Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 480
Lectionary: 480
Brothers and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,
in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.
For who hopes for what one sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,
in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.
For who hopes for what one sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 126:1B-2AB, 2CD-3, 4-5, 6
R. (3a) The
Lord has done marvels for us.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
AlleluiaSEE MT 11:25
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 13:18-21
Jesus said, "What is the Kingdom of God like?
To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches."
Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened."
To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches."
Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened."
Meditation: "What God's kingdom is
like"
What can mustard seeds and leaven teach us about the
kingdom of God? The tiny mustard seed literally grew to be a tree which
attracted numerous birds because they loved the little black mustard seed it
produced. God's kingdom works in a similar fashion. It starts from the smallest
beginnings in the hearts of men and women who are receptive to God's word. And
it works unseen and causes a transformation from within.
The transforming power of the Holy Spirit within us
Leaven is another powerful agent of change. A lump of dough left to itself remains just what it is, a lump of dough. But when the leaven is added to it a transformation takes place which produces rich and wholesome bread when heated - the staple of life for humans. The kingdom of God produces a transformation in those who receive the new life which Jesus Christ offers. When we yield to Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul the Apostle says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Do you believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?
Leaven is another powerful agent of change. A lump of dough left to itself remains just what it is, a lump of dough. But when the leaven is added to it a transformation takes place which produces rich and wholesome bread when heated - the staple of life for humans. The kingdom of God produces a transformation in those who receive the new life which Jesus Christ offers. When we yield to Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Paul the Apostle says, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Do you believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit?
"Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and
transform me into the Christ-like holiness you desire. Increase my zeal for
your kingdom and instill in me a holy desire to live for your greater
glory."
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: The Word of God operates in us like leaven,
by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)
"The leaven is small in quantity, yet it
immediately seizes the whole mass and quickly communicates its own properties
to it. The Word of God operates in us in a similar manner. When it is admitted
within us, it makes us holy and without blame. By pervading our mind and heart,
it makes us spiritual. Paul says, 'Our whole body and spirit and soul may be
kept blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The
God of all clearly shows that the divine Word is poured out even into the depth
of our understanding... We receive the rational and divine leaven in our mind.
We understand that by this precious, holy and pure leaven, we may be found
spiritually unleavened and have none of the wickedness of the world, but rather
be pure, holy partakers of Christ." (excerpt
from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 96)
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, LUKE 13:18-21
Weekday
(Romans 8:18-25; Psalm 126)
KEY VERSE: "What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it?" (v 18).
TO KNOW: In Jesus' time, Israel had neither king nor kingdom. Some people hoped for a leader with political power to rid them of Roman occupation and restore the rule to Israel. Others hoped for a priestly leader who would bring about spiritual transformation. Jesus announced that the kingdom of God had begun in him. He used images to show that God's reign would not be manifested in sudden or dramatic ways, but in hidden, mysterious ways. When a tiny mustard seed was planted in a garden, it grew to be nine to twelve feet high. A few grains of yeast could alter the whole mass of dough. Although God's reign had insignificant beginnings, it had the capability to become great and powerful, and be the means whereby the whole world would be renewed.
TO LOVE: What are the seemingly unimportant things in my life that have potential for growth?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to trust that all things will be brought to fulfillment in your time.
Weekday
(Romans 8:18-25; Psalm 126)
KEY VERSE: "What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it?" (v 18).
TO KNOW: In Jesus' time, Israel had neither king nor kingdom. Some people hoped for a leader with political power to rid them of Roman occupation and restore the rule to Israel. Others hoped for a priestly leader who would bring about spiritual transformation. Jesus announced that the kingdom of God had begun in him. He used images to show that God's reign would not be manifested in sudden or dramatic ways, but in hidden, mysterious ways. When a tiny mustard seed was planted in a garden, it grew to be nine to twelve feet high. A few grains of yeast could alter the whole mass of dough. Although God's reign had insignificant beginnings, it had the capability to become great and powerful, and be the means whereby the whole world would be renewed.
TO LOVE: What are the seemingly unimportant things in my life that have potential for growth?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to trust that all things will be brought to fulfillment in your time.
HALLOWEEN -- "ALL HALLOWS EVE"
The word "Halloween" comes from the words "All Hallow's Eve," literally, the evening before the "Feast of All Saints.” According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots. Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, and visiting haunted attractions.
