SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 : WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 445

Reading 1 1 Cor 12:31-13:13

Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing;
if tongues, they will cease;
if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child;
when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
but then face to face.
At present I know partially;
then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 And 22

R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Gospel Lk 7:31-35

Jesus said to the crowds:
"To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,

'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.'

For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine,
and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said,
'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'
But wisdom is vindicated by all her children."

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "How shall I compare this generation?"

What do childrens' games have to do with the kingdom of God? Games are the favorite pastime of children who play until their energy is spent. The more interaction the merrier the game. The children in Jesus' parable react with disappointment because they cannot convince others to join in their musical play. They complain that when they make merry music such as played at weddings, no one dances or sings along; and when they play mournful tunes for sad occassions such as  funerals, it is the same dead response. This refrain echoes the words of Ecclesiastes 3:4, there is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. Both joyful and sad occassions – such as the birth of a child and the homecoming of a hero or the loss of a loved one and the destruction of a community or nation – demand a response. To show indifference, lack of  interest or support , or disdain, is unfitting and unkind.
Jesus' message of the kingdom of God is a proclamation of good news that produces great joy and hope for those who will listen; but it is also a warning of disaster for those who refuse to accept God's gracious offer. Why did the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus meet with resistance and deaf ears? It was out of jealously and spiritual blindness that the scribes and Pharisees attributed John the Baptist's austerities to the devil and they attributed Jesus' table fellowship as evidence for messianic pretense. They succeeded in frustrating God's plan for their lives because they had closed their hearts to the message of  John the Baptist and now they close their ears to Jesus.
What can make us spiritually dull and slow to hear God's voice? Like the generation of Jesus' time, our age is marked by indifference and contempt, especially in regards to the things of God's kingdom. Indifference dulls our ears to God's voice and to the good news of the gospel. Only the humble of heart who are hungry for God can find true joy and happiness. Do you listen to God's word with expectant faith and the willingness to trust and obey?
"Lord Jesus, open my ears to hear the good news of your kingdom and set my heart free to love and serve you joyfully. May nothing keep me from following you wholeheartedly."
www.dailyscripture.net

Perpetually Dissatisfied

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Father Robert Presutti Listen to podcast version here. Luke 7:31-35  "Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ´We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.´ For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ´He is possessed by a demon.´ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ´Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.´ But wisdom is vindicated by all her children." Introductory Prayer: Eternal God, prayer is your gift to me. I believe that you give me complete and unlimited access to your power and mercy. I want to value this gift of prayer above all things. As I begin this meditation, I renew my faith, my hope and my love for you. Petition: Lord, give me discernment and constancy in my efforts to follow you. 1. Endless Excuses: Some very good and religious people in Jesus’ day complained about John the Baptist, precursor of the Messiah, because of his austere lifestyle. “He must be crazy,” they said. They also complained about Jesus’ apparently excessive liberality with sinners and nonbelievers. The habit of constantly sifting reality through our own preconceptions can lead us to reject the things of God. This is the opposite of faith. It is even the opposite of the healthy exercise of reason and has become a limiting rationalism. Rather than seeking to place God neatly in our own self-created and prearranged world, we need to let ourselves be shaped by God’s criteria. 2. Fickleness: Spiritual fickleness inevitable leads us to reject God. The inability to follow through on a particular spiritual path necessarily leaves us midcourse, far from the goal. It does not matter whether we follow the austerity of the disciple John or the apparently liberality of the disciples of Jesus. What matters is that we follow through to completion whatever particular path God has given us. As long as we move, God can guide our steps. If we don’t move, there is nothing to guide. Waiting around for some mythical “perfect conditions” is in reality capriciousness and unwillingness to commit. 3. Wisdom: Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit by which we are able to see and comprehend the divine and human realities from God’s perspective. Wisdom leads to equilibrium and balance in our judgments and assessments. We prepare for this gift by our effort to make good decisions and live by them. The supernatural gifts build upon the human virtues. Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, I am indebted to you for your teaching and for your example. Help me to learn from your life and your example, and keep me from ever dismissing them as irrelevant. Help me to be constant in my resolutions so that I will continue to grow closer to you and serve you better. Resolution: I will avoid making excuses today.

www.regnumchristi.com

Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

 I am going to show you a way better than any.
How often we see articles and books on the subject of love! In today’s first reading we have a classic and much quoted passage about love. Saint Paul reminds us how love manifests itself in the actions of people. Perhaps the most telling line insists that love never comes to an end.

