OCTOBER 15, 2015 : MEMORIAL OF SAINT TERESA OF JESUS, VIRGIN AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 470

Reading 1ROM 3:21-30

Brothers and sisters:
Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,
though testified to by the law and the prophets,
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
for all who believe.
For there is no distinction;
all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.
They are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as an expiation,
through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness
because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,
through the forbearance of God–
to prove his righteousness in the present time,
that he might be righteous
and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out.
On what principle, that of works?
No, rather on the principle of faith.
For we consider that a person is justified by faith
apart from works of the law.
Does God belong to Jews alone?
Does he not belong to Gentiles, too?
Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one
and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith
and the uncircumcised through faith.

Responsorial PsalmPS 130:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6AB

R. (7) With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
R. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.

AlleluiaJN 14:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 11:47-54

The Lord said:
“Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets 
whom your fathers killed.
Consequently, you bear witness and give consent
to the deeds of your ancestors,
for they killed them and you do the building.
Therefore, the wisdom of God said,
‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles;
some of them they will kill and persecute’
in order that this generation might be charged
with the blood of all the prophets
shed since the foundation of the world,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah
who died between the altar and the temple building.
Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
Woe to you, scholars of the law!
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”
When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees
began to act with hostility toward him
and to interrogate him about many things,
for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.

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Meditation: Do not lose the key of knowledge

How can God's wisdom free us from being double-minded and spiritually blind? God sent his prophets to open the ears of his people to hear and understand God's word and intention for their lives. God's wisdom is personified in the voice of the prophets, a voice that often brought rejection and death because they spoke for God rather than for human favor and approval. Jesus chastised many of the religious leaders of his day for being double-minded and for demanding from others standards which they refused to satisfy. They professed admiration for the prophets from the past by building their tombs while at the same time they opposed the message that the prophets spoke in God's name. They rejected the prophets' warnings and closed their ears to the word of God.

Jesus in the key of knowledge that opens God's kingdom for us
What does Jesus mean when he says they have taken away the key of knowledge? The religious lawyers and scribes held the "office of the keys" since they were the official interpreters of the Scriptures. Unfortunately their interpretation of the Scriptures became so distorted and difficult to understand that others were "shut off" to the Scriptures. They not only shut themselves to heaven - they also hindered others from understanding God's word. Through pride and envy, they rejected not only the prophets of old, but God's final prophet and Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the "key of David" (see Isaiah 22:22; Revelations 3:7) who opens heaven for those who accept him as Lord and Savior. He is the "Wisdom of God" and source of everlasting life. 

Humility helps us to be receptive to God's wisdom
Only the humble of heart - those who thirst for God and acknowledge his word as true - can truly understand the wisdom which comes from above. [See Psalm 119:99ff: "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation."] God is ever ready to speak his word to us and to give us true wisdom and understanding. Do you hunger for the wisdom which comes from above?

"Lord Jesus, may your word take root in my heart and transform all my thoughts and actions. Give me wisdom and understanding that I may know your will for my life and have the courage to live according to it."

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, LUKE 11:47-54
(Romans 3:21-30; Psalm 130)

KEY VERSE: "Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed" (v 47). 
TO KNOW: Jesus continued his tirade against the scribes, the "scholars of the law" (v 45). By their superficial religiosity, they were following in the footsteps of their ancestors who killed the prophets. While they piously built memorials to the prophets, they refused to do what the prophets required: "to do right...love goodness, and to walk humbly with God" (Micah 6:8). The blood of those who died for the truth stretched from "A-Z": Abel to Zechariah, the first and last murders in the Hebrew canon of scripture (Gn 4:8; 2 Chr 24:20-22). Jesus charged the Scribes of depriving people of the key to the knowledge of God's kingdom by distorting God's word and not practicing it themselves. 
TO LOVE: Am I obedient to God’s Law?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, I pray for all who faithfully witness to the Gospel even to the point of death.

