Monday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time

Lectio

    Luke 4:16–30

Meditatio

“Today this scripture passage is fulfilled.…”

    Luke tells us the people’s response as Jesus developed his homily: They “were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” Luke isn’t just stating the obvious. In this passage Jesus is claiming his messianic role. Luke’s words refer to Psalm 45, a messianic psalm known as the “royal wedding song.” The psalmist says to “the king” that “fair speech has graced your lips.” That brings to mind Luke 6:45 (“from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks”) and even the prologue of John, “from his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace” (Jn 1:16), which leads to John’s own conclusion (and a very apt summing up of today’s Gospel): “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (Jn 1:18).

    Saint Thérèse of Lisieux wrote that she desired to learn Greek so that she could read the New Testament without the intermediary of translation: to receive the word right from the mouth of God. When I read this passage from Luke, I want to learn Hebrew, so I can read the same words that Jesus read that Sabbath in Nazareth. He looked up from the text that day and announced that those words, already so ancient and revered in his day, were fulfilled.

    Actually, my desire is superficial compared to what the Lord offers in today’s Gospel passage. He isn’t merely suggesting that I find communion with him by learning to read the same language he read: he offers me profound communion with him in the fulfillment of the prophecy! He offers to let those Scriptures be fulfilled today, as he lives in me to heal the brokenhearted, “to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind … to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” And I don’t have to learn Hebrew for that!

Oratio

    Lord, that crowd in the Nazareth synagogue was amazed by the fullness of grace and truth that came from your lips as you made God known to them in the Scriptures and in yourself. But it is not enough that the Scriptures were fulfilled in your human life: you want them to be continuously fulfilled in your Mystical Body. You want me to share in this grace today. Open my mind and heart to the opportunities today to bring sight to the blind (and receive sight myself), freedom to captives (and to accept the challenges of interior freedom myself), and healing to the brokenhearted (as I also allow my heart to be touched and made new).

Contemplatio

    Today the Scriptures are fulfilled.…

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 18–34: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)

Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on June 24, and today we commemorate his martyrdom by beheading. His death is recorded not only in the Gospels, as in today’s reading (Mark 6:17–29), but also by the Jewish historian Josephus, who mentions it in his Antiquities (15, 8, 2). Though Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, regarded John as a just man, nevertheless, when John publicly criticized him for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, as well as for his other misdeeds, he had John imprisoned (Luke 3:19–20). Josephus also informs us that it was in the fortress of Machaerus, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, where John was detained. Herodias had revenge in her heart and waited for the proper moment; it came when her unnamed daughter danced before Herod and his guests. Thus, to fulfill a royal whim, he, of whom our Lord said: “history has not known a man born of woman greater than John” (Matt. 11:11), gave his life in final witness. This feast was celebrated in Jerusalem as early as the first part of the fifth century, and it seems to have been celebrated in Rome by the sixth century. That the feast should be celebrated on August 29 is probably due to the fact that a church dedicated to St. John in Sebaste (today’s Sivas, Turkey), where his tomb was believed to have been, was dedicated on this day.

Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year C

Lectio

    Luke 14:1, 7–14

Meditatio

“… blessed indeed will you be.…”

    Miss Manners would have been appalled at today’s Gospel scene. Unlike Jesus, she would have advised every “Gentle Reader” to wait to be seated by the host. She may have remarked that a guest list does not commonly include “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,” and that Jesus was rude to upbraid his host! But Jesus’ wisdom transcends mere etiquette, even if it has profound social implications. His eyes are fixed on the Father, who “causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45), and who beckons everyone from “the streets and alleys of the town” to join in the wedding reception for his Son (see Lk 14:15ff.). Imagine a world where everyone looks out for one another, not only from a sense of justice, but also out of humble love. It’s possible only if we recognize how we ourselves have been received.

    The scene also recalls the table Jesus spreads in his words “spoken publicly to the world” (Jn 18:20) and in his body offered “to gather into one the dispersed children of God” (Jn 11:52). It is a table he spreads sacramentally even now “on behalf of many” (Mt 26:28). The Eucharist is the sign of the heavenly banquet where everyone, without exception, dines in communion with Christ and one another. Today’s teaching foreshadows his ultimate self-gift, presenting him as an inviting example: “… as I have done for you, you should also do” (Jn 13:15). The promise? We will be “repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” The beauty of Christ’s teaching here and throughout the Gospel is that as we try to make this world a better place, the people we become in the process never die. This is not only reward, but an uninterrupted continuum made gloriously complete in the resurrection of these bodies that have welcomed one another.

Oratio

    Master, sometimes when I look at our world, I get discouraged. If only we all followed your teaching. Many people don’t care, though. Others care, but fall short.

    What’s that? Forgive as I’m forgiven? Don’t judge, and I won’t be judged? Oh, right. How many of us may have to relinquish our presumed places of honor in the kingdom to make way for those who’ve wronged you, blindsided us, repented (even poorly), and hobbled in making amends? Actually, I do all those things. As I humbly accept them, open me more to receive the grace that can transform the world.

