JULY 01, 2015 : WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 379

Reading 1GN 21:5, 8-20A

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Isaac grew, and on the day of the child’s weaning
Abraham held a great feast.

Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian
had borne to Abraham
playing with her son Isaac;
so she demanded of Abraham:
“Drive out that slave and her son! 
No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance
with my son Isaac!”
Abraham was greatly distressed,
especially on account of his son Ishmael.
But God said to Abraham: “Do not be distressed about the boy
or about your slave woman.
Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you;
for it is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.
As for the son of the slave woman,
I will make a great nation of him also,
since he too is your offspring.”

Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of water
and gave them to Hagar.
Then, placing the child on her back, he sent her away.
As she roamed aimlessly in the wilderness of Beer-sheba,
the water in the skin was used up.
So she put the child down under a shrub,
and then went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away;
for she said to herself, “Let me not watch to see the child die.” 
As she sat opposite Ishmael, he began to cry.
God heard the boy’s cry,
and God’s messenger called to Hagar from heaven:
“What is the matter, Hagar?
Don’t be afraid; God has heard the boy’s cry in this plight of his.
Arise, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand;
for I will make of him a great nation.”
Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.
She went and filled the skin with water, and then let the boy drink.

God was with the boy as he grew up.

Responsorial PsalmPS 34:7-8, 10-11, 12-13

R. (7a) The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
for nought is lacking to those who fear him.
The great grow poor and hungry;
but those who seek the LORD want for no good thing.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Come, children, hear me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Which of you desires life,
and takes delight in prosperous days?
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

AlleluiaJAS 1:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMT 8:28-34

When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes,
two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him.
They were so savage that no one could travel by that road.
They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God?
Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”
Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding.
The demons pleaded with him,
“If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.”
And he said to them, “Go then!”
They came out and entered the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea
where they drowned.
The swineherds ran away,
and when they came to the town they reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,
and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.

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Meditation: Jesus frees those who are bound up

Do you ever feel driven by forces beyond your strength? Two men who were possessed and driven mad by the force of many evil spirits found refuge in the one person who could set them free. Both Mark and Luke in their Gospel accounts of this incident describe this demonic force as a legion (Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30). A legion is no small force but an army 6,000 strong! For the people of Palestine who were often hemmed in by occupied forces, a legion - whether human or supernatural - struck terror! Legions at their wildest committed unmentionable atrocities. Our age has also witnessed untold crimes and mass destruction at the hands of possessed rulers and their armies.

No force can withstand Christ's power and authority
What is more remarkable - the destructive force of these driven and possessed men, or their bended knee at Jesus' feet imploring mercy and release (Luke 8:28)? God's word  reminds us that no destructive force can keep anyone from the peace and safety which God offers to those who seek his help. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. ..Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation (Psalm 91:7,9).

Jesus took pity on these men who were overtaken by a legion of evil spirits. The destructive force of these demons is evident for all who can see as they flee and destroy a herd of swine. After Jesus freed the demoniacs the whole city came out to meet him. No one had demonstrated such power and authority against the forces of Satan as Jesus did. They feared Jesus as a result and begged him to leave them. Why would they not want Jesus to stay? Perhaps the price for such liberation from the power of evil and sin was more than they wanted to pay.

Jesus will free us from anything that binds us
The Lord Jesus is ready and willing to free us from anything that binds us and that keeps us from the love of God. Are you willing to part with anything that might keep you from his love and saving power?

"Lord Jesus, unbind me that I may love you wholly and walk in the freedom of your way of love and holiness. May there be nothing which keeps me from the joy of living in your presence."

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, MATTHEW 8:28-34
Weekday
(Genesis 21:5, 8-20a; Psalm 34)

KEY VERSE: "They cried out, `What have you to do with us, Son of God?'" (v 29).
TO KNOW: After Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee (v 23-27) he and his disciples arrived on the shore in the region of the Gadarenes (Gerasenes in Mk 5:1, Lk 8:26). In this rugged, pagan territory, Jesus was confronted by two demoniacs (just one in Mark and Luke's gospels). The demons recognized Jesus as the Son of God who had come to establish God's reign and destroy the powers of evil. When they tried to block his mission to proclaim the gospel, Jesus sent these vile spirits into a herd of swine (considered "unclean" by the Jews). The animals rushed headlong over a cliff and were drowned in the sea, a symbol of destructive forces (Gn 1:1-2). However, the people were more fearful of Jesus' power than the presence of evil, and they beseeched him to leave them.
TO LOVE: Am I an instrument of liberation or oppression of others?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, free me from any evil that attempts to corrupt my life.

