JUNE 02, 2012 : SATURDAY OF THE EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 352

Reading 1 Jude 17, 20b-25

Beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand
by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life.
On those who waver, have mercy;
save others by snatching them out of the fire;
on others have mercy with fear,
abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.

To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you unblemished and exultant,
in the presence of his glory,
to the only God, our savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord
be glory, majesty, power, and authority
from ages past, now, and for ages to come. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6

R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Gospel Mk 11:27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
"By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?"
Jesus said to them, "I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me."
They discussed this among themselves and said,
"If we say, 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say,
'Then why did you not believe him?'
But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?"--
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know."
Then Jesus said to them,
"Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things."

(www.usccb.org)

Meditation: "By what authority are you doing these things?"

Do you accept the authority of God’s word and submit to it with trust and obedience? Many religious leaders took offense at Jesus because they could not accept his authority. After Jesus had dramatically cleansed the temple of the traders and money-changers the Jewish leaders question Jesus to trap him. If he says his authority is divine they will charge him with blasphemy. If he has done this on his own authority they might well arrest him as a mad zealot before he could do more damage. Jesus, seeing through their trap, poses a question to them and makes their answer a condition for his answer. Did they accept the work of John the Baptist as divine or human? If they accepted John’s work as divine, they would be compelled to accept Jesus as the Messiah. They dodged the question because they were unwilling to face the truth. They did not accept the Baptist and they would not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus told his disciples that “the truth will make you free” (John 8:31). Do you know the joy and freedom of living according to God's word of truth?

 “Lord Jesus, your word is life and truth. Instruct my heart that I may grow in the knowledge of your truth and live according to your word”.

(Don Schwager)

 My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God !

Build yourselves up in your most holy faith.
Does our faith need renewed energy? Does our prayer life need a boost? Let us ponder God’s Word! ‘Faith comes by hearing’, says St Paul, ‘and hearing by the Word of God’ (Romans 10:17). The more we hear about God and his heart the more our faith will grow. 

We speak God’s word aloud to ourselves today. We remind ourselves that God is good. Always! God loves us. That never changes. God will always care for us. Abundantly. 

We can list of some of the things Scripture says about who we are in God’s eyes: I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. And I can do what God says I can do. If we build ourselves up in God’s Word, we will be set on fire! Then we will have good news to share with others!


THOUGHT FOR TODAY

UNIQUE AND SPECIAL

I'm special.

In all the world there's nobody like me.

Since the beginning of time, there has never been another person like me.

Nobody has my smile. Nobody has my eyes, my nose, my hair, my voice.

I'm special.

No one can be found who has my handwriting. Nobody anywhere has my tastes - for food or music or art. No one sees things just as I do.

In all of time there's been no one who laughs like me, no one who cries like me. And what makes me laugh and cry will never provoke identical laughter and tears from anybody else, ever.

No one reacts to any situation just as I would react.

I'm special.

I am the only one in all of creation who has my set of abilities.

Oh, there will always be somebody who is better at one of the things I am good at, but no one in the universe can reach the quality of my combination of talents, ideas, abilities, and feelings. Like a room full of musical instruments, some may excel alone, but none can match the symphony sound when all are played together. I am a symphony.

I am special, and I am beginning to realise it is no accident that I am special.

I am beginning to see that God made me special.

I am beginning to see that God made me special for a very special purpose. He must have a job for me that no one else can do as well as I. Out of all the billions of applicants, only one is qualified, only one has the right combination of what it takes.

The one is me, because...

I'm special.

- Anonymous

 

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

(www.churchresources.info)

MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Inspirational Souls
Saints play important parts in your story, my story, our story. And the better we know them, the more inspired we will be to emulate them.
— from Saint Who?

June 2
Sts. Marcellinus and Peter
(d. 304)

Marcellinus and Peter were prominent enough in the memory of the Church to be included among the saints of the Roman Canon. Mention of their names is optional in our present Eucharistic Prayer I.

Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist, that is, someone authorized by the Church to deal with cases of demonic possession. They were beheaded during the persecution of Diocletian. Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which they were buried in Rome. Numerous legends sprang from an early account of their death.

