August 20, 2026
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 422
Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
I will prove the holiness of my great name,
profaned among the nations,
in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,
when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (Ezekiel 36:25) I will pour clean water on
you and wash away all your sins.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the
elders of the people in parables saying,
“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,
but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
and cast him into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082026.cfm
Commentary on
Ezekiel 36:23-28
Today’s reading describes an oracle on the mountains of
Israel, a promise that in the end, all will be well. Through his prophet, God
expresses his desire that the holiness of his name become evident among all the
peoples of the world. It has been profaned by the unbelieving nations, but
Israel has also profaned it in their presence. They have been very poor
witnesses to the holiness of Yahweh.
But now “the nations shall know that I am the Lord”. This is
the ultimate purpose of God’s plans and it is his will that, through Israel,
the whole world may come to know and acknowledge the true God. We, too, pray
for this every time we say in the Lord’s Prayer:
Holy be your name; your Kingdom come; your will be done
on earth as in heaven…
For this to happen, God’s people must be taken from their
exile among foreign nations and be brought back to their own land. Here the
prophet is speaking of the return of the exiles to Jerusalem.
But God will not stop at simply restoring their homeland.
There will also be a spiritual renewal. Yahweh will sprinkle clean water on
them to remove all their corruption and purify them from all idolatry.
Further, they will be given a new heart and a new spirit.
Their heart of stone will be replaced with a heart of warm, beating flesh.
‘Flesh’ in the Old Testament often is a symbol for weakness, and in the New
Testament it often represents our sinful nature as a force in opposition to the
truly spiritual. Here, however, it is contrasted with stone to indicate a
warm-blooded, feeling and teachable heart.
The phrase, “I will put my spirit within you” (i.e. the
Spirit of God), is explained by the Jerusalem Bible as
follows:
The spirit (breath) of God, which creates and gives life,
lays hold on men to endow them with superhuman power. The characteristic of the
messianic age is to be an extraordinary outpouring of the spirit on all,
endowing them with special graces. But more mysteriously, for each receiver the
spirit will be the principle of an inward renewal making possible a faithful
observance of the laws of God; thus the spirit will be the principle inspiring
the new covenant; like life-giving water it will nourish fruits of integrity
and holiness, which in turn will guarantee the favour and protection of God for
man. This effusion of the spirit will be effected through the Messiah who will
be the first recipient of it, to be able to accomplish his saving work.
(edited)
The active and effective presence of this new spirit will be
manifested by the people’s response, by their observance of God’s law and their
carrying out of his will in all things. Then the covenant promise will once
again be realised:
…you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
This, too, is the ultimate goal of the Church as an
instrument of the Kingdom, namely, that the holiness of God’s name be
acknowledged by peoples everywhere. For that, we in the Church constantly need
a new heart, a heart of flesh, and a new spirit. We need this both corporately
and individually.
Let us pray that the community of which we are members, and
each member of it, may experience a constant renewal of heart and spirit. Only
then can we be effective instruments to proclaim the Good News to all those who
thirst for meaning and a vision in their lives.
Comments Off
Commentary on
Matthew 22:1-14
In our readings we have jumped from chapter 20 to chapter 22
and read another Kingdom Parable, not unrelated to yesterday’s, about the
workers in the vineyard.
Yesterday it was a question of resentment at God’s
generosity to latecomers in his Kingdom. Today it is rather sadness over the
Jewish leaders’ refusal to accept Jesus as Messiah and Lord. The parable is a
kind of potted history and is more like an allegory than a parable.
The king (God) gives a wedding banquet (the happiness of the
Messianic age) for his son (Jesus the Messiah). But when he invites people (the
Jews) to attend, they refuse to come and make all kinds of excuses. Others
actually attack the king’s servants and messengers (the prophets and the early
Christian evangelisers).
The king became angry and:
…sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned
their city.
This is surely a reference to the Roman army under the
emperor Titus which sacked and destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. The Temple, the
heart of Judaism, was also destroyed and plundered and has never since been
rebuilt. Today an Islamic mosque stands on the site.
