OCTOBER 09, 2012 : TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 462

Lk 10:39-42

Reading 1 Gal 1:13-24

Brothers and sisters:
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it,
and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when he, who from my mother's womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas
and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
(As to what I am writing to you, behold,
before God, I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ;
they only kept hearing that "the one who once was persecuting us
is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
So they glorified God because of me.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15

R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Gospel Lk 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "You are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful"

Does the peace of Christ reign in your home and in your personal life? Jesus loved to visit the home of Martha and Mary and enjoyed their gracious hospitality. In this brief encounter we see two very different temperaments in Martha and Mary. Martha loved to serve, but in her anxious manner of waiting on Jesus, she caused unrest. Mary, in her simple and trusting manner, waited on Jesus by sitting attentively at his feet. She instinctively knew that what the Lord and Teacher most wanted at that moment was her attentive presence. Anxiety and preoccupation keep us from listening and from giving the Lord our undivided attention. The Lord bids us to give him our concerns and anxieties because he is trustworthy and able to meet any need we have. His grace frees us from needless concerns and preoccupation. Do you seek the Lord attentively? And does the Lord find a welcomed and honored place in your home?
The Lord Jesus desires that we make a place for him, not only in our hearts, but in our homes and in the daily circumstances of our lives as well. We honor the Lord when we offer to him everything we have and everything we do. Afterall, everything we have is an outright gift from God (1 Chronicles 29:14). Paul the Apostle urges us to give God glory in everything: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).  When you sit, eat, sleep and when you entertain your friends and guests, remember that the Lord Jesus is also the guest of your home. Scripture tells us that when Abraham opened his home and welcomed three unknown travelers, he welcomed the Lord who blessed him favorably for his gracious hospitality (Genesis 18:1-10; Hebrews 13:2). The Lord wants us to bring him glory in the way we treat others and use the gifts he has graciously given to us. God, in turn, blesses us with his gracious presence and fills us with joy.
"Lord Jesus, to be in your presence is life and joy for me. Free me from needless concerns and preoccupations that I may give you my undivided love and attention."
www.dailyscripture.net

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9
LUKE 10:38-42
(Galatians 1:13-24; Psalm 139)
KEY VERSE: "Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her" (v 42).
READING: On Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, he stopped at the village of Bethany to rest at the home of his friends, Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus. Jesus had been teaching his disciples about the privilege and responsibility of being a disciple, and then he did a radical thing―he taught a woman. Mary seated herself at the feet of Jesus, and listened to his words just as a disciple of a Jewish rabbi would do. Martha criticized her sister for neglecting her duties as host, but Mary showed true hospitality by being totally present to her guest. When Martha complained that Mary had left her with all the serving, Jesus told Martha that she was too "anxious and worried about many things"(v 40-41). The one thing that should  concern her was "to seek God's kingdom before all else" (12:29-31). Mary freely chose to be Jesus' disciple, and she would not be deprived of the opportunity. Her service to others would flow from her single-hearted devotion to the Lord.
REFLECTING: Do I serve others with love and dedication?
PRAYING: Lord Jesus, help me to welcome you into my home so that I might listen to your words.
Optional Memorial of Denis, bishop and martyr and his companions 
Denis was the first Bishop of Paris. His success roused the ire of local pagans, and he was imprisoned by the Roman governor. He was martyred in the persecutions of Valerius along with St. Rusticus and St. Eleutherius, who may have been his deacons. He was beheaded c.258 at Montmarte (Mount of martyrs); his corpse was thrown in the Seine, but was recovered and buried by his converts. Legends have grown up around his torture and death including one that St. Denis' body carried his severed head some distance from his execution site. St. Genevieve built a basilica over his grave. His feast was added to the Roman Calendar in 1568 by Pope Saint Pius V, though it had been celebrated since 800. St. Denis is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. 
Optional Memorial of John Leonardi, priest 
After ordination on 22 December 1572, John Leonardi worked with prisoners and the sick. His example attracted some young laymen to assist him, most of whom became priests themselves. This group formed the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, a congregation of diocesan priests. The Clerks were confirmed in 1595 by Pope Clement VIII, but because of  an unfounded accusation that John wanted to form the group for his personal advancement, he was exiled for most of the rest of his life. In 1579 John Leonardi  formed the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the purpose of spreading the faith, and published a compendium of Christian doctrine that remained in use until the 19th century.  Because of this he is rightly looked upon as the founder of the Institute which is now called the Work of the Propagation of the Faith. He died at Rome in the year 1609 attending victims of the plague.
www.daily-word-of-life.org

One Thing Is Needed

Readings: Galatians 1:13-24; Luke 10:38-42

A man went to college to gain wisdom, but he came away with facts and figures. He turned to business and became cunning. He tried a craft and learned only skills with his hands. He then tried pleasures, but gained a feeling of emptiness. The man felt that he would never know wisdom. He grew weary of search. But one day he stopped at a church. He listened quietly to the Word of God being proclaimed.

