Thursday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Malachi 3:13-20  +  Luke 11:5-13
October 10, 2019

   “…how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit…?”   

As Saint Luke the Evangelist continues to set before us Jesus’ teachings about prayer, we hear a lot about the prayer of petition.  Petition is one of the four chief types of prayer that human beings voice to God.  The four types are easily remembered by the acronym “P-A-C-T”:  this word reminds each of us of the pact, or covenant, that each of us entered at the moment of baptism.

The acronym “P-A-C-T” stands for:  petition, adoration, contrition, and thanksgiving.  Far more important than what we say to God, though, is what God says to us.  Still, what we say in prayer is important for many reasons, one of which is that our vocal prayers reveal to us the state of our own selves.

One way in which to reflect on the differences among these four types of vocal prayer is to consider their use in the three states of the Church.  The Church lives on earth as the Church Militant, in Purgatory as the Church Suffering, and in Heaven as the Church Triumphant.  Ask yourself, then:  which of these four types of prayer exist—or have meaning—in each of the three states of the Church?  All four are meaningful on earth, but only two have meaning in Heaven.

There is no need for prayers of petition in Heaven.  Petition is the prayer of a pilgrim, on his way to a better place.  What we ask for in petition reveals our own heart:  where we believe we are, and where we believe we’re headed, or at least where we want to go.  Our petitions are a gauge of our fidelity to the pilgrimage to which God has called us.

Wednesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Jonah 4:1-11  +  Luke 11:1-4
October 9, 2019

   “Father, hallowed be your Name, your Kingdom come.”   

Every Christian knows by heart the ‘Our Father’:  the only prayer that Jesus taught to His followers.  But the ‘Our Father’ that we know in our hearts—which we pray at every Mass before receiving Holy Communion, and which we pray several times throughout the course of a rosary—is not exactly the ‘Our Father’ that we hear Jesus teach in today’s Gospel passage.

The version of the ‘Our Father’ that Luke records for us is shorter than the version that we know by heart. Maybe this shorter version is the first version that Jesus taught to his followers, much the same way that a teacher introduces just the key points of a lesson first, and then later fleshes it out some more.

In this shorter version of the ‘Our Father’, there are three petitions that Jesus teaches us to pray.  In the silence following Holy Communion, or after Mass, or in your home, read and pray this shorter version, and see what the three petitions are.  What are the three things that Jesus teaches us to ask for from our Heavenly Father?

Tuesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Jonah 3:1-10  +  Luke 10:38-42
October 8, 2019

“There is need of only one thing.”

Today’s Gospel passage is one of the more famous stories about Jesus’ life.  It’s such a very simple story, but it’s one of the most important lessons in the whole Bible about being a Christian:  about following Jesus.

If you could go back in time to visit Martha and Mary in their home, and ask both of them about showing hospitality to Jesus, surely Martha would say that she was being hospitable, while Mary would say that she was being hospitable.  Martha was tending to all the details of hospitality—the cleaning, the cooking, and so on—while Mary was tending to Jesus Himself.  What does Jesus think about these two different ways of showing hospitality?  Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

Of course, this Mary in today’s Gospel passage—Martha’s sister—is not Jesus’ mother.  There are a lot of women in the Gospel named Mary.  But this Mary in today’s Gospel passage seems a lot like Jesus’ mother, because she has chosen the better part:  her life is focused on Jesus.  Mary stops everything that she is doing, and sits at Jesus’ feet, to listen to what He has to say to her, as each of us should do each day.

Our Lady of the Rosary
Jonah 1:1—2:2,11  +  Luke 10:25-37
October 7, 2019

   “The one who treated him with mercy.”   

The Parable of the Good Samaritan ought profoundly to shape our spiritual and moral lives.  That order of things is important, however:  spiritual and then moral.

Although in a deeper sense there ought not be a distinction between our spiritual and moral lives, on the practical level, differences do mark the two.  We might say that the two are most sharply distinguished by sin.  The “scholar of the law” who “wished to justify himself” wants to be moral, but not spiritual.  Jesus demands that he be both, and that he be moral by being spiritual.

Mercy is the means by which the moral life is wedded to the spiritual life.  Or rather, mercy is the means by which the spiritual life begets authentic moral choices.  Were we not all children of Adam and Eve, fallen creatures, our moral choices would not demand mercy.  But in this world of sin and corruption, mercy is divine charity’s common currency.

In our spiritual lives we look on each of our fellow human creatures through the eyes of God the Father.  We love each sinner, beaten and wounded by the sins of himself and others, with the mercy through which the Father sent His innocent Son to be slain for us.  Through this love, we can choose to serve the broken, tend to the wounded, and know that in this service we serve God Himself.

