Sunday November 8th. to Saturday November 14th.

Sunday November 8^th. to Saturday November 14^th.  Reflections on the Readings at Daily Mass.

 

Sunday November 8^th.    Thirty Second Sunday in Year One.

 

Readings

Wisdom 6/12-16     :     Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians 4/13-18     :     Matthew 25/1-13

As we draw closer to the end of the Church’s year the readings prepare us for the Season of Advent and help us reflect on the so-called ‘last things’, death and judgement. The parable that Jesus tells his disciples and, of course, us, in today’s Gospel reading is about being ready. But ready for what? For the End, the realisation of the Kingdom or the Reign of God. That may not seem very realistic though in our world today it is not so difficult to imagine the possibility of all things coming to some great cataclysmic conclusion with climate change, the devastation of the environment and now the great pandemic that has swept the earth.

This Sunday’s parable does have an element in it which fits our present situation more exactly. That is the fact that the bridesmaids, not really bridesmaids as we understand it but maidens of honour perhaps would be a better translation, they are kept waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom.

We have to understand that the way in which weddings were celebrated in first century Palestine would fit very well with the story that Jesus told. The bridegroom would have gone to his future father-in-law’s house to settle and sign the marriage contract and this could have taken quite a long time. The young maidens seem to be part of the bridegroom’s or his father’s household to which he would bring his new bride. Since he professes not to know those who are ‘foolish’ it may be that there were some, however, from his own household and some from his future bride’s. The task of these young women would have been to welcome the bridegroom when he arrives with his new bride and to accompany them into the young man’s or, perhaps, his father’s house for the wedding celebrations.

The parable may be interpreted as an allegory but its main features are very easy to understand. Some of the young women who are waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom and his new bride have come prepared with extra oil in case their wait should be a long one.  Some are unprepared and have, eventually, to go off to buy more oil. Since the wait is, in fact, a long one, the young women all fall asleep and are startled when the news is announced that the bridegroom and his bride are, at last, on their way. The foolish return, having gone to buy more oil but the feast has already got underway and they are refused admittance to the wedding hall. The moral of the story is very clear and is summed up in the last verse that we read, ‘Stay awake, therefore, because we do not know either the day or the hour.’

The story is full of allegorical details though we must not push them too far. In the Hebrew tradition God is often identified as the Bridegroom of Israel (for example in Isaiah 54/5, Jeremiah 31/32, Hosea 2/16 and so on). In the New Testament Jesus is also identified as the Bridegroom (Matthew 9/15 and elsewhere). In this parable though, it is obvious that the bridegroom is Jesus since from Matthew 24/29, the main topic has been the coming of the Son of Man. The point of the story is that the young women offer positive and negative models of how to behave in view of his coming.

This parable would have had great interest for the Jewish-Christian community for whom Matthew was writing. While the idea of the coming of Christ a second time was prevalent among them, it would have become clear, obviously, that this was not as imminent as they had at first imagined. The Jewish communities around them had little appreciation of the apocalyptic view of things, it would seem, whereas the Jewish-Christian communities did keep this idea alive, even though it was not as they had at first imagined it would be. This would, no doubt, have exposed them to ridicule from the other Jewish communities.

For us today this parable is still a warning and, these days seems less unlikely than before but though the End may not come in our times our own personal end will surely come and at an hour that we do not know. For that we must be always ready and make sure that our lamps are alight and that we have sufficient oil for them. In reality this means living our lives in such a way as to be ready to greet the Lord if and when he comes and, of course, he does come to us at all times in every situation and in every person that we meet. We must examine ourselves and ask whether we are ready to discern the Lord when he comes to us in the most unlikely person or unexpected situation.

The reading from the book Wisdom, as always, prepares us for the Gospel reading. It reminds us of how the young women in Jesus’ parable are seen as either wise or foolish. In this reading the author reminds us how the Wisdom of God demands that we stay alert, ‘Watch for her early and you will have no trouble’, he says. True Wisdom is to be able to discern God in everyone and everything and for that we must be always on the alert, watching and waiting.

Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonika, faces the problem of death and those who have gone before us. Though Paul’s way of looking at things may not be the way in which we now see them with our greater knowledge and understanding of the world, it is a message of hope. Paul’s world view was very different from ours and so he is able to speak in the way that he does. The Thessalonian Christians were expecting Christ to come again very shortly but, in this, they were wrong as was Paul himself. This should not surprise us since our own understanding of Jesus and his teaching has been developing and changing over two thousand years and still is. Even Jesus himself probably believed that his return would be imminent. As a truly human person of his time Jesus too would have seen things much as his contemporaries who believed, in many cases, that they were living at the end of the age. It is so easy for us to forget the full implications of the Incarnation. Jesus was truly human, a man of his times and culture. God dwelt among us as a truly human being with all the limitations that that entails.