A small voice within him said, “Be still, and know that I am God.” After a period of silent meditation on the words he heard, he felt some enlightenment in his mind, and believed that that was the beginning of wisdom. When Martha complained about being left to do all the work while Mary was only sitting and listening to the Lord, Jesus said to her, “Martha, one thing is needed; Mary has chosen the good portion” (Lk 10:42). By no means did Jesus disapprove of what Martha was doing. He was onl’ emphasising the importance of listening to God in prayer. The Word nourishes our spirit as food nourishes our body. Before starting his active ministry, St Paul went away to A?abian deserts to spend days in communion with God (Gal 1:17). We all live such busy lives that we need to set aside time for daily prayer.

www.spreadjesus.org

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
What are we passionate about? Will we allow our faith turn our world upside down?
How strong is our conviction when it comes to our faith? Paul was a man whose passion was notorious. At the same time, his conversion was powerful. Paul’s entire life focus changed. The depth of his passion didn’t waver. He was so sure that what he now knew was truth that he didn’t feel needed confirmation or validation from the other apostles. His encounter with God was overwhelming and all-consuming.

Mary and Martha were both just as passionate about Jesus. They had different ways of expressing it. Jesus invited them both to be passionate—to be in his presence and to learn from him. What are we passionate about? Will we allow our faith turn our world upside down?
www.churchresources.info

PRAYER 

Prayer is the fundamental and grounding experience of everything we are. In other words, prayer is the process wherein we discover both who we are and why we are. In essence, it is the process whereby and wherein we pay attention with total concentration to our our human nature so that, by attending to our own creatureliness, we come to attend to and upon our Creator. St Augustine put this very succinctly and very marvellously in this way: "Man must first be restored to himself, that, making in himself as it were a stepping-stone, he may rise thence and be borne up to God." 

So prayer, meditation is not just a way of "doing" something but it is a way "becoming" someone - becoming yourself: created by God, redeemed by Jesus and a temple of the Holy Spirit.

- John Main 
  John Main, "Christian Meditation" [Benedictine Priory of Montreal]

www.churchresources.info

MINUTE MEDITATIONS

Change For the Better           

Sometimes the only way to free ourselves of past regrets is to face them and deal with them in the present. We can then change for the better what is in our power to change, and leave the rest in God’s hands.

— from Fools, Liars, Cheaters, and Other Bible Heroes

www.americancatholic.org

October 9
Blessed John Henry Newman
(1801-1890)

John Henry Newman, the 19th century's most important English-speaking Roman Catholic theologian, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest, popular preacher, writer and eminent theologian in both Churches. 

Born in London, England, he studied at Oxford's Trinity College, was a tutor at Oriel College and for 17 years was vicar of the university church, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem, "Dream of Gerontius," was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar.
 
After 1833, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement, which emphasized the Church's debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective.
 
Historical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory, founded three centuries earlier by St. Philip Neri. Returning to England, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. 

Before Newman, Catholic theology tended to ignore history, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection.
 
Newman eventually wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua (his spiritual autobiography up to 1864) and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I's teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do.

When Newman was named a cardinal in 1879, he took as his motto "Cor ad cor loquitur" (Heart speaks to heart). He was buried in Rednal (near Birmingham) 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham.

Three years after Newman died, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pittsburgh. In time, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States.

Pope Benedict XVI beatified Newman on September 19, 2010, at Crofton Park (near Birmingham). The pope noted Newman's emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick, the poor, the bereaved and those in prison. 

Comment:

John Henry Newman has been called the "absent Father of Vatican II" because his writings on conscience, religious liberty, Scripture, the vocation of lay people, the relation of Church and State, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council's documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. 

Quote:

Newman composed this prayer: "God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.

"I have a mission; I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons; He has not created me for naught.
 
"I shall do good—I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace while not intending it if I do but keep his commandments. Therefore, I will trust him."

www.americancatholic.org

Sts. Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius

Feastday: October 9

Patron of France; Paris; against frenzy, strife, headaches, hydrophobia, possessed people, rabies

The first mention we have of these three martyrs who died around 258 A.D. comes in the sixth century in the writings of Saint Gregory of Tours.

Denis (or Dionysius as he is also called) is the most famous of the three. Born and raised in Italy, he was sent as a missionary to Gaul (now France) circa 250 A.D. by Pope St. Clement along with five other bishops.

Denis made his base of missionary activity an island in the Seine near the city of Lutetia Parisorium -- what would become Paris. For this reason he is know as the first bishop of Paris and the Apostle of France. There he was captured by the Parisians along with Rusticus and Eleutherius. Later writers have referred to these as Denis' priest and deacon, or his deacon and subdeacon, but we have no further information on them.

