Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus drives out from the temple area all who were selling things, those who would deceive others in a temple made into a marketplace. The sellers were there for financial gain, not worship. When Jesus drives out of the temple those who made it into a marketplace, he is acting on truth he has spoken. Jesus is just in his judgment. Today, how does Jesus purify sacred spaces by driving out what doesn’t belong? In my own life, how does Jesus drive out from me, a temple of the Holy Spirit, the four substitutes for God, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas—honor, power, pleasure, wealth?

God, help me understand that Jesus made enemies by proclaiming the truth and judging justly. He drove out what didn’t belong in the temple area. Although the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders tried to find a way to put him to death, they couldn’t stop Jesus because people clung to the truths he was teaching them. Help me, Lord, learn wisdom from you to boldly proclaim the truth. As the refrain from today’s Psalm goes, “How sweet to my taste is your promise!”

When I am overwhelmed with tasks today, Lord, drive out self-possessing anxiety and let me remember “your will be done,” not mine. Grant me the grace to remember to return to you, who will drive out of me what doesn’t belong. In the words of Saint Paul: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. . . . Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

There is a clear line between cause and effect in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus spends the night in prayer to God, and the next day he called the Twelve Apostles to follow him and healed everyone in the crowd of their diseases and unclean spirits. How was this possible except through Jesus’ connection to God through prayer? And what was the result? “Power came forth from him and healed them all.”

As Father Burke Masters says, “If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray?” God, help me understand the necessity of prayer, not because of its effect or because through it I will become powerful, but because you are the source of all love and you loved me first. Jesus models how to pray to the Father, and he sets a high standard for having an authentic relationship with him through prayer. In the midst of a busy day, how will I be able to rise to that standard? God, give me the grace to return to you throughout today.

Jesus, teach me to go as you did to the Father, who knows what I need even before I ask. I want to know that I can ask anything of you as I weigh the day’s decisions, however small, and be confident that you hear and answer me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

“In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus lays out to the crowds—not just the disciples—the cost of discipleship. What Jesus says seems harsh and confusing: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” In my own life with my family, how can it be that I hate my family and then follow Jesus?

God, help me understand this. Because the use of the word hate seems discordant with the same God made man who says you must love your neighbor as yourself, I looked up the the Greek term from which hate is translated. Some of the translations render the Greek term as “love less” or “esteem less.” It is much easier for me to think that Jesus is asking me not to hate my family but to love them or give them less esteem than I do God. As Chicago Bears running back Gayle Sayers has said, “I am third. God is first, others are second, and I am third.”

From the Gospel acclamation, we hear: “Let your face shine upon your servant; and teach me your laws.” If anything stands in the way of that, Lord, let me put that aside. When you say that I cannot be your disciple unless I renounce my possessions, I must remember that everything I know in this world will pass away but that you are always present at my side. I think about Saint Francis renouncing all material goods right down to the robe that covered his skin. As Saint Paul says, “For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” God, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.” Through your grace, let me learn to love you more than anything else I know or have.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

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