For us today, as we look around our world and the mess we seem to be in, we may well wonder whether the End may not be so far away. However, that is not the point. What really matters is that we should live in the present moment, ready to discern the Lord in the many ways in which he comes to us and to welcome him and to love him in the present moment. We prepare ourselves for this in our moments of prayer when we wait on the Lord in the silence and, although we may not be able to sense his presence, he comes to us and we welcome him, not with words but with love. It is more than ever important for us to find these precious moments.

Monday November 9^th. The Feast of the Dedication of the Church of Saint John Lateran in Rome.

 

It may seem surprising that we should be celebrating the Dedication of a church in Rome but this is because the church of Saint John Lateran is the cathedral church of Rome whose Bishop is, of course, both Pope and Patriarch of the Western Church.

Though the first Christians met in their homes in Rome, when this became too dangerous because of the frequent persecutions, they would meet secretly in underground burial places known as catacombs. Many of these have survived and are still able to be visited.

It was only in the Fourth century after the Emperor Constantine had adopted the Christian faith as the official religion of the Roman Empire, that it began to be possible to meet in buildings designated for that purpose. Constantine made generous gifts of property to the church in Rome and among these was the palace and property that had belonged to the Laterani family. In 324 C.E. Constantine added to the site a large rectangular building that could be used for public worship. This type of building was known as a ‘basilica’ which means, literally, a building ‘fit for a king’ and it was typical of the sort of large buildings used at that time for Law Courts and so on. This became the model for all the great Roman churches and, since that time, all have been known as basilicas, which has also become an honorific title given to certain other important churches all over the West, such as Westminster Cathedral.

Originally the Lateran basilica was dedicated to Christ the Saviour and this is said to have happened on November 9^th.,324. The Baptistery of the church, a separate building, was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and so the whole church became known as the Church of Saint John of the Lateran. Among other things, legend has it that it houses the wooden table at which the Apostle Peter presided at the Eucharist and the High Altar is said to be built over this. This church is the most important of what are called the ‘station churches’ where the Bishop of Rome would preside at the Eucharist from time to time on given days. It was here that the ‘station’ or ‘stop’ was held on Maundy Thursday and it is also the church at which the Pope celebrates the great Vigil of the Resurrection on the night of Holy Saturday-Easter Sunday. This is because, of course, it was the church where Baptisms in Rome originally took place, especially during the great Vigil of Easter.

It is for all this that we celebrate the dedication of this church which has, rather arrogantly, taken to itself the title of ‘The mother and head of all the churches’ but, of course, of the Western Church in particular.

Today then we must pray for Pope Francis whose cathedral church this is and for the Church in the city and diocese of Rome and throughout the West. We must, however, constantly remind ourselves that, as Pope John Paul IInd. would say, we are only one half of the Church which as he said, has two lungs, the West and the East and needs them both to breathe and to operate effectively. Though many of these churches are in communion with Rome and its bishop, many are still not and these all look to other centres from which the Gospel was brought to them, Antioch where Peter was the first leader of the community, Alexandria where Mark is reputed to have taken the Gospel, Constantinople and more recently, Moscow. As the Bishop of Rome is the Patriarch of the Western Church, so each of these churches have their own Patriarch in their respective founding dioceses. Sadly, there are often two Patriarchs, the one in communion with Rome, the other not which serves to emphasise our sad divisions.

It is important for us to not lose sight of this because it is so easy for us to think of the Church as purely that of the West and to forget all the richness and diversity of these other churches of the East. We pray then especially today for the unity of all the churches that we may proclaim the Gospel with one voice and heart.

 

Readings

Ezekiel 47/1-2, 8-9, 12    :     Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians  3/9-11, 16-17    :     John 2/13-22

Today’s special readings remind us not so much of the church building but of the Church itself, the communion of all Jesus disciples and followers.

In the extract from the prophet Ezekiel, the prophet has been talking in the previous chapters about the great Jerusalem Temple and its worship. His vision comes to a climax in this last section where he sees life-giving power flowing from theTemple. The whole vision is symbolic and describes how the lifeless salty water is turned into a place where life abounds. All of this is testimony to the God who dwells in the Temple and who pours out his own life-giving power on all those who have been exiles.

This is a reminder that the great Lateran Basilica, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, was, traditionally the place in Rome where Baptisms took place and we see immediately how the great Baptismal Font has become a source of living water. Filled with the Spirit of God it takes all those who are plunged into its waters in Baptism and washes them clean of all that is sinful allowing them to rise with Christ to the new life of the Spirit of love. This is, of course, what the Church is all about, uniting women and men with the risen Christ through the waters of the Spirit in baptism.

The reading from the First Letter to the Corinthian Christians reminds them how they are ‘God’s building’ and ‘God’s Temple’. The building which we remember today and, indeed, every church building, is a reminder to us who worship in it that we are the real building. All sorts of people have helped us to form part of that building just as all sorts of people were involved in the building we remember today and we give thanks for them.

