves, but they should diffuse them, because they form part of the Good News which Jesus has brought. • Luke 8, 18: Attention to preconceptions. “So take care how you listen, anyone who has will be given more, anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he thinks he has”. At that time, there were many preconceptions on the Messiah which prevented people from understanding, in a correct way, the Good News of the Kingdom which Jesus announced. “For this reason, this warning of Jesus concerning preconceptions is quite actual. Jesus asks the disciples to be aware of the preconceptions with which they listen to the teaching that he presents. With this phrase of Jesus, Luke is saying to the communities and to all of us: “Be attentive to the ideas with which you look at Jesus!” Because if the colour of the eyes is green, everything will seem to be green. If it were blue, everything would be blue! If the idea that I have when I look at Jesus is mistaken, erroneous, everything which I receive and teach about Jesus will be threatened by error! If I think that the Messiah has to be a glorious King, I will not want to hear anything which Jesus teaches about the Cross, about suffering, persecution and about commitment, and to lose even what I thought I possessed. Joining this third phrase to the first one, I can conclude what follows: anyone who keeps for himself what he receives and does not distribute it to others, loses what he has, because it becomes corrupt. Our Lord never gets tired of asking the Apostles, the seed which will produce the Church, to listen carefully to the teaching he is giving: they are receiving a treasure for which they will be held to account. To him who has will more be given ...: he who responds to grace will be given more grace and will yield more and more fruit; but he who does not will become more and more impoverished (cf. Mt 25:14-30). Therefore, there is no limit to the development of the theological virtues: If you say Enough, you are already dead (St. Augustine, Sermon 51). A soul who wants to make progress in the interior life will pray along these lines: Lord, may I have due measure in everything, except in Love =(St. J. Escriva, The Way, 427). Jesus is addressing his disciples and explaining to them that, precisely because they have faith in him and want to have a good grasp of his teaching, they will be given a deeper understanding of divine truths. But those who do not follow him (cf. note on Mt 4:18-22) will later lose interest in the things of God and will grow even blinder: it is as if the little they have is being taken away from them. This verse also helps us understand the meaning of the parable of the sower, a parable which gives us a wonderful explanation of the supernatural economy of divine grace: God gives grace, and man freely responds to that grace. The result is that those who respond to grace generously receive additional grace and so grow steadily in grace and holiness; whereas those who reject Gods gifts become closed up within themselves; through their selfishness and attachment to sin they eventually lose Gods grace entirely. In this verse, then, our Lord gives a clear warning: with the full weight of His divine authority He exhorts us -- without taking away our freedom -- to act responsibly: the gifts God keeps sending us should yield fruit; we should make good use of the opportunities for Christian sanctification which are offered us in the course of our lives. FINAL PRAYERS: How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of Yahweh! Blessed are those who observe his instructions, who seek him with all their hearts. (Ps 119,1-2) Lord, help us to release our tight grip that clings to comparisons that place us above the other or cause us to think less of ourselves. Such comparisons may become so habitual that we are dulled to their negative impact on our energy and generosity. Let your Spirit intercede so we turn away from such thoughts. Fill us with gratitude for your infinite love, and let us rejoice in the good news of others! Amen. 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: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 20:52:06 +0000
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