Catacomb of Saints Marcellinus and Peter on the Via Labicana.
Christ between Peter and Paul, to the sides are the martyrs Gorgonius, Peter, Marcellinus, Tiburtius.

Comment:

Why are these men included in our Eucharistic prayer, and given their own feast day, in spite of the fact that almost nothing is known about them? Probably because the Church respects its collective memory. They once sent an impulse of encouragement through the whole Church. They made the ultimate step of faith.

Statue of Peter at Seligenstadt, in Hesse, Germany.

Quote:

"The Church has always believed that the apostles, and Christ's martyrs who had given the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are quite closely joined with us in Christ" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 50).

(www.americancatholic.org)

STS. MARCELLINUS AND PETER

SATURDAY, JUNE 02, 2012

On June 2, the Catholic Church remembers two fourth-century martyrs, Saints Marcellinus and Peter, who were highly venerated after the discovery of their tomb and the conversion of their executioner.

Although the biographical details of the two martyrs are largely unknown, it is known that they lived and died during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. In 302, the ruler changed his tolerant stance and pursued a policy intended to eliminate the Church from the empire.

Diocletian and his subordinate ordered the burning of Catholic churches and their sacred texts, as well as the imprisonment and torture of clergy and laypersons. The goal was to force Christians to submit to the Roman pagan religion, including the worship of the emperor himself as divine.

It was at the mid-point of this persecution, around 303, that a Roman exorcist by the name of Peter was imprisoned for his faith. While in prison, tradition holds that Peter freed Paulina, the daughter of the prison-keeper Artemius, from demonic influence by his prayers.

This demonstration of Christ's power over demons is said to have brought about the conversion of Paulina, Artemius, his wife, and the entire household, all of whom were baptized by the Roman priest Marcellinus.

After this, both Marcellinus and Peter were called before a judge who was determined to enforce the emperor's decree against the Church. When Marcellinus testified courageously to his faith in Christ, he was beaten, stripped of his clothes, and deprived of food in a dark cell filled with broken glass shards.

Peter, too, was returned to his confinement. But neither man would deny Christ, and both preferred death over submission to the cult of pagan worship.

It was arranged for the two men to be executed secretly, in order to prevent the faithful from gathering in prayer and veneration at the place of their burial. Their executioner forced them to clear away a tangle of thorns and briars, which the two men did cheerfully, accepting their death with joy.

Both men were beheaded in the forest and buried in the clearing they had made. The location of the saints' bodies remained unknown for some time, until a devout woman named Lucilla received a revelation informing her where the priest and exorcist lay.

With the assistance of another woman, Firmina, Lucilla recovered the two saints' bodies and had them re-interred in the Roman Catacombs. Sts. Marcellinus and Peter are among the saints named in the Western Church's most traditional Eucharistic prayer, the Roman Canon.

Pope St. Damasus I, who was himself a great devotee of the Church's saints during his life, composed an epitaph to mark the tombs of the two martyrs. The source of his knowledge, he said, was the executioner himself, who had subsequently repented and joined the Catholic Church.

(www.catholicnewsagency.com)

LECTIO: MARK 11,27-33

[1]

Lectio: 

 Saturday, June 2, 2012

 Prayer

 Lord, Father of goodness and mercy, You has sent your Son Jesus from heaven to reveal to us the authority and the sweetness of your love. Send us your Holy Spirit as He descended upon Christ on the baptism in the Jordan River, and the heavens open with your voice of salvation: "You are my Son, my beloved," may our hearts not discuss, nor close, but in full confidence that they can welcome your light and embracement of the Father, now and forever. Amen.

Reading

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Meditation

* "By what authority?". The word "authority" is central to this short passage and contains the secret of the faith journey and spiritual growth that we can fulfill, if we let ourselves be guided by the Word, in meditation of this Gospel. The provocative question addressed to Jesus by the scribes and chief priests makes us understand that how distance there is between him and them and that is why there can be no answer. For the priests and scribes "Authority" is "power," "strength", "dominion", "capable of enforcing laws and judge." But Jesus 'authority' is another thing; in Hebrew this word authority is from a root of the word that also means "similar to." In fact, Jesus makes it clear in the place that he was walking (v. 27) and that would lead us to understand that “authority” is similarity with the Father, the relationship of love with him, as between Father and son. It is no coincidence that he immediately appoints the baptism of John.

* "The baptism of John ...." Jesus leads us now clearly at the starting point, the source, where we really find ourselves in the encounter with God in the banks of the River Jordan, where he was baptized, is also prepared our place, because, like him, go down into the water, the fire of love and allow ourselves to mark with the seal of the Holy Spirit, let us reach out, gather and visit with these words: "You are my Son, the beloved" (Mk 11). Jesus tells us that there is no other authority, or other greatness or riches than this.

* "From heaven or from human origin?". We want to be with God or with men, or we want follow God or men, or we want to enter into the light of the Open Skies (Mark 1, 10) or remain in the darkness of our loneliness?

* "Answer me." It 's beautiful word of Jesus, repeated forcefully twice (vv. 29 and 30). He calls for a clear choice, a clear decision, sincere, authentic and profound. The verb "answer", in Greek means to express the attitude, the ability to distinguish, to separate things well. The Lord wants to invite us to enter into the deepest part of ourselves to let go through his words and so, in this strong relationship with Him, learning more and more to pull ourselves out of important decisions of our lives or even in our days.

But there is something more to this word so simple and so beautiful. The Hebrew root expresses at the same time, the response, but also the misery, poverty, grief, humility. That is, there can be no real answer, if not humility, if not listening. Jesus is asking the priests and scribes, but to us, to enter into this dimension of life, this attitude of the soul: to humble before Him, recognizing our poverty, our need for him, because only this may be the real answer to his questions.

* They argued among themselves. "Another important verb that helps us to understand a little bit more about our inner world. This discussion is in fact a "talk through" as we sense from a literal translation of the Greek word used by Mark. These people in this passage are broken inside, are crossed by an injury, are not all in one piece in front of Jesus talking to each other, bringing together a number of reasons and considerations, instead of entering into that relationship and in that dialogue with the Father which was inaugurated with the baptism of Jesus, they remain outside, at a distance, as the son of the parable, who refuses to join in the feast of love (cf. Lk 15, 28). They also do not believe in the Word of God, once again repeated: "You are my Son, my beloved, in you I am well pleased" (Mk 1, 11) and continue to seek and desire the virtue of ' authority and power rather than the weakness of love.

Questions for Reflection

* The Lord teaches me his authority, even in my life, not domination, oppression or force but is love, and the ability to be alike, to be near. I would like to accept this authority of Jesus in my life, I would truly enter into this relationship of resemblance with him, am I ready to take the steps of this choice? Am I determined to follow this through?

* Maybe, approaching this Gospel, I did not expect to come back to the episode of Baptism and the experience so fundamental and source of the relationship with God the Father. Instead, once again, the Lord wanted to reveal his love so immense, that does not shrink in any effort, any obstacles just to reach me. Is my heart, right now, before him? Can I hear the voice of the Father speaks to me and calls me "son", saying my name? Can I accept this statement of love? Do I trust him, believe him, and I give myself to Him? Do I choose heaven or still the earth?

* I cannot think out of this meditation without having given my answer. Jesus asks me specifically, that "Answer me" is also addressed to me today. I learned that there can be no one to answer without a real hearing and listening that can only come from true humility ... Do I want to take these steps? Or just want to continue to respond with my own convictions, my old ways of thinking and feeling, from my conceit and self-sufficiency?

* One last thing. Looking inside of my heart, do I feel being 'too divided, as enemies of Jesus? Is there any wound in me that not allow me to be whole Christian, or a friend of Christ, or his disciple? What's in my life that I am broken, which separates me from him?

Final Prayer

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.

The decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart.

The command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.

The statutes of the LORD are true, all of them just;

More desirable than gold, than a hoard of purest gold,

Sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb.

(www.ocarm.org)