From the beginning the building which is the Church has been built upon the Apostles and their teaching and the foundation is Jesus, the Christ himself. We are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells among us and it is that Spirit who guides us and helps us to be the Church.

In the Gospel reading Jesus reproaches the Temple authorities for having allowed the holiest of their meeting places to become, as he says, ‘a market’ or in another Gospel ‘a den of thieves’. The traders were in the Temple because of those who were going to offer sacrifice there and it was from them that they had to buy their offerings. The money changers were there because tainted Roman money could not be used in the Temple and so had to be changed into Jewish currency. It is not the traders themselves that Jesus is condemning but the Temple authorities who have allowed this situation to happen and who, quite probably, benefitted from it.

Jesus uses this situation to speak of his resurrection though his hearers fail to understand him. He himself is the Temple of God, the one in whom God dwells and who God raises up and his Church will continue to the his presence in the world. When we say that we are the Body of Christ, these are not just idle words. We have been chosen by him to continue his presence in the world, not only in our own personal lives but, above all, in our communities which with the Spirit,we create. In these communities the Spirit dwells to make us the living presence of the risen Christ in our world. But that can only happen when we co-operate with the Holy Spirit and are open to her and to one another so that we can be built up into a community of love.

Today gives us an opportunity to reflect on that extraordinary reality which is the Church. Church buildings come and go but we, the community of Jesus’ followers from age to age continue with the same purpose of being Jesus’ risen body in the world.

We seem to have missed a very important reality during this present Pandemic and that is that it doesn’t matter if church buildings are shut, we are still the Church. What we ought to have been concentrating on, perhaps, is this reality and helping people to maintain contact with each other and to break bread in their homes and families rather that the constant insistence on getting people back to church and streaming masses so that they might be able to imagine themselves back in church, thus making the Mass a sort of spectator sport rather that the family meal that we all share together.! A lot to think about here both now and for the future.

 

Tuesday November 10^th. Memory of Leo the Great (+461). Tuesday Week ThirtyTwo Year Two.

 

We know little of Leo’s background but he became very rapidly a person of importance in the Roman church and, among other important tasks, he was used as a peacemaker! It was while he was involved in such a mission in Gaul that he was elected Bishop of the city of Rome in the year 440 C.E. Leo’s time as bishop of Rome was important in many ways. He was a superb teacher and his teaching on the Incarnation influenced the decisions made by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E. When the assembled bishops heard what Leo had written on the incarnation they all agreed, it would seem, that ‘Peter had spoken through Leo’ and his teaching became the official teaching of the Church for many centuries.. Not only are his writings of great theological importance, they also show us his care for all the churches and his concern for what was taught among them.

Leo did much to consolidate the position of Rome in the universal Church and he was convinced that the primacy of the Roman church was part of God’s plan for the whole Church. Under Leo, Rome became the final court of appeal for all the churches in any dispute among them and Leo saw, in himself, the authority of Peter which had been passed on to the Apostle’s successors.

Apart from his concern for all the churches, Leo recognised that he wielded a great deal of power and he used this in the service of his people. In 452 C.E. Attila and the Huns attacked Milan and Leo went out to meet them as they advanced on Rome. Leo persuaded Attila to accept tribute rather than attack and plunder the city. Later, the Vandal, Genseric, would also attack Rome and this time Leo was not so successful though he tried his best to save the city.

In between all his political activities, Leo was a gifted pastor and cared for his people enormously. Much of his writing is still preserved for us and we read from it frequently in the daily service of Vigils or Readings.

One of Leo’s biographers described him as a man ‘of indomitable energy, magnanimity, consistency and devotion to duty’ and he rapidly became known as ‘the Great’. He died on this day in the year 461 C.E. and he was declared one of the Western Doctors or Teachers of the Church in 1754.

Today we must pray for Leo’s successor Francis and for a better understanding of the true role of the Roman church and its bishop to be ‘first among equals’ and a shining example to all the churches as a focus of unity.

 

Readings

Letter to Titus 2/1-18, 11-14     :     Luke 17/7-10

Had it not been for yesterday’s feast, we would have begun to read extracts from the Letter to Titus.  Scholars generally agree that Paul was not the author of this Letter but that it was written later by one of his disciples. The purpose of such a device was not to create a forgery but to extend the thoughts of the named author to the time when the letter was actually written.

The purpose of this Letter was to urge church leaders to value and maintain the structures of both church and society.

It would seem that this letter was written somewhere in the region of Ephesus since it focuses on the churches of the Aegean area and especially Asia Minor. It would also seem that this Letter has the church of Crete firmly in view and can be read as a charter for the dispositions of that community. Although scholars put the date of this Letter somewhere between 60 and 160 C.E.  it seems most likely that it was written later rather than earlier because of the developed structures of the churches it describes.

