AUGUST 13, 2016 : SATURDAY OF THE NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 418

Reading 1EZ 18:1-10, 13B, 30-32

The word of the LORD came to me:
Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverb
that you recite in the land of Israel:

“Fathers have eaten green grapes,
thus their children’s teeth are on edge”?

As I live, says the Lord GOD:
I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among you
who will repeat this proverb in Israel.
For all lives are mine;
the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine;
only the one who sins shall die.

If a man is virtuous—if he does what is right and just,
if he does not eat on the mountains,
nor raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel;
if he does not defile his neighbor’s wife,
nor have relations with a woman in her menstrual period;
if he oppresses no one, 
gives back the pledge received for a debt,
commits no robbery;
if he gives food to the hungry and clothes the naked;
if he does not lend at interest nor exact usury;
if he holds off from evildoing,
judges fairly between a man and his opponent;
if he lives by my statutes and is careful to observe my ordinances,
that man is virtuous—he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

But if he begets a son who is a thief, a murderer,
or lends at interest and exacts usury–
this son certainly shall not live.
Because he practiced all these abominations, he shall surely die;
his death shall be his own fault.

Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel,
each one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD.
Turn and be converted from all your crimes,
that they may be no cause of guilt for you.
Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed,
and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Why should you die, O house of Israel?
For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,
says the Lord GOD. Return and live!

Responsorial PsalmPS 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God;
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.

AlleluiaSEE MT 11:25

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMT 19:13-15

Children were brought to Jesus
that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,
“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;
for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "Let the children come to me"

Do you seek to help others draw near to the Lord? 
The parents who brought their children to Jesus wanted Jesus to lay his hands upon them. They knew of the healing power, both physical and spiritual, which came from Jesus' touch. Jesus, in turn, rebuked his disciples for hindering the children from coming. The disciples may have wanted to shield Jesus from the nuisance of noisy children. But Jesus delighted in the children and demonstrated that God's love has ample room for everyone, including children.

Pray for the young to grow strong in faith
No one is unimportant to God. He comes to each person individually and uniquely that he might touch them with his healing love and power. Do you show kindness to the youth you encounter in your neighborhood, home, and church? And do you pray for them that they may grow in the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus Christ?

"Lord Jesus, may we never hinder our youth from coming to you to receive your blessing, instruction, and healing power. Make our youth strong in faith and in character that they may follow you zealously. And as we grow with age, may we never lose that child-like simplicity and humility which draws us into your loving presence."

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: To such belongs the Kingdom, by Epiphanius the Latin (late 5th century)

"Why did the disciples keep the children back? Not because of the children's wickedness but because it was not the right time. They did not want the Lord to be tired by the great crowd. To them he said, 'Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.' For children are ignorant of wickedness. They do not know how to return evil for evil or how to do someone an injury. They do not know how to be lustful or to fornicate or to rob. What they hear, they believe. They love their parents with complete affection. Therefore, beloved, the Lord instructs us that what they are by the gift of nature, we should become by the fear of God, a holy way of life and love of the heavenly kingdom - for unless we are alien to all sin just like children, we cannot come to the Savior." (excerpt fromINTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 25)

www.dailyscripture.net

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, MATTHEW 19:13-15
(Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32; Psalm 51)

KEY VERSE: "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them" (v 14).
TO KNOW: Jesus taught his disciples about the necessity of serving God "for the sake of the kingdom" (Mt 19:12). When some parents brought their children to be blessed by Jesus, his disciples scolded them. Jesus told them not to prevent these little ones from coming to him. Jesus was never too tired or too busy to give of himself to the humblest person or the smallest child. These little ones exemplified the attitude needed to enter God's reign. They were simple and trusting, and more open to God's revelation than those who were sophisticated and wise (Matt 11:25). This account of Jesus blessing the children is understood by the Church as justifying the practice of infant baptism. In the earliest baptismal liturgies, the people were warned not to "hinder" anyone from coming to the Lord (Acts 8:36).
TO LOVE: In what ways do I need to become more child-like?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, thank you for blessing my family in so many ways.