Contemplatio

    “My reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God” (Is 49:4).

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 18–34: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)

Twenty-second Sunday

First reading: No need to boast (Sira 3:17–20, 28–29)

Readings from this book of Ben Sira (or Ecclesiasticus) come only half a dozen times on the Sundays of the three-year cycle. It is probably the oldest of the Greek books of the Bible, written in Hebrew by an experienced scribe at Jerusalem a couple of centuries before Christ. The version we have was translated into Greek for the Jews of Alexandria by the grandson of the author. The book is full of worldly as well as divine wisdom, and a real appreciation of human nature. There is often a streak of dry wit as well. Here he reminds us that pride is often a cover-up for insecurity. The truly great person has no need to create an impression, can afford to be open and appreciative and ready to learn from others. Such openness is attractive and winning among our fellow human beings. More important, it gives a solidity and authenticity that leave us open also to the quiet word of the Lord. ‘To the humble the Lord reveals his secrets.’ This is the quality of Jesus who is ‘meek and humble of heart’, who rides as king into Jerusalem not on a prancing warhorse but on a donkey.

Question: Do I ever really convince other people (or even myself) by showing off?

Second reading: The City of the Living God (Hebrews 12:18–19, 22–24)

This final reading from the Letter of the Hebrews brings together the two main themes of the Letter, the superiority of the priesthood of Christ to that of the Old Law, and the theme of pilgrimage, concentrating here on its goal. Just like the Israelites in the desert of the exodus, the Church is still a pilgrim Church, wending its way unsteadily towards it final goal. In soothing the nostalgia of the Hebrew priests who still yearned for the old rites of the Temple, the author compares the two pilgrimages of the Old and New Testament, and points to the superiority of the goal of New Testament pilgrimage. The pilgrimage of the Old Law was to Sinai and to the unbearably awesome experience of God on the mountain. The goal of the Christian pilgrimage is the heavenly Jerusalem, where all is peace and perfection. There is the contrast also of the two covenants, the one made on Sinai, destined to be broken repeatedly throughout the history of the Chosen People, and the eternal new covenant mediated by the priesthood of Christ, destined to remain for ever as the secure basis of our adoptive sonship and inheritance.

Question: Is the Church still on pilgrimage? Do you see it as advancing or stationary?

Gospel: Invitations (Luke 14:1, 7–14)

Two parables about invitations to table. Both are from Luke’s special material, without parallel in the other gospels. He moves in a higher stratum of society than Mark and Matthew, and often has in mind the implications of the gospel for their situation. The first parable, however, like several of Luke’s parables, seems to be developed from a little Old Testament proverb: ‘Do not give yourself airs, do not take a place among the great; better to be invited, “Come up here”, than to be humiliated’ (Proverbs 25:6–7). At first sight, this seems a merely worldly precaution, a false humility engineered to gain attention. But, for Luke, a banquet is always an image of the heavenly banquet of the Lord. So the message is a moral one too: don’t think yourself better than you are. The message is also typical of Luke’s open and straightforward approach. One is reminded of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector at prayer, where the latter prays only ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’ The second parable also is typical of Luke, his stress on the inherent danger of wealth, on the need to use wealth well, and his concern for the poor and neglected in society.

Question: Who would be thrilled with an invitation and could never return it?

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The Sunday Word: A Commentary on the Sunday Readings (Wansbrough, Henry)

St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Aurelius Augustine was born in Tagaste, Numidia (today’s, Souk-Ahras, Algeria), Africa, on November 13, 354. His mother was St. Monica (see August 27), and his father was Patricius, a pagan. Augustine was enrolled among the catechumens as a child, and though his baptism was put off, he, nevertheless, had a Christian upbringing. He studied (372–75) rhetoric at Carthage (in modern Tunis), and while there he got into the habit of a disordered and dissolute life. For many years, he lived with a companion who was not his wife; their son Adeodatus (“Given by God”) was born in 372. Augustine subsequently opened a school of rhetoric (376–83) in Carthage; but being attracted by the Manichaeans, he joined them and followed their teachings for nine years. When Manichaeism was unable to answer all his questions, he separated from them. In 383, he went to Rome, where he taught rhetoric for a year, and then he moved (384) on to Milan, because he had won, through a competition, that city’s chair of rhetoric. Professional curiosity led him to attend the sermons of Bishop Ambrose (see December 7); he not only found them eloquent but also his heart soon was touched by what Ambrose said. He subsequently dismissed his companion, who returned to Africa, but kept his son with him. With his mother’s arrival in Milan, Augustine retired (386) to Cassiacum, near Milan, together with his son, who died shortly thereafter, and his brother Navigius. Augustine there devoted his time to penance and prayer, preparing himself for his new life. He was baptized by Ambrose during the Easter Vigil liturgy of April 24–25, 387.