 |
| “Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples” (detail) by Tintoretto, c. 1547 |
Reading I: Jeremiah
18:18-20
The people of
“Come, let us contrive a plot
against Jeremiah.
It will not mean the loss of
instruction from the priests,
nor of counsel from the wise,
nor of messages from the prophets.
And so, let us destroy him by
his own tongue;
let us carefully note his
every word.”
Heed me, O LORD,
and listen to what my
adversaries say.
Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to
take my life?
Remember that I stood before
you
to speak in their behalf,
to turn away your wrath from
them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jer
18:18-20
Today’s scripture
comes from that part of Jeremiah referred to as “Oracles in the Days of
Jehoiakim” The good king, Josiah, has died and with him the reforms Jeremiah
was supporting. Now, in Jeremiah’s time,
idolatry is creeping back in and the prophet is becoming unpopular. We hear the forces gathering against him in
this reading. We also hear him pray to
God that he might be remembered for his faithfulness
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
31:5-6, 14, 15-16
R. (17b) Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
You will free me from the
snare they set for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commend my
spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O
faithful God.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
I hear the whispers of the
crowd, that frighten me from every side,
as they consult together
against me, plotting to take my life.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
But my trust is in you, O
LORD;
I say, “You are my God.”
In your hands is my destiny;
rescue me
from the clutches of my
enemies and my persecutors.
R. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps
31:5-6, 14, 15-16
Psalm 31 is a
lament in the face of adversity. These
strophes contain the first mention in the Psalms of “O faithful God”. The meaning put
forward is that God always remembers his promise of salvation to those who
believe in him. The psalmist continues asking for protection from those who
would persecute the faithful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew
20:17-28
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem
he took the Twelve disciples
aside by themselves,
and said to them on the way,
“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
to be mocked and scourged and
crucified,
and he will be raised on the
third day.”
Then the mother of the sons
of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons
and did him homage, wishing
to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you
wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons
of mine sit,
one at your right and the
other at your left, in your kingdom.”
Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are
asking.
Can you drink the chalice
that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”
He replied,
“My chalice you will indeed
drink,
but to sit at my right and at
my left,
this is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it
has been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard this,
they became indignant at the
two brothers.
But Jesus summoned them and
said,
“You know that the rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them,
and the great ones make their
authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among
you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be
great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first
among you shall be your slave.
Just so, the Son of Man did
not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a
ransom for many.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt
20:17-28
The squabbling that occurs
between the disciples following this exchange prompts the Lord to define
Christian leadership again, saying that those who would lead must be servants;
they cannot be like the scribes and Pharisees.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
We
begin with Prayer:
Lord, send forth your Holy
Spirit and continue to guide and inspire our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI
during these final days of his papacy. Be with the College of Cardinals for the
next conclave and fill them with your grace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The common thread running
through scripture today is not a happy one for those of us who claim the call
to discipleship in the Lord. First we
hear one of God’s great messengers, the Prophet Jeremiah. He is hearing plots against him and it is
clear from his prayer that he takes them seriously and fears for his very
life. The psalm supports this feeling,
that the faithful are constantly encountering fierce opposition.
Finally, in the Gospel, the
passage opens with Jesus stating in clear terms that “the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the
scribes, and they will condemn him to death”. Even his own disciples, who, being schooled
in the Hebrew Scriptures, would have seen this pattern in prophecy, did not
understand what was about to happen.
If it happened to Jeremiah
six hundred years before Christ, and it happened to Jesus as he said it would,
why should it be any different for his followers? He told Zebedee’s sons that they would follow
him in death for their faith. We don’t
have to be hit over the head too many times to guess that our path, followed
faithfully, will be met with significant resistance.
Perhaps, we live in a society
that is, for the most part, somewhat benign.
Benign unless we get too ambitious and try to actually change the hearts
of others. If we do that outside the
comforting walls of the Church we see quickly the resistance that waits for us. The mandate by the HHS has made it abundantly
clear that even if we just try to live a life that respects human life, our
faith us under attack. Our supposedly
guaranteed freedom of religion is only protected as long as it does not
interfere with hedonistic secularism.
Today our prayer is that we
be given the strength of spirit given to the saints; may we be examples of
fearless faith to others and thereby earn some piece of the reward promised to
God’s faithful servants.
Pax
[2]
The picture is “Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples” (detail) by
Tintoretto, c. 1547
[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.
No comments:
Post a Comment