Daily Reading for
Tuesday, October 6th, 2015
Reading 1, Jonah 3:1-10
2 'Up!' he said, 'Go to Nineveh, the great
city, and preach to it as I shall tell you.'
3 Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to
the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare; to cross it
took three days.
4 Jonah began by going a day's journey
into the city and then proclaimed, 'Only forty days more and Nineveh will be
overthrown.'
5 And the people of Nineveh believed in
God; they proclaimed a fast and
put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.
6 When the news reached the king of
Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat
down in ashes.
7 He then had it proclaimed throughout
Nineveh, by decree of
the king and his nobles, as follows: 'Noperson or
animal, herd or flock, may eat anything; they may not graze, they may not drink
any water.
8 All must put on sackcloth and call on God with
all their might; and let everyone renounce his evil ways
and violent behaviour.
9 Who knows? Perhaps God will change
his mind and
relent and renounce his burning wrath, so that we shall not perish.'
10 God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways.
And God relented
about the disaster which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring
it.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 130:1-2,
3-4, 7-8
1 [Song of Ascents] From the depths I call
to you, Yahweh:
2 Lord, hear my cry. Listen attentively to
the sound of my pleading!
3 If you kept a record of our sins, Lord,
who could stand their ground?
4 But with you is forgiveness, that you
may be revered.
8 and he will ransom
Israel from all its sins.
Gospel, Luke 10:38-42
38 In the course of their journey he came
to a village, and a woman named
Martha welcomed him into her house.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat
down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking.
40 Now Martha, who was distracted with all
the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is
leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'
41 But the Lord answered,
'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things,
42 and yet few are needed, indeed only one.
It is Mary who
has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
Meditation: "You are anxious - one thing is needful"
Does the peace of Christ reign in your home and in your
personal life? Jesus loved to visit the home of Martha and Mary and enjoyed
their gracious hospitality. In this brief encounter we see two very different
temperaments in Martha and Mary. Martha loved to serve, but in her anxious
manner of waiting on Jesus, she caused unrest. Mary, in her simple and trusting
manner, waited on Jesus by sitting attentively at his feet. She instinctively
knew that what the Lord and Teacher most wanted at that moment was her
attentive presence.
Give your concerns and pre-occupations to the Lord
Anxiety and preoccupation keep us from listening and from giving the Lord our undivided attention. The Lord bids us to give him our concerns and anxieties because he is trustworthy and able to meet any need we have. His grace frees us from needless concerns and preoccupation. Do you seek the Lord attentively? And does the Lord find a welcomed and honored place in your home?
Anxiety and preoccupation keep us from listening and from giving the Lord our undivided attention. The Lord bids us to give him our concerns and anxieties because he is trustworthy and able to meet any need we have. His grace frees us from needless concerns and preoccupation. Do you seek the Lord attentively? And does the Lord find a welcomed and honored place in your home?
Always welcome the Lord into your home and heart
The Lord Jesus desires that we make a place for him, not only in our hearts, but in our homes and in the daily circumstances of our lives as well. We honor the Lord when we offer to him everything we have and everything we do. After all, everything we have is an outright gift from God (1 Chronicles 29:14). Paul the Apostle urges us to give God glory in everything: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).
The Lord Jesus desires that we make a place for him, not only in our hearts, but in our homes and in the daily circumstances of our lives as well. We honor the Lord when we offer to him everything we have and everything we do. After all, everything we have is an outright gift from God (1 Chronicles 29:14). Paul the Apostle urges us to give God glory in everything: "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).
When you sit, eat, sleep and when you entertain your friends and
guests, remember that the Lord Jesus is also the guest of your home. Scripture
tells us that when Abraham opened his home and welcomed three unknown
travelers, he welcomed the Lord who blessed him favorably for his gracious
hospitality (Genesis 18:1-10; Hebrews 13:2). The Lord wants us to bring him
glory in the way we treat others and use the gifts he has graciously given to
us. God, in turn, blesses us with his gracious presence and fills us with joy.
"Lord Jesus, to be in your presence is life and joy for me.
