Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Optional Memorial for Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
 
Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria
 
Biographical information about St. Cyril of Alexandria
 
(Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
 
On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.[1] Mass texts may be taken from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from a Votive Mass, or from the special collection of Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Recommended for this date: #44 The Blessed Virgin Mary, Health of the Sick.

“Faith”
by Giuseppe Angeli, c. 1754

Readings for Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary:[4]
 
Reading 1: Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
 
The Lord has consumed without pity
all the dwellings of Jacob;
He has torn down in his angerac
the fortresses of daughter Judah;
He has brought to the ground in dishonor
her king and her princes.
 
On the ground in silence sit
the old men of daughter Zion;
They strew dust on their heads
and gird themselves with sackcloth;
The maidens of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.
 
Worn out from weeping are my eyes,
within me all is in ferment;
My gall is poured out on the ground
because of the downfall of the daughter of my people,
As child and infant faint away
in the open spaces of the town.
 
In vain they ask their mothers,
“Where is the grain?”
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
And breathe their last
in their mothers’ arms.
 
To what can I liken or compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I show you for your comfort,
virgin daughter Zion?
For great as the sea is your downfall;
who can heal you?
 
Your prophets had for you
false and specious visions;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
to avert your fate;
They beheld for you in vision
false and misleading portents.
 
Cry out to the Lord;
moan, O daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Let there be no respite for you,
no repose for your eyes.
 
Rise up, shrill in the night,
at the beginning of every watch;
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your little ones
Who faint from hunger
at the corner of every street.
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Commentary on Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
 
The reading from Lamentations begins with the author’s sorrow at the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (587 BC). The prophets who promised prosperity were wrong (“Your prophets had for you false and specious visions”). The sorrow and humble repentance of the faithful are expressed, as is the plight of the people who remain. They are afflicted with famine and drought. But hope remains as they continue to reach out to the Lord who has not completely forsaken them.
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 74:1b-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21
 
R. (19b) Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
 
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your flock which you built up of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance,
Mount Zion, where you took up your abode.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
 
Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;
toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;
they have set up their tokens of victory.
They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
 
With chisel and hammer they hack at all the
paneling of the sanctuary.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
 
Look to your covenant,
for the hiding places in the land and the plains are full of violence.
May the humble not retire in confusion;
may the afflicted and the poor praise your name.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
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Commentary on Ps 74:1b-2, 3-5, 6-7, 20-21
 
“A communal lament sung when the enemy invaded the temple; it would be especially appropriate at the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. Israel's God is urged to look upon the ruined sanctuary and remember the congregation who worshiped there.” [5]
 
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Gospel: Matthew 8:5-17
 
When Jesus entered Capernaum,
a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”
He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion said in reply,
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof;
only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;
and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes;
and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him,
“Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the Kingdom
will be driven out into the outer darkness,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
And Jesus said to the centurion,
“You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”
And at that very hour his servant was healed.
 
Jesus entered the house of Peter,
and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
He touched her hand, the fever left her,
and she rose and waited on him.
 
When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:
 
He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.
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Commentary on Mt 8:5-17
 
This selection describes the second and third healing episodes (out of nine) found in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Once again, these encounters serve as proofs of the Lord’s identity as the Messiah. Clear evidence is given of this purpose with the use of the quote: “He took away our infirmities and bore our disease,” taken from the "suffering servant" oracle in Isaiah 53:4.
 
This didactic passage also contains the centurion's humble profession of faith used in the liturgy of the Mass: "'Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant [soul] will be healed.'"
 
"Centurion": an officer of the Roman army in control of one hundred men. This man's faith is still an example to us. At the solemn moment when a Christian is about to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the Church's liturgy places on his lips and in his heart these words of the centurion, to enliven his faith: Lord, I am not worthy." [6]
 
CCC: Mt 8:8 1386; Mt 8:10 2610; Mt 8:11 543; Mt 8:17 517, 1505
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Reflection:
 
The lament of the first reading may be seen as a metaphor for all of those who suffer from war, hunger, disease, and poverty. The people of Judah and Israel, at the time the author recorded this poem, were facing all of these things; the tone of their pain comes through in the words, and is echoed by the earth’s populations today who face hopelessness (ironically not far from modern-day Israel).
 
“The centurion and Jesus [in the Gospel today] have much in common: a current of recognition passes between them. Not only are they each men of power and authority at their respective levels; they are also men of compassion. The way the centurion describes his servant’s suffering reveals his caring heart. He approaches Jesus and asks him for nothing for himself: someone else’s misery is uppermost in his mind, and the mere presence of Jesus makes him bare the most urgent concerns of his heart. How moved Jesus is, not only by the centurion’s unquestioning trust in who he is and what he can do, but first of all by this officer’s sorrow over another’s suffering.” [7]
 
Into this time of testing and pain comes Jesus who takes away our infirmities and accepts all of our suffering. He comes, as the Prophet Isaiah foretold, bringing hope to the hopeless and comfort to those in pain.
 
What then, we ask, prevents those burdened with the pain of the world from rejoicing in God’s salvation, personified in his Son? It is a lack of knowledge or of belief. They are like the miner trapped in a cave who does not know if a rescue party is coming. It is like the story of Romeo and Juliet. When they thought each other dead, they despaired and followed their partner in death. Hope is only kindled when there is faith that salvation will come, when there is a light in the terrible darkness of despair.
 
The Gospel becomes a tool and a remedy. It is to be used by those of us who have seen and have faith. We carry the light, as St. Luke says, “to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.” The healing presence of Christ is proclaimed once more, and we are given this torch to carry forward. Let us pledge to be instruments of Christ’s healing this day.
 
 
Pax

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[1] Obligatory Memorial or higher, a Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be celebrated. This is indicated in the calendar by “BVM.” The readings and prayers may be selected from the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
[2] The picture is “Faith” by Giuseppe Angeli, c. 1754.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL).  This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] NAB footnote for Psalm 74.
[6] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 101.
[7] Leiva-Merikakis, Erasmo. Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word, Vol 1 (Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition), 407.