Memorial of Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church 

Teresa of Avila was the daughter of a Spanish noble. Crippled by disease in her youth, she was cured after prayer to St. Joseph. Her mother died when Teresa was 12, and she prayed to Our Lady to mother her. Teresa's father opposed her entry into religious life, so she left home without telling anyone, and entered a Carmelite house at age 17. Seeing her conviction to her call, her father and family consented. Soon after taking her vows as a Carmelite, Teresa became gravely ill, and never fully recovered her health. She began receiving visions, and was examined by Dominicans and Jesuits, including St. Francis Borgia, who pronounced the visions to be holy and true. She considered her original house too lax in its rule, so she founded a reformed convent of St. John of Avila. Teresa is a mystical writer and was proclaimed Doctor of the Church on 27 September, 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Thursday 15 October 2015

THU 15TH. St Teresa of Avila.

Romans 3:21-29. With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption—Ps 129(130):1-6. Luke 11:47-54.

Readings

'Woe to you!'

Such strong words from Jesus to the scholars of the law in today’s Gospel. St Paul continues on in the same manner when writing to the Romans. He stresses that we are justified through our faith, not by boasting about our good deeds.

This all sounds very reasonable and simple on the surface. We all know it. We’ve heard it all before. Today let us focus on the fact that Jesus is still speaking to us in this present time. We could reflect on the following questions: Do we ‘know and understand’ what’s in the daily readings but not ‘stop and listen’ to his strong words to us personally? Do we fulfil our duties to family, work and church but not listen to what our God is asking of us? How are we different to the scholars of the law?

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MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Christ Died For Me

I have a headache: Christ’s head was crowned with thorns for the love of me. I dread the loss of my money or my job: Christ was stripped naked for the love of me. I am afraid of becoming helpless: for love of me Christ became a helpless infant. I am afraid of confined spaces: for love of me Christ was in the tomb. I am afraid to die: Christ died for love of me. 
—Caryll Houselander

— from Love Never Fails

October 15
St. Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582)

Teresa lived in an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. It was the 16th century, a time of turmoil and reform. She was born before the Protestant Reformation and died almost 20 years after the closing of the Council of Trent.

The gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.

As a woman, Teresa stood on her own two feet, even in the man's world of her time. She was "her own woman," entering the Carmelites despite strong opposition from her father. She is a person wrapped not so much in silence as in mystery. Beautiful, talented, outgoing, adaptable, affectionate, courageous, enthusiastic, she was totally human. Like Jesus, she was a mystery of paradoxes: wise, yet practical; intelligent, yet much in tune with her experience; a mystic, yet an energetic reformer. A holy woman, a womanly woman.

Teresa was a woman "for God," a woman of prayer, discipline and compassion. Her heart belonged to God. Her ongoing conversion was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical and graceful. A woman of prayer; a woman for God.

Teresa was a woman "for others." Though a contemplative, she spent much of her time and energy seeking to reform herself and the Carmelites, to lead them back to the full observance of the primitive Rule. She founded over a half-dozen new monasteries. She traveled, wrote, fought—always to renew, to reform. In her self, in her prayer, in her life, in her efforts to reform, in all the people she touched, she was a woman for others, a woman who inspired and gave life.

Her writings, especially the Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, have helped generations of believers.

In 1970, the Church gave her the title she had long held in the popular mind: Doctor of the Church. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored.

Comment:

Ours is a time of turmoil, a time of reform and a time of liberation. Modern women have in Teresa a challenging example. Promoters of renewal, promoters of prayer, all have in Teresa a woman to reckon with, one whom they can admire and imitate.

Quote:

Teresa knew well the continued presence and value of suffering (physical illness, opposition to reform, difficulties in prayer), but she grew to be able to embrace suffering, even desire it: "Lord, either to suffer or to die." Toward the end of her life she exclaimed: "Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value."

Patron Saint of:

Headaches

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LECTIO DIVINA: LUKE 11,47-54

Lectio: 

 Thursday, October 15, 2015

Ordinary Time

1) OPENING PRAYER

Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) GOSPEL READING - LUKE 11,47-54

Jesus said: 'Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets, the people your ancestors killed! In this way you both witness to what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.

'And that is why the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet's blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple." Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.

'Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others from going in who wanted to.'

When he left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him and tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions, lying in wait to catch him out in something he might say.

3) REFLECTION

• Once again for the one hundredth time, today’s Gospel speaks about the conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities of that time.

