Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.

After Jesus had cured the woman, the leader of the synagogue approached him, indignant that Jesus cured on the sabbath. Jesus replied by calling the leader a hypocrite and saying how it was fitting that the woman be healed from bondage by Satan on the sabbath day, the day when God rested from all the work he had done in creation. In the many healing miracles Jesus performs, most of the time people approach Jesus to be healed; they raise their hand and call for help. In today’s Gospel reading, however, Jesus calls to the woman to come to him to be healed. There is great comfort in knowing that there may be times when I don’t know well enough to ask God for healing; instead, when I am crippled by a spirit, he comes to me out of love. As Jesus says of the woman, I could say of myself: “ought she have not been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?"

God, you know me better than I know myself. Wherever I am crippled by a spirit and have infirmity because of it, come heal me even if I am not fully aware of the kind of healing I need. Free me, so that as the woman stood erect and glorified you, I can cease from being stooped over and do the same. Whatever prevents me from living in your love, shatter the obstacles that bind; break through that darkness and bring healing so that the glory may be yours. As Paul says in the first reading: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”

Lord, you bring me in your presence the foundation on which I long to build this day. You are the light that leads me out of confusion and darkness as I take on tasks and interact with others. How will I live in love, compassion, and forgiveness today, as Paul encourages? Teach me to please you in my words and actions, and teach me to desire this more and more today and every day.

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

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus said, “But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus addresses a parable to those, as Luke says, convinced of their own righteousness and despising everybody. Two people went to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. In his prayer, the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like the rest of humanity. He was not greedy, dishonest, or adulterous and fasted twice a week and paid tithes. The tax collector stood off at a distance, did not even raise his eyes to heaven, beat his breast, and prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” How often has the congregation at Mass been a place to observe all who are present and say of some of them, “Thank God I am not like them.”

God, help me take to heart interiorly the posture and demeanor of the tax collector. Jesus says the tax collector stood off at a distance, perhaps not to be noticed but also because he was aware that he was a sinner. Rather than looking around at Mass and positioning myself in relation to others’ status, let me look to you, Lord, and bring all of my sins before you to see. This is not an act born out of shame; it is acknowledgment of my own dysfunction—when I have failed to love you above all else.

Act in me today, God, through your Divine Will. Show me the ways I can put others’ needs ahead of my own, and give me the grace to do this with a joyful heart. As I recognize my shortcomings, let that give me greater certainty that I need to stay near you at all times for your protection from harm. Lord, let me put my faith in proclaiming your Divine Will, as Saint Paul did, saying: “But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength. . . . The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

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.flickr.com/photos/frted/5445613926

Ted: Icon of The Publican (Tax Collector) and Pharisee. flickr.

Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

In today’s Gospel reading, people describe to Jesus the brutal violence under Pilate of Galileans whose blood was spilled as they offered ritual sacrifices. Exactly what happened is not clear. Jesus gives another example of people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them. In both instances, Jesus says it is not that these people were more guilty than anyone else but that what is needed—what he calls them to—is repentance. The Greek word from which repent is translated is metanoia, or a transformative change of heart. The Gospel acclamation expresses this in this way: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion that he may live.”

Help me understand, Lord, this conversion of heart that your Son calls me to. It is easy to brush off the violent events of the past as irrelevant and completely unlike those of today. Beneath that, though, is the message of your mercy. And then in the parable, your Son says of the barren fig tree: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” One more gift of mercy you give to us for change of heart, one more call to return to you.

Lord, you are beautiful to behold in the Blessed Sacrament. Although it is not practical for me to be before you throughout the day in adoration, teach me to return to you with my whole heart through the people I meet and in my words and actions. Blessed be God. Blessed be His Holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Blessed be the Name of 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

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

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus calls the crowd hypocrites because they are unable to judge the present time, that the Son of God is in their midst. Yet, in Jesus’ words is a kind of encouragement: you are smart enough to read events in the natural world, he seems to say; why are you not able to read events in the supernatural world? What Jesus said to the crowds, he says to people of the present: “You hypocrites.”

Offering a way to acknowledge that God is among us, Jesus goes on to encourage the crowd to settle conflicts before they escalate. And in the first reading, Saint Paul provides a means of bringing peace in his letter to the Ephesians: “I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” Through this and through your grace, God, bring clarity of these readings to me; help me see, as the psalmist says, how to ascend the mountain of the LORD.

Jesus, teach me to interpret the present time; that is, your presence among us as true God and true man and the love made manifest in the relationship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Help me remember to turn to you, Lord, in my moments of distress; teach me peace so that I can get outside of myself and see you.

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