After a long imprisonment and several aborted executions, the three martyrs were beheaded with a sword and their bodies were thrown into the river. Denis' body was retrieved from the Seine by his converts and buried. The chapel that was built over his tomb grew into the abbey of Saint-Denis.

In the ninth century, Denis' story and identity became fused and confused with Dionysius the Areopagite and Pseudo-Dionysius, but later scholarship has re-established his identity as a separate saint.

Denis is pictured as he was martyred -- headless (with a vine growing over the neck) and carrying his own mitred head.

Recognized since the time of St. Gregory as a special saint of Paris, Denis is the patron saint of France.

www.catholic.org

LECTIO: LUKE 10,38-42

Lectio: 

 Tuesday, October 9, 2012  

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
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 10,38-42
In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking.
Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'
But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'

3) Reflection
• Context. The journey of Jesus, undertaken in 9, 51, is surrounded by particular encounters, among which with the Doctors of the Law (10, 25-37), that precedes the encounter with Martha and Mary (vv. 38-42). Above all, there is a doctor of the Law who asks Jesus a question and that for the reader it becomes a convenient occasion to discover how eternal life is inherited or gained which is intimacy with the Father. One can have access to eternal life by participating in the mission of Jesus, the first one sent who has shown us God’s mercy fully (v. 37). In Jesus the Father has become close to men, he has shown his paternity in a tangible way. At the end of the encounter the expression that Jesus addresses to the Doctor of the Law and to every reader is crucial: “Go, and do the same yourself” (v. 37). To become a neighbour, to get close to others as Jesus did makes us become instruments to show in a living way the merciful love of the Father. This is the secret key to enter into eternal life. 
• Listening to the Word. After this encounter with an expert of the Law, while he is on the way, Jesus enters into a village and is welcomed by old friends: Martha and Mary. Jesus is not only the first one sent by the Father but he is also the one who gathers together men and in our case the members of the house of Bethany, in so far as he is the only Word of the Father. If it is true that there are many services to be carried out, welcoming, attention to the needs of others, and even more it is true that what is irreplaceable is listening to the Word. The account that Luke gives is a real episode and at the same time an ideal. It begins with the welcome of Martha (v. 38), then, it sketches Mary with an attitude typical of the disciple, sitting at the feet of Jesus and totally attentive to listen to his Word. This attitude of Mary is extraordinary because in Judaism at the time of Jesus it was not permitted for a woman to go to the school of a Teacher, a Master. Up until now we have a harmonious picture: the welcome of Martha, the listening of Mary. But soon the welcome of Martha will be transformed into super activism: the woman is “pulled”, divided by the multiple services; she is so absorbed that she is unable to control the domestic services. The great amount of activities, understandable for such a guest, becomes however, disproportionate so much so as to prevent her living what is essential precisely in the time that Jesus is present in her house. Her worry or concern is legitimate, but then it becomes anguish, a state of mind that is not convenient when a friend is welcomed. 
• Relate service to listening. Her service of acceptance, of welcome is very positive but it is detrimental because of this state of anxiety with which she carries it out. The Evangelist makes the reader glimpse to show that there is no contradiction between the ‘diaconia’ of the table and that of the Word, but he wants to suggest that the service should be related to listening. Because she did not relate the spiritual attitude of service to that of listening, Martha feels that she has been abandoned by her sister, but instead, of dialoguing with Mary, she complains with the Master. Trapped in her solitude she goes against Jesus who seems to be indifferent to her problem (“Lord do you not care”...) and then with the sister, (“that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?”). In his response Jesus does not reproach her, nor criticize her, but he tries to help Martha to recover that which is essential at that moment: listening to the Master. He invites her to choose that part, unique and a priority that Mary has spontaneously taken. The episode invites us to consider a danger which is always frequent in the life of Christians: anxiety, worry, super activism that can isolate us from communion with Christ and with the community. The danger is more underhanded because frequently the material concerns or worries carried out with anxiety, we consider them a form of service. What presses Luke is that in our communities the priority that should be given to the Word of God, and to listen to it, should not be neglected. Before serving the others, the relatives, and the ecclesial community it is necessary to be served by Christ with His Word of grace. And thus immersed in the daily tasks, like Martha, we forget that the Lord desires to take care of us... It is necessary, instead, to place in Jesus and in God all our concerns and worries. 

4) Personal questions
• Do you know how to relate service to listening to the Word of Jesus? Or rather do you allow yourself to be taken up by anxiety because of the multiple things to be done? 
• Have you understood that before serving you have to accept to be served by Christ? Are you aware that your service becomes divine only if previously you will have accepted Christ and his word? 

5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
you know when I sit, when I rise, 
you understand my thoughts from afar.
You watch when I walk or lie down, 
you know every detail of my conduct. (Ps 139,1-3)

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