MAY 20, 2016 : FRIDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 345

Reading 1JAS 5:9-12

Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another,
that you may not be judged.
Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.
Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters,
the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered.
You have heard of the perseverance of Job,
and you have seen the purpose of the Lord,
because the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear,
either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath,
but let your “Yes” mean “Yes” and your “No” mean “No,”
that you may not incur condemnation.

Responsorial PsalmPS 103:1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 11-12

R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

AlleluiaSEE JN 17:17B, 17A

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your word, O Lord, is truth;
consecrate us in the truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelMK 10:1-12

Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan.
Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom,
he again taught them.
The Pharisees approached him and asked,
“Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?”
They replied,
“Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her.”
But Jesus told them,
“Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.”
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery.”

www.usccb.org

Meditation: What God has joined together

What is God's intention for our state in life, whether married or single? Jesus deals with the issue of divorce by taking his hearers back to the beginning of creation and to God's plan for the human race. In Genesis 2:23-24 we see God's intention and ideal that two people who marry should become so indissolubly one that they are one flesh. That ideal is found in the unbreakable union of Adam and Eve. They were created for each other and for no one else. They are the pattern and symbol for all who were to come.

Jesus explains that Moses permitted divorce as a concession in view of a lost ideal. Jesus sets the high ideal of the married state before those who are willing to accept his commands. Jesus, likewise sets the high ideal for those who freely renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:11-12). Both marriage and celibacy are calls from God to live a consecrated life, that is to live as married couples or as singles who belong not to themselves but to God. Our lives are not our own - they belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19b,20; Romans 14:7-8). The Lord Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit gives the grace and the power to those who seek to follow his way of holiness in their state of life. His grace and power bring freedom, discipline, and strength to live a life of love, joy, and holiness. Do you seek the Lord and his grace (his strength and power) in your state of life?

"Lord Jesus Christ, your call to holiness extends to all in every state of life. Sanctify our lives - as married couples and as singles - that we may live as men and women who are consecrated to you. Make us leaven in a society that disdains life-long marriage fidelity, chastity, and living single for the Lord".   

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Mutual servants, equally serving, by Tertullian, 160-225 A.D.

"Where are we to find language adequately to express the happiness of that marriage which the church cements, the oblation confirms, the benediction signs and seals, the angels celebrate, and the Father holds as approved? For all around the earth young people do not rightly and lawfully wed without their parents' consent. What kind of yoke is that of two believers who share one hope, one desire, one discipline, one service? (Ephesians 4:4) They enjoy kinship in spirit and in flesh. They are mutual servants with no discrepancy of interests. Truly they are 'two in one flesh' (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31). Where the flesh is one, the spirit is one as well. Together they pray, together bow down, together perform their fasts, mutually teaching, mutually entreating, mutually upholding. In the church of God they hold an equal place. (Romans 12:15; 15:6; Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:12) They stand equally at the banquet of God, equally in crises, equally facing persecutions, and equally in refreshments. Neither hides anything from the other. Neither neglects the other. Neither is troublesome to the other (Philippians 1:27)." (excerpt from TO HIS WIFE 2.8)

www.dailyscripture.net

FRIDAY, MAY 20, MARK 10:1-12
Weekday
(James 5:9-12; Psalm 103)

KEY VERSE: "Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate" (v 9).
TO KNOW: At the time of Jesus, Rabbis differed in their opinion as to what constituted sufficient grounds for divorce. The scriptures permitted a man to divorce his wife for immoral behavior (Dt 24:1). A woman had no such rights. When some Pharisees questioned Jesus regarding divorce, he gave them the authentic interpretation of the Law by recalling the basic values underlying the scriptures. God's original intent was that a man and woman become "one body" (Gn 2:21-24), a symbol of God's unity with the people. This relationship should not be sundered without sufficient cause or capricious human will. In the letter to the Ephesians, marriage foreshadowed Christ's oneness with his Church (Eph 5:32).
TO LOVE: Am I committed to my vocation as a sign of my fidelity to Christ?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, bring your compassionate healing to all who suffer separation and divorce.