Free me from needless concerns and preoccupations that I may give you my
undivided love and attention."
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, LUKE
10:38-42
(Jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 130)
(Jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 130)
KEY VERSE: "Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her" (v 42).
TO KNOW: On Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, he stopped at the village of Bethany to rest at the home of his friends, Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus. Jesus had been teaching his disciples about the privilege and responsibility of being a disciple, and then he did a radical thing―he taught a woman. Mary seated herself at the feet of Jesus, and listened to his words just as a disciple of a Jewish rabbi would do. Martha criticized her sister for neglecting her duties as host, but Mary showed true hospitality by being totally present to her guest. When Martha complained that Mary had left her with all the serving, Jesus told Martha that she was too "anxious and worried about many things" (v 40-41). The one thing that should concern her was "to seek God's kingdom before all else" (12:29-31). Mary freely chose to be Jesus' disciple, and she would not be deprived of the opportunity. Her service to others would flow from her single-hearted devotion to the Lord.
TO LOVE: Do I serve others with love and dedication?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to welcome you into my home so that I might listen to your words.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
TUE 6TH.
St Bruno. Jonah 3:1-10. If you, O Lord, laid bare our guilt, who could
endure it?—Ps 129(130):1-4, 7-8. Luke 10:38-42.
'Mary has
chosen the better part.'
One day
recently I was buying some nice pastries. I commented to the shop assistant on
the beautiful food. ‘Is it for a celebration?’ she asked. ‘No’ I said. ‘They
have bad news.’ ‘I am sorry’, she replied. ‘I hope these tarts will help them
today.’
This fine
woman was Mary that day, listening to me and ‘reaching out’ in a way to my
friends in their sadness.
MINUTE MEDITATIONS
|
Asking for Prayers
|
The saints in heaven love and care for us, and so it is fitting
that we pray to them and ask for their prayers, as we on earth assist one
another through prayer.
October
6
St. Bruno
(1030?-1101)
St. Bruno
(1030?-1101)
This saint has the honor of having founded a religious order
which, as the saying goes, has never had to be reformed because it was never
deformed. No doubt both the founder and the members would reject such high
praise, but it is an indication of the saint's intense love of a penitential
life in solitude.
Bruno was
born in Cologne, Germany, became a famous teacher at Rheims and was appointed
chancellor of the archdiocese at the age of 45. He supported Pope Gregory
VII in his fight against the decadence of the clergy and took part in the
removal of his own scandalous archbishop, Manasses. Bruno suffered the
plundering of his house for his pains.
He had a
dream of living in solitude and prayer, and persuaded a few friends to join him
in a hermitage. After a while he felt the place unsuitable and, through a
friend, was given some land which was to become famous for his foundation
"in the Chartreuse" (from which comes the word Carthusians). The
climate, desert, mountainous terrain and inaccessibility guaranteed silence,
poverty and small numbers.
Bruno and
his friends built an oratory with small individual cells at a distance from each
other. They met for Matins and Vespers each day and spent the rest of the time
in solitude, eating together only on great feasts. Their chief work was copying
manuscripts.
The pope,
hearing of Bruno's holiness, called for his assistance in Rome. When the pope
had to flee Rome, Bruno pulled up stakes again, and spent his last years (after
refusing a bishopric) in the wilderness of Calabria.
He was
never formally canonized, because the Carthusians were averse to all occasions
of publicity. However Pope Clement X extended his feast to the whole Church in
1674.
Comment:
If there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the contemplative life, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians.
If there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the contemplative life, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians.
Quote:
“Members of those communities which are totally dedicated to contemplation give themselves to God alone in solitude and silence and through constant prayer and ready penance. No matter how urgent may be the needs of the active apostolate, such communities will always have a distinguished part to play in Christ's Mystical Body...” (Vatican II, Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life, 7).
“Members of those communities which are totally dedicated to contemplation give themselves to God alone in solitude and silence and through constant prayer and ready penance. No matter how urgent may be the needs of the active apostolate, such communities will always have a distinguished part to play in Christ's Mystical Body...” (Vatican II, Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life, 7).
