Sunday July 26th. to Saturday August1st.
Sunday July 26th. to Saturday August1st. Reflections on the Readings at Daily Mass.
Sunday July 26th. Seventeenth Sunday in Year One
Readings
First Book of Kings 3/5, 7-12 : Paul’s
Letter to the Romans 8/28-30 : Matthew 13/44-52
Today we come to the end of that great block of
teaching which we find at the heart of Matthew’s Gospel, the Day of Parables.
The first two parables again involve a ‘field’
which links them with the previous parables. However, the parable of the
treasure hidden in the field and that of the ‘pearl of great price’ are about
the inestimable value of the ‘Reign of God’ whenever and wherever it is found.
It is worth more than anything else!
Interestingly, in the parable, the present
owner of the field apparently has no knowledge of the treasure hiding in his
field. This might well be a way of saying that the owners of the field, that is
the Jewish authorities, were unaware of the great treasure which lay hidden in
their Scriptures and traditions. They had, as it were, dug it in with all the
rules and regulations with which they had surrounded it. The Rabbis discussed
at great length whether the purchaser of a field was entitled to anything that
was found in it and the parable makes it quite clear that the buyer does have such
a right. In fact, in the Palestine of Jesus’ time, the continuous threat of
invasion made the burial of valuables a common way of protecting them. The
emphasis in this parable is the joy of the one who found the treasure so that
nothing else mattered, everything could be sold so as to be able to buy and own
the field and its treasure. The discovery of the Kingdom or Reign of God is a
far greater joy than anything else can ever be because it gives meaning and
sense to life and living. The Reign of God is wherever there is love and that
is far more important than anything else.
The parable of ‘the pearl of great price’, a
phrase which has entered the English language, is similar to that of the hidden
treasure except for one detail. The treasure was a surprise whereas the
merchant already knew for what he was searching. Here there is a different
dynamic. This parable is about those who know that there is a great treasure to
be found and who are actively searching for it.
The third parable takes us back to the parable
of the wheat and the weeds which we heard last Sunday. The dragnet about which
Jesus is speaking is a ‘seine-net’ which is either dragged between two boats or
laid out by a single boat and then dragged to the shore with long ropes, which
makes this parable very like that of the wheat and the weeds. Just as the weeds
are left to grow fully so the net must be filled before the separation takes
place. Here the distinction is made between the good and the bad. The term used
for bad indicates the sea creatures that were either inedible or unclean according to the Law (Leviticus
11/10-12) because they had neither fins nor scales. The bad are not thrown back
into the sea but thrown away. The fishermen are the equivalent of the angels
who will do the separating at the end of time. The notion of the ‘furnace of
fire’ is taken from the prophet Daniel though the ‘weeping and gnashing of
teeth ‘ seems to be original to Matthew. As with the parable of the wheat and
the weeds, the message seems to be one of patient tolerance and leaving God to settle the scores. For
Matthew’s community with their experience of their co-religionists who have
rejected the Gospel message, this would have been very important and the final
judgement being left to God would have encouraged them to be more tolerant and
accepting of their situation.
The final part of today’s Gospel reading asks
us, just as much as of Jesus’ hearers, whether we have understood what he has
been saying to us. The richness of Jesus’ teaching over these last few Sundays
has been enormous and includes the presence of the Reign of God in the world,
its small beginnings, the various responses to it and the mystery of the final
judgement which will occur.
The final word in the reading is of great
interest. The phrase ‘every scribe who becomes a disciple’ is sometimes seen as
a self-portrait of Matthew himself. Originally charged with drawing up legal
documents, scribes developed great skill in legal matters and in the
interpretation of the Law. The word ‘matheteutheis’ which means ‘who has become
a disciple’ or ‘who has been trained’ even sounds like the name, Matthew.
Whether this be true or not, it does describe the Christian of Matthew’s
community who treasures both the ‘old’, that is their Jewish heritage and the
‘new’ which is what has happened in and through Jesus. Comparing this with the
householder who brings out of their treasury things both old and new reminds
Jesus’ hearers that both the old and the new are valued and the new does not
make the old useless.
We can now go back to the first reading from
the First Book of the Kings. Here we see Solomon, the man of true wisdom,
asking not for the things one might presume a king would want, power, long
life, success over his enemies and glory but for wisdom and the ability to
discern and to understand
It is that gift which enables us to ponder the
parables of Jesus and to draw from them the fullness of Jesus’ teaching. Like
Solomon, Jesus teaches that the real ‘pearl of great price’ is not what we
might imagine. The real treasure is the Reign of God, the Kingdom, the reality
of love and the Spirit of God at work in our world and in our lives. This is what gives meaning and sense to everything
and, once we have discovered it, we must
hang on to it and not let anything else take it away from us or make us forget
it.
It is this wisdom that will enable us to
discern what is worth holding on to and what must be let go. This is true not
only of us individual Christians but of the Church too. So much of what people
think are the old ways that we ought to treasure are, in fact, accretions over
the ages which have hidden the true treasure.
A good example of this is the so-called
‘traditional’ Mass. In fact, over the centuries the Roman mass had become
encrusted with mediaeval accretions and later devotions that it was almost
impossible to discern the true treasure of the Mass itself. Those things that
have been thrown out in the renewal of
the way in which we celebrate Mass make it possible for us to understand the Mass
more easily, though, as with most of the reforms brought in by the Second
Vatican Council, they were not meant to be the end of the process but the
beginning and there is a lot more work to be done before the way in which we
fulfil Jesus’ command becomes appropriate for the Church and the people of
today.
What is true of the Mass is also true of so many
devotions and practices which obscure the simplicity of the Gospel and
complicate the way in which we are called to follow Jesus.
The short extract from Paul’s Letter to the
Roman Christians reminds us of the Gospel reading in that it assures its
readers and us that, as we saw last week, we hope and wait with endurance and
the Spirit comes to help us. None of the future is left to chance, Paul tells
us. Both justification and glorification are part of the plan of salvation
which God has predestined from the very beginning. God is on our side, Paul
says, and that is what must give us confidence that we are to become true
‘images of his Son’ and he is the eldest brother among many sisters and
brothers. That is what we, the Church, are called to be.
Monday July 27th. Monday in Week Seventeen in Year Two.
Readings
Jeremiah 13/1-11 :
Matthew 13/31-35
The action of Jeremiah in today’s reading is
unlikely to have happened in reality since the river Euphrates is some seven
hundred miles from Palestine and it is unlikely that the prophet could have
walked there and back twice and who would there have been to have witnessed his
action? Scholars have interpreted this story in various ways but the simplest
seems to be that it was a literary device and is to be understood as a parable.
The meaning of the parable is very clear. The loincloth represents the People
of God, the prophet the Lord God himself and the way in which the loincloth is
wrapped around the prophet’s waist a symbol of the intimate union that there is
between God and his people.
Previously (Jeremiah 2/18) the prophet had
denounced the alliances with Mesopotamia as a betrayal of the people’s covenant
with God and, certainly, such alliances were the occasion for the religious
corruption of the people by the acknowledgement of foreign gods. This is
exactly the object of the prophet’s reproaches symbolised by the deteriorating
effect of the waters of the Euphrates. The whole passage is a reproach to the
people for their infidelity to the God who had been faithful to them.
This whole passage is a reminder also to us of
how easily we can be unfaithful to God who has made with us, a covenant not like
those of old but a Covenant in his Son Jesus who makes us one with him. In our
Baptism we have been made one with Jesus and a member of his mystical body, the
Church. In spite of this we so frequently allow ourselves to be seduced by the
false gods of our times, prosperity, wealth, fame, prestige, beauty and so on.
God calls us back to himself constantly and so today let us turn back to him
once again and renew our covenant with him in our resolve to follow Jesus more
faithfully in gratitude for his constant love of us.
In the Gospel reading Jesus too speaks in
parables and both the mustard seed and the yeast are common images which he
uses to speak of the kingdom or the Reign of God.
In the first parable there is exaggeration for
effect since the mustard seed is not the smallest of all the seeds nor the
plant the largest shrub. In spite of that the parable clearly indicates the the
growth that is inherent in the Kingdom or Reign of God. The image of the yeast
is one that Jesus’ hearers would have witnessed daily and continues the same
theme.
The word translated as ‘parable’ is the Hebrew
word ‘mashal’ which is also the title of the book in the Bible we know as
Proverbs and can mean ‘similarity’. This use of parables is central to Jesus’
way of teaching and, like the Proverbs, its aim is to become wise.
Both parables are reminders to us of how the
Kingdom or Reign of God is constantly growing in unexpected places and among
unlikely people. Wherever love is at work there the Reign of God is being
established. Just as the mustard plant shelters all sorts of birds so the Reign
of God shelters all sorts of people. The Reign of God is also like the yeast,
gradually leavening the whole of humankind. We have seen that so clearly during
the recent pandemic where people of every faith and none have shown
extraordinary care and love for others, often risking their own lives and, in
so doing, have so often established links that will endure and the crisis has
brought so many people together forming them into communities where they now
know each other and will, it is hoped, continue to build on that knowledge and
awareness. This is the Kingdom of God.
Today we give thanks for this hidden work of
the Spirit, praying too that we may be alert and aware of the Kingdom of God as
it is being established all around us and in such unexpected places.
Tuesday July 28th. Tuesday in Week Seventeen in Year Two.
Readings
Jeremiah 14/17-22 :
Matthew 13/36-43
The reading from the prophet Jeremiah today is
part of a Lament which the prophet utters, as it were, from the mouth of God.
Judah is being destroyed by war and is depicted as a young woman who is
mortally wounded. God’s reaction is to weep at what has befallen his people.
This is followed by the people’s response who cry out to God who they feel has
forgotten them in their misery. They confess their sinfulness and remind God
that they are still his people. For them to be annihilated, they say, would
bring dishonour on God since they are his by Covenant. They acknowledge that
the pagan deities are as nothing and they cry out to God who is their only hope
and who alone is able to save them.
This is a powerful piece of writing and
reveals, above all, the God who is moved to tears by his people’s sufferings
though these have been brought about by their own stupidity. Of course, God
does not weep but this image expresses so powerfully how our abandoning of him
in so many ways in our daily lives and in our societies is, for God, a cause of
sorrow and only our love for others and our good and generous lives can make up
for this. These are all human ways of speaking about God but we have no other
way in which to express these things. In Jesus, though, God has revealed
himself to us in flesh and blood like our own and we know that Jesus wept over
the sins of the people and the pain of those who suffer.
So today we can renew our hope and trust in the
God who loves us so passionately.
The Gospel reading takes us back to Saturday
last when we ought to have read the parable of the darnel had it not been for
the feast of the Apostle James. (Matthew 13/24-30). The parable of the mustard
seed and the yeast speak for themselves but that of the darnel needs some
explanation. The parable brings us back, once again, to the problem of evil in
the world. Although the good seed is sown by the Son of Man and the bad seed by
the Evil One, this does not offer a real explanation. In Jesus’ day this would have
been acceptable but for most of us today the existence of a personal Devil, the
Evil One, is not something in which we
can easily believe. The big problem, of course, is why a good God would allow
one of his creatures to sow evil in the world. We don’t have an answer and, as
Jesus says, we must accept the reality which will exist to the very end of time
when there will be a sorting out by God. Again, the end of the parable seems to
indicate a real punishment for the wicked. If we believe in a good and loving
forgiving God, while we must maintain the free will of every individual, we can
also believe in the ability of a good God to win over even the most hardened
sinner at the last. Jesus says elsewhere that ‘nothing you have given me will
be lost’ and since, he says ‘the Father has placed all things in my hands’, it
is perfectly orthodox to believe that everyone will be with God at the last.
This is particularly important when we hear of so many visions and apparitions
which would paint a very different picture form that which Jesus would give us.