Because the invited guests will not come, the servants (the
Jewish disciples of Jesus) are instructed to go out and bring in anyone they
can find:
Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all
whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
All are called—both the good and the sinful.
The climax of the story at first seems somewhat unfair.
People have been pulled in from highways and byways, and now one is condemned
for not wearing a wedding garment! But the parable has in fact moved to the
final judgement. In fact, Matthew may be combining what were originally two
original parables into one.
The wedding garment clearly stands for faith and baptism
combined with a lived-out commitment to the gospel, something necessary to be
accepted into the eternal happiness of the Kingdom.
As Jesus says at the end:
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Many were called and invited to attend the banquet, but more
than that was expected of them. They had to answer the call by saying an
unqualified ‘Yes’ to Jesus. Being baptised and having the label ‘Christian’ or
‘Catholic’ is not enough. We have also to live out in our lives and
relationships what we claim to believe in.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2205g/
Ordinary Time
Opening
Prayer
God our Father, may we love
You in all things and above all things and reach the joy You have prepared for
us beyond all our imagining.
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.
Gospel
Reading - Matthew 22: 1-14
Jesus again in reply spoke to
the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables saying, "The
Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his
son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but
they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those
invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened
cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some
ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king
was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were
invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and
invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets
and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with
guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not
dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you
came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then
the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into
the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many
are invited, but few are chosen."
Reflection
Today’s Gospel presents the
parable of the banquet which we also find in the Gospel of Matthew and of Luke,
but with significant differences which stem from each evangelist’s point of
view. The background which leads both evangelists to repeat this parable is the
same. In the communities of the first Christians, both those of Matthew and
those of Luke, the problem of living together between the converted Jews and
the converted pagans continued in full force. The Jews had ancient norms which
prevented them from eating together with pagans. Even entering into the
Christian communities, many Jews kept the ancient custom of not sitting at the
same table with pagans. Thus, Peter had conflicts in the communities of
Jerusalem because he had entered the house of Cornelius, a pagan, and had eaten
with him (Acts 11: 3). This same problem existed, though in a different way, in
Matthew’s and Luke’s communities. In Luke’s community, in spite of the
differences in race, class and gender, they had a great ideal of sharing and of
communion (Acts 2: 42; 4: 32; 5: 12). For this reason, in Luke’s Gospel (Lk 14:
15-24), the parable insists on the invitation addressed to all. The master of
the feast, angry and upset because the first guests, who were invited, did not
arrive, sends his servants to call the poor, the crippled, the blind, and
invites them to participate in the banquet. But there is still place. Then, the
master of the feast orders that all be invited, until his house is full. In
Matthew’s Gospel, the first part of the parable, (Mt 22: 1-10) has the same
objective as that of Luke’s Gospel. It says that the master of the feast orders
the servants to let the “good and the bad” enter (Mt 22: 10). But it the end,
he adds another parable (Mt 22: 11-14) concerning the wedding garment, which
focuses on something specific to the Jews, the need of purity in order to be
able to present oneself before God.
•
Matthew
22: 1-2: The invitation addressed to all. Some manuscripts say that the parable
was told for the chief priests and for the elders of the People. This
hypothesis can serve as a key for the reading, because it helps one to
understand some strange points which appear in the story. The parable begins
like this: “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast
for his son’s wedding.” This initial statement recalls the most profound hope:
the desire of the people to be with God always. Several times the Gospel refers
to this hope, suggesting that Jesus, the Son of the King, is the bridegroom who
comes to prepare the wedding (Mk 2: 19; Rev 21: 2, 19: 9).
•
Matthew
22: 3-6: The invited guests do not want to come. The king invites in a more
insistent way, but the guests do not want to come. “But they were not
interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business; and the rest seized
his servants, mistreated them and killed them.” In Luke, what prevents them
from accepting the invitation are the duties of daily life. The first one says,
"I have bought a piece of land and must go to see it;" the second
one, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out;”
the third one, "I have just got married and so am unable to come!"