Optional of Saints Pontian, pope and martyr, and Hippolytus, priest and martyr
Pontian was ordained bishop of Rome in 231 but was banished from his diocese to the island of Sardinia four years later by Emperor Maximinus. While exiled on Sardinia, he resigned his office so a new pope could be elected. In the year 235, Hippolytus was banished to Sardinia with Pontian. On the island, they were treated harshly working in the mines and died later that year. During his lifetime, Hippolytus was an adamant advocate for orthodoxy. He had vocal disagreements with several popes. The writings of Hippolytus are one of the most important sources for information on liturgy and the structure of the Church in the second and third centuries. After their deaths, the bodies of Pontian and Hippolytus were taken back to Rome and buried along the Via Tiburtina. 

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Saturday 13 August 2016

Sat 13th. SS Pontian and Hippolytus.
Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13, 30-32. Create a clean heart in me, O God—Ps 50(51):12-15, 18-19. Matthew 19:13-15.

Readings

'He laid his hands on them and went on his way.'

What a contrast in attitudes we see in this Gospel! Jesus welcomed the children while his disciples wanted to keep them away. They were reflecting the attitude of the day. Children would be loved within the home but invisible and powerless in the wider community.
Jesus wanted to show the significance of children as models of humility and to encourage people to be more childlike, less self-important. The disciples behave a little like security officers, as if they can decide who should come to Jesus and who should be kept away from him.
Can I allow Jesus to lay his hands on me? Can I learn to have the heart of a child? Can I really believe that Jesus wants me to come to him too? May I never turn anyone away through selfishness or insensitivity. May I listen more carefully with an open and generous heart as Jesus would.

www.pray.com.au

MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Your Will Be Done

Let your will be done in me and through me. No matter how hard it might be, I want to love your will! 
–Blessed Sára Salkaházi

— from Sisterhood of Saints 

August 13
Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus
(d. 235)

Two men died for the faith after harsh treatment and exhaustion in the mines of Sardinia. One had been pope for five years, the other an antipope for 18. They died reconciled.

Pontian. Pontian was a Roman who served as pope from 230 to 235. During his reign he held a synod which confirmed the excommunication of the great theologian Origen in Alexandria. Pontian was banished to exile by the Roman emperor in 235, and resigned so that a successor could be elected in Rome. He was sent to the “unhealthy” island of Sardinia, where he died of harsh treatment in 235. With him was Hippolytus (see below) with whom he was reconciled. The bodies of both martyrs were brought back to Rome and buried with solemn rites as martyrs.

Hippolytus. As a priest in Rome, Hippolytus (the name means “a horse turned loose”) was at first “holier than the Church.” He censured the pope for not coming down hard enough on a certain heresy—calling him a tool in the hands of one Callistus, a deacon—and coming close to advocating the opposite heresy himself. When Callistus was elected pope, Hippolytus accused him of being too lenient with penitents, and had himself elected antipope by a group of followers. He felt that the Church must be composed of pure souls uncompromisingly separated from the world: Hippolytus evidently thought that his group fitted the description. He remained in schism through the reigns of three popes. In 235 he was also banished to the island of Sardinia. Shortly before or after this event, he was reconciled to the Church, and died with Pope Pontian in exile.

Hippolytus was a rigorist, a vehement and intransigent man for whom even orthodox doctrine and practice were not purified enough. He is, nevertheless, the most important theologian and prolific religious writer before the age of Constantine. His writings are the fullest source of our knowledge of the Roman liturgy and the structure of the Church in the second and third centuries. His works include many Scripture commentaries, polemics against heresies and a history of the world. A marble statue, dating from the third century, representing the saint sitting in a chair, was found in 1551. On one side is inscribed his table for computing the date of Easter, on the other a list of how the system works out until the year 224. Blessed John XXIII installed the statue in the Vatican library.

Comment:

Hippolytus was a strong defender of orthodoxy, and admitted his excesses by his humble reconciliation. He was not a formal heretic, but an overzealous disciplinarian. What he could not learn in his prime as a reformer and purist, he learned in the pain and desolation of imprisonment. It was a fitting symbolic event that Pope Pontian shared his martyrdom.