Optional Memorial of Blessed Junipero Serra, priest

Miguel Joseph Serra was born in 1713 on the Spanish Island of Mallorca, Spain. At age of 16, Serra joined the Franciscan Order, taking the name Junipero after a friend of St. Francis. In 1749, Padre Serra was sent to the missionary territories of the west of North America. In 1768 he took over missions in the Mexican provinces of Lower and Upper. A tireless worker, Padre Serra was largely responsible for the foundation and spread of the Church on the West Coast of the United States. He founded twenty-one missions, converted thousands of Native Americans, and trained many of them in European methods of agriculture, cattle husbandry, and crafts. One of the missions was Mission San Juan Capistrano established in 1776, the only Mission church named for Fr. Serra. The structure is also believed to be the oldest church still standing in California. Padre Serra died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo and is buried there under the sanctuary floor. Recognized as “The Father of the California Missions,” a bronze statue of Fr. Serra has been placed in the Statuary Hall of our Nation’s Capitol. Pope Francis I will canonize Fr. Serra at the in a ceremony at Washington's National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on his visit to the United States is September.

NOTE: Blessed Junipero Serra's namesake is the Serra Club, an international Catholic organization whose mission is to foster and affirm vocations to the ordained priesthood and vowed religious life and, through this ministry, their members' common Catholic faith. There are 670 Serra Clubs with more than 23,000 Serra members in 35 countries. www.serraus.org. 

CANADA DAY

On July 1, 1867, the British government (under Queen Victoria) approved a plan which allowed Canada to become an independent country with its own government. This new nation, which remained loyal to Britain, was called the Dominion of Canada. At that time, the new Dominion of Canada had only four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). The country now consists of 10 provinces and three territories. In 1879, July 1 became a statutory holiday, known as Dominion Day. However, no official celebrations were held until the 50th anniversary in 1917 and the 60th anniversary in 1927

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Wednesday 1 July 2015

Genesis 21:5, 8-20. The Lord hears the cry of the poor — Ps 33(34):7-8, 10-13. Matthew 8:28-34.

Readings 


The demoniacs in today’s gospel are the antithesis of freedom and life.


They live among tombs, the dwelling place of the dead. They are unable to form human relationships and pose a threat to anyone who draws near. As a result they find themselves outside the community, on the margins. 

Jesus very presence torments the demons. They recognise his divinity and by implication his power to command them and liberate humans from their control. Unlike them, Jesus promises and invites relationship, freedom and life. 

While we may struggle to believe in demons, we all have our inner demons that limit our freedom and our relationships with others. Let us recognise in Jesus the power to liberate us from the evil present in our lives. 

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MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Trust and Obey

God is great. God is good. And God, in his fatherly love, has a plan for our lives that will work out for our benefit and salvation. All we have to do is trust and obey.

— from Zealous

July 1
Blessed Junipero Serra
(1713-1784)

In 1776, when the American Revolution was beginning in the east, another part of the future United States was being born in California. That year a gray-robed Franciscan founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, now famous for its annually returning swallows. San Juan was the seventh of nine missions established under the direction of this indomitable Spaniard.

Born on Spain’s island of Mallorca, Serra entered the Franciscan Order, taking the name of St. Francis’ childlike companion, Brother Juniper. Until he was 35, he spent most of his time in the classroom—first as a student of theology and then as a professor. He also became famous for his preaching. Suddenly he gave it all up and followed the yearning that had begun years before when he heard about the missionary work of St. Francis Solanus in South America. Junipero’s desire was to convert native peoples in the New World.

Arriving by ship at Vera Cruz, Mexico, he and a companion walked the 250 miles to Mexico City. On the way Junipero’s left leg became infected by an insect bite and would remain a cross—sometimes life-threatening—for the rest of his life. For 18 years he worked in central Mexico and in the Baja Peninsula. He became president of the missions there.

Enter politics: the threat of a Russian invasion south from Alaska. Charles III of Spain ordered an expedition to beat Russia to the territory. So the last twoconquistadors—one military, one spiritual—began their quest. José de Galvez persuaded Junipero to set out with him for present-day Monterey, California. The first mission founded after the 900-mile journey north was San Diego (1769). That year a shortage of food almost canceled the expedition. Vowing to stay with the local people, Junipero and another friar began a novena in preparation for St. Joseph’s day, March 19, the scheduled day of departure. On that day, the relief ship arrived.

Other missions followed: Monterey/Carmel (1770); San Antonio and San Gabriel (1771); San Luís Obispo (1772); San Francisco and San Juan Capistrano (1776); Santa Clara (1777); San Buenaventura (1782). Twelve more were founded after Serra’s death.

Junipero made the long trip to Mexico City to settle great differences with the military commander. He arrived at the point of death. The outcome was substantially what Junipero sought: the famous “Regulation” protecting the Indians and the missions. It was the basis for the first significant legislation in California, a “Bill of Rights” for Native Americans.

Because the Native Americans were living a nonhuman life from the Spanish point of view, the friars were made their legal guardians. The Native Americans were kept at the mission after Baptism lest they be corrupted in their former haunts—a move that has brought cries of “injustice” from some moderns.

Junipero’s missionary life was a long battle with cold and hunger, with unsympathetic military commanders and even with danger of death from non-Christian native peoples. Through it all his unquenchable zeal was fed by prayer each night, often from midnight till dawn. He baptized over 6,000 people and confirmed 5,000. His travels would have circled the globe. He brought the Native Americans not only the gift of faith but also a decent standard of living. He won their love, as witnessed especially by their grief at his death. He is buried at Mission San Carlo Borromeo, Carmel, and was beatified in 1988.

Comment:

The word that best describes Junipero is zeal. It was a spirit that came from his deep prayer and dauntless will. “Always forward, never back” was his motto. His work bore fruit for 50 years after his death as the rest of the missions were founded in a kind of Christian communal living by the Indians. When both Mexican and American greed caused the secularization of the missions, the Chumash people went back to what they had been—God again writing straight with crooked lines.

Quote:

During his homily at Serra’s beatification, Saint John Paul II said: “Relying on the divine power of the message he proclaimed, Father Serra led the native peoples to Christ. He was well aware of their heroic virtues—as exemplified in the life of St. Kateri Tekakwitha [July 14]—and he sought to further their authentic human development on the basis of their new-found faith as persons created and redeemed by God. He also had to admonish the powerful, in the spirit of our second reading from James, not to abuse and exploit the poor and the weak.”

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LECTIO DIVINA: MATTHEW 8,28-34

Lectio: 

 Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Father,
you call your children
to walk in the light of Christ.
Free us from darkness
and keep us in the radiance of your truth.
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 - Matthew 8,28-34

When Jesus reached the territory of the Gadarenes on the other side, two demoniacs came towards him out of the tombs -- they were so dangerously violent that nobody could use that path. Suddenly they shouted, 'What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the time?'
Now some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding, and the devils pleaded with Jesus, 'If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.'
And he said to them, 'Go then,' and they came out and made for the pigs; and at that the whole herd charged down the cliff into the lake and perished in the water. The herdsmen ran off and made for the city, where they told the whole story, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Suddenly the whole city set out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw him they implored him to leave their neighbourhood.