Optional Memorial of Saint Bernardine of Siena, priest
Bernardine's preaching skills were so great that he filled the piazzas of Italian cities. Thousands of listeners flocked to hear him and to participate in dramatic rituals and exorcisms. A renowned peacemaker in the Franciscan tradition, he tried to calm feuding clans and factions in the turbulent political world of the Renaissance. His preaching visits would often culminate in mass reconciliations as listeners were persuaded to exchange the bacio di pace, or kiss of peace. He argued that the catalyst of civil discord in the urban setting was malicious gossip, which led, too often, to vendettas by aggressive males. His surprising allies in his peacekeeping mission were the women who comprised the majority of his audience.

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Friday 20 May 2016

Fri 20th. (St Bernardine of Siena). Day of penance.
James 5:9-12. The Lord is kind and merciful—Ps 102(103):1-4, 8-9, 11-12. Mark 10:1-12.

Readings

Questions of law and love.

The Pharisees were constantly trying to trip Jesus up, through questions of law. On this occasion, Jesus’ response regarding divorce, was to hold up what was the positive and life-giving path. He returns the Pharisees to the Garden of Eden when created in the image of God, man and woman were taught the life-giving way to be: no longer two, but one. This is a powerful image of created goodness. This oneness can be nothing but life-giving and affirming when truly lived. True oneness involves living fully and completely in communion with each other and God. For Jesus, it is always about being in communion with the God of life and love. From this vantage point, we will always begin and end with that which is life-giving. Questions of law, become questions of intention, love and grace, and a life focused on the journey into ever-deeper communion.

www.pray.com.au

MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Complete Family

The Holy Family consisted of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, not just Jesus alone. For the family to be complete, it was necessary to have Joseph the carpenter alongside the greatness of Jesus and the spotlessness of Mary. So too, in our churches, several people may be very capable but they do not make up the community. We need others to complete the team.

— from Thirsting for God 

May 20
St. Bernardine of Siena
(1380-1444)

Most of the saints suffer great personal opposition, even persecution. Bernardine, by contrast, seems more like a human dynamo who simply took on the needs of the world.

He was the greatest preacher of his time, journeying across Italy, calming strife-torn cities, attacking the paganism he found rampant, attracting crowds of 30,000, following St. Francis of Assisi’s admonition to preach about “vice and virtue, punishment and glory.”

Compared with St. Paul by the pope, Bernardine had a keen intuition of the needs of the time, along with solid holiness and boundless energy and joy. He accomplished all this despite having a very weak and hoarse voice, miraculously improved later because of his devotion to Mary.

When he was 20, the plague was at its height in his hometown, Siena. Sometimes as many as 20 people died in one day at the hospital. Bernardine offered to run the hospital and, with the help of other young men, nursed patients there for four months. He escaped the plague but was so exhausted that a fever confined him for several months. He spent another year caring for a beloved aunt (her parents had died when he was a child) and at her death began to fast and pray to know God’s will for him.

At 22, he entered the Franciscan Order and was ordained two years later. For almost a dozen years he lived in solitude and prayer, but his gifts ultimately caused him to be sent to preach. He always traveled on foot, sometimes speaking for hours in one place, then doing the same in another town.

Especially known for his devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, Bernardine devised a symbol—IHS, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek, in Gothic letters on a blazing sun. This was to displace the superstitious symbols of the day, as well as the insignia of factions (for example, Guelphs and Ghibellines). The devotion spread, and the symbol began to appear in churches, homes and public buildings. Opposition arose from those who thought it a dangerous innovation. Three attempts were made to have the pope take action against him, but Bernardine’s holiness, orthodoxy and intelligence were evidence of his faithfulness.

General of a branch of the Franciscan Order, the Friars of the Strict Observance, he strongly emphasized scholarship and further study of theology and canon law. When he started there were 300 friars in the community; when he died there were 4,000. He returned to preaching the last two years of his life, dying while traveling.

