OCTOBER 25, 2012 : THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 476

Reading 1 Eph 3:14-21

Brothers and sisters:
I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,
by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19

R. (5b) The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Gospel Lk 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

www.usccb.org

Meditation: "I came to cast fire upon the earth"

Do you want to be on fire for God? Jesus shocked his disciples when he declared that he would cast fire and cause division rather than peace upon the earth. What kind of fire did Jesus have in mind here? Fire in biblical times was associated with God and with his action in the world and in the lives of his people.  God sometimes manifested his presence by use of fire, such as the burning bush which was not consumed when God spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:2). The image of fire was also used to symbolize God's glory (Ezekiel 1:4, 13), his protective presence (2 Kings 6:17), his holiness (Deuteronomy 4:24), righteous judgment (Zechariah 13:9), and his wrath against sin (Isaiah 66:15-16). It is also used of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11 and Acts 2:3). God's fire both purifies and cleanses, and it inspires a reverent fear of God and of his word in us.
Jesus’ sharp statement that he would cause division rather than peace within families must have shocked his disciples.Was he exaggerating? Jesus used a typical Hebrew (Semetic) hyperbole to drive home an important lesson. We often do the same when we want to emphasize something very strongly. Jesus’ hyperbole, however, did contain a real warning that the gospel message does have consequences for our lives. It has the power to heal, restore, and unite those who believe its message. But the consequence of ignoring or rejecting the gospel can lead to many hurtful desires and seduction by the world.
When Jesus spoke about division he likely had in mind the prophecy of Micah: a man's enemies are the men of his own household (Micah 7:6). The essence of Christianity is loyalty to Jesus Christ, a loyalty that takes precedence over every other relationship. The love of God compels us to choose who will be first in our lives. To place any relationship (or anything else) above God is a form of idolatry. Jesus challenges his disciples to examine who they love first and foremost. A true disciple loves God above all else and is willing to forsake all for Jesus Christ. Jesus insists that his disciples give him the loyalty which is only due to God, a loyalty which is higher than spouse or kin. It is possible that family and friends can become our enemies, if the thought of them keeps us from doing what we know God wants us to do. Does the love of Jesus Christ compel you to put God first in all you do (2 Corinthians 5:14)?
"Lord Jesus, may your love consume me and transform my life that I may truly desire nothing more than life with you. Make me strong in love and fidelity that nothing may hinder me from doing your will."
www.dailyscripture.net

Jesus’ Fire Must Be My Own

Thursday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Father Steven Reilly, LC Listen to podcast version here.   Luke 12:49-53 Jesus said to his disciples: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Introductory Prayer: Father, I place myself in your presence. I firmly believe in you and love you with all my heart. I entrust myself completely to your merciful but demanding ways, knowing that you only seek to lead me home to heaven. Petition: Lord, help me to ignite awareness of your love all around me. 1. The Spark That Must Become a Blaze: Jesus’ intensity and passion break out in radical expression in today’s Gospel. He yearns for a divine conflagration in the hearts of his disciples. Jesus endured a true baptism of immersion, steeped in the pain of Golgotha, precisely so that our own baptism would not be a mere ceremony. Rather he wanted our baptism to be a holy spark of divine life that, with care and formation, would become a growing flame of authentic Christian holiness. Indeed, let us fan that flame and never allow external pressures, or our own mediocrity, to extinguish it. 2. Peace, at Any Price? Jesus corrects a misperception in some of his listeners. Some no doubt expected him to usher in the messianic peace, when the lion would lie down with the lamb (see Isaiah 11:6-9). No, the time for that peace will be at history’s end, when God’s Kingdom is established in all its fullness. Till then, Christianity will often find itself in conflict with the powers of the world. We want to be considered nice people, yet our convictions will at times bring us conflict. May the spark of our soul be a strong-enough flame to accept those moments and avoid the cheap peace of acquiescing with the world. 3. Put Up Your Dukes? Should Catholics be people spoiling for a fight? Not if they want to be good Catholics! Those who love fighting and arguing may very well find themselves in divided households, but not for the reasons Jesus really means. Courtesy, gentleness, and the finer details of charity should characterize the person who wants to be like Christ. These kinds of people seek to unite, not divide. When they are dividers, it is because they have to be. They know when the point arrives that if they bend any further, they’ll break — where flexibility would degenerate into infidelity. There are tough, sad moments when being faithful to Christ means a head-on collision in a very important relationship, such as the ones Jesus mentions. But when it’s a question of where our first loyalty lies, there is no debate. Christ must come first. Conversation with Christ: Lord, you are the center of my life. I thank you for my family and pray that I will never be a stumbling block for their faith. Give me the wisdom to know when to speak and when to remain silent. Help me, so that I will never compromise the Gospel, nor needlessly alienate those whom you have sent me to serve. Resolution: I will strive to set a good spiritual example for my family and will invite someone who has strayed to consider coming back.

