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“St. Vincent de Paul”
artist and date are unknown |
Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Ezra 9:5-9
At the time of the evening sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness,
and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees,
stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God.
I said: “My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you,
O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads
and our guilt reaches up to heaven.
From the time of our fathers even to this day
great has been our guilt,
and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered up,
we and our kings and our priests,
to the will of the kings of foreign lands,
to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace,
as is the case today.
“And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the LORD, our God,
who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place;
thus our God has brightened our eyes
and given us relief in our servitude.
For slaves we are, but in our servitude our God has not abandoned us;
rather, he has turned the good will
of the kings of Persia toward us.
Thus he has given us new life
to raise again the house of our God and restore its ruins,
and has granted us a fence in Judah and Jerusalem.”
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Commentary on Ezr 9:5-9
This passage from the Book of Ezra is a prayer of atonement lamenting the situation in Jerusalem. The prophet takes personal responsibility for the sin of the residents of the city as he expresses the corporate guilt of all people for the sins of some of its membership. The prayer recalls the unworthiness of the Jews in all of their sinful acts and praises the mercy of God who brought them back to Jerusalem and Judah.
CCC: Ezr 9:6-15 2585
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Responsorial Psalm: Tobit 13:2, 3-4a, 4befghn, 7-8
R. (1b) Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
He scourges and then has mercy;
he casts down to the depths of the nether world,
and he brings up from the great abyss.
No one can escape his hand.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Praise him, you children of Israel, before the Gentiles,
for though he has scattered you among them,
he has shown you his greatness even there.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
So now consider what he has done for you,
and praise him with full voice.
Bless the Lord of righteousness,
and exalt the King of ages.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
In the land of my exile I praise him
and show his power and majesty to a sinful nation.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Bless the Lord, all you his chosen ones,
and may all of you praise his majesty.
Celebrate days of gladness, and give him praise.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
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Commentary on Tb 13:2, 3-4a, 4befghn, 7-8
This psalm and response are taken from the Book of Tobit. It is Tobit's response to the Archangel Raphael’s instruction to give thanks to God for his blessings. It is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God for his help and salvation. It recalls the Diaspora and the restoration of Israel. Echoing the prayer of Ezra (Ezra 9:6), it recalls that it was through God’s mercy that these things were accomplished rather than the merit of a sinful people.
CCC: Tb 13:2 269
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Gospel: Luke 9:1-6
Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.
Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.
And as for those who do not welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”
Then they set out and went from village to village
proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
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Commentary on Lk 9:1-6
St. Luke’s description of the mission of the Twelve is also recounted (with some differences) in Mark 6:7-13 and Matthew 10:1-9,11,14. Because of these differences (e.g., Matthew and Luke forbid a staff and sandals but Mark allows them), and assuming that St. Mark’s Gospel was closest to Jesus' words, we can assume that Matthew and Luke were spiritualizing Jesus' instructions to a point. Similarly: “because of the necessity of shaking off foreign dust before entering the Jerusalem temple and the prohibition against bringing profane money into the sacred precincts (John 2:14), the passage can be interpreted metaphorically: in all your undertakings, act as though you are standing in God’s presence; enter the home of each Christian as you would the temple of God.” [4]
“Armed with the power and authority that Jesus himself has been displaying in the previous episodes, the Twelve are now sent out to continue the work that Jesus has been performing throughout his Galilean ministry:” [5] They are to rely completely on the Lord, being part of the world but set apart from it.
CCC: Lk 9:2 551
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Reflection:
Jesus summoned the apostles (no longer just disciples) and gave them power and authority and sent them out. That same “summoning and sending” has been taking place ever since the Lord handed the keys to the kingdom of God to St. Peter. We might ask: “Then why do all Christians not have the same authority, the same power, over diseases and evil spirits? We are all summoned, we are all sent.”
That is actually a very good question. Why can’t each of us heal with a word, cure with a touch? The answer, we propose, can be likened to making a copy of a document. Not like we do today by placing it into an electronic copier (in the old days a Xerox machine) or scanning it into a computer. No, it’s like making a copy the way the monks did sacred manuscripts in the Middle Ages. Some of the copies turned out were works of art – accurate to the finest detail – exact replicas of the manuscript in its original form. Others suffered small errors and those errors were copied by subsequent copyists etc. We could go into great detail here comparing flaws in the paper used or the ink available. The words could have been transliterated or changed. The results, in many cases, caused meaning to be changed or lost.
The really good copies, those illuminated manuscripts, the real works of art are analogous to the saints. They captured most clearly the intent of Jesus when he summoned the Twelve and sent them. We see in them the authority that he passed on to the Twelve, the authority we know was effective because later we will hear in the same Gospel how excited they were at their own success.
This mission is passed on to us. Our ability to be effective in the work of the apostles – now the broader work of the Holy Church – is limited by our understanding of Jesus and his will for us. Essentially, using the analogy above, how good is our internalized copy of the revealed Son of God? The more perfectly we understand the Lord, the more deeply we delve into his mind and heart, the more effective and powerful we can be in accomplishing the tasks he sets before all of us.
What limits us is our human nature, that which we cannot suppress in spite of our best intentions. As we continue to seek the will of the Lord who calls and sends us, let us pray that God will also strengthen us with his Holy Spirit, that we may more perfectly put on the mind of Christ, His Only Begotten Son.
Pax
[1] The picture is “St. Vincent de Paul” artist and date are unknown.
[2] S.S Commemoratio[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] See Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:84 p.140.
[5] NAB footnote on Luke 9:1-6.
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