True love never comes to an end, even though we know it is often tested in difficult times, whether in times of stress, of sickness, of insecurity or when human weakness shows itself. At the end of the passage, Paul reminds us that faith, hope and love never come to an end but that the greatest of these is love. Let us pray about this today—to Mary, to Jesus, to the Father.
www.churchresources.info

THOUGHT FOR TODAY
A YEAR 11 STUDENT ON COMMUNITY
I quote the following letter in full because it captures so well the importance of community service in forming our students. It was written in August 2001 by a Year 11 boarder. He was also a member of the Year 11 Arrupe Academy Leadership program. He is speaking of his experience of working in the Cana Communities which serve homeless people in inner Sydney.

Dear Fr Gleeson,

Mr Hogan on Wednesday at School Assembly asked for help with several shelters run by Cana Communities. During the first week of the holidays, I spent thirty hours working at these shelters helping out around the place or just talking to the people. The idea of Cana Communities is to give those people who are not accepted by society, for whatever reason, a place where they can feel part of a community. It comes back to that idea that many of the boys raised about not feeling comfortable with homeless people, often having apprehensions about talking to or even approaching them. These feelings separate the underprivileged from the privileged, hence the need for a community where they feel they belong. During my time at Cana I worked at three different places: De Porres House, Teresa House and Cana Cafeteria. From cleaning toilets, to cooking dinner to sleeping over at the hostel I was never short of experiences.

But how did these thirty hours touch my life? After careful thought I think I can narrow it down to three main ways:

1. It made me appreciate my life more. This seemed a common theme from the speakers, but nonetheless I believe it is still an important one. Such experiences of community education as my one, in a way, provide a safety net when things are blue. Many mornings I might wake up and be panicking at the thought of a test or complaining that there is no hot water in the Division, but, by being educated through my experience at Cana, I am able to step back, take a look at the Big Picture and appreciate what God has given me and how I can use these gifts for the Greater Good. I can pick myself up and face the day and the world with a whole new attitude.

2. It eliminated that fear of difference. It is common throughout all societies that the majority are not fond of difference, and this is also the case in the streets of Sydney. Many rich business men/women walk past the underprivileged each day and probably think to themselves, 'Why is it my problem. They probably got themselves there in the first place - they don't deserve help'. But my experience demonstrated to me that these people are just as much my neighbour as you, my friends or the Pope. I was, personally, brought up in a very sanitized environment where I was not even to look at 'those people'. I met one man, David, who was an excellent poet. Probably he, on his own, in one hour eliminated my ignorance and fear of difference.

3. Finally, and probably most importantly, it instilled in me a greater love of generosity. It might sound a bit cliched but it is true. As Daniel Street was saying, when he came back from his Grummit Scholarship he felt empty because he was not doing something for the community. I now feel the same way. I now look forward to every second Sunday where I go out to Redfern and talk to the homeless and addicted. (One word of advice that I would have liked to give the guys would have been to dive in the deep end. I have done other community service for DEAS in the past and have enjoyed it, but not really loved it. By diving in the deep end of society and really seeing how much there is to be done you realize that you can make more of a difference than just delivering newspapers.) By really jumping into your community service you begin to love the feeling that comes over you when you see that disabled man smiling and you know that you have made his day.


 
From A Canopy of Stars: Some Reflections for the Journey by Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ [David Lovell Publishing 2003]

www.churchresources.info

MINUTE MEDITATIONS

Praying the Psalms

If the psalm prays, you pray too. If it laments, do the same. If it gives thanks, rejoice along with it. If it speaks in the presence of fear, tremble with it. For all that is written in the psalms is meant to be a mirror for us. -St. Augustine

— from Help Me Pray

www.americancatholic.org

September 19
St. Januarius
(d. 305?)

Martyrdom of Saint Januarius
by Girolarmo Pesce.

Little  is known of Januarius's life. He is believed to have been martyred in the Diocletian persecution of 305. Legend has it that after Januarius was thrown to the bears in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli, he was beheaded, and his blood ultimately brought to Naples.

Comment:

It is defined Catholic doctrine that miracles can happen and can be recognized—hardly a mind-boggling statement to anyone who believes in God. Problems arise, however, when we must decide whether an occurrence is unexplainable in natural terms, or only unexplained. We do well to avoid an excessive credulity, which may be a sign of insecurity. On the other hand, when even scientists speak about "probabilities" rather than "laws" of nature, it is something less than imaginative for Christians to think that God is too "scientific" to work extraordinary miracles to wake us up to the everyday miracles of sparrows and dandelions, raindrops and snowflakes.

Bust of Saint Januarius.

Quote:

“A dark mass that half fills a hermetically sealed four-inch glass container, and is preserved in a double reliquary in the Naples cathedral as the blood of St. January, liquefies 18 times during the year.... This phenomenon goes back to the 14th century.... Tradition connects it with a certain Eusebia, who had allegedly collected the blood after the martyrdom.... The ceremony accompanying the liquefaction is performed by holding the reliquary close to the altar on which is located what is believed to be the martyr's head. While the people pray, often tumultuously, the priest turns the reliquary up and down in the full sight of the onlookers until the liquefaction takes place.... Various experiments have been applied, but the phenomenon eludes natural explanation. There are, however, similar miraculous claims made for the blood of John the Baptist, Stephen, Pantaleon, Patricia, Nicholas of Tolentino and Aloysius Gonzaga—nearly all in the neighborhood of Naples” (Catholic Encyclopedia).

www.americancatholic.org

ST. EMILY DE RODAT

St.Emily de Rodat.