We must always remember, however, that Jesus is
speaking of the Kingdom or Reign of God and it is this that we see growing in
so many ways and places among people of every faith and none if we open our
eyes. The fact that there are adverse forces at work in the world is a reality
that we must accept but we must make sure that we are on the side of good and
do all that we can to overcome the works of evil and to support all that is
good.
Wednesday July 29th. Memory of Mary, Martha and Lazarus of
Bethany.
Although today still appears as the Memory of
Martha in opur Calendars, many places and religious communities now keep it as
a celebration of the whole family at Bethany where Jesus was often a guest.
Today was fixed as day in honour of Martha
because, one week ago, the feast of Mary Magdalene would have been celebrated
who for centuries had been wrongly identified with Mary of Bethany. Scholars
have generally agreed now that Mary Magdalene was not the same person as Mary
of Bethany and so it seems reasonable to remember, not only Martha but Mary and
Lazarus her sister and brother, all of whom were Jesus’ friends.
Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived in the town of
Bethany, near Jerusalem and John’s Gospel records that Jesus loved all three of
them and they were important to him. At a time when women were treated very
much as second class citizens, Jesus treated these two sisters as his friends
and the Gospel tells us that at the death of their brother, Lazarus, Jesus wept
with them as he had, most probably, laughed with them on many occasions.
Martha’s conversations with Jesus which we read in chapter ten of Luke’s
Gospel, show us that she was free to speak her mind with Jesus and at the time
when this conversation occurred, Jesus allowed both women to sit at his feet
with his disciples. Women were not permitted to study with a Rabbi and so, here
again, Jesus was breaking with convention and taking a bold step. When Jesus
heard of Lazarus’ death he went to Bethany to be with the sisters who both
affirmed that they believed that he had power to raise their brother from death
and it was at that point that Jesus wept openly at the death of his friend so
that those around said ‘See how he loved him’. Jesus orders the tomb to be
opened in spite of Martha’s protestations who, as always, is practical. Jesus
then calls Lazarus from the tomb and he comes out, still bound with the burial
clothes. This whole episode shows how close Jesus was to this family and how
much he cared for them.
The home at Bethany is a model for us to
imitate. Everyone is welcome and hospitality is shared and it is there that
Jesus finds a welcome. Hospitality ought to be characteristic of our homes
where all are made to feel welcome and where, in welcoming others, we are, in
fact, welcoming Jesus.
Remembering this family at Bethany brings home
to us the reality of Jesus’ humanity. He is truly one of us with special
friends with whom he feels truly at home and where he could seek refuge from the daily round of teaching and
preaching.
Readings
First letter of John 4/7-16 :
John 11/19-27 (better to read the whole episode 11/1-44)
These readings are the ones set for the
celebration of Martha alone but are very suitable for the celebration of the
three saints of Bethany.
The first reading celebrates the love of God
which is at the heart of the Christian life. Loving one another we find God
since God is love. The love which we experience first of all in our homes, as
did Martha, Mary and Lazarus, a love they shared with Jesus, this is the love
of God.
The Gospel reading is only part of the whole
episode and it would be better to read the whole chapter 11 of John’s Gospel
where we hear the story of Lazarus’ death and his raising from death by Jesus
and where Jesus’ love for him and his sisters is so powerfully revealed.
The story of Lazarus’ resurrection looks
forward, of course, to the resurrection of Jesus but the details of the story
which we read on one of the Sundays before Easter are very important. We can
see the raising of Lazarus from the tomb as a picture of our own being raised
by Jesus when we pass through the waters of death in Baptism to be anointed
with the Sprit and to begin the new life of love, the life of the Kingdom.
However, a significant feature of the story is the fact that Lazarus is still
bound with the burial clothes. Jesus orders the bystanders to ‘Unbind him and
let him go free’. This, surely, is what should happen to us in the Church as we
begin to lead the new life of Baptism. Gradually, with the help of the Christian
community, we become unbound from all our sinfulness and our weaknesses until
we attain the perfect freedom of the children of God. Baptism is not the
acceptance of a package of teachings and practices but the beginning of a
journey in the company of other Christians towards that perfect freedom which
the life of love can bring us.
Today then, we pray for our homes and families
and, indeed, our communities that they may be more like the home at Bethany,
open and welcoming and filled with love.
We pray too for the Anglican Sisters of Bethany
who try to make their home like that at Bethany and who welcome all who come to
them to share their life and to find silence and peace.
Thursday 30th. July Thursday Week Seventeen Year Two. Memory of Peter Chrysologus (+450)
Readings
Jeremiah 18/1-6 :
Matthew 13/47-53
In the extract from the prophet Jeremiah today,
he explains how God is at work among his people. The image of the potter and
the clay was one that was familiar to the Jewish people of Jesus’ time and it
came from Jeremiah’s everyday experience where he would have seen the potter at
his wheel and would have been reminded of what God was at work doing with his
people. The potter is, of course, God and the clay the people of Israel in
God’s hands. What is interesting is the way in which, if the pot turns out
badly shaped, the potter is able to start again. So God is able to start again
with his people if they fail to live up to their calling and fall away from
him. It is a wonderful image of the people who are in God’s hands, being shaped
and moulded into what God would have them be.
This gives us hope that when everything has
gone wrong in our lives, God is ready and willing to make a fresh start with us
and to remould us once again into the image of his Son if we will place
ourselves in his hands.
Not only is this true of each of us but it is
also true of the Church. The Church is not a finished work but God is always at
work moulding us into the image of his Son. From the very beginning of the
Christian movement the Church has taken wrong turnings and become misshapen and
not the Church that Jesus would want us to be. So again and again, God gives us
the opportunity to place ourselves once again in his hands and let ourselves be
re-moulded. This what happened at the
Second Vatican Council when the bishops together allowed themselves to be led
by the Spirit so that they found a fresh and exciting vision of what the Church
might be. Sadly, we have again lost sight of that vision and Pope Francis is
pushing us to re-discover it once again. We need to place ourselves in God’s
hands again so that we can be re-moulded into a Church for the present day and
age.
Of course, this is also true of the coming
Kingdom or Reign of God. Things seem promising and then everything falls apart
again. At this time in history as we live the post-Covid moment, we find
ourselves challenged to start again and be remoulded by the Spirit who is at
work in everyone. We must pray and work to seize this moment and allow our
society to be re-moulded by the Spirit who is, so obviously, at work among us.
The Gospel reading brings Matthew’s chapter of
parables to a close with the parable of the dragnet. The net is an image of the
Kingdom of God which will only come to its full perfection at the end of time.
Meanwhile good and bad exist together and this is the situation in which we
must live. The image relates well to what we have been reading in Jeremiah. God is always at work in the hearts and minds
of women and men of good will and of all faiths and none, establishing the
Reign of love, the kingdom which will only be brought fulfilment at the end of time.
One thing is necessary in all this and that is
tolerance. We live in a world where there is so much intolerance and it is for
us to seek ways and means of bringing people together, helping them to
understand one another and to accept one another even when we cannot agree.
This must be a role for the Church, to bring people together and we must be a
model of tolerance ourselves. In the Church we must seek to reconcile those of
differing ways of understanding and practising our faith and to bring them
together, concentrating on what is at the heart of the Gospel. It is only by
listening to one another and seeking to understand one another that we can
achieve that unity which will be an example to the world.
How tolerant am I of other’s people’s
convictions, their way of life, , their culture and their behaviour? Time to
examine our conscience and to resolve tobecome those who bring people together
in friendship and love.
Memory of Peter Chrysologus, bishop and Teacher
of the Church (406-c.450)
Peter was born in Imola about thirty miles from
Ravenna and became a deacon of the church of that city. In 433, with the
support of the Emperor Valentinian IIrd. he was chosen to be the bishop of
Ravenna. The Emperor’s powerful mother, Galla Placidia, helped Peter in both
his reforming programme and his building projects, particularly at the port of
Classis, near the city.
Peter was a great teacher which earned him the
name of Chrysologus, or ‘golden mouthed’ and some 175 of his homilies still
exist. They were very brief because he said he did not want to bore the people!
He encouraged the people of his diocese in the practice of their faith and he
was diligent in instructing them. He also struggled to win over those who still
adhered to the old pagan beliefs. His reputation was very high and he enjoyed
the confidence of Leo the Great, the then bishop of Rome and he supported him
in his teaching on the Incarnation against the various heresies that were
current at the time. Peter’s fame was so great that he presided at the funeral
of Germanus of Auxerre in August 446.
Although the churches of Ravenna and their
wonderful mosaics are world famous, Peter cannot be associated with them with
any certainty and his real memorial is his teaching for which he was declared a
‘Doctor’ or ‘Teacher of the Church in 1729.
We pray today for the bishops of the Church,
that they may have something of the wisdom of Peter and his ability to proclaim
the Gospel eloquently and comprehensibly – and briefly!
There are special readings for Peter but the
readings for the day will almost certainly be used.
Those for Peter are :-
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 3/8-12 :
Luke 6/43-45
The reading from the letter to the Ephesians
speaks of the ‘special grace’ ‘of proclaiming to the pagans the infinite
treasure of Christ’ and ‘explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed’ which
is what Peter did as bishop of Ravenna telling the people of ‘the plan which
God had held from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord’.
The Gospel reading tells how someone who is
good ‘draws what is good from the store of goodness in their heart’ and reminds
us of what was so true for Peter that ‘a man’s words flow out of what fills his
heart’. Peter’s teaching was the fruit of the union he had with Christ in his
heart.
Friday July 31st. Memory of Ignatius Loyola, founder of the
Society of Jesus (1491-1556)
The youngest of eleven children of a Basque
nobleman, Ignatius was brought up to be a soldier and fought the French in
Castile. He was wounded in the siege of Pamplona in 1521 and while he was
convalescing, though he asked for some of the knightly romances popular at the
time to read, he was given stories of the saints and this seems to have been
instrumental in beginning his conversion. He spent a year in reflection, prayer
and penance at Manresa near the great monastery of Montserrat. There he
experienced both desolation and consolation and it was there that he wrote the
first draft of what was to become his ‘Spiritual Exercises’. In 1523 he went on
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, begging his way there and intending to attempt the
conversion of Muslims. He was dissuaded from this by the Franciscans there and
returned to Spain, still with no clear plan.
Ignatius decided then to study, first at
Barcelona, then in Salamanca and finally in Paris. He had already begun to help
others in their spiritual journey and, in Paris, he gathered six
companions and with them took vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience and an extra promise to serve the Church either in
preaching in Palestine or in any other way the Pope might see fit. In 1537 the
six, who had already been ordained priests, met in Venice and, unable to reach
Palestine, they resolved to found a new religious Order.
To the three ordinary vows they added a fourth
one of obedience to the Pope and willingness to go anywhere he might send
them. Teaching the young and the
uneducated and missionary work were among their earliest ideals and they
decided that they would not be bound by the daily Hours of prayer to which religious orders were normally committed so that they would be
free to work in any way they needed to. In 1560, the new Congregation was given
approval by the Pope and Ignatius was elected to be their General Superior for
life.
Ignatius continued to inspire, counsel and
direct his subjects for some fifteen years and the Congregation grew and
flourished so that they were soon working all over the world. Ignatius died suddenly
on this day in 1556 and by then the Jesuits, as they had come to be known,
though their proper title is the Society of Jesus, numbered over one thousand
working in nine European Provinces, besides working overseas.
Ignatius was canonised in 1622 and he is the
patron of all those exercises such as retreats that give people a chance to
stand back from their everyday lives and reflect prayerfully on them.
We pray today for the Jesuits all over the world and the many works undertaken
by them.
There are proper readings for Ignatius but
those of the day will most probably be used.
Readings for Friday in Week Seventeen in Year
Two.
Jeremiah 26/1-9 :
Matthew 13/54-58
In today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah we
have an account of the circumstances which surrounded Jeremiah’s proclamation
in the Temple (Jeremiah 7/1-19) It would seem that this is an addition by
Baruch to situate the proclamation and
the original narrative has been amplified to prove that a true prophet must be
listened to. Scholars tell us that the historical setting must be at a moment
between the King’s accession and the
following New year which would make it in the year 609 B.C.E. The verses are a
resume of the Temple proclamation (Jeremiah 7/1-19) and declare that God will
suspend his judgement if the people repent and observe the Law. If they fail to
do so the Temple will be destroyed like the pre-Jerusalem Temple at Shiloh. The
prophet’s words provoke a general scandal and a charge is brought against him.
This episode serves to emphasise the people’s unwillingness to listen to God’s
message and Jeremiah, much as Jesus after him, will suffer at their hands.
In the Gospel reading we begin the next section
of Matthew’s Gospel with Jesus leaving the lakeside and returning to Nazareth,
his home town. It is here that he too is rejected by the people because, as
they say, he is well-known to them and how could someone of their own get the
knowledge and the wisdom he seems to display. In other words, ‘Who does he
think he is?’
The point of all this is, of course, that a
prophet is not usually recognised in their own family or place. The reason for
this is that we don’t expect God to speak to us through ordinary people or
through ordinary everyday things. We always expect God to speak through the
extraordinary, whence the devotion to visions and apparitions and so on. Jesus was ordinary though! A real human being
like us and so people couldn’t imagine that he might be the promised Messiah. The
whole point of the Incarnation is that God has come among us, a real human
being like ourselves. He teaches us that if we would find God we must look at
our neighbours and not to extraordinary events and special places.
Who are the prophets for our day? It is not
difficult to think of one or two though we might not see them in that way. The
young Greta Thunberg is a prophet for the whole world though she may have no
particular religious beliefs All that she is saying is about the Kingdom of
God. Marcus Rashford, again an unlikely person to be called a prophet and yet,
was he not speaking in Kingdom language when he drew attention to the need for
poor children to have good meals, even in school holidays? You can surely think
of any others both great and small who, if we listen to them, are speaking
without naming him, of the reign of God.
If we open our ears and listen, God will speak
to us all the time in the needs, worries, anxieties and joys of other people
and we must respond by our concern, our love and our care.
The special readings for Ignatius are as
follows but will almost certainly not be used.
Readings for Saint Ignatius.
First letter of Paul to the Corinthians
10/31-11/1 : Luke 14/25-33
The first reading contains what became the
Motto of the Society of Jesus ‘Do everything for the glory of God’ This
continues our thinking on the Gospel reading above. Everything in our life can
give God glory if we do it as well as we are able and in love. The famous hymn
‘Teach me my God and King’ (George Herbert 1593-1632) has the line ‘who sweeps
a room as for thy laws makes that and
the action fine’. Even the most banal daily activity gives glory to God if it
is done in love because it is part of our being truly human and that is what
gives glory to god. As Saint Irenaeus (c.130-c.200) said ‘The glory of God is
the fully human person’.
The Gospel reading speaks of carrying our cross
and not being attached to worldly possessions. This was and is very much at the
heart of Ignatius’ teaching and the way of life his followers attempt to lead.
So do everything for the glory of God and don’t
let anything stand in your way!
Saturday August 1st. Memory of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and
founder (1696-1787)
Alphonsus was born into a prosperous family and
was extremely talented, earning his Law degree when he was only seventeen. By
the time he was twenty he was a leading lawyer in his home city of Naples with
a rich social life and many highborn friends. When he was twenty seven
Alphonsus lost a case through a serious error on his part. This affected him so
deeply that it brought about a conversion so that he decided to study to become
a priest. He was ordained in 1726 when
he was thirty years old and he became a preacher, especially in the poorer
areas and the slums of the city.
In 1732 Alphonsus got together a group of men
to work with the poor and the needy and these were to become the Congregation
of the Most Holy Redeemer or Redemptorists.
Alphonsus wrote many books, both devotional
works and more theological studies in which, especially when dealing with moral
issues, he used his training in Law. His teaching was directed, more
especially, towards the refuting of Jansenism, a movement which had arisen out
of the teaching of Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638). Although Jansen became bishop
of Ypres, his teaching was extremely negative. He taught that, in general,
people were so sinful that they could never be saved. This led ordinary people
to see God as a wrathful God of whom they were fearful and it made them stay
away from Holy Communion because of
their perceived unworthiness. Alphonsus, in his teaching, emphasised the love
and forgiveness of God and he encouraged people to approach Holy Communion
frequently since the Eucharist is not a reward for the holy but a means of
helping us become holy. This is something that many of our priests might take
to heart today when they are so ready to say who may and who may not receive
Holy Communion!
Alphonsus was made bishop of Sant’ Agata de
Goti in 1762 but he resigned due to ill health in 1775. After initial difficulties which caused
Alphonsus great pain and suffering, his Congregation began to flourish and its members are now to be found all over
the world. Alphonsus also founded an Order onf enclosed sisters known as
Redemptoristines who would support the work of his Congregation by their
prayer.
We pray today for Redemptorist men and women
throughout the world and their many works. We pray too for something which is
dear to the heart of Pope Francis, that the Church become more compassionate
and loving.
There are proper readings for Alphonsus but,
almost certainly, those of the day will be used. Readings for Saturday in Week Seventeen in
Year Two.
Jeremiah 26/11-16, 24 :
Matthew 14/1-12
In the reading from Jeremiah today we find the
prophet defending himself against the priests and the people and assuring them
once again, that what he is saying comes from God. He warns them that, though
he is in their hands, if they put him to death they will be responsible for the
death of an innocent man. The people then address the priests and the prophets
and warn them that Jeremiah is a true prophet who has spoken in the name of
God. The following verses are omitted but we might well read them since they
consist of a discussion between the priests and the experts who come to the
same conclusion as the people but it is the protection of Ahikam, the son of
Shaphan, which finally wins the day and Jeremiah is released.
In a way this reading follows on from what
Jesus was saying in yesterday’s Gospel reading. The people only want to hear
what suits them and what Jeremiah had to say was anything but popular.
In the Gospel reading we hear the story of the
death of John the Baptist which Matthew puts at this place in his Gospel. Like
all the prophets, John speaks the truth fearlessly to Rulers, to the upper
classes and to the religious establishment whatever the consequences. He has
condemned the Ruler of Judah, Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, for
his illicit marriage to his sister-in-law, Herodias. The birthday celebrations
for Herod include the famous dance by Salome, Herodias’ daughter and show Herod
Antipas to be a weak man who cannot go back on his word for fear of appearing
so. John the Baptist’s end is particularly sordid and the outcome of cowardice
and lust on the part of Herod Antipas and vengeance on the part of Herodias who
has been revealed for what she was by the prophet.
This sad scene prepares us, of course, for what
will also happen to Jesus who will also be put to death for proclaiming the
truth in the Gospel message, a truth which endangers both the secular power of
the Roman authorities and the religious power of the Jewish establishment
Remembering both Jeremiah and John we might
well pray today for integrity both in our own lives and in the lives of all
those in positions of power and authority, both within the Church and in
society. We remember Jesus’ words, ‘Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be
“no”’.
The readings for the day will almost certainly
be used, but the proper readings for Alphonsus are:-
Paul’ Letter to the Romans 8/1-4 :
Matthew 5/13-19
Paul is writing about how the old Law has been
superseded by the Law of the Spirit, the law of love and this was very much at
the heart of Alphonsus’ struggles with Jansenism with all its rigidity and
negativity. Alphonsus proclaimed the freedom that comes from the Spirit.
In the Gospel reading again, after telling his
followers how they are to be the salt of the earth and light to the world,
Jesus goes on to explain to them how he has come, not to abolish the Law but to
‘complete’ or better ‘fulfil’ it. As Alphonsus taught, love is the fulfilment
of the Law and so our lives must be governed, not by rules and regulations but
by Love in every situation.
Comments
Post a Comment