Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Malachi 3:13-20b
You have defied me in word, says the LORD,
yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”
You have said, “It is vain to serve God,
and what do we profit by keeping his command,
And going about in penitential dress
in awe of the LORD of hosts?
Rather must we call the proud blessed;
for indeed evildoers prosper,
and even tempt God with impunity.”
Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another,
and the LORD listened attentively;
And a record book was written before him
of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.
And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,
my own special possession, on the day I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.
Then you will again see the distinction
between the just and the wicked;
Between the one who serves God,
and the one who does not serve him.
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the LORD of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mal 3:13-20b
The Book of Malachi is placed after the Jews return from the Babylonian exile (probably around 445 B.C.) but before the appearance of Ezra and Nehemiah. Because of his severe criticism of the leadership, the author created a pen name, Malachi, which means in Hebrew “The Messenger”.
In the passage we are given today, Malachi’s oracle envisions a time when God will make an accounting of those who had remained faithful and those who had ignored God’s law. He envisions the day when the punishment of God will be applied to those evil ones and the faithful will bask in the healing rays of the “sun (Son) of justice.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (Ps 40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to the whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the Lord’s commands and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. We observe that the same dichotomy of “the good receiving blessings” and “the evil receiving punishment” is demonstrated here as in Malachi above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 11:5-13
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 11:5-13
In this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel the Lord continues his response to the disciple’s request to “teach them how to pray.” The Lord, using the story of the one friend asking another for bread (a strong Eucharistic reference) in the middle of the night as an instrument to tell them that God will always answer prayers, but in his own time (“I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”) He makes his message clear in the verses that follow “ask and you will receive.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
I’ll tell a true story on myself today that illustrates the Gospel. About 5 yeas ago I received that dreaded phone call. “Jim,” said my primary care physician and close friend, “I’ve looked at the x-rays and it looks like you have lung cancer.” He proceeded to send me to the University of Michigan Medical Center where I was told a second time (after a CAT scan) “Yes, Jim, I looks as if you have third or forth stage lung cancer” this time by the head of Pulmonary Medicine. While the images were pretty conclusive they wanted to do something called a thorocentisis (a procedure that is not very comfortable and one which I will not describe other than to say it is done under local anesthetic).
Just before the procedure I met with my Pastor, Fr. Roger Prokop, who with some friends and family present, provided the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. The procedure did two things. First it gave the doctors what they needed (a sample of the fluid in the lung cavity to check for cancer cells) and second, and unexpectedly it gave me an opportunity to witness.
The doctor who did the procedure was another parishioner and we started talking (yes, during the procedure) about parish issues. When it was over, as the nurse was wheeling me back to the recovery room, she asked “You’re a member of the clergy, right?” I told her I was. She then said, “Well perhaps you can answer a question for me. About three weeks ago I meet a young man. I fell very much in love with him, and I think he with me. Then, three days ago he committed suicide. Can you tell me why God would put him into my life and then take he away like that?”
Understand, I was flat on my back on a gurney (in nothing but one of those hospital gowns that tie in the back and, I think, my underwear and not feeling my sharpest. But God gives grace to his servants and I did my best to explain how God gives his favorite creation free will and sometimes we make wrong choices; choices that our loving Father would never want us to make. In this case, I explained, her friend made a very bad choice and gave up the gift of life. The loving parent who gave us that gift would have no part in a decision to give it up nor would he have encouraged a choice that would hurt you, whom he also loves.
One other thing you should know about me. I have what has been called a rather resonant voice (here’s a sample from last Sunday). Suffice it to say I don’t need to use a phone for local calls. So my conversation with this nurse carried through most of the recovery room which was really just curtained off sections. The nurse thanked me and left and shortly after that at least two other people, apparently sitting with family or friends as they too recovered came and thanked me for the words that God had seen fit to give me. What the young nurse did was she never knocked. In her mind the door was locked.
To the doctor’s great surprise, the test results came back completely clean. No trace of cancer. But they could see it. They did another CAT scan and more x-rays and even a PET scan. They wanted to know what was going on so they took my case to the Tumor Board (with my permission) and had the heads of multiple departments review my case (I talked to another friend who was on that board a couple years later – ironically in a Baptismal Prep Class I was teaching and he told me everyone was sure they were looking at stage 4 lung cancer.)
To make a long story short, they ended up putting me on an operating table and removing a piece of my lung. They told me immediately afterword that it was not cancer but they were not sure what it was so they had sent it to pathology. Nine days later I was told it was a “Inflammatory Pseudo-tumor” Sure – that’s what they think. I know that Father Roger’s prayer was answered. We knocked and the door was opened. God was not done with his servant yet.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Old Woman Praying” by Gerrit Dou, 1640s
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Malachi 3:13-20b
You have defied me in word, says the LORD,
yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?”
You have said, “It is vain to serve God,
and what do we profit by keeping his command,
And going about in penitential dress
in awe of the LORD of hosts?
Rather must we call the proud blessed;
for indeed evildoers prosper,
and even tempt God with impunity.”
Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another,
and the LORD listened attentively;
And a record book was written before him
of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.
And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,
my own special possession, on the day I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.
Then you will again see the distinction
between the just and the wicked;
Between the one who serves God,
and the one who does not serve him.
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the LORD of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mal 3:13-20b
The Book of Malachi is placed after the Jews return from the Babylonian exile (probably around 445 B.C.) but before the appearance of Ezra and Nehemiah. Because of his severe criticism of the leadership, the author created a pen name, Malachi, which means in Hebrew “The Messenger”.
In the passage we are given today, Malachi’s oracle envisions a time when God will make an accounting of those who had remained faithful and those who had ignored God’s law. He envisions the day when the punishment of God will be applied to those evil ones and the faithful will bask in the healing rays of the “sun (Son) of justice.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (Ps 40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to the whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the Lord’s commands and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. We observe that the same dichotomy of “the good receiving blessings” and “the evil receiving punishment” is demonstrated here as in Malachi above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 11:5-13
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 11:5-13
In this passage from St. Luke’s Gospel the Lord continues his response to the disciple’s request to “teach them how to pray.” The Lord, using the story of the one friend asking another for bread (a strong Eucharistic reference) in the middle of the night as an instrument to tell them that God will always answer prayers, but in his own time (“I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”) He makes his message clear in the verses that follow “ask and you will receive.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
I’ll tell a true story on myself today that illustrates the Gospel. About 5 yeas ago I received that dreaded phone call. “Jim,” said my primary care physician and close friend, “I’ve looked at the x-rays and it looks like you have lung cancer.” He proceeded to send me to the University of Michigan Medical Center where I was told a second time (after a CAT scan) “Yes, Jim, I looks as if you have third or forth stage lung cancer” this time by the head of Pulmonary Medicine. While the images were pretty conclusive they wanted to do something called a thorocentisis (a procedure that is not very comfortable and one which I will not describe other than to say it is done under local anesthetic).
Just before the procedure I met with my Pastor, Fr. Roger Prokop, who with some friends and family present, provided the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. The procedure did two things. First it gave the doctors what they needed (a sample of the fluid in the lung cavity to check for cancer cells) and second, and unexpectedly it gave me an opportunity to witness.
The doctor who did the procedure was another parishioner and we started talking (yes, during the procedure) about parish issues. When it was over, as the nurse was wheeling me back to the recovery room, she asked “You’re a member of the clergy, right?” I told her I was. She then said, “Well perhaps you can answer a question for me. About three weeks ago I meet a young man. I fell very much in love with him, and I think he with me. Then, three days ago he committed suicide. Can you tell me why God would put him into my life and then take he away like that?”
Understand, I was flat on my back on a gurney (in nothing but one of those hospital gowns that tie in the back and, I think, my underwear and not feeling my sharpest. But God gives grace to his servants and I did my best to explain how God gives his favorite creation free will and sometimes we make wrong choices; choices that our loving Father would never want us to make. In this case, I explained, her friend made a very bad choice and gave up the gift of life. The loving parent who gave us that gift would have no part in a decision to give it up nor would he have encouraged a choice that would hurt you, whom he also loves.
One other thing you should know about me. I have what has been called a rather resonant voice (here’s a sample from last Sunday). Suffice it to say I don’t need to use a phone for local calls. So my conversation with this nurse carried through most of the recovery room which was really just curtained off sections. The nurse thanked me and left and shortly after that at least two other people, apparently sitting with family or friends as they too recovered came and thanked me for the words that God had seen fit to give me. What the young nurse did was she never knocked. In her mind the door was locked.
To the doctor’s great surprise, the test results came back completely clean. No trace of cancer. But they could see it. They did another CAT scan and more x-rays and even a PET scan. They wanted to know what was going on so they took my case to the Tumor Board (with my permission) and had the heads of multiple departments review my case (I talked to another friend who was on that board a couple years later – ironically in a Baptismal Prep Class I was teaching and he told me everyone was sure they were looking at stage 4 lung cancer.)
To make a long story short, they ended up putting me on an operating table and removing a piece of my lung. They told me immediately afterword that it was not cancer but they were not sure what it was so they had sent it to pathology. Nine days later I was told it was a “Inflammatory Pseudo-tumor” Sure – that’s what they think. I know that Father Roger’s prayer was answered. We knocked and the door was opened. God was not done with his servant yet.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Old Woman Praying” by Gerrit Dou, 1640s
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
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