A woman was asked, "What is it like to be a Christian?" She replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in and washes all of the dirt off of you. Then God cuts off the top and scoops out all the seeds of doubt, hate and greed, and replaces them with seeds of faith, hope and love. Then God carves a smiling face and His light shines inside of you for all of the world to see.
The word "Halloween" comes from the words "All Hallow's Eve," literally, the evening before the "Feast of All Saints.” According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots. Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, and visiting haunted attractions.
A woman was asked, "What is it like to be a Christian?" She replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in and washes all of the dirt off of you. Then God cuts off the top and scoops out all the seeds of doubt, hate and greed, and replaces them with seeds of faith, hope and love. Then God carves a smiling face and His light shines inside of you for all of the world to see.
St Alphonsus Rodriguez.
Romans
8:18-25. Psalm 125(126). Luke 13:18-21.
The Lord
has done marvels for us — Psalm 125(126).
‘The seed
grew and became a mighty tree.’
The two parables of the mustard
seed and the yeast, about spectacular growth from humble beginnings, are
sometimes applied to the church which, preaching the Gospel to every creature
(Matthew 28:19), has spread throughout the world. They might also refer to the
individual Christian believer who, even with ‘faith the size of a mustard seed’
(Luke 17:6), may achieve great things for God and grow in the life of the
Spirit.
We will know that such growth is
taking place if our lives are marked by fruits of that Spirit— ‘love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’
(Galatians 5:22-23). Lord, I offer you little that I have and hope you will
give me the fullness that you are.
Oct. 31, though best known as the Vigil of the Solemnity of All
Saints (All Hallows’ Eve) in the Western church, is also the liturgical feast
day of St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon, who was regarded as one of the greatest German
saints of his time
The
Benedictine monk and bishop, who served as a missionary to pagans and a
reformer of the Church in southeastern Germany, was born around 934 in the
historic southwestern German region of Swabia.
Wolfgang
came from a family of nobility and was privately tutored as a child. Later on,
the future monk was educated at the renowned Monastery of Reichenau, and at
Wurtzburg. Wolfgang showed intellectual prowess and found companionship during
his years of study, but was also dismayed by the petty jealousies and moral
lapses he observed in Wurtzburg’s academic environment.
In
956, his school companion Henry was chosen to lead the Archdiocese of Trier.
Though Wolfgang had become interested in monastic life, he chose to go with
Henry to Trier, where his service to the Church included a teaching position in
the cathedral school.
After
Archbishop Henry’s death in 964, Wolfgang left Trier, became a monk of the
Order of Saint Benedict, and settled at a monastery in the diocese of Augsburg.
Its school prospered under his direction, and the local bishop – the future St.
Ulrich – ordained him to the priesthood in 968. In his youth, Wolfgang had
envisioned a secluded life of contemplation; but things turned out differently,
as he was sent east to evangelize the Magyars in 972.
By
Christmas of that year, Wolfgang had been chosen as the new Bishop of Ratisbon
(present-day Regensburg in Bavaria). But he continued to live out his monastic
vocation, retaining his distinctive Benedictine habit and dedicating himself to
the same ascetic lifestyle. Amid the work of preaching and reform, Wolfgang
remained a man of prayer, silence, and contemplative solitude.
Not
surprisingly, the Bishop of Ratisbon made monasticism a focus of his church
reforms, reviving religious life in places where it had fallen into disorder.
Wolfgang also showed extraordinary care for the poor in his diocese, to such an
extent that he was called “the Great Almoner.” On the other hand, he was also
involved in affairs of state at a high level, and tutored the children of the
Duke of Bavaria, including the future Holy Roman Emperor St. Henry II.
Wolfgang,
despite being one of the great bishops and saints of his time, still
encountered serious difficulties in his leadership of the Diocese of Ratisbon.
On one occasion, a political conflict caused him to withdraw from his diocese
to a hermitage for a period of time. Wolfgang is also said to have struggled
with the great geographical extent of the diocese, parts of which were
eventually entrusted to the Bishop of Prague.
In
994, while traveling in Austria, Wolfgang became sick and died in the village
of Pupping. Miracles associated with his tomb, including many healings, led to
his canonization of 1052. Several of St. Wolfgang’s devotees experienced relief
from stomach ailments, and he remains a patron saint of such troubles today.