www.regnumchristi.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25
LUKE 12:49-53
(Ephesians 3:14-21; Psalm 33)
KEY VERSE: "There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!" (v 49). 
READING: John the Baptist told his followers that the Messiah would baptize with the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16). The fire that consumed Jesus was a passion to redeem humanity from their sins ̶ a fire that would be ignited on the cross on Calvary. Paul understood that baptism was no mere symbolic ritual. In baptism, the Christian diedto the old life and was raised to a new life in Christ (Ro 6:4). The rite of the early Church demonstrated this truth. Proselytes entered the baptismal pool stripped of their old clothing and were totally immersed in water. When the new Christian came out of the water, he or she was clothed in a white garment, a symbol of having risen with Christ (Rev 19:8). Jesus demanded radical conversion and total commitment from his disciples. Their attachment to him might even require a separation from family members who did not share their Christian beliefs. This dissension was described by the prophet Micah who said that a person's enemies might be those of their own household (Micah 7:6).
REFLECTING: Can I share my faith with my family even if I might face rejection?
PRAYING: Holy Spirit, help me to live my baptismal call in everything I do.

www.daily-word-of-life.com

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord

I have come to bring fire upon the earth.’
Today’s gospel, with its dire warnings about conflicts even within the family, reminds us that our faith will be tested and that the promise implied in the title, The Good News, does not wipe out the appearance of strife within our committed lives. The dire, apocalyptic warnings may sound over-dramatic when placed in the context of our humdrum lives, but they remind us that we all face the fiery testing of the judgement, and that Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, endured this himself in his passion and death.

However, in the first reading we are reminded of the all-embracing love of Christ which enfolds us, giving us the strength to overcome all the trials and temptations that beset us.
www.churchresources.info

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

GOD'S TODAY
Don't let yourself be torn
between yesterday
and tomorrow.
Live always and only
God's today.
Accept surprises
that upset your plans,
shatter your dreams,
give a completely
different turn
to your day
and - who knows?
to your life.
It is not chance,
Leave the Father free
Himself to weave
The pattern of your days.

- Dam Helder Camara, A Thousand Reasons fOr Living, DLT, London, 1984
 
From A Canopy of Stars: Some Reflections for the Journey by Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ [David Lovell Publishing 2003]
www.churchresources.info

MINUTE MEDITATIONS

Giving Your Best       

First, you need to give your relationship with God your best time. Spend time with God when you are at your best. Though God loves us even when we’re at our worst, that shouldn’t be all he gets.

— from How the Ten Commandments Can Change Your Life

October 25
St. Antônio de Sant’Anna Galvão
(1739-1822)

God’s plan in a person’s life often takes unexpected turns which become life-giving through cooperation with God’s grace.

Born in Guarantingueta near São Paulo (Brazil), Antônio attended the Jesuit seminary in Belem but later decided to become a Franciscan friar. Invested in 1760, he made final profession the following year and was ordained in 1762.
In São Paulo, he served as preacher, confessor and porter. Within a few years he was appointed confessor to the Recollects of St. Teresa, a group of nuns in that city. He and Sister Helena Maria of the Holy Spirit founded a new community of sisters under the patronage of Our Lady of the Conception of Divine Providence. Sister Helena Maria’s premature death the next year left Father Antônio responsible for the new congregation, especially for building a convent and church adequate for their growing numbers.
He served as novice master for the friars in Macacu and as guardian of St. Francis Friary in São Paulo. He founded St. Clare Friary in Sorocaba. With the permission of his provincial and the bishop, he spent his last days at the Recolhimento de Nossa Senhora da Luz, the convent of the sisters’ congregation he had helped establish.
He was beatified in Rome on October 25, 1998, and canonized in 2007.

Comment:

Holy women and men cannot help calling our attention to God, to God’s creation and to all the people whom God loves. The lives of holy people are so oriented toward God that this has become their definition of "normal." Do people see my life or yours as a living sign of God’s steadfast love? What might have to change for that to happen?

Quote:

During the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II quoted from the Second Letter to Timothy (4:17), "The Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully," and then said that Antônio "fulfilled his religious consecration by dedicating himself with love and devotion to the afflicted, the suffering and the slaves of his era in Brazil." The pope continued, "His authentically Franciscan faith, evangelically lived and apostolically spent in serving his neighbor, will be an encouragement to imitate this ‘man of peace and charity.’"

www.americancatholic.org

St. Daria

St.Daria

There is very little known about them. Chrysanthus was an Egyptian, son of a Patrician, Polemius. He was brought to Rome from Alexandria during the reign of Numerian, and despite the objections of his father, who had brought him to Rome, was baptized by a priest named Carpophorus. Chrysanthus refused is father's attempts to get him married, finally married Daria, a Greek and a priestess of Minerva, converted her, and convinced her to live with him in chastity. When they converted a number of Romans, Chrysanthus was denounced as a Christian to Claudius, the tribune. Chrysanthus' attitude under torture so impressed Claudius that he and his wife, Hilaria, two sons, and seventy of his soldiers became Christians, whereupon the Emperor had them all killed. Daria was sent to a brothel, where she was defended by a lion, brought before Numerian, who ordered her execution, and was stoned and then buried alive. When several followers of Daria and Chrysanthus were found praying at their crypt, among them Diodorus, a priest, and Marianus, a deacon, they were all entombed alive. Their feast day is October 25.

