Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord said, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Jesus tells the parable of the judge in a certain town and a widow who would come to him and ask him to make a just decision against an adversary of hers. For a long time, the widow kept coming to him, and eventually he gave in to making a just decision for her. Before telling this parable to his disciples, Jesus says to them that it is necessary to pray always without becoming weary.

How is it possible, Lord, to pray always? There are moments during the day where I am engaged in something or with someone and am hardly aware of anything else. Help me understand that through your grace, the disposition I take toward things and toward others can be a form of prayer. And what is it the widow wanted from the judge? A just decision. God is always good, always just, and I sometimes lose sight of that. As Jesus says at the end of the Gospel reading, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your presence! Be a light to me throughout the day, and teach me to seek you out in quiet prayer and in my disposition toward all I know and experience, which is pure gift.

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

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

“When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

Speaking to the disciples, Jesus says things that comfort and warn them. Everyone who acknowledges Jesus will be recognized in heaven, but everyone who denies him will be denied in heaven. Everyone who speaks a word against Jesus will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Jesus then tells his disciples not to worry about what to say in defense before synagogue officials and authorities. The Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.

God, help me take to heart the words “do not worry.” There are many instances throughout the day where I will believe and fear that I need to say something to maintain order or give direction. Help me understand that it is the Holy Spirit I should listen to in those moments. Today, on the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, let me remember to pray for her help and pray as she prayed: “Let nothing frighten you, / All things pass away: / God never changes. . . . He who has God / Finds he lacks nothing; / God alone suffices.”

Lord, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Teach me not to worry today about the things that I know you can take care of. May it be as Saint Paul says in the first reading: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, grant a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Lift the ordinary burdens of the day, God, so that I can be joyful in the presence of others and give glory to your name.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpuJ5WytCOA

Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

“There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops. . . . Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the crowds press in on Jesus, and he warns the crowd and the disciples of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Whatever they do in darkness, Jesus says, will be revealed; whatever they say will be proclaimed from the housetops. Be afraid, Jesus says, of those who have power to kill not the body but the soul. And twice in the passage Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” By comparing his disciples—and by extension all of humanity—to sparrows sold in a marketplace, Jesus would seem to be expressing the little worth of human lives and all of life’s torments. Instead, the comparison expresses God’s tender love for us in every single dimension of our lives. When sin disrupts that relationship, the Sacrament of Reconciliation restores us through grace to God’s constant presence.

God, help me understand the depth and breadth of your love. It is so great that I would venture to see it in only one aspect, in one splinter of my life as it is lived. How is it present in my relationship with my family? Where is that depth and breadth when others share their fears and concerns with me? “Do not be afraid," Jesus says. Let me be a living means of that message. Nothing escapes the notice of God.

Lord, let me be aware today that in your great love that you take notice of my coming and my going and my inmost thoughts. Let that awareness bring me joy that is visible to others for the sake of your glory.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpuJ5WytCOA

Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’ in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building.

These words of Jesus from today’s Gospel reading are difficult to hear. Jesus tells the scribes, Pharisees, and scholars of the law that their ancestors are responsible for killing the prophets and that later generations built them memorials. The hypocrisy Jesus points to comes out of generations and generations of the Chosen People’s disobedience to God, whom God tested in various ways. Jesus directs the gaze of those who hear him to his Father in heaven. “Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and Apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute.’ ” In the same way, Jesus charges the scribes, Pharisees, and scholars of the law with the shedding of blood since the foundation of the world. Why would Jesus go so far to condemn those who killed the prophets, the ones God called to speak his words to the Israelites? In the first reading, Saint Paul makes this clear, also referring to the “foundation of the world.” He says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.” Jesus condemns, but in that condemnation, he calls to adoption those who hear him to be without blemish, to be holy. Or as Paul says, “in love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ.”

God, help me make sense of this. There is a lot here to take in and make meaningful in my own life. I have to wonder about my own hypocrisy and actions from my past that you would condemn. You treat me not as I deserve to be treated but as a merciful, forgiving father through the redemption of your Son and the grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Jesus, I know you are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. Don’t let me fool myself into thinking today is about what I want out of it. Teach me to know and do your will. Help me see where I can let go of judgment and instead show mercy.

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

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7YbWyPcQo