This Letter is usually grouped with the First and Second Letters to Timothy and, generally speaking, the purpose of all three was much the same.

In the first extract which we missed yesterday (Titus 1/1-9), after greeting the recipient of the Letter, the author goes on to explain why Titus has been left in Crete by Paul and this is the only reference we have of Paul making a missionary journey to Crete. The purpose of leaving Titus was to organise the various Christian communities and to appoint Elders in each of them. The author then outlines the sort of person an Elder ought to be. Apart from setting an example by his own personal family life and behaviour, the Elder must have ‘a firm grasp of the word which is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching’, giving ‘encouragement in sound doctrine’ and ‘routing those who contradict it’.

Given the present shortage of priests in our church, our bishops might well take these words to heart. Are there not many in all our communities whose family lives and morals are irreproachable and who could be relied upon to give sound teaching? Why can they not be appointed by our bishops to preside at the Eucharist and to lead our communities? They would need very little training and would not cost the local community anything since they would have their own work or be retired.

In today’s extract, the writer of the Letter to Titus, after exhorting him or the recipient to preach the behaviour which is in keeping with the Gospel, the ‘healthy doctrine’  as he calls it, goes on to outline the duties of each member of a household. The older men are to serve as examples to those who are younger and the older women are to teach the younger women how to be good wives and mothers.  Paul, of course, accepts totally the customs of his day that women should be submissive to their husbands but it is also specified that wives should love their husbands and their children, a new dimension in the relationship with both.

The verses omitted are to do with the behaviour of slaves which might surprise us. We must remember, however, that many of those who had become Christians were well off and it was in their houses that the small Christian communities would meet. These families would almost certainly have slaves but what was now different was that, through their Baptism, these slaves would now be their sisters and brothers which was something quite revolutionary!

Today’s extract ends with the writer affirming that Christians are able to love according to these standards  in the present and to have hope for the future  through the saving power of God in Jesus, the Christ. 

Finally, the writer also proclaims that salvation has been made possible for the whole human race, not just for those who are Christians, so long as they too live by the standards which Jesus has set and, as we know, his Spirit will be at work in the hearts and minds of all who are of goodwill.

The final words are like a slogan for us who seek to follow Christ, that we should have ‘no ambition except to do good’. How true is that of me?

The Gospel reading which we missed yesterday (Luke 17/1-6) follows on from Jesus’ condemning the Pharisees for their false legalistic piety. Now he turns to instructing his disciples about the demands of discipleship. Having condemned the wealthy Pharisees for their unwillingness to share their wealth and possessions Jesus reminds his followers and us that even in their community there can be scandal. Scandal is something which causes someone else to stumble or which puts an obstacle in the way of their doing right. In Luke’s version of this saying of Jesus it would seem to be something which is bound to happen so that we ought not to be surprised when it does. The punishment for this offence describes the seriousness of this offence in Jesus’ eyes because it may mislead one of ‘the little ones’,  that is the ordinary members of the community.

This saying of Jesus is a reminder to us of how we must take care not to mislead other members of the Christian community by our own wrongdoing. That is why the whole child abuse phenomenon is so terrible. Those who should have been guiding those who are ‘the little ones’ not only misled them  but abused and wounded them in a way that most of us would have thought impossible. But lest we are tempted to take the high moral ground, we must look at our own life and behaviour and ask ourselves whether there are areas of our lives which might scandalise those who know us to be Christians and would have expected something better of us.

The next requirement of the disciple of Jesus is that they should be forgiving. There must be no bounds to my forgiveness. However many times someone wrongs me, I must be ready to forgive them.

It is always a shock when someone says ‘I could never forgive that!’ Jesus makes no exceptions and reminds us elsewhere of how often we have been forgiven and that we must pray to be forgiven as we forgive others. We can spread the message of forgiveness by reminding others who are ready to condemn that it is only forgiveness that breaks down the barriers between us and makes for reconciliation and peace.

No one is outside of this. Even people we might feel to be the greatest of sinners, the terrorist for instance or the wife beater and abuser. Only God sees the heart and only God can judge as Pope Francis reminded us so forcibly when he said ‘Who am I to judge?’

The last injunction of Jesus is in response to the disciples asking him to increase their faith. Jesus seems to be saying that they don’t have any faith because even if it were as small as the minutest mustard seed they could do absurd things like commanding a mulberry tree to move into the midst of the sea! The absurdity of this is to emphasise how with faith we can do great things.

Do I have faith? Do I truly believe in God’s power to act in our world? Jesus is surely not talking about that simplistic faith that if we ask with faith we will get whatever we ask for, whatever it may be. The faith Jesus is talking about is the faith which means I entrust myself totally to God. I throw myself into God’s arms, as it were, trusting that he will always be there for me even when everything seems to go wrong and all seems hopeless. It is the faith of Julian of Norwich who says so powerfully that ‘God will make all manner of things well’.