• Luke 11, 47-48: Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets. “Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets, the people your ancestors killed! In this way you both witness to what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building”. Mathew says that these were the Scribes and the Pharisees (Mt 23, 19). Jesus’ reasoning is clear. If the ancestors killed the prophets and the sons built the toms, it is because the sons approved the crime of their fathers; besides everybody knows that the dead prophet does not disturb anybody. In this way the sons become witnesses and accomplice of the same crime (cf. Mt 23, 29-32).

• Luke 11, 49-51: To ask for an account of the blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world. “That is why the wisdom of God said: I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Able to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple. Yes, I tell you, this generation lying in wait to catch him out in something he might say”. Compared with the Gospel of Matthew, Luke usually offers a brief version of Matthew’s text. But here he increases the observations: “shed since the creation of the world, of the blood of Abel”. He did the same thing with the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew, who wrote for the converted Jews, begins with Abraham (Mt 1, 1.2.17), while Luke goes back to Adam (Lk 3, 38). Luke universalizes and includes the Pagans, then he writes his Gospel for the converted Pagans. The information about the murdering of Zechariah in the Temple is given in the Book of Chronicles: “The spirit of God then invested Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, ‘God says this, ‘Why transgress Yahweh’s commands to your certain ruin? For if you abandon Yahweh, he will abandon you. Then they plotted against him and at the king’s order stoned him in the court of the Temple of Yahweh” (2Cr 24, 20-21). Jesus knew the story of his people to the minutest detail. He knew that he would be the next one on the list from Abel to Zechariah; and up until now the list continues to be open. Many people have died for the cause of justice and of truth.

• Luke 11, 52: Alas for you Doctors of the Law. “Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge. You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others from going in who wanted to”. How do they close the Kingdom? They believe that they have the monopoly of knowledge in regard to God and to God’s Law and they impose on others they own way, without leaving a margin for a different idea. They present God as a severe judge and in the name of God they impose laws and norms which have nothing to do with the commandments of God, they falsify the image of the Kingdom and kill in others the desire to serve God and the Kingdom. A community which organizes itself around this false god “does not enter into the Kingdom”, neither is it an expression of the Kingdom, and prevents its members from entering into the Kingdom. It is important to notice the difference between Matthew and Luke. Matthew speaks about the entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven and the phrase is written in the verbal form in the present: "Alas for you, lawyers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites, who close the Kingdom of Heaven before men, because in this way you do not enter and you prevent others from going in who wanted to enter.(Mt 23, 13). The expression to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven could mean to enter in Heaven after death, but it is probable that it is a question of entering into the community, around Jesus and in the communities of the first Christians. Luke speaks about the key of knowledge and the phrase is written in the verbal form in the past. Luke simply ascertains the pretension of the Scribes to possess the key of knowledge in regard to God and to the law of God prevents them from recognizing Jesus as Messiah and prevents the Jewish people from recognizing Jesus as Messiah: You take possession of the key of knowledge. You yourselves do not enter and you prevent others to enter.

• Luke 11, 53-54: The reaction against Jesus. The reaction of the religious authority against Jesus was immediate. “When he left there, the Scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him, and tried to force answers from him on innumerable questions, lying in wait to catch him out in something he might say”. Since they considered themselves the only true interpreters of the Law of God, they tried to provoke Jesus on questions of interpretation of the Bible so as to be able to surprise him in something which he would say. Thus the opposition against Jesus and the desire to eliminate it continues to grow. (Lk 6, 11; 11, 53-54; 19, 48; 20, 19-20; 22, 2).

4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS

• Many persons who wanted to enter were prevented from doing it and they no longer believed because of the anti-evangelical attitude of the priests. Do you have any experience regarding this?

• The Scribes began to criticize Jesus who thought and acted in a different way. It is not difficult to find reasons for criticizing anyone who thinks differently from me. Do you have any experience regardi8ng this?

5) CONCLUDING PRAYER

Yahweh has made known his saving power,
revealed his saving justice for the nations to see,
mindful of his faithful love
and his constancy to the House of Israel. (Ps 98,2-3)

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