Emily was born in 1787 at Rodez, France.  She was educated at Villefranche, became a teacher at the age of 18 and, realizing that many of the children of the poor were not going to school because they could not afford to, she opened a school for them and taught without charge.

She also began to consider religious life, but after entering three or four congregations for a short time, she realized that she was not called to any of the existing orders.

Emily devoted all of her life to teaching the poor and gathered other young women to help her cope with the rapidly growing numbers of children in her school. These women also gave all their lives to teaching the children and became the nucleus of the Religious Congregation of the Holy Family of Villefranche.

The congregation was devoted to caring for the elderly, prisoners, and orphans, in addition to the schools for the poor. Some of the nuns were also contemplative and spent their time in prayer and adoration.

She died of cancer at Villefranche on September 19, 1852.  At the time of her death Saint Emily de Rodat had opened 38 charitable institutions. 

Saint Emily was canonized in 1950 by Pope Pius XII.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

LECTIO: LUKE 7,31-35

Lectio: 

 Wednesday, September 19, 2012  

1) Opening prayer
Almighty God,

our creator and guide,
may we serve you with all our hearts
and know your forgiveness in our lives.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Luke 7,31-35
Jesus said: ‘What comparison, then, can I find for the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn’t dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn’t cry.

‘For John the Baptist has come, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, “He is possessed.” The Son of man has come, eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.’

3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel we see the novelty of the Good News which opens its way and thus persons who are attached to ancient forms of faith feel lost and do not understand anything more of God’s action. In order to hide their lack of openness and of understanding they defend and seek childish pretexts to justify their attitude of lack of acceptance. Jesus reacts with a parable to denounce the incoherence of his enemies: “You are similar to children who do not know what they want”.

• Luke 7, 31: To whom, then, shall I compare you? Jesus is struck by the reaction of the people and say: “What comparison, then, can I find for the people of this generation? What are they like?” When something is evident and the persons, out of ignorance or because of bad will, do not perceive things and do not want to perceive them, it is good to find an evident comparison which will reveal their incoherence and the ill will. And Jesus is a Master in finding comparisons which speak for themselves.
• Luke 7, 32: Like children without judgment. The comparison which Jesus finds is this one. You are like “those children, shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: we played the pipes for you, and you would not dance; we sang dirges and you would not cry!” Spoiled children, all over the world, have the same reaction. They complain when others do not do and act as they say. The reason for Jesus’ complaint is the arbitrary way with which people in the past reacted before John the Baptist and how they react now before Jesus.
• Luke 7, 33-34: Their opinion on John and on Jesus. “For John the Baptist has come, not eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say: he is possessed. The Son of man has come eating and drinking, and you say: look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”. Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist; he believed in him and was baptized by him. On the occasion of this Baptism in the Jordan, he had the revelation of the Father regarding his mission as Messiah-Servant (Mk 1, 10). At the same time, Jesus stressed the difference between him and John. John was more severe, more ascetical, did not eat nor drink. He remained in the desert and threatened the people with the punishment of the Last Judgment (Lk 3, 7-9). Because of this, people said that he was possessed. Jesus was more welcoming; he ate and drank like everybody else. He went through the towns and entered the houses of the people; he accepted the tax collectors and the prostitutes. This is why they said that he was a glutton and a drunkard. Even considering his words regarding “the men of this generation” (Lk 7, 31), in a general way, probably, Jesus had in mind the opinion of the religious authority who did not believe in Jesus (Mk 11,29-33).
• Luke 7, 35: The obvious conclusion to which Jesus arrives. And Jesus ends drawing this conclusion: “Yet, wisdom is justified by all her children”. The lack of seriousness and of coherence is clearly seen in the opinion given on Jesus and on John. The bad will is so evident that it needs no proof. That recalls the response of Job to his friends who believe that they are wise: “Will no one teach you to be quiet! - the only wisdom that becomes you!” (Job 13, 5).

4) Personal questions
• When I express my opinion on others, am I like the Pharisees and the Scribes who gave their opinion on Jesus and John? They expressed only their preconceptions and said nothing on the persons whom they judged.

• Do you know any groups in the Church who would merit the parable of Jesus?

5) Concluding Prayer
How blessed the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people he has chosen as his heritage.
From heaven Yahweh looks down,
he sees all the children of Adam. (Ps 33,12-13)

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