The Gospel reading appointed for today follows on from that of yesterday at which we have just been looking. The point of what Jesus is saying is that if we follow all his teachings and live as he commands us we ought not to expect congratulation. To live as he asks as ‘unworthy servants’ trying to serve him and to love him in others is not something for which we ought to be congratulated by God or by anyone else but something for which we must be grateful because it is the only way that leads to fullness of life.

 

There are special readings for Saint Leo the Great but, almost certainly, those for the day will be used. Those for Leo are the following:-

Ecclesiasticus 39/6-10

which speaks of Leo’s wisdom which he shared with others, a wisdom which is still a source of wonder and praise in the Church.

Matthew 16/13-19

which relates the scene where Jesus applauds Peter’s faith and says that it is on the rock of that faith that the Church will be built. Leo was very conscious of being the successor of Peter and of his responsibility in having the care of all the churches and of his brother bishops.

 

Wednesday November 11^th. Memory of Martin of Tours(c.315-397). Week Thirty Two Year Two.

 

Martin was born in Pannonia, now Hungary and his father was a pagan officer in Roman Imperial Army. Martin also served for some time in the military, possibly as a conscript. However, Martin had set his mind on becoming a Christian and had been enrolled as a catechumen preparing for Baptism. It was at this time that the famous episode of Martin cutting his soldier’s cloak in half so that he might give a half to a poor beggar that he had met on the road to Amiens took place. The following night Martin is said to have dreamt that Jesus appeared to him wearing the half of his cloak.

Martin became convinced that he could not commit himself to Christ and remain a soldier but after making a protest, which could be seen as an early example of conscientious objection, he was imprisoned and, at the end of hostilities, he was discharged from the army in 357. He was baptised soon after that and travelled to Pannonia, Milan and Illyricum.

Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, had been banished to Phrygia under the Emperor Constantius  from 356 to 360 but on his return Martin joined him as a solitary monk at Liguge. Others gathered around him so that this became the first monastery in the whole of Gaul. Martin remained in this community and became a pioneer of monasticism in Gaul until he was chosen by the people of Tours to be their bishop in 372. Martin continued to live as a monk near his cathedral church and then, latterly, at Marmoutiers which soon numbered some eighty monks.

Martin founded other monasteries and he was convinced that the conversion of the rural areas would be best achieved in that way.  Until then Christianity had been largely an urban phenomenon  but the communities of monks, living among the ‘pagani’, the people who lived in the countryside, soon brought about the conversion of many.

Martin visited his diocese faithfully, often on foot, riding on a donkey or by boat and his reputation for goodness and compassion grew to say nothing of the wonders that were attributed to his prayers.

Martin also spent himself in combatting the various heresies that were current at the time, though he is famous for having defended the heretic Priscillian from whom the sect of the Priscillianists took their name. Priscillian was sentenced to death and executed but Martin maintained that it was for the Church to judge these matters and, even though he disagreed with his teaching, he defended Priscillian.

Legend has it that Martin had a premonition of his death and prayed ‘Lord, if your people still need me, I do not refuse the work, but let your will be done’. He died on November 8^th. and was buried on November 11^th. in the year 397. We know so much about him because his great friend, Sulpicius Severus, wrote his life soon after his death. His popularity spread rapidly so that there are some 4,000 churches dedicated to him and five hundred villages named after him in France and he is the patron of the French countryside. His fame spread all over Europe and one of the first churches in England in Canterbury was dedicated to him together with more than one hundred other churches all over the country.

Martin was the first person, not a martyr, to be declared a saint by popular acclaim and his feast has been kept on this day from early times. This is also the time for what used to be called ‘Saint Martin’s Summer’ because there was often a spell of good weather around his feast.

We pray today for the French countryside which is so largely de-Christianised and we pray for the Church in these rural areas and all those who minister in these places.

We must also remember all those who are conscientious objectors and who, so often, suffer for their convictions and Martin makes us reflect on whether it is possible to be  Jesus’ followers and still support the enormous expenditure on arms and the military when there are other such great needs.

 

Readings

Letter to Titus 3/1-17     :     Luke 17/11-19

The last of our readings from the Letter to Titus today gives instructions about general Christian behaviour, the first of which is to be obedient to the civil authorities which, at that time, would have been the pagan officials of the Roman Empire! From this we can draw our own obligation to be obedient to lawful authority. However, as we saw in Martin’s case, there can be a conflict of conscience here and, sometimes, difficult choices have to be made if we are to be faithful to Christ.

The next injunctions are to do good at every opportunity, to avoid slander and quarrels, to be courteous and polite to all kinds of people. We should remember that for those whom the writer is addressing this is a complete reversal of much of their former behaviour.

Finally, the writer reminds Titus and those who would read his words of how grateful they and we ought to be because, not for anything we have done, God has brought us through Baptism into the saving fold of his Church. These are words to be read more than once to remind ourselves that, through no merit of ours, through nothing we have done, we have found ourselves in the Church. What a great mystery and how grateful we ought to be which is why our leitmotif ought to be ‘Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God’.

In the Gospel reading, Luke again emphasises that Jesus is journeying towards Jerusalem but the exact location of this incident is problematical. Luke’s understanding of geography seems more theological than physical and he uses this incident to remind his readers, firstly that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and, secondly, after a section of teaching from chapter 14/1 to chapter 17/10, to prepare them for the healing of the Samaritan leper.

Again, this is a story unique to Luke’s Gospel. Lepers were required by the Law to stay outside the town or encampment (Numbers 5/2-3) and they were to cry out to warn others away from them (Leviticus 13/45-46). So the lepers call out to Jesus, ‘Jesus, Master, take pity on us’. This is the only occasion when someone who is not a disciple uses the term ’Master’. The cry ‘have mercy’ reminds Luke’s readers that the showing of mercy to the people is part of the expectation concerning the visitation of God.

The command that the ten should show themselves to the priests is because, as we have already seen, it was the duty of the priests to determine whether someone was still leprous or cleansed (Leviticus13/3, 10, 13 etc.). The Samaritan’s response in praising God is Luke’s usual response to the working of a ‘wonder’ but the way in which the man also ‘gave thanks’ and threw himself at Jesus’ feet is unusual.

This story points back to the previous instruction given to the disciples. They were all as outcast as the Samaritan, they were all forgiven, all cleansed and all healed. They have all received from the one who has saved them and they owe him thanks. The faith of the Samaritan which saves him reminds the apostles, for whom to assume the role of ‘master’ rather than ‘slave’ is endemic of the absoluteness of the faith that has been given them (Luke 17/5-6). The change in their own lives has been dramatic as if they had been trees, uprooted and cast into the sea. For this they can never stop thanking the Master nor can they ever take to themselves the status of ‘master’.

This story looks forward to Jesus’ next encounter with the Pharisees (Luke 17/20) when they ask about the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus can say to them in effect ‘look around you, here it is’ for in Luke’s Gospel the performance of healings is the effective sign of the coming of the kingdom.

This story reminds us to of how we ought to be grateful for the faith which has been handed down to us. We have not merited it and we are like the Samaritan, just nobodies, but the Lord has looked upon us and chosen us for this great gift. No room for arrogance but merely total humility that we should be among those chosen when we know there are so many far more worthy than ourselves.

 

There are special readings for Martin but, almost certainly, those of the day will be used. Those for Martin are :

Isaiah 61/1-3

which are the words quoted by Jesus when he proclaims his ministry in the Synagogue at Nazareth and they are words that apply especially to Martin and his lifelong service of the poor, the needy and all his people.

Matthew 25/31-40

which is the great Last Judgement scene from Matthew’s Gospel but which reminds us, especially, of how Martin found the Lord in the beggar who needed to share his cloak and how we find him, above all, in those who need our care and our love.

 

Thursday November 12^th.Memory Josaphat, bishop martyr (+1623). Week Thirty Two Year Two.

 

Josaphat was born in Poland about the year 1580. When he was only in his teens a Council of Bishops, representing millions of Byelorussians and Ukrainians, decided to seek re-union with the Roman church. They were Orthodox Christians who had been separated from Rome for many centuries and who had begun to appreciate that the See of Peter in Rome might be a point of union for all the churches. This re-union was successfully effected and, since then, these Christians have been known as Byzantine or Eastern-rite Catholics because their form of worship is quite different from that of the Roman church and the same as that of the Orthodox churches.

Though this re-union proved successful for those who had wanted it, the people were still bitterly divided and this bitterness still exists in both countries. After working as a merchant, Josaphat became a monk in 1604 and was ordained priest. He was renowned for his preaching and he did all that he could to encourage and extend the union with Rome which had taken place in 1595.In 1617 Josaphat was named Archbishop of Polotsk and he set about reforming his diocese and educating the people in their faith. In 1620 a rival church was set up to oppose the union with Rome but Josaphat continued to work to promote that union. Sadly, at the same time, Josaphat fell foul of the Roman authorities who, typically, failed to understand the way in which the Eastern Christians practised their faith and worshipped.

Though Josaphat continued to promote the union he was misunderstood by both sides and he became the victim of an assassination plot instigated by the rival church to get rid of him. While pleading for the lives of those who were with him, Josaphat was struck by a halberd and shot. His body was thrown into the river Dvina. Josaphat was canonised in 1867.

We pray today for the unity of all the churches, especially for reconciliation between the Eastern and the Western churches and for those churches, wrongly known as Uniate churches. These are Eastern churches that are united with Rome but which are often a source of great suspicion among Orthodox Christians.

We remember too the situation in the Ukraine where the division between those who wish to remain in union with the Patriarch of Moscow and those who see the Patriarchate as a tool in the hands of Russian state and have sought refuge under the protection of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

 

Readings

Letter to Philemon 7-20     :     Luke 17/20-25

Today we read the Letter to Philemon in almost its entirety. Philemon was a Christian of Colossae or the neighbourhood and his slave, Onesimus, had run away and , somehow, came to meet Paul in Rome or, some scholars would say, in Ephesus. Paul sends Onesimus, who is now a Christian and therefore a ‘dear brother’ back to his master with this letter which is a tactful pea for his forgiveness.

No scholar disputes the authorship of this short letter. If it was written from Ephesus then the date is about 55 C.E., if from Caesarea, though this seems unlikely, then between 58 and 60 C.E. or if from Rome about 61-63 C.E.

The Letter is written to Philemon and Appia, perhaps his wife, Archippus and the church that gathers in Philemon’s house.

The Letter begins with a greeting and a thanksgiving, presumably to obtain Philemon’s good will but these verses we do not read. The rest of the Letter which we do read consists of an appeal offering motives of forgiveness to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus and a reiteration and expansion of the appeal.

Although this is a personal letter, it is also a letter to the house church that meets in Philemon’s home. Paul writes as a prisoner who has sacrificed his freedom for Christ, to ask for Onesimus’ freedom and in every line, just beneath the surface, is the challenge offered to Philemon  concerning the change of relationship between master and slave  now that both are Christians. Slavery was normal in Paul’s time and, although those slaves who worked at heavy manual labour had a very difficult life, those in households were not much different from servants in rich Victorian households. Some more educated slaves had the role of tutor to the owner’s children and some even earned their own money.

It would seem that Onesimus had been converted by Paul. In another city Onesimus had been put into prison for an offence and, maybe, it was there that Paul had converted him to the Gospel. Perhaps, however, as a runaway slave, Onesimus had sought help from a Christian group and from Paul, of whom he had heard his master speak. Whatever the case it would seem that both Philemon and Onesimus had received the Good News from Paul who, in the letter, emphasises their new relationship with one another.

This letter is a reminder of how church teaching may change and develop over the centuries. What was acceptable for Paul, the institution of slavery, remained so for Christians for many centuries and although many struggled to change things, it was not until more recent times that the Church caught up with what was going on in the world around it and, finally, condemned slavery. Very little in Church teaching is written in stone so that it cannot change or develop as the centuries move on since the Spirit is constantly at work among us but, sadly, it is often those outside the Church who see the need for change so that the Church has to adjust its teachings with what the Spirit is saying outside the Church.

This Letter is also a powerful reminder of the relationship that we share with other Christians , especially in our own community. Do we behave as brothers and sisters ought to behave? What can we do to make our relationships those of a Christian family?

In today’s Gospel reading the Pharisees are once again trying to trip Jesus up by asking him when the Kingdom of God will come. Jesus refuses to be drawn but reminds them that the kingdom has already come and it is among them. His teaching and his works are the sign that the Kingdom is already with them but they fail to see it.

Furthermore, Jesus foretells that he must suffer and die but this will be the greatest sign of all that the Kingdom has finally come. It is already there in his death and resurrection and his sharing of that victory over death and sin with all who come to him in whatever way they may find him and his teaching.

In the abolition of slavery the Kingdom was established but never finally and totally. We know that slavery still exists in our world today and so we pray for all who are enslaved in so many ways. Migrant workers in Southern Spain who produce fruit and vegetables sold in our supermarkets, women enslaved as sex workers here in our own country and so on.
We must, of course, remember too all those who enslave others and pray for their conversion and we pray too for all who work to end slavery and human trafficking of any kind.

 

There are special readings for Josaphat but almost certainly those for the day will be used.
Those for Josaphat are the following below:--

Letter to the Ephesians 4/1-7, 11-13

which speaks powerfully of the unity which binds all Christians together in Christ and reminds us that it was for this unity that Josaphat worked and, ultimately, gave his life.   

John 17/20-26

which is part of Jesus’ great prayer for the unity of his followers, the unity for which Josaphat lived and died.

 

Friday November 12^th.  Friday in Week Thirty Two in Year Two.

 

Readings

Second Letter of John 4-9     :     Luke 17/26-37

Today and tomorrow we read from the second and third letters of John. It seems that they were most probably written by a disciple of the Beloved Disciple and about the year 100 C.E.. They were probably written to a community in the Johannine tradition who were threatened by the arrival of false missionaries who would lead them away from the truth of the Gospel.

One theory is that this second letter and even the third might have been a covering Letter for the First Letter of John.

The Second Letter which we read today is addressed to a ‘dear lady’ which is another way of speaking of the Christian community itself to whom the letter is addressed and her children would be the members of that community. It may be that the writer is the Elder of another community, possibly the one by which the community addressed was founded.

The writer expresses his joy at the way in which the community to whom he is speaking is living out the commandment of love and that to love is to fulfil all the commandments.

The warning follows that there are those who are going about spreading a false teaching about Christ and the writer exhorts the community to remain faithful to the teaching that they have received. It is in following that teaching alone, which is to love one another as God loves us that God dwells within us and among us.

This would seem to be a powerful message for us, the Church, today. We must not let ourselves be led astray by all sorts of strange and fanciful teachings and messages. We must be faithful to the Gospel message which is summed up in the simple but difficult commandment that we must love one another as God loves us.

The Gospel reading warns Jesus’ disciples and us that it is not be as things were when Noah went into the Ark, they were ‘eating, drinking, marrying wives and husbands   …   and the Flood came and destroyed them all’. The Pharisees have asked when the Kingdom of God was coming (Luke 17/20) but Jesus gives no answer. All he says is that the disciples must be on the alert. Although his instructions here are about the final great Coming of the Kingdom they are also relevant for the here and now. The disciple cannot ‘look back’ either at the pleasures, ’eating and drinking’, the relationships, ’marrying and being given in marriage’ or possessions, buying, selling, planting, building. The disciple must leave everything to follow the prophet. In the same way those caught in the final cataclysm  must be willing to ‘lose their life, located in such ‘having’ in order to save it. Luke’s addition of the example of Lot’s wife is particularly pointed. Lot’s wife identified her life with her possessions and looking back at what she had ‘lost’, she lost her life.

The question of when the Kingdom of God will come is totally inappropriate . For Luke the call of God, the visitation of God is constant in every life, as close as death itself. The point is not ‘when?’ but conversion. Those who would be Jesus’ disciples must travel with sufficient lightness to be able to respond to the call day by day. The final question of the disciples ‘where Lord?’ is equally meaningless. The Kingdom of God is not a place but a ‘rule’. Vultures, Jesus says, gather wherever there is carrion and the Kingdom of God, God’s Rule, is wherever people are gathered by the Word of God.

These are very difficult words and we need to reflect on them seriously. Obviously, we live in situations where we cannot just up sticks and follow the Lord. It is, however, the principle that is important. How much am I attached to and, to a certain extent, enslaved by material things. It all comes back to that one commandment that we must love one another. How much does my own attachment to things and people prevent me from fully loving others? That’s the question and we need to ask it of ourselves every day. The famous story of James Fox, the founder of the Quakers, always comes to mind here. Asked by a courtier whether he might join the movement because he had to wear sword as part of his courtly dress and he knew the Quakers admitted no violence and were pacifists, Fox’s answer was simple. ‘Wear it as long as you can’ he is reputed to have said. In other words, if we are open to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will guide us in what we must do to be Jesus’ true disciples.

 

Saturday November 13^th.  Saturday in Week Thirty Two in Year Two.

 

Readings

Third Letter of John 5-8     :     Luke 18/1-8

The third Letter of John is similar to the second which we read yesterday in that it attempts to deal with a situation which has arisen in a local church. The Letter is addressed to Gaius, a Christian who is a friend of the writer and a respected member of the church. The reason for writing the Letter is because Diotrophes has taken over the leadership of a another local church which is being unfriendly towards them.

The verses which we read, however, are more about the welcome that Gaius and his church have shown to some travelling preachers who seem to have come from the writer’s own community.

Although the situation in our churches is not the same today, these few verses are, nevertheless, an invitation to us to be always on the lookout for visitors and strangers and to extend to them a warm and loving welcome.How true is that of our communities? Do we look on strangers as, first of all, potential members for our community or do we look on them as Christ and ask first of all in what way we can help and love them? Our welcome should be disinterested and show only our love and concern  for them. What is true in our communities is, of course, true in our daily lives. How open am I to the stranger and those I don’t know? How much do I recognise that for me they are Christ himself?

The Gospel reading follows that of yesterday and Jesus tells a story about a widow who seeks justice from a judge who ignores her. Her persistence, Jesus says, finally, wins the judge’s attention and she does, eventually, receive justice.

Placed after Jesus’ teaching that the Kingdom is already here though the End is not yet, this story is very appropriate. Those who heard Jesus’ story and, indeed, we ourselves in the present dire situation in which we live, might well identify ourselves with the widow since the Kingdom does not seem to be coming though the End often seems near.

What Jesus is saying to us today is that, like the widow, we must persevere in prayer and in hope and trust that the Kingdom will come, eventually in all its wonder.
Jesus’ final words are addressed to us. Do we have faith and trust in God’s power and love and in the eventual fulfilment of God’s Kingdom of justice and of love? The proof of our faith is that, like the widow, we persevere, not only in prayer but in working day by day to establish that Kingdom wherever we are able to do so and we do that by little acts of love each and every day.

Of course, in all this we need the support of our Christian communities who by their love encourage us to persevere even when all seems so very dark.