www.catholic.org

FORTY MARTYRS OF ENGLAND AND WALES

This feast, the feast of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, honors the hundreds of British men and women who died for their faith in wake of the dispute between the Pope and King Henry VIII during the 16th century. Many loyal Catholics were tortured and killed by the British state from 1535 to 1679.

In 1970, the Vatican selected 40 martyrs, men and women, lay and religious, to represent the full group of about 300. Each martyr has their own day of memorial, but they are all remembered as a group on October 25.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

LECTIO: LUKE 12,49-53

Lectio: 

 Thursday, October 25, 2012  

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Almighty and everlasting God,

our source of power and inspiration,

give us strength and joy

in serving you as followers of Christ,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12,49-53

Jesus said to his disciples: 'I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!

There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 'Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on, a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; father opposed to son, son to father, mother to daughter, daughter to mother, mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law to mother-in-law.'

3) Reflection

• The Gospel today gives us some phrases of Jesus. The first one on the fire on earth is only in Luke’s Gospel. The others have more or less parallel phrases in Matthew. This leads us to the problem of the origin of the composition of these two Gospels for which much ink has already been used throughout these two past centuries and this problem will only be solved fully when we will be able to speak with Matthew and Luke, after our resurrection.

• Luke 12, 49-50: Jesus has come to bring fire on earth. “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!” The image of fire frequently is mentioned in the Bible and does not have only one meaning. It could be the image of devastation and of punishment, and it can also be the image of purification and illumination (Is 1, 25; Zc 13, 9). It can also express protection as it appears in Isaiah: “Should you pass through fire, you will not suffer” (Is 43, 2). John the Baptist baptized with water, but after him Jesus baptized with fire (Lk 3, 16). Here the image of fire is associated to the action of the Holy Spirit who descends every Pentecost on the image of the tongues of fire (Ac 2, 2-4). Images and symbols never have an obligatory sense, totally defined, which does not allow any divergence. In this case it would neither be image nor symbol. It is proper to the symbol to arouse the imagination of the auditors and spectators. Leaving freedom to the auditors, the image of fire combined with the image of baptism indicates the direction toward which Jesus wants people to turn their imagination. Baptism is associated with the water and it is always the expression of a commitment. In another point, Baptism appears like the symbol of the commitment of Jesus with his Passion: “Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized?” (Mc 10, 38-39).

• Luke 12, 51-53: Jesus has come to bring division. Jesus always speaks of peace (Mt 5, 9; Mk 9, 50; Lk 1, 79; 10, 5; 19, 38; 24, 36; Jn 14, 27; 16, 33; 20, 21.26). And so how can we understand the phrase in today’s Gospel which seems to say the contrary: “Do you think that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you , but rather division”. This affirmation does not mean that Jesus himself is in favour of division. No! Jesus did not want division. But the announcement of truth that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah becomes a reason for much division among the Jews. In the same family or community, some were in favour and others were radically contrary. In this sense, the Good News of Jesus was really a source of division , a “sign of contradiction” (Lk 2, 34) or as Jesus said: “for from now on a household will be divided, father opposed to son, son to father, mother to daughter, daughter to mother, mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law to mother-in-law”. That is what was happening, in fact in the families and in the communities: much division, much discussion, as a consequence of the Good News among the Jews of that time, some accepting, others denying. The same thing could be applied to the announcement of fraternity as a supreme value of human living together. Not all agreed with this announcement, because they preferred to maintain their privileges. And for this reason, they were not afraid to persecute those who announced sharing and fraternity. This was the division which arose and which and which was at the origin of the Passion and death of Jesus. This is what was happening. Jesus wants the union of all in truth (cf. Jn 17, 17-23). Even now it is like this. Many times there where the Church is renewed, the call of the Good News becomes a “sign of contradiction” and of division. Persons who during years had lived very comfortably in the routine of their Christian life, they do not want to be disturbed or bothered by the “innovations” of Vatican Council II. Disturbed by changes, they use all their intelligence to find arguments to defend their own opinions and to condemn the changes considering them contrary to what they think is their true faith.

4) Personal questions

• Seeking union Jesus was the cause of division. Does this happen with you today?

• How do I react before the changes in the Church?

5) Concluding prayer

Shout for joy, you upright;

praise comes well from the honest.

Give thanks to Yahweh on the lyre,

play for him on the ten-stringed lyre. (Ps 33,1-2)

www.ocarm.org