May 26, 2026
Memorial of Saint Philip Neri, Priest
Lectionary: 348
Reading 1
Beloved:
Concerning the salvation of your souls
the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours
searched and investigated it
investigating the time and circumstances
that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated
when it testified in advance
to the sufferings destined for Christ
and the glories to follow them.
It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you
with regard to the things that have now been announced to you
by those who preached the Good News to you
through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,
things into which angels longed to look.
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly,
and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Like obedient children,
do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance
but, as he who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct,
for it is written, Be holy because I am holy.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (2a) The Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
Alleluia
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.
Gospel
Peter began to say to Jesus,
"We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052626.cfm
Commentary on 1
Peter 1:10-16
Peter continues to speak of the “salvation” which the
Christians are confident of experiencing. We now are the possessors of the
grace which the prophets of the Old Testament looked for. They spoke in
advance of the very blessings which the Christians are now experiencing,
without knowing or experiencing them personally. But even at that time,
they were already filled with the Spirit of Christ when they spoke of the
sufferings of Christ to be followed by glory. There is a seamless unity between
the Old and New Testaments as one flows into the other, as one prepares for the
other.
At the same time, the way of Jesus is one which the
Christians themselves will follow. Those who are united to Christ will
also, after suffering, enter into glory. And so they will benefit in the midst
of their present sufferings from Jesus’ having already entered into glory.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of
the grace intended for you made careful search and inquiry…in regard to the
things that have now been announced to you…
And what prophets were providing was what has now been
communicated to the Christians by the evangelisers of the gospel, first of all,
the Apostles—the proclaimers of the gospel, the Good News. The Apostles
did so through the “Holy Spirit sent from heaven”, who came down on them at
Pentecost, and Jesus himself on the cross “gave up his spirit” (John 19:30,
from the Greek, paredoken to pneuma, literally “he handed over the
Spirit”).
These are matters of such deep interest and importance,
…things into which angels long to look!
Their intense desire is highlighted by the Greek word
rendered “to look into”. It means “to stoop and look intently” (it is the
same word used of Peter and Mary Magdalene peering into the empty tomb at
Jesus’ resurrection; see John 20:5,11).
As Peter then says, our expected response is very clear. We
have to move into action, (“…prepare your minds for action; discipline
yourselves…”, or in the Greek, “gird up the loins of your mind”), and put all
our hope and confidence in the gift of salvation that will be ours when Christ
appears.
We have here the first of a long series of exhortations
(actually imperatives) which end at 1 Peter 5:11. In the language of the
1st century the term ‘girding one’s loins’ meant that Peter’s readers were
being called on to gather up their long, flowing garments and get ready for
action. Jesus uses a similar image:
Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit…be like
those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so
that they may open the door for him [the bridegroom] as soon
as he comes and knocks.
(Luke 12:35, 36)
Here they are to:
…set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will
bring you when he is revealed.
That grace is the final state of complete blessedness and
deliverance from sin. Peter later indicates that a major purpose of this
letter is to encourage and testify regarding the true grace of God (5:12).
We Christians have to change our whole lifestyle. We
can no longer:
…be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in
ignorance.
We are to be like children, re-born into the family of God,
children of our heavenly Father, able to pray, “…Our Father in heaven…” (Matt
6:9). Believers are also described, by Paul, as being adopted into God’s
family (see Rom 8:15).
Even more, we are called on, in so far as we can, to imitate
the holiness of God himself who says:
…therefore…be holy, for I am holy. (Lev
11:44-45)
The word “holy” (Greek, hagios) suggests, not a
kind of piety, but being set apart from the majority. We have a vision of
life and a consequent behaviour which makes us different. As Christians,
that difference should clearly appear in the way we live. That is true
holiness. Being ‘holy’ also implies a certain wholeness, a total harmony with
ourselves, those around us, our whole environment and God.
Comments Off
Commentary on Mark
10:28-31
Having overcome their initial shock at what Jesus had to say
about the danger of wealth as a serious obstacle to being a follower of Jesus
or of being a member of the Kingdom, his disciples begin to take stock of their
own actual situation. Clearly they cannot even be remotely numbered among the wealthy.
