OCTOBER 14,2017 : SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

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

Reading 1JL 4:12-21

Thus says the LORD:
Let the nations bestir themselves and come up
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there will I sit in judgment
upon all the neighboring nations.

Apply the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe;
Come and tread,
for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow,
for great is their malice.
Crowd upon crowd
in the valley of decision;
For near is the day of the LORD
in the valley of decision.
Sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars withhold their brightness.
The LORD roars from Zion,
and from Jerusalem raises his voice;
The heavens and the earth quake,
but the LORD is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the children of Israel.

Then shall you know that I, the LORD, am your God,
dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain;
Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall pass through her no more.
And then, on that day,
the mountains shall drip new wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk;
And the channels of Judah
shall flow with water:
A fountain shall issue from the house of the LORD,
to water the Valley of Shittim.
Egypt shall be a waste,
and Edom a desert waste,
Because of violence done to the people of Judah,
because they shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall abide forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.
I will avenge their blood,
and not leave it unpunished.
The LORD dwells in Zion.

Responsorial PsalmPS 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12

R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

AlleluiaLK 11:28

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God
and observe it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 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. 

We can hear God's Word and believe it
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.

Jesus unites us with our heavenly Father
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."

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Blessings for hearing and keeping the Word, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Mary was more blessed in accepting the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. To someone who said, 'Blessed is the womb that bore you,' he replied, 'Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.' Finally, for his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage was that relationship? Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh." (excerpt from HOLY VIRGINITY 3.1)

www.dailyscripture.net

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, LUKE 11:27-28
Weekday
(Joel 4:12-21; Psalm 97)

KEY VERSE: "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it" (v 28).
TO KNOW: 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.
TO LOVE: Have I found blessings by obeying God's word?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, give me the grace to hear and obey your word. 

Optional Memorial of Saint Callistus I, pope and martyr

Callistus was an Archdeacon who became Pope. He was born a slave, owned by a Christian of the household of Caesar. His master entrusted a large sum to Callistus to open a bank. Callistus made several loans to people who refused to pay them back, and the bank went broke. Accused of wrongdoing, Callistus was sent to the tin mines. By a quirk of Roman law, Callistus was later ransomed with a number of other Christians and he became a free man. Pope Saint Zephyrinus put Callistus in charge of the Roman public burial grounds, today still called the Cemetery of Saint Callistus. Callistus defended the faith against the Adoptionist and Modalist, heresies regarding the Holy Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ. On October 14, 222, Callistus was martyred, the first martyr to be honored in the Roman liturgy.
NOTE: Adoptionism was a heresy that believed that Jesus was adopted as God's Son either at his baptism, his resurrection, or at his ascension. Modalism is the non-Trinitarian belief that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three different modes or aspects of one God.​

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Saturday 14 October 2017

St Callistus I.

Joel 4:12-21. Psalm 96(97):1-2, 5-6, 11-12. Luke 11:27-28.

Let the just rejoice in the Lord — Psalm 96(97):1-2, 5-6, 11-12.

The Lord’s power overcomes all evil.

It may be difficult for us to believe in the raw presence of evil as recounted in today’s gospel. Unless we have been present during an exorcism, being directly confronted by an evil spirit is unlikely to occur, but is still possible in other ways. Evil can be subtle and insidious, even craftily disguised as good, and seep into our lives.

We are also aware of its catastrophic consequences on a grand scale in world events. Whether present in a small or large way, Satan and his cohorts are very real and their goal is our social, individual, physical, mental and spiritual death.

Jesus cast out evil spirits to demonstrate God’s power. If his power and love and justice can do such things, what do we have to fear? Who are we not to trust him in our own battles against evil and the injustices in our lives?

We may panic because God does not act fast enough for us, or intervene to expel the evil we struggle with. But justice will prevail. Our enemies will be ‘trapped by their own deeds’, and, like the psalmist, we will sing for joy again.

www.pray.com.au

ST. CALLISTUS I

Pope Callistus I is celebrated in churches throughout the world as a saint and martyr on October 14. The saint caused a major controversy, including a schism that lasted almost two decades, by choosing to emphasize God's mercy in his ministry. However, the early Pope's model of leadership has endured, and his martyrdom in the year 222 confirmed his example of holiness.

Because no completely trustworthy biography of Pope Callistus I exists, historians have been forced to rely on an account by his contemporary Hippolytus of Rome. Although Hippolytus himself was eventually reconciled to the Church and canonized as a martyr, he vocally opposed the pontificate of Callistus and three of his successors, to the point of usurping papal prerogatives for himself (as the first “antipope”). Nevertheless, his account of Callistus' life and papacy provides important details.

According to Hippolytus' account, Callistus – whose year of birth is not known - began his career as a highly-placed domestic servant, eventually taking responsibility for his master's banking business. When the bank failed, Callistus received the blame, and attempted to flee from his master. Being discovered, he was demoted to serve as a manual laborer in Rome. Thus, under inauspicious circumstances, Callistus came as a slave to the city where he would later serve as Pope.

Matters went from bad to worse when he was sent to work in the mines, possibly for causing a public disturbance, if Hippolytus' account is to be trusted. However, Callistus may also simply have been sentenced due to a persecution of Christians, as he was among the many believers eventually freed on the initiative of Pope St. Victor I.

During the subsequent reign of Pope Zephyrinus, Callistus became a deacon and the caretaker of a major Roman Christian cemetery (which still bears his name as the “Cemetery of St. Callistus”), in addition to advising the Pope on theological controversies of the day. He was a natural candidate to follow Zephyrinus, when the latter died in 219.

Hippolytus, an erudite Roman theologian, accused Pope Callistus of sympathizing with heretics, and resented the new Pope's clarification that even the most serious sins could be absolved after sincere confession. The Pope's assertion of divine mercy also scandalized the North African Christian polemicist Tertullian, already in schism from the Church in Carthage, who also erroneously held that certain sins were too serious to be forgiven through confession.

Considered in light of this error, Hippolytus' catalogue of sins allegedly “permitted” by Callistus – including extramarital sex and early forms of contraception - may in fact represent offenses which the Pope never allowed, but which he was willing to absolve in the case of penitents seeking reconciliation with the Church.

Even so, Callistus could not persuade Hippolytus' followers of his rightful authority as Pope during his own lifetime. The Catholic Church, however, has always acknowledged the orthodoxy and holiness of Pope St. Callistus I, particularly since the time of his martyrdom – traditionally ascribed to an anti-Christian mob - in 222. 

St. Callistus' own intercession after death may also have made possible the historic reconciliation between his opponent Hippolytus, and the later Pope Pontian. The Pope and former antipope were martyred together in 236, and both subsequently canonized.

www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=393

LECTIO DIVINA: LUKE 11,27-28

Lectio Divina: 

 Saturday, October 14, 2017

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 neighbor 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. He 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 neighbor 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 Luke, Mary is the Daughter of Sion, the 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, and 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 outward 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!

h)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