LECTIO DIVINA:
LUKE 10,38-42
Lectio:
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
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 10,38-42
In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking.
Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'
But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
3) Reflection
• Context. The journey of Jesus, undertaken in 9, 51, is surrounded by particular encounters, among which with the Doctors of the Law (10, 25-37), that precedes the encounter with Martha and Mary (vv. 38-42). Above all, there is a doctor of the Law who asks Jesus a question and that for the reader it becomes a convenient occasion to discover how eternal life is inherited or gained which is intimacy with the Father. One can have access to eternal life by participating in the mission of Jesus, the first one sent who has shown us God’s mercy fully (v. 37). In Jesus the Father has become close to men, he has shown his paternity in a tangible way. At the end of the encounter the expression that Jesus addresses to the Doctor of the Law and to every reader is crucial: “Go, and do the same yourself” (v. 37). To become a neighbour, to get close to others as Jesus did makes us become instruments to show in a living way the merciful love of the Father. This is the secret key to enter into eternal life.
• Listening to the Word. After this encounter with an expert of the Law, while he is on the way, Jesus enters into a village and is welcomed by old friends: Martha and Mary. Jesus is not only the first one sent by the Father but he is also the one who gathers together men and in our case the members of the house of Bethany, in so far as he is the only Word of the Father. If it is true that there are many services to be carried out, welcoming, attention to the needs of others, and even more it is true that what is irreplaceable is listening to the Word. The account that Luke gives is a real episode and at the same time an ideal. It begins with the welcome of Martha (v. 38), then, it sketches Mary with an attitude typical of the disciple, sitting at the feet of Jesus and totally attentive to listen to his Word. This attitude of Mary is extraordinary because in Judaism at the time of Jesus it was not permitted for a woman to go to the school of a Teacher, a Master. Up until now we have a harmonious picture: the welcome of Martha, the listening of Mary. But soon the welcome of Martha will be transformed into super activism: the woman is “pulled”, divided by the multiple services; she is so absorbed that she is unable to control the domestic services. The great amount of activities, understandable for such a guest, becomes however, disproportionate so much so as to prevent her living what is essential precisely in the time that Jesus is present in her house. Her worry or concern is legitimate, but then it becomes anguish, a state of mind that is not convenient when a friend is welcomed.
• Relate service to listening. Her service of acceptance, of welcome is very positive but it is detrimental because of this state of anxiety with which she carries it out. The Evangelist makes the reader glimpse to show that there is no contradiction between the ‘diaconia’ of the table and that of the Word, but he wants to suggest that the service should be related to listening. Because she did not relate the spiritual attitude of service to that of listening, Martha feels that she has been abandoned by her sister, but instead, of dialoguing with Mary, she complains with the Master. Trapped in her solitude she goes against Jesus who seems to be indifferent to her problem (“Lord do you not care”...) and then with the sister, (“that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?”). In his response Jesus does not reproach her, nor criticize her, but he tries to help Martha to recover that which is essential at that moment: listening to the Master. He invites her to choose that part, unique and a priority that Mary has spontaneously taken. The episode invites us to consider a danger which is always frequent in the life of Christians: anxiety, worry, super activism that can isolate us from communion with Christ and with the community. The danger is more underhanded because frequently the material concerns or worries carried out with anxiety, we consider them a form of service. What presses Luke is that in our communities the priority that should be given to the Word of God, and to listen to it, should not be neglected. Before serving the others, the relatives, and the ecclesial community it is necessary to be served by Christ with His Word of grace. And thus immersed in the daily tasks, like Martha, we forget that the Lord desires to take care of us... It is necessary, instead, to place in Jesus and in God all our concerns and worries.
4) Personal questions
• Do you know how to relate service to listening to the Word of Jesus? Or rather do you allow yourself to be taken up by anxiety because of the multiple things to be done?
• Have you understood that before serving you have to accept to be served by Christ? Are you aware that your service becomes divine only if previously you will have accepted Christ and his word?
5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
you know when I sit, when I rise,
you understand my thoughts from afar.
You watch when I walk or lie down,
you know every detail of my conduct. (Ps 139,1-3)
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 10,38-42
In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking.
Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'
But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
3) Reflection
• Context. The journey of Jesus, undertaken in 9, 51, is surrounded by particular encounters, among which with the Doctors of the Law (10, 25-37), that precedes the encounter with Martha and Mary (vv. 38-42). Above all, there is a doctor of the Law who asks Jesus a question and that for the reader it becomes a convenient occasion to discover how eternal life is inherited or gained which is intimacy with the Father. One can have access to eternal life by participating in the mission of Jesus, the first one sent who has shown us God’s mercy fully (v. 37). In Jesus the Father has become close to men, he has shown his paternity in a tangible way. At the end of the encounter the expression that Jesus addresses to the Doctor of the Law and to every reader is crucial: “Go, and do the same yourself” (v. 37). To become a neighbour, to get close to others as Jesus did makes us become instruments to show in a living way the merciful love of the Father. This is the secret key to enter into eternal life.
• Listening to the Word. After this encounter with an expert of the Law, while he is on the way, Jesus enters into a village and is welcomed by old friends: Martha and Mary. Jesus is not only the first one sent by the Father but he is also the one who gathers together men and in our case the members of the house of Bethany, in so far as he is the only Word of the Father. If it is true that there are many services to be carried out, welcoming, attention to the needs of others, and even more it is true that what is irreplaceable is listening to the Word. The account that Luke gives is a real episode and at the same time an ideal. It begins with the welcome of Martha (v. 38), then, it sketches Mary with an attitude typical of the disciple, sitting at the feet of Jesus and totally attentive to listen to his Word. This attitude of Mary is extraordinary because in Judaism at the time of Jesus it was not permitted for a woman to go to the school of a Teacher, a Master. Up until now we have a harmonious picture: the welcome of Martha, the listening of Mary. But soon the welcome of Martha will be transformed into super activism: the woman is “pulled”, divided by the multiple services; she is so absorbed that she is unable to control the domestic services. The great amount of activities, understandable for such a guest, becomes however, disproportionate so much so as to prevent her living what is essential precisely in the time that Jesus is present in her house. Her worry or concern is legitimate, but then it becomes anguish, a state of mind that is not convenient when a friend is welcomed.
• Relate service to listening. Her service of acceptance, of welcome is very positive but it is detrimental because of this state of anxiety with which she carries it out. The Evangelist makes the reader glimpse to show that there is no contradiction between the ‘diaconia’ of the table and that of the Word, but he wants to suggest that the service should be related to listening. Because she did not relate the spiritual attitude of service to that of listening, Martha feels that she has been abandoned by her sister, but instead, of dialoguing with Mary, she complains with the Master. Trapped in her solitude she goes against Jesus who seems to be indifferent to her problem (“Lord do you not care”...) and then with the sister, (“that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?”). In his response Jesus does not reproach her, nor criticize her, but he tries to help Martha to recover that which is essential at that moment: listening to the Master. He invites her to choose that part, unique and a priority that Mary has spontaneously taken. The episode invites us to consider a danger which is always frequent in the life of Christians: anxiety, worry, super activism that can isolate us from communion with Christ and with the community. The danger is more underhanded because frequently the material concerns or worries carried out with anxiety, we consider them a form of service. What presses Luke is that in our communities the priority that should be given to the Word of God, and to listen to it, should not be neglected. Before serving the others, the relatives, and the ecclesial community it is necessary to be served by Christ with His Word of grace. And thus immersed in the daily tasks, like Martha, we forget that the Lord desires to take care of us... It is necessary, instead, to place in Jesus and in God all our concerns and worries.
4) Personal questions
• Do you know how to relate service to listening to the Word of Jesus? Or rather do you allow yourself to be taken up by anxiety because of the multiple things to be done?
• Have you understood that before serving you have to accept to be served by Christ? Are you aware that your service becomes divine only if previously you will have accepted Christ and his word?
5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
you know when I sit, when I rise,
you understand my thoughts from afar.
You watch when I walk or lie down,
you know every detail of my conduct. (Ps 139,1-3)
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