Is there something to be said in favour of their relative poverty? Worried, the
ever-irrepressible Peter exclaims:
Look, we have left everything and followed you.
Indeed they had. At the beginning of Mark’s Gospel we are
told that, on Jesus’ invitation, they had abandoned their whole livelihood and
become followers of Jesus. It was a bold step when they really had no idea
where it would lead them.
Jesus replied:
Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or
brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and
for the sake of the good news who will not receive a hundredfold now in this
age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with
persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will
be last, and the last will be first.
This sounds like a pie-in-the-sky promise, but has it been
fulfilled? In fact, it has been—and many times over. By leaving a world where
each one scrambles for a piece of the cake and where some get a huge piece and
others only get crumbs, the Christian who truly has the spirit of the gospel
enters a community where everyone takes care of everyone else, and where each
one’s needs are taken care of by a sharing of the community’s resources.
This is how, by leaving one’s home and family and giving
away one’s material goods, one enters a new family in which there are far more
mothers, brothers and sisters; where one home is replaced by many homes
offering their warmth and hospitality—in essence, offering a home away from
home.
This is a reality which, unfortunately, has not been
realised among many Christians—those who choose to live their daily lives in
the rat race for acquisition characteristic of our modern capitalist societies.
Their behavior reflects their belief that what they cannot get by their own
efforts they will never come to enjoy.
Yet there are examples. One of the most obvious is religious
life where the words of Jesus are lived out. The question is why should only
religious have this experience of shared love and shared material goods? There
are Christian communities and some charismatic groups where families live in a
communal style sharing all their resources.
But by and large, we have to a great extent failed to
realise that Christianity is not meant to be a religion where individuals, rich
and poor, live individualistic lives and carry out certain ‘religious’ acts to
“save their own souls”. Rather, Christianity essentially consists of creating a
whole new way of living, by which people relate to each other in mutual love
and care.
Jesus says that in his world the first will be last and the
last first. In fact, he is saying that in his world there is no first and no
last. Perhaps this can be illustrated by the following story.
A rich man was concerned about his future salvation, whether
he would ‘go to heaven’ or not. In order to motivate himself, he asked God to
give him a preview of heaven and hell, and God agreed. God said that they would
first pay a visit to hell. When they got there the man was greatly surprised.
He was brought into a sumptuous dining room of a large restaurant all decorated
in red and gold. In the centre was a large round table and on it were the most
exotic and delicious dishes that could be envisioned. Around the table were
seated the diners. They were the most miserable-looking group one could
imagine, all sitting there motionless and in silence just looking at the
beautiful food in front of them. The reason for their glumness was that they
had been given utensils which were three feet long! There was no way they could
get any of the food into their mouths. And they were going to sit there like
that for eternity. That was hell!
God then brought the man to heaven. Again he was amazed.
Because they were in an identical banquet room, with the same kind of table and
the same wonderful food. But everybody was in the highest spirits. The sound of
laughter rang out everywhere. They were really enjoying themselves and the
meal. Was this because they had the normal length utensils? No! Theirs were
also three-feet long, but here everyone was reaching out food to serve people
on the opposite side of the table—that was heaven.
It is a very good illustration of today’s Gospel. When
everyone serves, everyone is served. When everyone gives, everyone gets. It is
a lesson even we Christians seem to find difficult to learn.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2083g/
Tuesday,
May 26, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Lord,
guide the course of world events and
give your Church the joy and peace of serving you in freedom.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Mark 10: 28-31
Peter took
this up. 'Look,' he said to Jesus, 'we have left everything and followed you.'
Jesus said, 'In truth I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers,
sisters, mother, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the
gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children and land -- and persecutions too -- now in this present time
and, in the world to come, eternal life. Many who are first will be last, and
the last, first.'
Reflection
In yesterday’s Gospel,
Jesus spoke about the conversation among the disciples about material goods: to
get away from things, to sell everything, to give it to the poor and to follow
Jesus. Or rather, like Jesus, they should live in total gratuity, placing their
own life in the hands of God, serving the brothers and sisters (Mk 10: 17-27).
In today’s Gospel Jesus explains better how this life of gratuity and service
of those who abandon everything for him, for Jesus and for the Gospel, should
be (Mk 10: 28-31).