Quote:

“Christ, like a skillful physician, understands the weakness of men. He loves to teach the ignorant and the erring he turns again to his own true way. He is easily found by those who live by faith; and to those of pure eye and holy heart, who desire to knock at the door, he opens immediately. He does not disdain the barbarian, nor does he set the eunuch aside as no man. He does not hate the female on account of the woman’s act of disobedience in the beginning, nor does he reject the male on account of the man’s transgression. But he seeks all, and desires to save all, wishing to make all the children of God, and calling all the saints unto one perfect man” (Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist).

www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO DIVINA: MATTHEW 19,13-15

Lectio Divina: 

 Saturday, August 13, 2016

ORDINARY TIME

1) Opening prayer

Almighty and ever-living God,
your Spirit made us your children,
confident to call you Father.
Increase your Spirit within us
and bring us to our promised inheritance.
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

The people brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples scolded them, but Jesus said, 'Let the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs.' Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

3) Reflection

• The Gospel today is very brief; only three verses. The Gospel describes how Jesus accepts the children.
• Matthew 19, 13: The attitude of the disciples concerning the children. People brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples scolded the mothers. Why? Perhaps because this was according to the severe norms of the Law of purity, the small children in the conditions in which they lived were considered unclean, impure. If they touched Jesus, he would become impure. Because of this, it was important to avoid that they should get close to him and that they touch him. Because it already had happened one time, when a leper touched Jesus. Jesus became unclean, impure and could no longer enter the city. He had to remain in deserted places (Mk 1, 4-45).
• Matthew 19, 14-15: The attitude of Jesus: he accepts and defends the life of the children. Jesus reproved the disciples and said: Let the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to me, for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs”. Jesus does not care about transgressing the norms which prevent fraternity and acceptance to be given to the little ones. The new experience of God, the Father has marked the life of Jesus and gives him new eyes to perceive and to value the relationship between persons. Jesus gets on the side of the little ones, of the excluded and assumes their defence. It impresses when we see together everything which the Bible says regarding the attitudes of Jesus in defence of the life of the children, of the little ones:
a) To give thanks for the Kingdom present in the little ones. Jesus’ joy is great when he sees that the children, the little ones understand the things of the Kingdom which he announced to the people. “Father, I thank you!” (Mt 11, 25-26) Jesus recognizes that the little ones understand more about the things of the Kingdom, than the doctors!
b) To defend the right to shout or cry out. When Jesus, entered the Temple, he upset the tables of the money changers, and the children were those who shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Mt 21, 15). Criticized by the high priests and the Scribes, Jesus defends them and in his defence he recalls the Scriptures (Mt 21, 16).
c) To identify oneself with the little ones. Jesus embraces the little ones and identifies himself with them. Anyone who accepts a little one accepts Jesus (Mk 9, 37). “In so far as you have done it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me”. (Mt 25, 40).
d) To accept and not to scandalize. One of the hardest words of Jesus is against those who are a cause of scandal for the little ones, that is, who are the cause why the little ones no longer believe in God. Because of this, it would have been better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around their neck (Lk 17, 1-2; Mt 18, 5-7). Jesus condemns the system, both the political one as well as the religious one, which is the reason why the little ones, the humble people, lose faith in God.
e) To become like children. Jesus asks his disciples to become like children and to accept the Kingdom as children do. Without this, it is impossible to enter into the Kingdom (Lk 9,46-48). It indicates that the children are professors of the adults. That was not normal. We are accustomed to the contrary.
f) To accept and to touch. (Today’s Gospel). The mothers with their children who get close to Jesus to ask him to bless the children. The Apostles react and drive them away. Jesus corrects the adults and accepts the mothers with the children. He touches the children and embraces them. “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them!” (Mk 10, 13-16; Mt 19, 13-15). According to the norms of that time, both the mothers and their small children, practically, lived in a state of legal impurity. Jesus does not allow himself to be drawn by this.
g) To accept and to take care. Many are the children and the young people whom he accepts, takes care of and rises from the dead: the daughter of Jairus, who was 12 years old (Mk 5, 41-42), the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Mk 7, 29-30), the son of the widow of Nain (Lk 7, 14-15), the epileptic child (Mk 9, 25-26), the son of the Centurion (Lk 7, 9-10), the son of the public officer (Jn 4,50), the boy with five loaves of bread and two fishes (Jn 6,9).

4) Personal questions

• Children: what have you learnt from children throughout the years of your life? And what do children learn about God, about Jesus and his life, from you?
• Which is the image of Jesus which I give to children? A sever God, a good God, distant or absent?

5) Concluding Prayer

Lord, give me back the joy of your salvation,
sustain in me a generous spirit.
I shall teach the wicked your paths,
and sinners will return to you. (Ps 51,12-13)

www.ocarm.org