Story:

At Bologna, Bernardine preached mightily against the evils of gambling. As was the custom, a huge bonfire was made in the public square, to be a holocaust consuming all the instruments of vice—playing cards, dice and the like. A manufacturer of playing cards complained that Bernardine was taking away his livelihood The saint told him to start making the symbol IHS, and he made more money than ever before.

Comment:

Another dynamic saint once said, “...I will not be a burden, for I want not what is yours, but you.... I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes” (2 Corinthians 12:14). There is danger that we see only the whirlwind of activity in the Bernardines of faith—taking care of the sick, preaching, studying, administering, always driving—and forget the source of their energy. We should not say that Bernardine could have been a great contemplative if he had had the chance. He had the chance, every day, and he took it.

Patron Saint of:

Advertising
Gambling, compulsive behavior
Italy
Public relations

www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO DIVINA: MARK 10,1-12

Lectio Divina: 

 Friday, May 20, 2016

Ordinary Time

1) Opening prayer

Father,
keep before us the wisdom and love
you have revealed in your Son.
Help us to be like him
in word and deed,
for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2) Gospel Reading - Mark 10,1-12

After leaving Capharnaum, Jesus came into the territory of Judaea and Transjordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his custom was. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' They were putting him to the test. He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?' They replied, 'Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.'

Then Jesus said to them, 'It was because you were so hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female. This is why a man leaves his father and mother, and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.'

Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.'

3) Reflection

• Yesterday’s Gospel indicated the advice given by Jesus on the relationship between adults and children, between the great and the little ones in society. Today’s Gospel advises us how the relationship between man and woman should be, between wife and husband.

• Mark 10, 1-2: the question of the Pharisees: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” The question is a malicious one. It wants to put Jesus to the test: “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” This is a sign that Jesus had a different opinion, because if this was not so the Pharisees would not have questioned him on this matter. They do not ask if it is lawful for the wife to divorce the husband. They never thought of that. This is a clear sign of the strong dominion of men and the marginalization of women in the society of that time.

• Mark 10, 3-9: The answer of Jesus: man cannot divorce his wife.Instead of responding, Jesus asks: “What did Moses command you?” The Law permitted a man to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce. This permission reveals the reigning machismo of the time. Man could divorce his wife, but the woman did not have the same right. Jesus explains that Moses acted that way because they were so hard hearted, but that the intention of God was different when he created the human being. Jesus goes back to the project of the Creator and denies to man the right of divorce his wife. He takes away the privilege of man regarding his wife and asks for the maximum equality between the two.

• Mark 10, 10, 12: Equality of man and woman. At home the disciples asked Jesus something on this point. Jesus draws the conclusions and reaffirms the equality of rights and duties between man and woman. He proposes a new type of relationship between the two. He does not allow the marriage in which man can command his wife as he wishes, nor vice-versa. The Gospel of Matthew adds a comment of the disciples on this point. They say: “If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is advisable not to marry” (Mt 19, 10). They prefer not to marry, than to marry without having the privilege of continuing to command the woman and without having the right of being able to ask for the divorce in the case that they no longer like the woman. Jesus goes to the very depth of the question and says that there are only three cases in which a person is permitted not to get married: “Not everyone can understand it but only those to whom it is granted. In fact there are eunuchs born so from their mother’s womb; there are eunuchs made so by human agency and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can. (Mt 19, 11-12). The three cases are: “(a) impotence, (b) castration, and (c) for the Kingdom. Not to get married only because man does not want to lose dominion over woman, this is not permitted by the New Law of Love! Matrimony as well as celibacy should be at the service of the Kingdom and not at the service of egoistic or selfish interests. Neither one of these can be a reason to maintain man’s dominion on woman. Jesus changed the relationship man-woman, wife-husband.

4) Personal questions

• In my personal life, how do I live the relationship man-woman?

• In the life of my family and of my community, how is this relationship man-woman lived?

5) Concluding Prayer

Yahweh is tenderness and pity,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
his indignation does not last for ever,
nor his resentment remain for all time. (Ps 103,8-9)

www.ocarm.org