Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, Religious

“St Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata “ 
by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1635

Proper for the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi [1]

Biographical information about St. Francis of Assisi

Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]

Commentary:

Reading 1: Job 19:21-27

Commentary on Jb 19:21-27

These familiar verses (“I know that my vindicator (redeemer) lives…”) are taken from Job’s fifth response. Job is now utterly deserted. His family, neighbors, and even (apparently) God has deserted him. Yet, in a leap of faith, he expresses hope in the vision of God who will vindicate him and confidence that he will one day meet him, face to face. It is this salvation and consolation that Job desires above all else.

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

R. (13) I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

Commentary on Ps 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

Psalm 27 is an individual lament. In this selection from it, we hear the psalmist asking for God to reveal himself to his faithful. He calls to the Lord, imploring him to hear the desperate prayer. The psalmist expresses faith in God who is the refuge of the faithful, longing to find the ultimate safety and bounty of God’s heavenly kingdom. In the final strophe the singer expresses faith and hope that God will reveal himself in the end and for all time.

CCC: Ps 27:8 2730

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Gospel: Luke 10:1-12

 

Commentary on Lk 10:1-12

It is only in the Gospel of St. Luke that we hear the story of Jesus sending the seventy (two). This event is supported by other non-biblical writings (see Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 265-c. 340) Church History, Vol. 1). The instructions given to those sent out are very similar to the instructions given to the Twelve (Matthew 10:5-16; Luke 9:1-6), as was the message they were sent to proclaim.

This selection emphasizes Jesus' early struggle to accomplish what he came to do by himself. We sense the humanness as he says; "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few." We also find this event and statement in St. Matthew’s Gospel where instead of the 72 he names the 12 (Matthew 10:1-8). While in St. Matthew’s story Jesus sends them first to the Hebrew people, St. Luke makes no such distinction.

This effort by Jesus was modeled on Moses’ leadership structure in which 70 elders were appointed (Numbers 11:24-25). It is also possible that the reference number 70 relates to the number of nations mentioned in Genesis 10. The disciples were sent two by two, a custom that would be replicated later in the post-resurrection missionary activities of the Church (see Acts 8:14; 15:39-40).

In another historical similarity, the disciples were sent without possessions, presumably depending upon the traditionally required hospitality for their support. Similar instructions were given by the Prophet Elisha as he sent his servant in 2 Kings 4:29.

The Lord’s instructions concerning this hospitality “the laborer deserves his payment” is also quoted in St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:18b) and has further support in 1 Corinthians 9:7, 14. Those who labor on behalf of the Gospel and cannot take time to support themselves deserve the support of the community. In a final twist, the Lord’s instruction to “eat what is set before you” sets aside Mosaic dietary laws (also 1 Corinthians 10:27 and Acts 10:25). It is a clear indication that the scope of their mission is to call all peoples to the Gospel.

CCC: Lk 10:1-2 765; Lk 10:2 2611; Lk 10:7 2122

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Reflection:

Standing up for Gospel principles has never been easy. Those of us who believe that, because this is a civilized world, it is getting easier, are in for a rude awakening the first time we challenge the social status quo. Try taking the high moral ground at work when the discussions get a bit “off color” and sexual innuendo starts to fly. You will find yourself like the bad comedian who lays an egg on stage and hears crickets chirping. In countries of the Middle East, proclaiming the Gospel can get you killed; our own troops, there to defend the lives of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, are not allowed to mention their faith outside the compounds that house them.

The Lord tells the seventy-two that he is sending them “like lambs among wolves.” That descriptor evoked an attitude as well as a message. The message the Lord sent, and is sending, is one of love for God and love of one another. That message is not welcomed by those who seek power over others, who are focused only on their own hedonistic pleasures. They find such talk threatening to their life styles and critical of their behaviors (at least we hope so).

They will not thank us for our message, conveyed in word and actions. On the contrary they will, at best, shun us or at worst seek to do us harm: remove the irritant. Our response to this treatment is to love them! Like little children (thank you St. Thèrése) we are called to reach out to them asking they why they cannot see the love God wants to share with them. As vulnerable and powerless apostles we offer the greatest prize imaginable. And when it is rejected, we offer it again.

Ah, the Lord did not give us an easy mission. He calls us to be a light to the world and a beacon of hope. We pray today for the strength to accept the small measure of pain he endured for us so that we might continue the work he sends us to do.

Pax

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[1] The picture is “St Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata “ by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1635

[2] S.S. Commemoratio

Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

“The Trials of Job” by Leonaert Bramer, 1630s

Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time [1]

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]

Commentary:

Reading I: Job 9:1-12, 14-16

 

Commentary on Jb 9:1-12, 14-16

This reading picks up Job’s second response to his friends (although they are for the most part ignored in his response). He focuses his response not on Bildad (Job 8), but on a comment by Eliphaz, on the justice of man before God: "Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against their Maker?” (Job 4:17)

Job reflects upon God’s omnipotence and omnipresence, the Lord is almighty and everywhere. God created all things and has power over them. Mankind has no options but to endure God’s judgment, even if that judgment seems unjust (“Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me”). “God’s justice is really his power; he can do what he chooses; none can withstand him; and if he declares a man to be guilty, then it is so.  No appeal can be made, and no other standard of justice can be invoked.  Yet if the man’s conscience is clear, what he suffers is not felt as justice but as divine anger; thus it is with Job.” [4] He concludes in humility that even in his situation he would be surprised if God noticed his plea.

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Commentary on Ps 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

Reminiscent of Job, Psalm 88 is an individual lament. The psalmist cries out at having been afflicted and deserted by his friends. The song implores the Lord to hear the living (feeling the hand of death the singer urgently prays) asking why God has seemingly rejected him.

CCC: Ps 88:11-13 633

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Gospel: Luke 9:57-62

Commentary on Lk 9:57-62

This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel gives us three sayings of Jesus about the requirement to place the values of Christian discipleship above all other requirements of life. Proclaiming the Kingdom of God must come before even family obligations.

In the first, “Foxes have dens…” Jesus does not deceive anyone – he lives in poverty, dedicated to his mission.

The second, “Let the dead bury their dead,” is a play on words: let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Jesus' message is the message of life. This saying was never intended to be taken literally as filial piety is deeply ingrained in Jewish life.

In the third saying; “No one who…looks to what was left behind,” Jesus demands more than Elisha (see 1 Kings 19:19-21). “Plowing for the Kingdom demands sacrifice.” [5]

CCC: Lk 9:58 544

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Reflection:

The sheer weight of the day demands that we think about our obedience to God’s will, and to the mission in which we have been called to participate.  It starts with Job, whose remarkable faith allows him to have a relationship with God that is at once submissive, and at the same time familiar.  He speaks, in the 9^th chapter, of God’s power over all things, and how mankind is powerless to stand against the will of God.  Job’s only answer is to depend upon God’s mercy, and accept God’s answer to his prayer.  (We later see the familiarity as Job begs God to just leave him alone.)

In front of the backdrop of God’s majesty, his Only Begotten Son comes, apparently trying to dissuade potential followers from accepting the call to follow him.  The Lord makes it very clear that what he asks is difficult.  He himself has no place to call home (recall he has already been rejected by the members of his hometown, and just recently by the Samaritans).  To others he says that the proclamation of the Kingdom of God must be their life’s priority, above family and friends.

From a spiritual perspective, this same prioritization comes to us.  If we are to be obedient, following Christ as his faithful, our efforts must always proclaim that message.  Quoting St. Francis of Assisi, we are to “proclaim the Gospel always, and use words when we must.” 

Pax

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[1] The picture is “The Trials of Job” by Leonaert Bramer, 1630s

[2] S.S. Commemoratio

[4] See Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 31:39, p. 518

[5] See Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:97, p. 143

Memorial of the Guardian Angels

“The Guardian Angel” by Carlo Dolci, 1675.

Proper for the Memorial of the Guardian Angels

Additional information about the Feast of the Guardian Angels

Readings for the Memorial of the Guardian Angels [1]

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible[2]

Commentary:

Note: for this memorial the Gospel of the Proper is used.

Reading I: Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23

Commentary on Jb 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23

Job, the faithful servant of God, has lost all his possessions. His family has been taken from him, and he has been personally afflicted. In these verses he begins his first soliloquy. Without asking for salvation by God, Job laments his desperate state, by beginning to question why he was even given the first gift of life (see parallels in Jeremiah 20:14-18, 1 Kings 19:4 and Sirach 23:14). The important element of this lament is the question itself: “why,” for what reason? Going further in vs. 20-23, the question is broadened to include all who are born into suffering and harsh servitude. In this early part of the Book of Job, there is bewilderment on Job’s part. Divine justice has not yet been introduced.

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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8

R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Commentary on Ps 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8

Reminiscent of Job, Psalm 88 is an individual lament. The psalmist cries out, having been afflicted and deserted by his friends. As the singer calls for God to attend his prayer in the first strophe, he considers his descent to death in those that follow.

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GOSPEL

Matthew 18:1-5, 10

Commentary on Mt 18:1-5, 10

This Gospel passage is used on the Feast of the Guardian Angels each year. The event is also recorded in St. Luke’s Gospel at Luke 9:46-50. The major difference is that here, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord speaks directly of the Guardian Angels who protect and watch over the children in the presence of the Heavenly Father as opposed to going on to another saying of Jesus. The emphasis in this passage changes from a treatise on humility to one which emphasizes God’s care for those who are most helpless, his children.

CCC: Mt 18:3-4 526; Mt 18:3 2785; Mt 18:10 329, 336 

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Reflection:

Taking the flow of celebrations in the Church over the days leading up to this date, it almost seems as if we have been building up to the memorial of Guardian Angels. We have celebrated the Feast of the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, and just yesterday the Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. From divine messengers and Saints who invite us to be as children in accepting their divine aid, the Guardian Angels present themselves in this memorial, an angelic presence, reminding us that God cares for us all and is with us constantly.

It is an opportunity for us all to reflect upon this question: If Jesus tells us the Guardian Angels exist and are real (“I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father"), do we accept and believe that aid is at hand, or do we continue to fear, thinking we are alone, fighting against the world with only our own strength to protect us? After all, we do not see the angelic messengers. We do not observe them actively participating in our lives. Unlike their depiction in the movies, objects and people do not fly around, guided by the hosts of heaven.

Ultimately we are given God’s assurance that his messengers are here with us, that at once they face outward watching over us and inward, worshiping God and His Son in the Heavenly Kingdom. We are called once more today to have the faith of a child as we go about our day’s activities. We should also not forget all those times we have been rescued by our Guardian Angels.  May we accept God’s angelic aid and feel the peace flowing from his Son on this day.

Pax

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[1] The picture is “The Guardian Angel” by Carlo Dolci, 1675.

[2] S.S. Commemoratio 456/650