•
Mark 10: 28-31: A hundred times as much, and persecutions too, now. Peter
observes: “We have left
everything and followed you”. It is like saying: “We have done what
the Lord asked of the young rich man. We have abandoned everything and we have
followed you. Explain to us how our life should be?” Peter wants Jesus to
explain more the new way of living in the service and in gratuity. The response of Jesus is beautiful,
profound and symbolical: “In
truth there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father,
children or land for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not
receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children
and land and, persecutions too, now in the present time and in the world to
come, eternal life. Many who are first will be last and the last first”. The
type of life which springs from the gift of everything is the example of the
Kingdom which Jesus wants to establish in order to:
•
to extend the family and to create community; it
increases a hundred times the number of brothers and sisters.
•
It produces the sharing of goods, because all
will have a hundred times more houses and land. Divine Providence incarnates
itself and passes through the fraternal organization, where everything belongs
to everyone and there are no longer persons who are in need. They put into practice
the Law of God which asks “that there be no poor among you” (Dt 15: 4-11). This
was what the first Christians did (Ac 2: 4245). It is the perfect living out of
service and gratuity.
•
They should not expect any privilege in return,
no security, no type of promotion. Rather, in this life they will have all
this, but with persecutions.
Because, in this world, organized on egoism and the interests of
groups and persons, those who want to live a gratuitous love and the gift of
self, they will be crucified as Jesus was.
•
They will be persecuted in this world, but in
the future world they will have eternal life of which the rich young man spoke
about.
•
Jesus
is the choice of the poor. A two-fold slavery characterized the
situation of the people of the time of Jesus: the slavery of the politics of
Herod supported by the Roman Empire and maintained by a whole well-organized
system of exploitation and repression, and the slavery of the official
religion, maintained by the religious authority of the time. This is why the
clan, the family, the community, were being disintegrated and a great number of
the people were excluded, marginalized, homeless, having no place neither in
religion nor in society. This is why several movements arose which were seeking
for a new way of living in community: the Essenes, the Pharisees and, later on,
the Zealots. In the community of Jesus there was something new which made it
different from other groups. It was the attitude toward the poor and the
excluded. The communities of the Pharisees lived separated. The word “Pharisee”
means “separated.” They lived separated from impure people. Many Pharisees
considered people ignorant and cursed (Jn 7: 49), in sin (Jo 9: 34). Jesus and
his community, on the contrary, lived together with excluded persons,
considered impure: publicans, sinners, prostitutes, lepers (Mk 2: 16; 1:
41; Lk 7: 37). Jesus recognizes the richness and the
values which the poor possess (Mt 11: 25-26; Lk 21: 1-4). He proclaims them
blessed, because the Kingdom is theirs, it belongs to the poor (Lk 6: 20; Mt 5:
3). He defines his mission: “to proclaim the Good News to the poor” (Lk 4: 18).
He himself lives as a poor person. He possesses nothing for himself, not even a
rock where to lay his head (Lk 9: 58). And to those who want to follow him to
share his life, he tells them to choose: God or money! (Mt 6: 24). He orders
that they choose in favor of the poor! (Mk 10: 21). The poverty which
characterized the life of Jesus and of the disciples, also characterized the
mission. On the contrary of other missionaries (Mt 23: 15), the disciples of
Jesus could take nothing with them, neither gold, nor money, nor two tunics,
nor purse, nor sandals (Mt 10: 9-10). They had to trust in the hospitality
offered to them (Lk 9: 4; 10: 5-6). And if they would be accepted by the
people, they should work like everybody else and live from what they would
receive as wages for their work (Lk 10: 7-8). Besides they should take care of
the sick and of those in need (Lk 10: 9; Mt 10: 8). Now they could tell the
people: “The Kingdom of God is very near to you!” (Lk 10: 9).
Personal Questions
•
In your life, how do you practice Peter’s
proposal: “We have left everything and have followed you”?
•
Gratuitous sharing, service, acceptance to the
excluded are signs of the Kingdom. How do I live this today?
Concluding Prayer
The whole wide world has seen the saving power of our God.
Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth, burst into shouts of joy! (Ps
98: 3-4)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét