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| “The Immaculate Heart of Mary” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN |
(Saturday Following The Second Sunday After Pentecost)
Note: On this feast, the Gospel
from the Proper is Proper
(Optional Memorial for Saint
Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church)
*Note: USCCB provides only the
texts for the ordinary of the day
Reading 1: 2
Corinthians 5:14-21
Brothers and sisters:
The love of Christ impels us,
once we have come to the
conviction that one died for all;
therefore, all have died.
He indeed died for all,
so that those who live might no
longer live for themselves
but for him who for their sake
died and was raised.
Consequently, from now on we
regard no one according to the flesh;
even if we once knew Christ
according to the flesh,
yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new
creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God,
who has reconciled us to himself
through Christ
and given us the ministry of
reconciliation,
namely, God was reconciling the world
to himself in Christ,
not counting their trespasses
against them
and entrusting to us the message
of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through
us.
We implore you on behalf of
Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be
sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.
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Commentary on 2
Cor 5:14-21
This
passage from St. Paul ’s
Second Letter to the Corinthians has a distinctly initiative flavor. First he
speaks of dying with Christ, becoming one with him in the spirit. This occurs
in the sacrament of Baptism. The whole idea of being reconciled to God in
Christ is inherent in the Sacrament of Confirmation and concluded in the
Eucharist. These of course are the three sacraments of Christian Initiation.
CCC: 2 Cor 5:14 616,
851; 2 Cor 5:15 605,
655, 1269; 2 Cor 5:17 1214,
1265; 2 Cor 5:17-18 1999;
2 Cor 5:18-21 2844;
2 Cor 5:18 981,
1442, 1461; 2 Cor 5:19 433,
620; 2 Cor 5:20 859,
1424, 1442; 2 Cor 5:21 602
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8a) The Lord is kind and
merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy
name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from
destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and
compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath
forever.
Not according to our sins does he
deal with us,
nor does he requite us according
to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
For as the heavens are high above
the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness
toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the
west,
so far has he put our
transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
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Commentary on Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Psalm
103 is a song of praise to God for his mercy. It recognizes both God’s mercy
and our need, as sinners, for it. The
link between forgiveness and healing is brought out driving home the fact that
forgiveness by God heals the soul and that His forgiveness is available always.
CCC: Ps 103 304
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Gospel: Luke
2:41-51
Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of
Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
"Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great
anxiety."
And he said to them,
"Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 2:41-51
From the Gospel of St. Luke we have the story of Jesus in the
Temple. It is significant from a number of perspectives. First the story breaks
the scriptural silence regarding the “lost years” of Jesus’ growth from infancy
to adulthood. This story says Jesus is twelve, that would be the time when he
would have celebrated his bar
miswah, he would have been considered a man.
This story is at odds with the Apocryphal Gospels (such as the
Gospel of St. Thomas) that attributed to Jesus many miracles during his early
years, this story paints his childhood as fairly normal, the implication based
on Joseph and Mary’s reaction is that they, at this point, do not completely
understand their son’s mission.
CCC: Lk 2:41-52 534;
Lk 2:41 583;
Lk 2:46-49 583;
Lk 2:48-49 503;
Lk 2:49 2599;
Lk 2:51-52 531;
Lk 2:51 517,
2196, 2599
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Yesterday’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart
of Jesus is joined appropriately with today’s Memorial of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary. Yesterday we rejoiced in the love our Savior has for us. Today, his
Mother, our Mother, Mary, reminds us that he expects to be loved by us in
return. Even as we know that we can never earn the love of Christ, that we can
never receive it on our own merits, we know that our love of Jesus must be made
clear.
Today we reflect not just in prayer by in a very pragmatic way
about how we can accede to Mother Mary’s fervent hope and example. She
demonstrated for us how that love could be shown. She was the first to believe
in him. Her actions most closely echoed his command to love one another. She
clearly loved the Lord with such intensity and passion that her heart was
pierced at his death as Simeon had predicted.
We cannot hope to rival the love of the Theotokos, the Mother of
God, in her love for her Son. We may have difficulty finding the intense
emotional attachment to the Lord she showed us so naturally. But we can
demonstrate our love for Him through our actions.
Think for a moment about how others know we love our parents or
our siblings or even our close friends. We do things for them that please them.
We spend time with them and we behave in ways that make them happy, sharing our
joy and our sorrow.
Using that simple model, that is how we show our love for Jesus.
That is the beaconing call of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We do things that
please the Lord, we praise His Father (he always enjoys that), and we act in
ways that tell others “Oh, they must be Christians”. We serve others, because
the Lord’s life and His Mother’s were dedicated to serving others. And we spend
time with the Lord, as much time as possible. We talk with him in prayer, not
just to ask for things like a spoiled child or and ungrateful friend, but
talking to him about the things we have been able to accomplish with his help
and about our joys and sorrows. Finally we spend time with him physically in
his gift of the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration. Is this not the way we act
with those we love?
Scripture tells us that Mary, Most Holy loved the Lord like no one
else could and in her Immaculate Heart we see that example, clear for us to
follow. Let us today be revitalized by that plea and embrace the Lord with our
actions.
Pax
[1] The picture is “The Immaculate Heart of Mary” Artist 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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