Readings for Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time[2][3]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Tb 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a
We pick up the story of Tobiah, Tobit’s son (or Tobias in other translations) as he and the Archangel Raphael come to the place where Sarah and her family live. We see that the Jewish Customs related to marriage are followed. The warning about what has happened to Sarah’s seven previous husbands on their wedding night is delivered but this union is ordained by God and so we see it contracted and consummated, the latter with prayer for deliverance which concludes the reading today.
Excluded from the story were Raphael’s instructions (somewhat mystical regarding the use of a fish liver and gall) and the Archangels victory over the demon that had killed Sarah’s seven previous husbands. While this all seems fanciful, it is clear that prayer and divine intervention are the keys to Tobiah’s and Sarah’s successful marriage.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Supporting the lesson of Tobit regarding the need for faith in God in the marital union, Psalem 128 reemphasizes this tenet of our faith.
Gospel Mk 12:28-34
In the story of the Great Commandment from the Gospel of St. Mark we find the questioner is impressed with the way Jesus handled the previous challenge by the Sadducees (we saw that yesterday). The Lord answers his question, first with the opening of the Shema, the great Jewish Prayer and then he follows that statement with the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. When the scholar clearly understands what Jesus is saying, the Lord tells him he is not far from the Kingdom of God.
Homily
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these
This is the greatest commandment, the heart of all the actions that make us visible as Christians are contained in this short statement by Jesus. It is our great strength and our great weakness. It is strength because, in doing Gods will, and it is Him alone we serve, we gain the great reward promised by Jesus, eternal life.
The greatest commandment is perceived by the secular world as our great weakness because of what it demands of us with relation to those who hate us. We are to love them, we are to turn the other cheek, give more than we are asked. In the eyes of the world, that is a silly thing for us to do.
It is said that for the last ten years of his life, St. John, the Apostle preached every day to his community. Each day he would come down and simply say Love one another. It is also said that one day one of his followers asked him why he never said anything else. After all he had been with Jesus for almost the entire time he was in active ministry. We are told that John answered saying that “Love one another.” was the most important thing Jesus had said to them. He repeated to them often and it could not be repeated enough.
It is such a simple concept but so hard to live by. It requires us to submit ourselves to the will of God on a daily basis. The only way that the greatest commandment can be easily followed is by a hermit monk who spends all day each day praising God and asking for mercy on the whole world.
Perhaps that is the reason the Divine Mercy Chaplet has become so popular in the past three years. It is one manifestation of the greatest commandment. Today lets give it a try. For just today see if we can follow that commandment, without fail, for the whole day.
Pax
[1] Note - on the General Calendar of the Church the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body and Blood of Jesus) is celebrated. In the US, this celebration was moved to the following Sunday.
Readings for that celebration will be posted at that time.
[2] After Links Expire
[3] The image used today is the Shema in Hebrew.
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Tb 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a
We pick up the story of Tobiah, Tobit’s son (or Tobias in other translations) as he and the Archangel Raphael come to the place where Sarah and her family live. We see that the Jewish Customs related to marriage are followed. The warning about what has happened to Sarah’s seven previous husbands on their wedding night is delivered but this union is ordained by God and so we see it contracted and consummated, the latter with prayer for deliverance which concludes the reading today.
Excluded from the story were Raphael’s instructions (somewhat mystical regarding the use of a fish liver and gall) and the Archangels victory over the demon that had killed Sarah’s seven previous husbands. While this all seems fanciful, it is clear that prayer and divine intervention are the keys to Tobiah’s and Sarah’s successful marriage.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Supporting the lesson of Tobit regarding the need for faith in God in the marital union, Psalem 128 reemphasizes this tenet of our faith.
Gospel Mk 12:28-34
In the story of the Great Commandment from the Gospel of St. Mark we find the questioner is impressed with the way Jesus handled the previous challenge by the Sadducees (we saw that yesterday). The Lord answers his question, first with the opening of the Shema, the great Jewish Prayer and then he follows that statement with the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. When the scholar clearly understands what Jesus is saying, the Lord tells him he is not far from the Kingdom of God.
Homily
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these
This is the greatest commandment, the heart of all the actions that make us visible as Christians are contained in this short statement by Jesus. It is our great strength and our great weakness. It is strength because, in doing Gods will, and it is Him alone we serve, we gain the great reward promised by Jesus, eternal life.
The greatest commandment is perceived by the secular world as our great weakness because of what it demands of us with relation to those who hate us. We are to love them, we are to turn the other cheek, give more than we are asked. In the eyes of the world, that is a silly thing for us to do.
It is said that for the last ten years of his life, St. John, the Apostle preached every day to his community. Each day he would come down and simply say Love one another. It is also said that one day one of his followers asked him why he never said anything else. After all he had been with Jesus for almost the entire time he was in active ministry. We are told that John answered saying that “Love one another.” was the most important thing Jesus had said to them. He repeated to them often and it could not be repeated enough.
It is such a simple concept but so hard to live by. It requires us to submit ourselves to the will of God on a daily basis. The only way that the greatest commandment can be easily followed is by a hermit monk who spends all day each day praising God and asking for mercy on the whole world.
Perhaps that is the reason the Divine Mercy Chaplet has become so popular in the past three years. It is one manifestation of the greatest commandment. Today lets give it a try. For just today see if we can follow that commandment, without fail, for the whole day.
Pax
[1] Note - on the General Calendar of the Church the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body and Blood of Jesus) is celebrated. In the US, this celebration was moved to the following Sunday.
Readings for that celebration will be posted at that time.
[2] After Links Expire
[3] The image used today is the Shema in Hebrew.
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