Optional Memorial for Saint Paul VI, Pope
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: 1 Peter 1:18-25
Beloved:
Realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious Blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished Lamb.
He was known before the foundation of the world
but revealed in the final time for you,
who through him believe in God
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.
Since you have purified yourselves
by obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love,
love one another intensely from a pure heart.
You have been born anew,
not from perishable but from imperishable seed,
through the living and abiding word of God, for:
“All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like the flower of the field;
the grass withers,
and the flower wilts;
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.
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Commentary on 1 Pt 1:18-25
Following St. Peter’s call to holiness, he reminds the five churches that they were saved from their sin by the perfect sacrifice of Christ (the Blood of the Lamb), who was raised from the dead so they might have hope in the resurrection to eternal life. The passage concludes with a call to actions that reflect the grace they are given in baptism (“You have been born anew”). This rebirth is not just through water but the Word (Logos) which is eternal and is food for the soul (“from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God”).
CCC: 1 Pt 1:18-20 602; 1 Pt 1:18-19 517; 1 Pt 1:18 622; 1 Pt 1:19 613; 1 Pt 1:23 1228, 2769
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Psalm 147 is a hymn of praise. In these strophes the singer celebrates God’s gifts to his people: the gift of faith to the patriarch Jacob, and the gift of His presence in the holy city Jerusalem. These strophes are from the third section (each section offering praise for a different gift from God to his special people). This section focuses on the gift of the Promised Land with Jerusalem as its spiritual center. We see the call to praise Jerusalem, the Holy City, because in it was revealed the Word of God and a call to holiness. The Lord is praised for sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the law was handed on to them through Jacob.
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Gospel: Mark 10:32-45
The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem,
and Jesus went ahead of them.
They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.
Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them
what was going to happen to him.
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man
will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him,
spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death,
but after three days he will rise.”
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came to Jesus and said to him,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?”
They answered him,
“Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
They said to him, “We can.”
Jesus said to them, “The chalice that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am
baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them,
“You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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Commentary on Mk 10:32-45
This Gospel passage starts with the third prediction of the Passion in St. Mark’s Gospel. The sons of Zebedee take this opportunity (thinking it is the time for Christ to come into glory) to ask for places of honor when he assumes his kingship. The Lord responds with the metaphors of “drinking the cup he will drink,” and “being baptized with the baptism with which he will be baptized,” symbolic of his passion and death. When the brothers respond in the affirmative, Jesus predicts that they will follow him in martyrdom, but that only God can give them the places of honor they request.
When the disciples become upset at James and John, Jesus uses the opportunity to explain “servant leadership.” Unlike secular leaders who autocratically order their subjects about, the servant leader comes to lead by example and service to those being led. He concludes by describing his own role: “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
CCC: Mk 10:32-34 557; Mk 10:33-34 474; Mk 10:34 649, 994; Mk 10:38 536, 1225; Mk 10:39 618; Mk 10:43-45 1551; Mk 10:45 608, 1570
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Reflection:
Once upon a time there were two young men, twins in fact, who came to see their father who was going on a long journey. Their father gave them each an intricate and beautiful key, telling them that they were to keep it safe always because it was the key that unlocked their inheritance. He told them further that, between his departure and when they would come into this inheritance, many evil people would attempt to take the keys away from them.
Now one of these twins truly loved his father and took all of these words to heart. The other did not listen to the wise words spoken to him. The loving son did as his father had asked. He kept the key safe, on a chain next to his heart. In times of trouble he would take it out and be reminded of his father and the love he bore his sons. The other son threw his key into a box containing other knickknacks of little importance and generally forgot about the key altogether.
In the years that followed, the son who carried his key always seemed to make good choices in life and was happy and content, while the other twin fell in with people who used him and were cruel to him. In short his life was miserable.
At the end of their lives, they had to make the final journey their father had made. It was long and difficult. At the end of this journey was a wondrous palace surrounded by a moat. The palace was beautiful, and the twins could hear music and smell flowers and luscious food coming from inside. When they approached the gate, they saw their father on the other side, and he was overjoyed to see them. He told them that all they had to do to enter was to use the key he had given them and unlock the gate.
The loving son immediately pulled out the key he wore on the chain about his neck and unlocked the gate and went in. The other son pleaded to come too but he had left his key behind. The father and his brother were both heartbroken at this news but explained that each key would let in only one, the one for whom it was made, and the other twin must go back and retrieve his key if he wanted to enter. It would take him a very long and miserable time to do this, but it must be done. Eventually the second twin learned the value of the key and returned to receive his inheritance as well.
The sacrament of baptism is the key we are given. It is the key to salvation and sets us on a course to eternal life. So many of those who are given this key are never reminded they have it and forget how to use it. Our prayer today is that we encourage all of those baptized in Christ and show them, with our words and actions, the means by which their own salvation may be insured. In our story, the period required to journey back to retrieve the key may be likened to our time in Purgatory wherein we renew our baptismal promises and recall, in perfect contrition, our sins.
Pax
[1] The picture used today is “The Handing-over the Keys” Josef von Führich 1800–1876.
[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 re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