The 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
Habakkuk 1:2-3;2:2-4  +  2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14  +  Luke 17:5-10
October 6, 2019

   …bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.   

Today’s Gospel reading consists of two connected passages.  The first, briefer passage is Jesus’ response to a petition from His apostles:  “Increase our faith.”  To the apostles’ asking for faith, Jesus answers by discussing works.

In this first passage Jesus shows how the works of an authentic Christian are rooted in the divine virtue of faith.  The passage also reveals the power of faith:  this power is shown by the disproportion between “faith the size of a mustard seed” and the great work of a mulberry tree being uprooted and planted in the sea.

Often Catholics can find themselves in debates with separated Christian brethren over the relationship between faith and good works.  Perhaps one problem in understanding the connection between these two is that our faith is so meager that we’re content to carry out merely “good works”.

In fact, Christ calls His disciples not only to carry out good works that can be accomplished by natural human abilities alone, such as the corporal works of mercy, which can be carried out by persons who do not believe in God.  In addition to good works, Christ calls His disciples to strive to carry out great works.  If we Christians carried out great works, we’d have less reason to ascribe such works solely to our own human efforts, since we’d be forced by common sense to realize that such great works are only possible by means of faith.

However, the Gospel Reading’s second passage offers another way to reflect upon the connection between faith and works.  It’s not quite a parable.  We might instead call it a guided reflection.  Through it, Jesus illustrates one of the necessary motives of those whose works are animated by faith.  This motive is certainly not the only one that a Christian needs in order to produce authentic works.  But its absence in a Christian’s soul inevitably leads to the chief vice of the Christian spiritual life.

Servanthood is the focus of Jesus’ guided reflection.  Servanthood, or servantship, is similar to stewardship.  Servanthood and stewardship are both demanded by those who follow Jesus.  They have much in common, but each has its own unique characteristics.

The image of servanthood sharply focuses our attention upon the relationship between the master and the servant.  It focuses upon the radical dependence of the servant upon the master, and in particular, upon the master’s will.

By contrast, the concept of stewardship implies a distance between the steward and his lord.  The steward is independent, at least for whatever period of time the lord chooses to be away.  The steward acts in the name of the lord during his absence, whether that lasts for days or years.  In J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings, the stewards of Gondor reigned for centuries while the heirs to the king’s throne lived in exile.  In the case of the steward Denethor, such lengthy independence resulted in consuming, self-destructive pride.

Pride is the target of Jesus’ preaching in today’s Gospel Reading.  The humility that Jesus calls for is reflected in His final words:  “So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”  Of course, humility is a virtue that both stewards and servants are called to exhibit.  What particular quality, then, does Jesus’ image of a servant demand, and how does that quality work against pride?

Given that servanthood focuses on the radical dependence of the servant upon the master’s will, servanthood demands the virtue of obedience.  Obedience motivates and directs one’s works in accord with God’s providential will.

Many Christians might be surprised to learn that the word “obedience” is derived from the Latin infinitive “obedire”, which can be translated as “to listen”.  Naturally, a servant can’t obey his master unless he first listens to his master’s command.  This demands being ready for the master to issue his command, which in turn demands attentive listening:  not to stand at attention, but to listen at attention, humbly waiting not for the master’s return, but for his word; not at the end of time or even at the hour of my death, but here and now and at every moment that I live.

+     +     +

click HERE to watch Jeff Cavins’ reflection for this liturgical Sunday (3:58)

click HERE to read the homily of Monsignor Charles Pope for this Sunday

click HERE to watch the homily of Archbishop Anthony Fisher, O.P. for this Sunday

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click HERE to read Pope Francis’ 2016 homily for this Sunday

click HERE to read Pope Emeritus Benedict’s 2010 homily for this Sunday

click HERE to read St. John Paul II’s 1998 homily for this Sunday

 

Saturday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Baruch 4:5-12,27-29  +  Luke 10:17-24
October 5, 2019

… I have seen the captivity that the Eternal God has brought upon my sons and daughters.

Saturday is dedicated by the Church to our Blessed Mother.  From the many persons and places in the Old Testament which foreshadow Mary, today’s First Reading presents one:  the city Jerusalem.  We might wonder how a city can represent a person, or vice versa.  In this case, one link between the two is that both are mothers.  In today’s First Reading, this mother speaks to her children.

In our modern culture, we might find it strange to think of a city as a mother, but this was (and still is) a common idea in older cultures.  In our own modern Western culture, the mobility of families makes this idea harder to see.  But in cultures where many persons are born, grow, live and die in the same city or town, the words of today’s First Reading are easier to grasp.  For them it’s easier to see one’s “hometown” as a mother, shaping one’s life and identity.