(cf. Lk 14: 18-20). According to the norms and customs of the time, those
people had the right and even the duty not to accept the invitation they had
received (cf. Deut 20:
5-7).
•
Matthew
22: 7: An incomprehensible war! The reaction of the king in the face of the
refusal is surprising. “Then the king was furious and he dispatched his troops,
destroyed those murderers and burnt their town.” How is such a violent reaction
to be interpreted? The parable was told for the chief priests and for the
elders of the people (Mt 22: 1), for those responsible for the nations. Jesus
had often spoken to them about the need for conversion. He even shed tears over
the city of Jerusalem and said, “If you too had only recognized on that day the
way to peace! But in fact, it is hidden from your eyes. Yes, a time is coming
when your enemies will raise fortifications all around you, when they will
encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children
inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on
another within you, because you did not recognize the moment of your
visitation.” (Lk 19: 41-44). The violent reaction of the king in the parable
probably refers to the fact of Jesus’ foresight. Forty years later, Jerusalem
was destroyed (Lk 19: 41-44; 21: 6).
•
Matthew
22: 8-10: The banquet is not canceled. For the third time, the king invites the
people. He tells his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those invited
were unworthy; go to the main crossroads and invite everyone you can find to
come to the wedding.”
Going out on the streets, those
servants gathered together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and
the wedding hall was filled with guests. The bad, who were excluded from
participation in worship with the Jews because they were deemed impure, are now
invited specifically by the king to participate in the feast. In the context of
that time, the bad were the pagans. They also are invited to participate in the
wedding feast.
•
Matthew
22: 11-14: The wedding garment. These verses tell us that the king went into
the wedding hall and saw someone who was not wearing a wedding garment. And the
king asked, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?”
And he was silent. The story says that the man was bound hands and feet and
thrown into the darkness outside. Then the story concludes: “Many are invited
but not all are chosen.” Some scholars think that it is a second parable which
was added to lessen the impression which one has after the first parable, which
speaks about “the good and the bad” who enter into the feast (Mt 22: 10). Even
if one admits that it is not the observance of the Law which gives us
salvation, but rather faith in the gratuitous love of God, that in no way
diminishes the need for purity of heart as a prerequisite to be able to appear
before God.
Personal
Questions
•
Who
are the persons who are normally invited to our feasts? Why? Who are the people
who are not invited to our feasts? Why?
•
What
are the reasons which today prevent many people from participation in society
and in the Church? What are some of the excuses that people offer to exclude
themselves from the duty to participate in the community? Are those excuses
valid?
Concluding
Prayer
Do not thrust me away from
Your presence, do not take away from me Your spirit of holiness.
Give me back the joy of
Your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit. (Ps 51: 11-12)
Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor
Bernard was born about 1090 at Fontaines, near Dijon, in
France, the third son of Tescelin Sorrel, a Burgundian nobleman. He was
educated at Chatillon-sur-Seine. As a young man he became known for his charm,
wit, learning, and eloquence. At the age of 22, with 31 companions including
some of his brothers and others of noble birth, he became a monk at the
reformed monastery of Citeaux, which was then in decline and materially very
poor. The large influx of new recruits saved it from near-extinction, but in time,
under Bernard’s influence, the Cistercian Order was radically changed.
After being evaluated for a few years, Bernard was made
abbot of a new foundation at Clairvaux (Valley of Light) in Burgundy, France.
In conditions of extreme poverty, he was, in the early years, too severe on his
community. When he realised this, he gave up preaching to his monks and
improved their diet, which up to then had been just barley bread and boiled
beech leaves.
Overall, he strengthened the status of the monastery with the
help of the local bishop. Although he suffered from constant physical debility,
Bernard governed a monastery that soon housed several hundred monks and was
sending forth groups regularly to begin new foundations. He personally was
responsible for 65 of the 300 Cistercian monasteries founded during his
thirty-eight years as abbot. From Clairvaux would come new foundations in
France and elsewhere, including England (Rievaulx, North Yorkshire in 1132;
Whitland, Dyfed in 1140; Boxley, Kent in 1146; Margam, West Glamorgan in 1147)
and Ireland (Mellifont, County Louth in 1142). In spite of these new
foundations, Clairvaux itself continued to grow in numbers until there were
about 700 monks at the time of Bernard’s death.
From early on, Bernard, although a member of a strictly
enclosed Order, became much involved in Church affairs and would soon emerge as
one of the most charismatic and influential personalities in bringing about
Church reform. At the Synod of Troyes, he obtained recognition for the new
Order of Templars, whose rule he had himself written. Its purpose was to
establish a respectable and dedicated body of knights to fight in the Crusades.
In addition, they were to devote themselves to the care of the sick and
pilgrims to the Holy Land.
In 1130, after a disputed papal election, Bernard supported
Innocent II against the anti-pope Anacletus. With support from St Norbert,
founder of the Premonstratensian Order of monks, Bernard was able to get the
whole Church to support Innocent. In return, the Cistercian Order, now with
strong papal support, increased even more rapidly. Cistercian influence reached
its peak when a former pupil of Bernard, Eugenius III, was elected pope in
1145. Both died within a few months of each other, eight years later, in 1153.
In spite of all this activity and responsibilities, Bernard
still found time to compose the many and varied spiritual works that are still
read today. He laid out a solid foundation for the spiritual life in his works
on grace and free will, humility and love.
Bernard thrived on conflict, but it was provoked mainly by
doctrinal ambivalence and laxity in monastic life. He criticised what he saw as
the dangerous teachings of Peter Abelard, Gilbert de la Porree and Arnold of
Brescia, among the best known scholars of the day. He also severely criticized,
perhaps unfairly, the great monastery of Cluny and hence, indirectly, the
Benedictines’ way of life. The Cistercians were a radical reform of the
Benedictines, who were seen to have become too rich and lax. He also intervened
in the election of several bishops in Europe.
Inevitably, he made enemies as well as friends. Perhaps the
greatest failure of his life was the Second Crusade, which he had vigorously
supported. Many were won over by his identifying the cause of the Crusade with
God’s will and large numbers rallied to his call. However, the Crusade ended in
disaster and much of the blame was, perhaps not altogether fairly, laid at
Bernard’s door.
Bernard’s character is best revealed in his writings. These
include his letters, his Sermons on the Song of Songs, which were
published and re-published, as well as various treatises on theological
subjects. His masterpiece, Sermons on the Song of Songs, was begun
in 1136 and was still in composition at the time of his death. Perhaps the most
attractive, as well as one of the most simply written, is his treatise on the
Love of God, which has become a spiritual classic. He was also prominent in
fostering devotion to the human nature of Christ and to the Virgin Mary. His
affective approach had a deep influence on the development of medieval
spirituality and of later spiritual writing. For Pope Eugene he wrote Five
Books on Consideration: Advice to a Pope, which was the bedside reading of
Pope John XXIII, as well as many other popes down the centuries.
His influence on monasticism has also been deep and lasting.
He encouraged monks to a life of mystical prayer in and through the observance
of the monastic day. He developed the Cistercian Order into a movement of unprecedented
expansion and reputation. At his death the Cistercians numbered about 500
houses almost all over Europe. Despite his failings, his influence on many
aspects of 12th-century Church life was enormous, and his cult began
unofficially already during his lifetime.
Bernard died at Clairvaux on 20 August, 1153. He was
canonised by Pope Alexander III on 18 January, 1174. Pope Pius VII declared him
a Doctor of the Church in 1830.
Bernard is remembered as one of the most commanding Church
leaders in the first half of the 12th century, one of the greatest spiritual
masters of all times and the most powerful influence of the Cistercian reform.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/f0820s/
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét