OCTOBER 13, 2012 : SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 466

Reading 1 Gal 3:22-29

Brothers and sisters:
Scripture confined all things under the power of sin,
that through faith in Jesus Christ
the promise might be given to those who believe.

Before faith came, we were held in custody under law,
confined for the faith that was to be revealed.
Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ,
that we might be justified by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian.
For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants,
heirs according to the promise.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.
You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.
R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel Lk 11:27-28

While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
"Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed."
He replied, "Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it."

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "Hear the word of God and keep it"

Who do you seek to favor and bless? When an admirer wished to compliment Jesus by praising his mother, Jesus did not deny the truth of the blessing she pronounced. Her beatitude (which means "blessedness" or "happiness") recalls Mary's canticle: All generations will call me blessed (Luke 1:48). Jesus adds to her words by pointing to the source of all true blessedness or happiness – union with God in heart, mind, and will. Mary humbly submitted herself to the miraculous plan of God for the incarnation of his only begotten Son – the Word of God made flesh in her womb, by declaring: I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38). Mary heard the word spoken to her by the angel and she believed it.
On another occasion Jesus remarked that whoever does the will of God is a friend of God and a member of his family – his sons and daughters who have been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ. (Luke 8:21). They are truly blessed because they know their God personally and they find joy in hearing and obeying his word.
Our goal in life, the very reason we were created in the first place, is for union with God. We were made for God and our hearts are restless until they rest in him. Lucian of Antioch (240-312), an early Christian theologian and martyr, once said that "a Christian's only relatives are the saints." Those who follow Jesus Christ and who seek the will of God enter into a new family, a family of "saints" here on earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God and his kingdom. Do you hunger for God and for his word?
"Lord Jesus, my heart is restless until it rests in you. Help me to live in your presence and in the knowledge of your great love for me. May I seek to please you in all that I do, say, and think."
www.dailyscripture.net

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13
LUKE 11:27-28
(Galatians 3:22-29; Psalm 105)
KEY VERSE: "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it" (v 28). 
READING: Although Jesus performed many miracles, some still refused to believe in him. Others accused him of working miracles by the power of Satan (Lk 11:15). Still others demanded that he show them "a sign from heaven" (v 16) as proof of God's power at work in him. A woman in the crowd recognized that Jesus was the sign that they sought. She praised Jesus' mother for being fortunate to have born such a son. However, Jesus knew that his mother was blessed, not because of her physical maternity, but because she heard God's word and obeyed it. Mary is the model disciple because she spent her whole life in obedience to God's word. She said "yes" to the incarnation, and she submitted herself to God's will even when it directed her to the foot of the cross. 
REFLECTING: What are the blessings that I have found in obeying God's word?
PRAYING: Mary my mother, pray that I will have the courage to say, "May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:37).

OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Chapter V of the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, issued by the Holy See in December 2001, describes the Church's traditional dedication of Saturday to the Virgin Mary. "Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (218). The chapter also describes the importance of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Catholic devotional life, including the Liturgy, and includes reflections on popular devotions to Mary, her feast days, and the Rosary. See the complete document on Vatican web site (www.vatican.va) Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

www.daily-word-of-life.com

Our Radiant Model

Readings: Galatians 3:22-29; Luke 11:27-28

Our society today is experiencing a major crisis of faith. In this computer age, we have made such vast strides in technology that we have become a self-sufficient and sophisticated people. God has become irrelevant in the lives of many, who put their faith in their own ingenuity. But Mary was a paragon of faith throughout her life. She believed in God and in Jesus as his Son. St Paul said, “In Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God in faith” (Gal 3:26). So we are God’s children by faith in Christ. Mary’s exemplary faith made her the highly favoured daughter of God. But her faith was not empty of actions. She said “Yes” to every call that came from God. When a woman said to Jesus, in effect, “Your mother must be proud of you”, Jesus replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28). His reply was not a denial of what the woman had said. He only wanted to underline the importance of Mary’s faith and obedience over her giving physical birth to him. No person has more fully heard the Word of God and no person has kept that Word completely than Mary. Mary gave full expression to the longing of the poor of Yahweh, and hence she is the radiant model for all believers.

www.spreadjesus.org

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever

‘Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.’
It seems Jesus is insisting here how important it is for us, as disciples, to pay attention to the word, to reflect on it and so discover what it means for each one of us. Jesus was not belittling his mother. Indeed Mary has sometimes been named the first disciple. She gives us a wonderful example of faithfulness to God.

We are reminded of the story of Martha and Mary. Martha welcomed Jesus into their home, but Mary welcomed him into her heart, and Jesus said she had chosen the better way.

Jesus, may I be more attentive to your word today. May it inspire and guide me in all the decisions and actions of my day.
www.churchresources.info
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
JOY
But this joy must not be the goal toward which you strive. It will be vouchsafed to you if you strive to "give joy to God." Your personal joy will rise up when you want nothing but the joy of God - nothing but joy in itself.

- Martin Buber
 
"The Early Masters" [1947-48 Schocken Books Inc.]
www.churchresources.info

MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Modern Day Miracles
You hear people saying sometimes that there are fewer miracles nowadays. Might it not rather be that there are fewer people living a life of faith?  —St. Josemaría Escrivá
— from Firmly On the Rock

October 16
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
(1647-1690)

Margaret Mary was chosen by Christ to arouse the Church to a realization of the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus.

Her early years were marked by sickness and a painful home situation. "The heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering." After considering marriage for some time, Margaret entered the Order of Visitation nuns at the age of 24.
A Visitation nun was "not to be extraordinary except by being ordinary," but the young nun was not to enjoy this anonymity. A fellow novice (shrewdest of critics) termed Margaret humble, simple and frank, but above all kind and patient under sharp criticism and correction. She could not meditate in the formal way expected, though she tried her best to give up her "prayer of simplicity." Slow, quiet and clumsy, she was assigned to help an infirmarian who was a bundle of energy.
On December 21, 1674, three years a nun, she received the first of her revelations. She felt "invested" with the presence of God, though always afraid of deceiving herself in such matters. The request of Christ was that his love for humankind be made evident through her. During the next 13 months he appeared to her at intervals. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love. By her own love she was to make up for the coldness and ingratitude of the world—by frequent and loving Holy Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month, and by an hour's vigil of prayer every Thursday night in memory of his agony and isolation in Gethsemane. He also asked that a feast of reparation be instituted.
Like all saints, Margaret had to pay for her gift of holiness. Some of her own sisters were hostile. Theologians who were called in declared her visions delusions and suggested that she eat more heartily. Later, parents of children she taught called her an impostor, an unorthodox innovator. A new confessor, St. Claude de la Colombiere, a Jesuit, recognized her genuineness and supported her. Against her great resistance, Christ called her to be a sacrificial victim for the shortcomings of her own sisters, and to make this known.
After serving as novice mistress and assistant superior, she died at the age of 43 while being anointed. "I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus."

Comment:

Our scientific-materialistic age cannot "prove" private revelations. Theologians, if pressed, admit that we do not have to believe in them. But it is impossible to deny the message Margaret Mary heralded: that God loves us with a passionate love. Her insistence on reparation and prayer and the reminder of final judgment should be sufficient to ward off superstition and superficiality in devotion to the Sacred Heart while preserving its deep Christian meaning.

Quote:

Christ speaks to St. Margaret Mary: "Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love. In return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt they have for me in this sacrament of love.... I come into the heart I have given you in order that through your fervor you may atone for the offenses which I have received from lukewarm and slothful hearts that dishonor me in the Blessed Sacrament" (Third apparition).

www.americancatholic.org

St. Edward the Confessor

Feastday: October 13

Edward the Confessor was the son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. He was born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when the Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England. Canute remained in England and the year after Ethelred's death in 1016, married Emma, who had returned to England, and became King of England. Edward remained in Normandy, was brought up a Norman, and in 1042, on the death of his half-brother, Hardicanute, son of Canute and Emma, and largely through the support of the powerful Earl Godwin, he was acclaimed king of England. In 1044, he married Godwin's daughter Edith. His reign was a peaceful one characterized by his good rule and remission of odious taxes, but also by the struggle, partly caused by his natural inclination to favor the Normans, between Godwin and his Saxon supporters and the Norman barons, including Robert of Jumieges, whom Edward had brought with him when he returned to England and whom he named Archbishop of Canterbury in 1051. In the same year, Edward banished Godwin, who took refuge in Flanders but returned the following year with a fleet ready to lead a rebellion. Armed revolt was avoided when the two men met and settled their differences; among them was the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was resolved when Edward replaced Robert with Stigand, and Robert returned to Normandy. Edward's difficulties continued after Godwin's death in 1053 with Godwin's two sons: Harold who had his eye on the throne since Edward was childless, and Tostig, Earl of Northumbria. Tostig was driven from Northumbria by a revolt in 1065 and banished to Europe by Edward, who named Harold his successor. After this Edward became more interested in religious affairs and built St. Peter's Abbey at Westminster, the site of the present Abbey, where he is buried. His piety gained him the surname "the Confessor". He died in London on January 5, and he was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III. His feast day is October 13

www.catholic.org

LECTIO: LUKE 11,27-28

Lectio: 

 Saturday, October 13, 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 11,27-28

It happened that as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!'

But he replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'

3) Reflection

• Today's Gospel is very brief, but it has a very important significance in the Gospel of Luke in general. It gives us the key to understand what Luke teaches regarding Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in the so called Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2).

• Luke 11, 27: The exclamation of the woman. "At that time as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said: "Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!" The creative imagination of some apocryphal books suggests that the woman was a neighbour of Our Lady, there in Nazareth. She had a son called Dimas, who with other boys of Galilee at that time, went to war with the Romans, was made a prisoner and killed at the side of Jesus. He was the good thief (Lk 23, 39-43). His mother, having heard about the good that Jesus did to people, remembered her neighbour, Mary, and said: "Mary must be very happy to have such a son!"

• Luke 11, 28: The response of Jesus. Jesus responds, giving the greatest praise to his mother: "More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it". Luke speaks little about Mary: here (Lk 11, 28) and in the Gospel of the infancy (Lk 1 and 2). For him, Luke, Mary is the Daughter of Sion, image of the new People of God. He represents Mary as the model for the life of the communities. In Vatican Council II, the document prepared on Mary was inserted in the last chapter of the document Lumen Gentium on the Church. Mary is the model for the Church. And especially in the way in which Mary relates with the Word of God, Luke considers her as an example for the life of the communities: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it". Mary teaches us how to accept the Word of God, how to incarnate it, live it, deepen it, make it be born and grow, allow it to shape us, even when we do not understand it, or when it makes us suffer. This is the vision which is subjacent in the Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2). The key to understand these two chapters is given to us by today's Gospel: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Let us see in these chapters how Mary enters into relationship with the Word of God.

a) Luke 1, 26-38:

The Annunciation: "Let it happen to me as you have said!"

To know how to open oneself, to accept the Word of God so that it becomes incarnate.

b) Luke 1, 39-45:

The Visitation: "Blessed is she who has believed!"

To know how to recognize the Word of God in a visit and in many other facts of life.

c) Luke 1, 46-56:

The Magnificat: "The Lord has done great things for me!"

To recognize the Word in the story of the people and sing a song of resistance and hope.

d) Luke 2, 1-20:

The Birth of Our Lord: "She pondered all these things in her heart!"

There was no place for them. The marginalized accept the Word.

e) Luke 2, 21-32:

The Presentation: "My eyes have seen the salvation!"

The many years of life purify the eyes.

f) Luke 2, 33-38:

Simeon and Anna: "A sword will pierce your soul too!"

To accept and incarnate the Word in life, to be a sign of contradiction.

g) Luke 2, 39-52:

At twelve years old in the Temple: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

They did not understand what he meant!

Luke 11, 27-28:

The praise to the mother: "Blessed the womb that bore you!"

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.

4) Personal questions

• Do you succeed in discovering the Word of God in your life?

• How do you live devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus?

5) Concluding prayer

Sing to him, make music for him,

recount all his wonders!

Glory in his holy name,

let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice! (Ps 105,2-3)

www.ocarm.org