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| St. Justin, Martyr, Iconifer and date are UNKNOWN |
(Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time)
I thank the Lord and I praise him;
I bless the name of the Lord.
When I was young and innocent,
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer
I prayed for her before the temple,
and I will seek her until the end,
and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.
My heart delighted in her,
My feet kept to the level path
because from earliest youth I was familiar with her.
In the short time I paid heed,
I met with great instruction.
Since in this way I have profited,
I will give my teacher grateful praise.
I became resolutely devoted to her—
the good I persistently strove for.
My soul was tormented in seeking her,
My hand opened her gate
and I came to know her secrets.
I directed my soul to her,
and in cleanness I attained to her.
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Commentary on
Sir 51:12 cd-20
This passage from the epilogue of Sirach is an acrostic poem (each
line beginning with the next successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) urging
young men to search for the wisdom of God. The author first praises God and
blesses His name. He then recounts that
since his earliest time he sought wisdom through the Law. This wisdom guided him and matured in
him. It gave him peace and made his road
smooth. It is for this reason he lifts
his prayer of praise, because after diligent effort he discovered the peace and
wisdom he sought.
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R. (9ab) The precepts of the Lord give joy to the
heart.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The decree of the Lord is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. The precepts
of the Lord give joy to the heart.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. The precepts
of the Lord give joy to the heart.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
The ordinances of the Lord are true,
all of them just.
R. The precepts
of the Lord give joy to the heart.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. The precepts
of the Lord give joy to the heart.
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Commentary on
Ps 19:8, 9, 10,
11
Psalm
19 is a hymn of praise. In this passage we give praise to God’s gift of the Law
which guides us in our daily lives. The hymn also extols the virtue of
obedience and steadfastness to the Law and its precepts. The passage also
reflects the idea that following God’s statutes leads to peace and prosperity.
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Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these
things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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Commentary on
Mk 11:27-33
This section of St. Mark’s Gospel begins a series of five
“pronouncement stories”. This first
story deals with a challenge to Jesus’ authority as Messiah and teacher. The chief priests (including Caiaphas who was
Chief Priest at that time) challenge the Lord, seeking to dissuade the people
of his authenticity as teacher and making it clear that they, the priestly
aristocracy, have not supported his triumphant entry into Jerusalem
Jesus responds to them by using John the Baptist, a popular figure
and considered to be a prophet by the people, to deflect their challenge. We hear in their internal dialogue the
difficult options they see – if they say that St. John
The group of Hebrew leaders could find only one solution. They confessed they did not know if John’s
baptism was holy or not. This ambiguous
response allows the Lord to let the implication of his own holiness remain
unchallenged.
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Reflection:
There were once two brothers, Peter and Alex, who had very
different views on life. Peter thought
that God owed him happiness and the other, Alex, felt he owed God his
service. Peter went out to beat the
system. He took whatever he could and
played fast and hard with the rules.
Because he was smart and cunning he became wealthy in worldly
goods. However, he was never at rest, he
was always expecting that one of his schemes would catch up with him or someone
he had dealt falsely with would come looking for him. By secular standards he was viewed as a
success.
His younger brother, Alex, always showed compassion and gave
freely to those who needed his help. He
had many friends who, in turn, came to him in his need. He always seemed happy even though he did not
have much in the way of material wealth.
One afternoon, the two brothers happened to be together. This rarely happened because Peter was always
busy with his next scheme. He was bragging
to Alex about his huge summer house and the new yacht he had just purchased and
why didn’t Alex come to work for him because there was lots of money to be made
and the unsuspecting were every where.
Peter
was surprised when Alex looked at him with a slow, sad, smile and told him he
was happy with his life. Peter could not
understand. Sure there was a lot of
pressure doing what he did. The hours
were long and he had to be careful when he went out, but he had it all. Stupid kid, he never was very bright.
Two
years later Peter was killed in a traffic accident. He had started drinking. The pressure, you see, and he had run off the
road while drunk, in a very expensive car, hitting a very old tree and was
killed instantly. Alex mourned him at
the funeral service performed at the funeral home. Actually the size of the crowd startled the
funeral director. Peter did not have
many friends yet a large number of his brothers friends came in support of
Alex. Alex, in his short eulogy said it
was a shame his brother never found happiness and never understood he was
looking for it in the wrong places. You see, Alex knew that what the heart
desires most, peace and happiness comes only from the freedom of service to God
and in the peace following His Son.
Pax
[2]
The icon is St. Justin, Martyr, Iconifer and date are UNKNOWN
[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.
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