Bishop and Martyr
Monday of the Thirty Second Week in Ordinary Time
Additional Information about St. Josaphat[1]
Readings for the Memorial of Saint Josaphat[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Wis 1:1-7
The Holy Spirit guides the just but those whose hearts turn away cannot hear that voice. This series of encouragements to justice are attributed to the Holy Spirit with the last verse being used in the Liturgy of Pentecost.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 139:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
This song/prayer asks for guidance from the Holy Spirit. It recognizes that God’s spirit is in all His creation and its knowledge is omnipresent. This theme is consistent with the final verse in the Wisdom reading above.
Gospel Lk 17:1-6
Jesus begins teaching his disciples about forgiveness in the selection from St. Luke’s Gospel. He tells his friends to hold each other accountable and to forgive them if they ask for forgiveness. Even if it is a great sin (“seven times in one day” using Hebrew numerology, this would be absolute sin followed by absolute apology and forgiveness) forgiveness should be given.
Perhaps in the face of this difficult commandment, the disciples ask for their faith to be increased. The Lord responds with a saying about the power of faith.
Reflection:
The Holy Scripture gives us a circle of cause and effect today. In the first reading from Wisdom and selection from Psalm 139 we are told, first that the Holy Spirit is everywhere in God’s creation. We are also told that if we have faith in that omnipresent hand of God that we will be guided to do what is right and just. Wisdom Literature is so rich in guidance.
These first two selections provide a back-drop for the Gospel as the Lord instructs his disciples to forgive those who sin against them. The presumption in this message goes a little deeper. The Lord is assuming that his disciples know that the “brother” is not just a person to whom they are related but includes all those with whom they have contact.
The depth of this forgiveness is expressed by Jesus in symbolic terms using the perfect number (most complete) “seven”. He tells them even if their brother sins against them seven times in one day (which would amount to a complete action) but begs forgiveness seven times (which would amount to a complete apology) they must forgive. The Lord, in addition to understanding the importance of loving one another, also understands that lack of forgiveness opens the door to the inverse of love, hate and hatred destroys the soul.
We all understand that the instinctive reaction of the human person, when wronged, is to strike back in kind or even to a greater extent than the wrong offered by our attacker. The disciples also saw that what Jesus was commanding them to do would be supremely difficult. Faced with this dilemma, they asked for what they needed in order to be able to respond to the commandment – more faith.
We find ourselves in a circle. If we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, we are able to respond with justice to situations in which we find ourselves. But justice is not retribution we are told by Jesus. Justice is forgiveness and forgiveness is difficult so we need more faith to listen more intensely to the Holy Spirit to respond more perfectly to the Lord. If we are diligent this circle becomes an upward spiral that will ultimately lead us to our Eternal Father. Difficult as it may be, we ask today for the strength to hear the Holy Spirit and forgive those who wrong us. It is what we are commanded to do.
Pax
[1] The picture used today is St. Josaphat, Artist and Date UNKNOWN
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
Monday of the Thirty Second Week in Ordinary Time
Additional Information about St. Josaphat[1]
Readings for the Memorial of Saint Josaphat[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Wis 1:1-7
The Holy Spirit guides the just but those whose hearts turn away cannot hear that voice. This series of encouragements to justice are attributed to the Holy Spirit with the last verse being used in the Liturgy of Pentecost.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 139:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
This song/prayer asks for guidance from the Holy Spirit. It recognizes that God’s spirit is in all His creation and its knowledge is omnipresent. This theme is consistent with the final verse in the Wisdom reading above.
Gospel Lk 17:1-6
Jesus begins teaching his disciples about forgiveness in the selection from St. Luke’s Gospel. He tells his friends to hold each other accountable and to forgive them if they ask for forgiveness. Even if it is a great sin (“seven times in one day” using Hebrew numerology, this would be absolute sin followed by absolute apology and forgiveness) forgiveness should be given.
Perhaps in the face of this difficult commandment, the disciples ask for their faith to be increased. The Lord responds with a saying about the power of faith.
Reflection:
The Holy Scripture gives us a circle of cause and effect today. In the first reading from Wisdom and selection from Psalm 139 we are told, first that the Holy Spirit is everywhere in God’s creation. We are also told that if we have faith in that omnipresent hand of God that we will be guided to do what is right and just. Wisdom Literature is so rich in guidance.
These first two selections provide a back-drop for the Gospel as the Lord instructs his disciples to forgive those who sin against them. The presumption in this message goes a little deeper. The Lord is assuming that his disciples know that the “brother” is not just a person to whom they are related but includes all those with whom they have contact.
The depth of this forgiveness is expressed by Jesus in symbolic terms using the perfect number (most complete) “seven”. He tells them even if their brother sins against them seven times in one day (which would amount to a complete action) but begs forgiveness seven times (which would amount to a complete apology) they must forgive. The Lord, in addition to understanding the importance of loving one another, also understands that lack of forgiveness opens the door to the inverse of love, hate and hatred destroys the soul.
We all understand that the instinctive reaction of the human person, when wronged, is to strike back in kind or even to a greater extent than the wrong offered by our attacker. The disciples also saw that what Jesus was commanding them to do would be supremely difficult. Faced with this dilemma, they asked for what they needed in order to be able to respond to the commandment – more faith.
We find ourselves in a circle. If we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, we are able to respond with justice to situations in which we find ourselves. But justice is not retribution we are told by Jesus. Justice is forgiveness and forgiveness is difficult so we need more faith to listen more intensely to the Holy Spirit to respond more perfectly to the Lord. If we are diligent this circle becomes an upward spiral that will ultimately lead us to our Eternal Father. Difficult as it may be, we ask today for the strength to hear the Holy Spirit and forgive those who wrong us. It is what we are commanded to do.
Pax
[1] The picture used today is St. Josaphat, Artist and Date UNKNOWN
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
No comments:
Post a Comment