SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 : MEMORIAL OF SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL, PRIEST

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
Lectionary: 452

Reading 1ECCL 1:2-11

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
What profit has man from all the labor
which he toils at under the sun?
One generation passes and another comes,
but the world forever stays.
The sun rises and the sun goes down;
then it presses on to the place where it rises.
Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north,
the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
All rivers go to the sea,
yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they go,
the rivers keep on going.
All speech is labored;
there is nothing one can say.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing
nor is the ear satisfied with hearing.

What has been, that will be;
what has been done, that will be done.
Nothing is new under the sun.
Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!"
has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
There is no remembrance of the men of old;
nor of those to come will there be any remembrance
among those who come after them.

Responsorial PsalmPS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 AND 17BC

R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, "Return, O children of men."
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

AlleluiaJN 14:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 9:7-9

Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening,
and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying,
"John has been raised from the dead";
others were saying, "Elijah has appeared";
still others, "One of the ancient prophets has arisen."
But Herod said, "John I beheaded.
Who then is this about whom I hear such things?"
And he kept trying to see him.

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Meditation: Suppressing truth to ease a guilty conscience

Who do you most admire and want to be like? People with power, influence, fame, or wealth? Scripture warns us of such danger (see Proverbs 23:1-2). King Herod had respected and feared John the Baptist as a great prophet and servant of God. John, however did not fear to rebuke Herod for his adulterous affair with his brother's wife. Herod, however, was more of a people pleaser than a pleaser of God. Herod not only imprisoned John to silence him, but he also beheaded him simply to please his family and friends. 

God's truth cannot be suppressed
Now when reports of Jesus' miracles and teaching reach Herod's court, Herod became very troubled in conscience. He thought that John the Baptist had risen from the dead! Herod sought to meet Jesus more out of curiosity and fear than out of a sincere desire to know God's will. He wanted to meet Jesus - not to follow him but to prevent him from troubling his conscience any further. 

We can try to rid ourselves of guilt and sin by suppressing the truth or by ridding ourselves of anyone or anything that points us to the truth. No power on earth, however, can remove a guilty conscience or free us from slavery to sin - only God can set us free through the atoning sacrifice which his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ made for us on the cross. 

Whose voice and message do you follow?
How can we find true peace with ourselves and with God? The Lord Jesus shows us the way. Jesus explained to his followers, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32). Only Jesus can set us free. If we listen to his voice and obey his word, we will find true peace, joy, and freedom to live as sons and daughters of God. 

Does God's word take priority in your daily life? Or do you allow other voices and messages to distract you or lead you astray. The Lord Jesus promises to be with us and to guide us continually if we will listen to his voice and obey his word.

"Heavenly Father, form in me the likeness of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and deepen his life within me that I may be like him in word and deed. Increase my eagerness to do your will and help me to grow in the knowledge of your love and truth."

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Integrity is a hardship for the morally corrupt, by Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD)

"John aroused Herod by his moral admonitions, not by any formal accusation. He wanted to correct, not to suppress. Herod, however, preferred to suppress rather than be reconciled. To those who are held captive, the freedom of the one innocent of wrongdoing becomes hateful. Virtue is undesirable to those who are immoral; holiness is abhorrent to those who are impious; chastity is an enemy to those who are impure; integrity is a hardship for those who are corrupt; frugality runs counter to those who are self-indulgent; mercy is intolerable to those who are cruel, as is loving-kindness to those who are pitiless and justice to those who are unjust. The Evangelist indicates this when he says, "John said to him, 選t is not lawful for you to have the wife of your brother Philip.'" This is where John runs into trouble. He who admonishes those who are evil gives offense. He who repudiates wrongdoers runs into trouble. John was saying what was proper of the law, what was proper of justice, what was proper of salvation and what was proper certainly not of hatred but of love. And look at the reward he received from the ungodly for his loving concern!" (excerpt from SERMONS 127.6-7)

[Peter Chrysologus, 400-450 AD, was a renowned preacher and bishop of Ravena in the 5th century]

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, LUKE 9:7-9
(Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; Psalm 90)
(Haggai 1:1-8; Psalm 149)

KEY VERSE: "Who then is this about whom I hear such things?" (v. 9).
TO KNOW: Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, was the son of Herod the Great, the bloody ruler who ordered the slaughter of the innocents (Mt 2:16-18). Contrary to Jewish law, Herod Antipas divorced his wife and married Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip. At the bidding of Herodias, Herod put John the Baptist to death for protesting their illicit marriage (Mk 6:17-29). When Herod heard the reports circulating about Jesus, he wondered who he was. Some said that Jesus was John who had risen from the dead. Others said that Elijah had returned, a sign announcing the arrival of the Messiah (Mal 3:23). Herod was curious and expressed a desire to meet Jesus, but like his ambitious father, his real motive was to eliminate this threat to his own power. Jesus spoke to the crowds of his kingdom, not the earthly realm of domination belonging to Pilate, Caesar, and Herod, but a spiritual dominion of mercy and healing.
TO LOVE: Am I committed to serving the Lord no matter what the cost?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to know you personally, not just what others say about you.​

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, priest

Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 in southwest France to a peasant family. Vincent was a highly intelligent youth. He spent four years with the Franciscan friars getting an education. He began divinity studies in 1596 at the University of Toulouse and was ordained at age 20. Vincent was taken captive by Turkish pirates to Tunis, and sold into slavery. He was freed in 1607 when he converted one of his owners to Christianity. Returning to France, he served as parish priest near Paris where he started organizations to help the poor, nurse the sick, and to find jobs for the unemployed. With St. Louise de Marillac, he founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. Vincent de Paul always worked for the poor, the enslaved and the abandoned. He died in 1660 at Paris, France. His body is incorrupt.
​
NOTE: The Society of St Vincent de Paul is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Among its efforts to offer help to the poor or needy, the Society has thrift stores which sell donated goods at a low price and raise money for the poor. There are a great variety of outreach programs in parishes sponsored by the local conferences and councils, addressing needs for social services.

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

Thursday 27 September 2018

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. Psalm 89(90):3-6, 12-14, 17. Luke 9:7-9.

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge—Psalm 89(90):3-6, 12-14, 17.

‘Who then is this about whom I hear such things?’

Just before this Gospel passage which my Bible labels as ‘Herod’s Perplexity,’ Jesus had empowered the twelve disciples, giving them authority over all demons and to cure diseases. Here Herod doesn’t understand what is happening. He believes that he had quashed the miracles and the societal disturbance which naturally occurs around prophetic people. Jesus created a new phenomenon; instead of guarding his power and holding it over people, Jesus has shared it, letting it become a tool for his disciples to know and love the people within their community. They leave with clothes on their backs, their faith and the good news written on their hearts.

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Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint of the Day for September 27

(1580 – September 27, 1660)

 

Detail | Saint Vincent de Paul | Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ

Saint Vincent de Paul’s Story

The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent de Paul’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life.

The Countess de Gondi—whose servant he had helped—persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley slaves, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.

Later, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, came the Daughters of Charity, “whose convent is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief funds for the victims of war, and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity, abuse, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.

Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.

Pope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

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Reflection

The Church is for all God’s children, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness, poverty, ignorance, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has become starvation, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live.

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Saint Vincent de Paul is the Patron Saint of:

Charitable Societies

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LECTIO DIVINA: LUKE 9:7-9

Lectio Divina: 

 Thursday, September 27, 2018

Ordinary Time

1) OPENING PRAYER

Father,
guide us, as You guide creation
according to Your law of love.
May we love one another
and come to perfection
in the eternal life prepared for us.
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 9:7-9

Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, "John has been raised from the dead"; others were saying, "Elijah has appeared"; still others, "One of the ancient prophets has arisen." But Herod said, "John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?" And he kept trying to see him.

3) REFLECTION

• Today’s Gospel presents a reaction from Herod listening to the preaching of Jesus. Herod does not know how to place himself before Jesus. He had killed John the Baptist and now he wants to see Jesus close to him. It is always threatening.
• Luke 9:7-8: Who is Jesus? The text begins with the exposition of the opinion of the people and of Herod on Jesus. Some associated Jesus to John the Baptist and to Elijah. Others identified Him with a Prophet, that is, with a person who speaks in the name of God, who has the courage to denounce injustices of those in power and who knows how to give hope to the little ones. He is the Prophet announced in the Old Testament like a new Moses (Dt 18:15). These are the same opinions that Jesus received from the disciples when He asked them: “Who do people say I am?” (Lk 9:18). People tried to understand Jesus starting from things that they knew, thought and expected. They tried to set Him against the background of the familiar criteria of the Old Testament with its prophecies and hopes, and of the tradition of the ancients with their laws. But these were insufficient criteria; Jesus could not enter into them, He was much bigger!
• Luke 9:9: Herod wants to see Jesus. But Herod said: “John, I beheaded him; so who is this of whom I hear such things?” “And he was anxious to see him”. Herod, a superstitious man without scruples, recognizes that he was the murderer of John the Baptist. Now, he wants to see Jesus. Luke suggests thus that the threats begin to appear on the horizon of the preaching of Jesus. Herod had no fear to kill John. He will not be afraid to kill Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus does not fear Herod. When they tell Him that Herod wanted to take Him to kill Him, He sent someone to tell him: “You may go and give that fox this message: Look, today and tomorrow I drive out devils and heal, and on the third day I attain My end.” (Lk 13:32). Herod has no power over Jesus. When at the hour of the passion, Pilate sends Jesus to be judged by Herod, Jesus does not respond anything (Lk 23:9). Herod does not deserve a response.
• From father to son. Sometimes the three Herods, who lived during that time, are confused, then the three appear in the New Testament with the same name: a) Herod, called the Great, governed over the whole of Palestine from 37 before Christ. He appears at the birth of Jesus (Mt 2:1). He kills the new-born babies of Bethlehem (Mt 2:16). b) Herod, called Antipas, governed in Galilee from the year 4 to 39 after Christ. He appears at the death of Jesus (Lk 23:7). He killed John the Baptist (Mk 6:14-29). c) Herod, called Agrippa, governed all over Palestine from the year 41 to 44 after Christ. He appears in the Acts of the Apostles (Ac 12:1.20). He killed the Apostle James (Ac 12:2).
When Jesus was about four years old, King Herod, the one who killed the new-born babies of Bethlehem died (Mt 2:16). His territory was divided among his sons. Archelaus would govern Judea. He was less intelligent than his father, but more violent. When he assumed the power, approximately 3000 persons were massacred on the square of the Temple! The Gospel of Matthew says that Mary and Joseph, when they learned that Archelaus had taken over the government of Galilee, were afraid and returned on the road and went to Nazareth, in Galilee, which was governed by another son of Herod, called Herod Antipas (Lk 3:1). This Antipas governed over 40 years. During the thirty-three years of Jesus there was no change of government in Galilee.
Herod, the Great, the father of Herod Antipas, had constructed the city of Caesarea Maritime, inaugurated in the year 15 before Christ. It was the new port to get out the products of the region. They had to compete with the large port of Tyron in the North and, thus, help to develop trade and business in Samaria and in Galilee. Because of this, from the time of Herod the Great, the agricultural production in Galilee began to orientate itself no longer according to the needs of the families, as before, but according to the demands of the market. This process of change in the economy continued during all the time of the government of Herod Antipas, another forty years, and found in him an efficient organizer. All these governors were ‘servants of power’. In fact, the one who commanded in Palestine, from the year 63 before Christ, was Rome, the Empire.

4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS

• It is well always to ask ourselves: Who is Jesus for me?
• Herod wants to see Jesus. His was a superstitious and morbid curiosity. Others want to see Jesus because they seek a sense for their life. Others seek Him out of earthly wants. What motivation do I have which moves me to see and encounter Jesus?

5) CONCLUDING PRAYER

Each morning fill us with Your faithful love,
we shall sing and be happy all our days;
let our joy be as long as the time that You afflicted us,
the years when we experienced disaster. (Ps 90,14-15)

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