“I have seen the captivity that the Eternal God has brought upon my sons and daughters.”  We can take these words of Jerusalem and place them instead on the lips of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  She continues, “Fear not, my children; call out to God!  He who brought this upon you will remember you.”  Through these words Jerusalem foreshadows the compassion of Our Blessed Mother.  We can picture her on Calvary as described in the Gospel account of the Beloved Disciple, who was himself entrusted to her care by Jesus:  “Woman, behold your son” [John 19:26].  One difference we notice between Jerusalem and Mary is the relationship of the mother to “the Eternal God” to whom her children “call out”.  Our Blessed Lady is the Mother of God, having given birth to the Word made Flesh:  He who through her fidelity has taken on our sinful flesh.

St. Francis of Assisi
Baruch 1:15-22  +  Luke 10:13-16
October 4, 2019

“Woe to you, Chorazin!  Woe to you, Bethsaida!”

Jesus never says, “Woe is me!”  Not once in the four accounts of the Gospel does Jesus ever say such a thing.  However, more than a few times Jesus expresses woe.  He expresses these woes regarding those who do not listen, and do not follow, the Word of God.

We might wonder what emotions Jesus experienced as He pronounced the woes in today’s Gospel passage.  He had just reasons to be angry, as well as frustrated.  Nonetheless, regardless of which emotions might have been running through His mind and heart, we know that Jesus had compassion for those He was preaching against.

In fact, to say that Jesus in pronouncing these woes was preaching against the people of these cities would call for a qualification.  In preaching woes against the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida, Jesus was preaching for them.  Does that sound like a contradiction?  It’s no more of a contradiction than is a father who disciplines his child.  Everything that Jesus did during His earthly life, including the overturning of the money changers’ tables, and the preaching of woes against the unfaithful, was for the sake of those in spiritual danger, to bring them back from a precipice into the arms of a loving Father.

Thursday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Nehemiah 8:1-4,5-6,7-12  +  Luke 10:1-12
October 3, 2019

   “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”   

The Church often quotes verses from today’s Gospel passage in her promotion of vocations.  However, these seventy-two to whom Jesus speaks are appointed and sent for a specific reason.  They are sent “ahead of” Jesus, not in His name or in His person.  They are sent “in pairs to every town and place He intended to visit.”  They are “advance teams”, if you will.  In the general sense in which they are sent ahead of Jesus, we can consider these 72 as symbolizing all baptized Christians.  What Jesus says to them speaks today to each of us Christians.

Jesus offers many brief sayings in today’s Gospel passage.  All are loosely joined together.  Many can be singled out and meditated upon for a long period of time.  Take this proclamation of the Lord:  “behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”  It’s not difficult for a Christian disciple to use these words as a justification for self-righteousness in the face of any opposition, justified or not.  Nonetheless, that possibility doesn’t nullify the meaning of Jesus’ words.  At our best, we disciples are “lambs among wolves”.  We might wonder, if that’s our best, then what’s the worst?

While each Christian might be tempted to turn away from the “vocation” to be a lamb, perhaps we can take solace in two simple Gospel truths.  Our Lord and Savior is the Good Shepherd [John 10:11] as well as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world [John 1:29].

The Holy Guardian Angels
Nehemiah 2:1-8  +  Matthew 18:1-5,10
October 2, 2019

   “…their angels in Heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”   

Our Guardian Angels shed light upon the path that we must walk.  When our struggles each day seem too great, they extend a ray of hope down upon us from God.  They allow us to see the face of Our Crucified and Risen Lord, who having shared in our suffering helps us share in His Resurrection, even in the midst of suffering.

Our Guardian Angels guard us from the snares of our enemies.  As the Devil tries time and again to convince us that his way—easier and broader than God’s—is the way that will bring us happiness, our guardians remind us that the Way of the Cross is the only path to the Father.

Our Guardian Angels rule us as we slip from the narrow path.  As we fall prey to the temptations of the Devil, our guardians do not abandon us.  Sharing in the boundless love of our Savior, they do not fail to stand by us even then.  They convince us, as they nurse our consciences back to health, that the Cross is the only true remedy for our constant falling away from God.

Our Guardian Angels guide us by bidding us to share in the sacraments of the Church.  For all their power, our guardians entrust us to the care of Holy Mother Church, since in her care we most truly belong.  For the Church is their Mother, too.  All the angels are fellow members of the Church, and as the Church’s children we imitate the words of Jesus when like little children we recognize and thank those who are our guardians.