Biographical Information about St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Readings for Friday
Reading 1 2 Jn 4-9
[Chosen Lady:]I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truthjust as we were commanded by the Father.But now, Lady, I ask you,not as though I were writing a new commandmentbut the one we have had from the beginning:let us love one another.For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning,in which you should walk.Many deceivers have gone out into the world,those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh;such is the deceitful one and the antichrist.Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked forbut may receive a full recompense.Anyone who is so “progressive”as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God;whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 119:1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Within my heart I treasure your promise,
that I may not sin against you.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Be good to your servant,
that I may liveand keep your words.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Open my eyes,
that I may considerthe wonders of your law.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Gospel Lk 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples:“As it was in the days of Noah,so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;they were eating and drinking,marrying and giving in marriage up to the daythat Noah entered the ark,and the flood came and destroyed them all.Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot:they were eating, drinking, buying,selling, planting, building;on the day when Lot left Sodom,fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all.So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.On that day, someone who is on the housetopand whose belongings are in the housemust not go down to get them,and likewise one in the fieldmust not return to what was left behind.Remember the wife of Lot.Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,but whoever loses it will save it.I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;one will be taken, the other left.And there will be two women grinding meal together;one will be taken, the other left.” They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?”He said to them, “Where the body is,there also the vultures will gather.”
Reflection:
Today as we recall another Holy Woman of the Church, Elizabeth of Hungary and hear the Beloved Disciple we all struggle with the great work before us. St. John says again to; “Love one another.” St. Elizabeth demonstrates the high example of how that commandment, not from St. John, but from the Lord himself, may be lived, even in the face of adversity. How do we measure our faith against theirs?
It is difficult, what the Lord asks of us. Our biggest defense is the fact that God gave each of us different gifts and different vocations to live. Sometimes it seems it would be easier to renounce the world, the rat race, the pressures of providing for the family and having to deal with daily temptations that keep us from God and join a cloistered religious order like the Trappists in Gethsemane, Kentucky. They do get up each morning early enough to do the office at 3:30 AM and work manually all day and are vegetarians, but they can devote themselves without distraction to God.
It is truly a trap, running away to God. The one thing we can notice as we look at the lives of the saints like St. Elizabeth today is they did not run away and hide their faith; they took their faith to the world. There is a corollary in the Gospel today; “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.” We can say that if your faith is hidden from everyone, will it do what the Lord intended? No, running away to God is not the answer.
This is not to say that the monks and sisters in cloister are running away from God. Like most of our decisions in life, discerning what God calls us to do and to be is critical if we are to walk that path. Those who feel the call to the contemplative life serve God’s purpose as well. Who would pray for us if not these holy men and women? Whose prayer, day and night, would float up to God keeping the praise flowing, ours?
Our great challenge today is to once again take out the measuring stick that is the example of the saints and of Jesus and see how we can measure up. We cannot stop trying we cannot run away from the responsibility God has placed upon us, his believers. We can only pray for strength from the Holy Spirit and do our best – Love on another!
Pax
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