Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop, Doctor
Biographical Information about St. Robert Bellarmine[1]
Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
St. Paul shifts his focus from the diversity of the different functions within the Body of Christ (which is the Church) to the gifts common to those enlightened by Christ. First among these gifts is love which informs all reason, directing the Christian to the love of Christ.
“In speaking of love, Paul is led by spontaneous association to mention faith and hope as well. They are already a well-known triad (cf 1 Thessalonians 1:3), three interrelated features of Christian life, more fundamental than any particular charism. The greatest . . . is love: love is operative even within the other members of the triad, so that it has a certain primacy among them. Or, if the perspective is temporal, love will remain (cf "never fails,") even when faith has yielded to sight and hope to possession.”[3]
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Psalm 33 is a hymn of praise in which God as creator is celebrated. In this selection the just are invited to share the Lord’s salvation and are promised his protection. The psalm rejoices in the active help God gives to his chosen people.
Gospel: Luke 7:31-35
St. Luke gives us a difficult parable (also found at Matthew 11:16-19). Jesus had just been criticized for eating with Tax Collectors and “sinners”. His reaction here indicates that those who reject his behavior are themselves behaving like children making fun of others. The unbelieving or critical group he tells us have rejected John the Baptist and are now rejecting him, but history would prove the true identities of Jesus (and St. John) “…But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Reflection:
Have you ever wondered if, in the early Church when persecution by either the Roman leadership or the Jewish hierarchy was ongoing, Christians could be identified simply by the way they acted in their daily lives? We read St. Paul’s letters instructing various churches and we read the Gospel with Jesus explaining that his behavior and that of St. John the Baptist was misconstrued and reviled by non-believers. It seems that hiding the faith of a Christian should be very difficult when placed in a group of individuals ruled by their passions and need for personal gratification.
This question leads us to ask the same about ourselves. There was a joke a while back that expressed this idea pretty well:
It seems there was a man driving through town during rush hour. Right behind him, tail-gating, was a woman. Driving very aggressively she followed him through a couple intersections and finally he came to a traffic light that turned yellow as he approached. Although he could have accelerated through the intersection he chose to stop for the light.
Immediately the lady behind started laying on her horn, screaming curses out the window, and gesturing with her hands in a manner unbecoming a lady. As the tirade continued, a police officer who had been behind her walked up to the car and asked her to step out. There he promptly handcuffed her, called to have the car towed and took her to the police station for booking. After she had spent about two hours in the holding cell following that procedure, the arresting officer came to the cell and said “Sorry for the delay ma’am, you may go now.”
The woman was infuriated and demanded that the officer explain why she was stopped, booked and detained like a criminal. The officer replied; “Well ma’am, when I pulled up behind your car and saw the bumper sticker that said “What would Jesus Do”, the chrome fish symbol with the word Jesus inside, and the vanity plate that read RU SAVED, and then I saw you in that car screaming obscenities and making those gestures to the driver in front of you, I naturally assumed that the car must have been stolen.”
It’s a really good story and we can all get a good laugh out of it until we ask ourselves if we have not behaved in ways similar to the lady who was arrested. If we were really good at living the way St. Paul told his friends at Corinth to live we would not need bumper stickers identifying us as Christians. If we lived the love of Christ we would be instantly recognizable as followers of the one who was mocked and derided by those of his own faith when he walked the earth as a man.
Our challenge is to keep trying to live up to that standard. To be motivated by our love of others from the moment we wake to “Lord, open my lips that my mouth may proclaim your praise” to the last prayer of the day; “Lord, grant me a restful night and a peaceful death.” If we can keep that ideal in front of us – hold it out like a lamp in the darkness, others will absolutely see the light and be attracted to it. But the Lord’s warning must also ring in our ears: “‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’” Those who hate the light will deride us. Those who wish to justify their own selfish behavior will want us to conform ourselves to the model they project and if we do not their guilt will cause them to dislike or even hate us.
Today we are given great direction – St. Paul tells us that faith, hope, and love must be our attitudes. We know this will mark us in the world but today we pray for the courage to live as Christ commands us and as the saints show us.
Pax
[1] The picture of St. Robert Bellarmine is by an UNKNOWN artist, date is also not known.
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
[3] See NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 13:13
Biographical Information about St. Robert Bellarmine[1]
Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
St. Paul shifts his focus from the diversity of the different functions within the Body of Christ (which is the Church) to the gifts common to those enlightened by Christ. First among these gifts is love which informs all reason, directing the Christian to the love of Christ.
“In speaking of love, Paul is led by spontaneous association to mention faith and hope as well. They are already a well-known triad (cf 1 Thessalonians 1:3), three interrelated features of Christian life, more fundamental than any particular charism. The greatest . . . is love: love is operative even within the other members of the triad, so that it has a certain primacy among them. Or, if the perspective is temporal, love will remain (cf "never fails,") even when faith has yielded to sight and hope to possession.”[3]
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Psalm 33 is a hymn of praise in which God as creator is celebrated. In this selection the just are invited to share the Lord’s salvation and are promised his protection. The psalm rejoices in the active help God gives to his chosen people.
Gospel: Luke 7:31-35
St. Luke gives us a difficult parable (also found at Matthew 11:16-19). Jesus had just been criticized for eating with Tax Collectors and “sinners”. His reaction here indicates that those who reject his behavior are themselves behaving like children making fun of others. The unbelieving or critical group he tells us have rejected John the Baptist and are now rejecting him, but history would prove the true identities of Jesus (and St. John) “…But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Reflection:
Have you ever wondered if, in the early Church when persecution by either the Roman leadership or the Jewish hierarchy was ongoing, Christians could be identified simply by the way they acted in their daily lives? We read St. Paul’s letters instructing various churches and we read the Gospel with Jesus explaining that his behavior and that of St. John the Baptist was misconstrued and reviled by non-believers. It seems that hiding the faith of a Christian should be very difficult when placed in a group of individuals ruled by their passions and need for personal gratification.
This question leads us to ask the same about ourselves. There was a joke a while back that expressed this idea pretty well:
It seems there was a man driving through town during rush hour. Right behind him, tail-gating, was a woman. Driving very aggressively she followed him through a couple intersections and finally he came to a traffic light that turned yellow as he approached. Although he could have accelerated through the intersection he chose to stop for the light.
Immediately the lady behind started laying on her horn, screaming curses out the window, and gesturing with her hands in a manner unbecoming a lady. As the tirade continued, a police officer who had been behind her walked up to the car and asked her to step out. There he promptly handcuffed her, called to have the car towed and took her to the police station for booking. After she had spent about two hours in the holding cell following that procedure, the arresting officer came to the cell and said “Sorry for the delay ma’am, you may go now.”
The woman was infuriated and demanded that the officer explain why she was stopped, booked and detained like a criminal. The officer replied; “Well ma’am, when I pulled up behind your car and saw the bumper sticker that said “What would Jesus Do”, the chrome fish symbol with the word Jesus inside, and the vanity plate that read RU SAVED, and then I saw you in that car screaming obscenities and making those gestures to the driver in front of you, I naturally assumed that the car must have been stolen.”
It’s a really good story and we can all get a good laugh out of it until we ask ourselves if we have not behaved in ways similar to the lady who was arrested. If we were really good at living the way St. Paul told his friends at Corinth to live we would not need bumper stickers identifying us as Christians. If we lived the love of Christ we would be instantly recognizable as followers of the one who was mocked and derided by those of his own faith when he walked the earth as a man.
Our challenge is to keep trying to live up to that standard. To be motivated by our love of others from the moment we wake to “Lord, open my lips that my mouth may proclaim your praise” to the last prayer of the day; “Lord, grant me a restful night and a peaceful death.” If we can keep that ideal in front of us – hold it out like a lamp in the darkness, others will absolutely see the light and be attracted to it. But the Lord’s warning must also ring in our ears: “‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’” Those who hate the light will deride us. Those who wish to justify their own selfish behavior will want us to conform ourselves to the model they project and if we do not their guilt will cause them to dislike or even hate us.
Today we are given great direction – St. Paul tells us that faith, hope, and love must be our attitudes. We know this will mark us in the world but today we pray for the courage to live as Christ commands us and as the saints show us.
Pax
[1] The picture of St. Robert Bellarmine is by an UNKNOWN artist, date is also not known.
[2] After Links to Readings Expire
[3] See NAB footnote on 1 Corinthians 13:13
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