Saint Romuald, Abbot
Biographical Information About St. Romuald[1]
Readings for Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Sirach 48:1-14
The final 9 chapters of Sirach are devoted to praise of the glory of God. The first of these chapters is devoted to God in nature, the final chapters to great prophets and leaders of Israel. In the reading today we hear of the Prophet Elijah who came with a fiery message. Reference is made to Elijah’s passing (2 Kings 2:1ff). The image of Elijah is the precursor to St. John the Baptist during Advent and echo’s his prophetic work.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Psalm 97 is hymn praising God in his majesty. The first strophes provide us with an image of God appearing in a storm and fire, a picture reminiscent of Elijah’s ascension recounted in Sirach and proclaimed in 2 Kings 2:1.
Gospel Matthew 6:7-15
The Gospel passage from St. Matthew today actually jumps back and fills in a gap in the reading from yesterday. Today we go back and pick up right after Jesus was telling the disciples to pray in private. He continues his instruction saying to pray clearly and goes on to give Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Reflection:
One thing we can say about our faith that will be true regardless of our age an maturity is it will always challenge us to dig deeper and work harder. We take a step back today and look at where the Gospel of St. Matthew has lead us so far in the Lord’s teachings in the first discourse. It has forced us to re-examine our application of the commandments dealing with how we interact with others. We are to rise above our human nature; a nature that would have us hate those who hate us; a nature that would demand revenge; a nature that would allow us to satisfy our earthly desires without regard for others who might be negatively impacted. We, as Christ’s disciples are to love as God loves, deeply, unconditionally.
And while we struggle with this new understanding of how we are to deal with those with whom we have contact, we must constantly be reinforcing our interior faith through prayer. Jesus teaches us a form to use in that communication with God in the selection we are presented with from St. Matthew’s Gospel. It has become for the Christian community worldwide the most popular prayer in use today. It is almost assuredly the first “adult” prayer children learn (right after “Now I lay me down to sleep…”) and as a consequence it has become almost meaningless in it’s familiarity.
To be gauche, it is like the language a person taking tickets in a movie theater might use; “Down the hall to your right, first door on the left. Enjoy your show.” Do they really want us to enjoy the show? There are hundreds of every-day examples, but we all agree on one thing – our prayer should not be meaningless; especially one given to us by Jesus himself. Prayer is defined in the Catholic Encyclopedia as “The raising of the heart and mind to God.” We cannot become like him unless we know him and allow him to guide us.
As we raise our hearts and minds to God today, let us beg him for the grace to hear his response to our words of praise and supplication. Let us implore him to make us examples of faith to inspire other and offer our unwavering love in return.
Pax
[1] The picture used is “St. Romauld” by Fra Angelico, 1441-42
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
Biographical Information About St. Romuald[1]
Readings for Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Sirach 48:1-14
The final 9 chapters of Sirach are devoted to praise of the glory of God. The first of these chapters is devoted to God in nature, the final chapters to great prophets and leaders of Israel. In the reading today we hear of the Prophet Elijah who came with a fiery message. Reference is made to Elijah’s passing (2 Kings 2:1ff). The image of Elijah is the precursor to St. John the Baptist during Advent and echo’s his prophetic work.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Psalm 97 is hymn praising God in his majesty. The first strophes provide us with an image of God appearing in a storm and fire, a picture reminiscent of Elijah’s ascension recounted in Sirach and proclaimed in 2 Kings 2:1.
Gospel Matthew 6:7-15
The Gospel passage from St. Matthew today actually jumps back and fills in a gap in the reading from yesterday. Today we go back and pick up right after Jesus was telling the disciples to pray in private. He continues his instruction saying to pray clearly and goes on to give Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Reflection:
One thing we can say about our faith that will be true regardless of our age an maturity is it will always challenge us to dig deeper and work harder. We take a step back today and look at where the Gospel of St. Matthew has lead us so far in the Lord’s teachings in the first discourse. It has forced us to re-examine our application of the commandments dealing with how we interact with others. We are to rise above our human nature; a nature that would have us hate those who hate us; a nature that would demand revenge; a nature that would allow us to satisfy our earthly desires without regard for others who might be negatively impacted. We, as Christ’s disciples are to love as God loves, deeply, unconditionally.
And while we struggle with this new understanding of how we are to deal with those with whom we have contact, we must constantly be reinforcing our interior faith through prayer. Jesus teaches us a form to use in that communication with God in the selection we are presented with from St. Matthew’s Gospel. It has become for the Christian community worldwide the most popular prayer in use today. It is almost assuredly the first “adult” prayer children learn (right after “Now I lay me down to sleep…”) and as a consequence it has become almost meaningless in it’s familiarity.
To be gauche, it is like the language a person taking tickets in a movie theater might use; “Down the hall to your right, first door on the left. Enjoy your show.” Do they really want us to enjoy the show? There are hundreds of every-day examples, but we all agree on one thing – our prayer should not be meaningless; especially one given to us by Jesus himself. Prayer is defined in the Catholic Encyclopedia as “The raising of the heart and mind to God.” We cannot become like him unless we know him and allow him to guide us.
As we raise our hearts and minds to God today, let us beg him for the grace to hear his response to our words of praise and supplication. Let us implore him to make us examples of faith to inspire other and offer our unwavering love in return.
Pax
[1] The picture used is “St. Romauld” by Fra Angelico, 1441-42
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
No comments:
Post a Comment