3) Reflection

• Today’s Gospel stresses the power of Jesus over the devil. In our text, the devil or the power of evil is associated to three things: 1) To the cemetery, the place of the dead. To death which kills life!  2) To the pig, that was considered an impure animal.  The impurity which separates from God! 3) With the sea, which was considered like the symbol of chaos before creation?  The chaos which destroys nature.  The Gospel of Mark, from which Matthew takes his information, associates the power of evil to a fourth element which is the word Legion, (Mc 5, 9), the name of the army of the Roman Empire.  The Empire oppressed and exploited the people.  Thus, it is understood that the victory of Jesus over the Devil had an enormous importance for the life of the communities of the years 70’s, the time when Matthew wrote his Gospel. The communities lived oppressed and marginalized, because of the official ideology of the Roman Empire and of the Pharisees which was renewed. The same significance and the same importance continue to be valid today.
• Matthew 8, 28: The force of evil oppresses, ill-treats and alienates persons. This first verse describes the situation of the people before the coming of Jesus.  In describing the behaviour of the two possessed persons, the Evangelist associates the force of evil to the cemetery and to death.  It is a mortal power, without a goal, without direction, without control and a destructing power, which causes everyone to fear.  It deprives the persons from their conscience, from self control and autonomy.
• Matthew 8, 29: Before the simple presence of Jesus the force of evil breaks up and disintegrates. Here is described the first contact between Jesus and the two possessed men.  We see that there is total disproportion. The power, that at first seemed to be so strong, melts and disintegrates before Jesus.  They shouted: “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come to torture us before the time?” they become aware that they are loosing their power.
• Matthew 8, 30-32: The power of evil is impure and has no autonomy, nor consistency.  The Devil does not have power over his movements.  It only obtains the power to enter into the pigs with the permission of Jesus! Once they enter into the pigs, the whole herd charged down the cliff into the sea and perished in the water. According to the opinion of the people, the pig was a symbol of impurity which prevented the human being to relate with God and of feeling accepted by him.  The sea was the symbol of the existing chaos before creation and which according to the belief of that time, continued to threatened life.  This episode of the pigs which threw themselves into the sea is strange and difficult to understand. But the message is very clear: before Jesus, the power of evil has no autonomy, no consistency.  Anyone who believes in Jesus has already conquered the power of evil and should not fear!
• Matthew 8, 33-34: The reaction of the people of that place. The herdsmen of the pigs went to the city and told the story to the people, and they all set out to go and meet Jesus. Mark says that they saw the “possessed” man sitting down, dressed and with perfect judgment” (Mk 5, 15). But they remained without the pigs.  This is why they asked Jesus to leave from their neighbourhood. For them the pigs were more important than the person who recovered his senses.
• The expulsion of the demons.  At the time of Jesus, the wordsDevil or Satan were used to indicate the power of evil which drew persons away from the right path. For example, when Peter tried to deviate Jesus, he was Satan for Jesus (Mk 8, 33).  Other times, those same words were used to indicate the political power of the Roman Empire which oppressed and exploited people.  For example, in the Apocalypse, the Roman Empire is identified with “Devil or Satan” (Ap 12, 9).  While other times, people used the same words to indicate the evils and the illnesses.  It was spoken about devil, dumb spirit, deaf spirit, impure or unclean spirit, etc.  There was great fear! In the time of Matthew, in the second half of the first century, the fear of demons increased.  Some religions, from the East diffused worship toward the spirits.  They taught that some of our mistaken gestures could irritate the spirits, and these, in order to revenge, could prevent us from having access to God and deprived us from divine benefits.  For this reason, through rites and writings, intense prayer and complicated ceremonies, people sought to calm down these spirits or demons, in such a way that they would not cause harm to life.  These religions, instead of liberating people, nourished fear and anguish. Now, one of the objectives of the Good News of Jesus was to help people to liberate themselves from this fear.  The coming of the Kingdom of God meant the coming of a stronger power.  Jesus is “the strongest man” who can conquer Satan, the power of evil, snatching away from its hands, humanity imprisoned by fear (cf. Mk 3, 27).  For this reason the Gospels insist very much on the victory of Jesus over the power of evil, over the devil, over Satan, over sin and over death.  It was in order to encourage the communities to overcome this fear of the devil!  And today, who can say: “I am completely free?” Nobody!  Then, if I am not totally free, there is some part in me which is possessed by other powers.  How can these forces be cast away?  The message of today’s Gospel continues to be valid for us.      

4) Personal questions

• What oppresses and ill-treats people today? Why is it that today in certain places so much is spoken about casting out the devil?  Is it good to insist so much on the devil? What do you think?
• Who can say that he/she is completely free or liberated? Nobody! And then, we are all somewhat possessed by other forces which occupy some space within us. What can we do to expel this power from within us and from society?  

5) Concluding Prayer

Yahweh is tenderness and pity,
slow to anger, full of faithful love.
Yahweh is generous to all,
his tenderness embraces all his creatures. (Ps 145,8-9)

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