His intercession is also sought by victims of strokes and paralysis, and by
carpenters.
LECTIO: LUKE 13,18-21
Lectio Divina:
Ordinary
Time
1) Opening prayer
1) Opening prayer
Almighty and ever-living God,
strengthen
our faith, hope and love.
May
we do with loving hearts
what
you ask of us
and
come to share the life you promise.
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 13,18-21
Jesus went on to say, 'What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.'
Jesus went on to say, 'What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.'
Again
He said, 'What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a
woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all
through.'
3) Reflection
•
Context. Along the road that leads Him to Jerusalem, Jesus is surrounded by
“thousands” of persons (11, 29) who crowd around him. The reason for such
attraction from the crowds is the Word of Jesus. In chapter 12 one can notice
how the people who listen to his Word alternate: the disciples (12, 1-12), the
crowd (vv.13-21), the disciples (vv.22-53), the crowds (vv.54-59). IThe scandal
of death is the dominating theme of Luke 13, 1-35. In the first part it is
spoken about as the death of all (vv.1-9), in the second part, the death of
Jesus (vv.31-35) and then to the death avoided by sinners because their
conversion is expected. But there is another theme together with the dominant
one: the salvation given to men. The cure of the woman who was bent, a daughter
of Abraham, whom Satan had held during eighteen years, is liberated by Jesus.
And in the center of this chapter 13 we find two parables that constitute the
overall theme: the Kingdom of God as compared to the “mustard seed” and to the
“leaven or yeast”.
•
The Kingdom of God is similar to a mustard seed. Such a seed is very common in
Palestine and particularly close to the Lake of Galilee. It is especially known
because it is particularly small. In Luke 17, 6, Jesus uses such an image to express
the hope that He has for the disciples that they have a at least a small seed
of faith: “If you had faith like a mustard seed...”. This parable, which is
very simple, confronts two diverse moments in the story of the seed: the moment
when it is sown in the earth (the modest beginnings) and when it becomes a tree
(the final miracle). Therefore, the purpose of this account is to narrate the
extraordinary growth of a seed that is thrown in one’s own garden, and to this
follows an amazing growth as it becomes a tree. Like this seed, the Kingdom of
God also has its story. The Kingdom of God is the seed thrown into the garden,
the place that in the New Testament is the place of the agony and the burial of
Jesus (Jn 18, 1.26; 19, 41). Then it follows the moment of growth and concludes
with becoming a tree open to all.
•
The Kingdom of God is similar to yeast. Yeast is put into three measures of
flour. In the Hebrew culture yeast was considered a factor of corruption so
much so that it was eliminated from their houses, in order not to contaminate
the feast at Passover which begins with the week of the unleavened dough. In
the ears of the Jews the use of this negative element, to describe the Kingdom
of God, was a reason to be disturbed. But the reader is able to discover the
convincing force: it is sufficient to put a very small quantity of yeast in
three measures of flour in order to get a big amount of dough. Jesus announces
that this yeast, hidden or that has disappeared in three measures of flour,
after a certain amount of time, leavens the whole dough.
•
The effects of the text on the reader. What do these two parables communicate
to us? The Kingdom of God, compared by Jesus to a seed that becomes a tree,
is close to the story of God as a story of his Word: it is hidden in
human history and it is growing; Luke thinks of the Word of God (the Kingdom of
God in our midst) is already developing but it has not as yet become a tree.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit are supporting this growth of the Word. The image of
yeast completes the frame of the seed. The yeast is the Gospel that is working
in the world, as in the ecclesial communities and in the individual believers.
4) Personal questions
•
Are you aware that the Kingdom of God is present in our midst and that it grows
mysteriously and extends itself in the history of every person, and in the
Church?
•
The Kingdom is a humble reality, hidden, poor and silent, immersed between the
competition and pleasures of life. Have you understood from the two parables,
that you will not be able to get a glimpse of the Kingdom if you do not have an
attitude of humble and silent listening?
5) Concluding Prayer
How
blessed are all who fear Yahweh,
who
walk in his ways!
Your
own labors will yield you a living,
happy
and prosperous will you be. (Ps 128,1-2)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét