(Optional Memorial for Saint
Louis of France)
(Optional Memorial for Saint
Joseph Calasanz, Priest)
 |
| “Sacrilegious Robbery” by Alessandro Magnasco, 1731 |
Reading 1: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Paul, called to be an Apostle of
Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes our brother,
to the Church
of God that is in Corinth ,
to you who have been sanctified in
Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call
upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
Grace to you and peace from God
our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always on
your account
for the grace of God bestowed on
you in Christ Jesus,
that in him you were enriched in
every way,
with all discourse and all
knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was
confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any
spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to
fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on 1
Cor 1:1-9
This reading is the beginning of
St. Paul’s first letter to the Church he founded in Corinth. News has reached
him of some issues within the community that must be addressed, as well as some
external situations for which guidance must be given. In typical
letter format, he gives thanks to God for the gift of faith given to this
community, and continues his fervent wish that they (and we) be steadfast in
the faith: “He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of
our Lord Jesus (Christ).“
His introduction, emphasizing his own call as Apostle, and the call each
of the faithful has received, hints at the letter’s purpose.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
R. (1) I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name
forever and ever.
Great is the Lord and highly to be
praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Generation after generation
praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your
glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
They discourse of the power of
your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your
abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps
145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Psalm 145 is a hymn of praise.
These strophes (because it is in the acrostic form, each verse beginning with a
successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) although loosely assembled, praise
God for his mercy and compassion and give thanks for his creation and
redemption
CCC: Ps 145:3 300
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 24:42-51
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,
whom the master has put in charge of his household
to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds
doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his
property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is
long delayed,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants,
and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day
and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely
and assign him a place with the hypocrites,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
Commentary on Mt
24:42-51
This discourse from St. Matthew’s
Gospel follows his reflections about the end times, and the need for vigilance.
The Lord speaks to those who follow him, especially the leaders of the
community he leaves behind, telling them they will not know the time when they
will be called to the Kingdom of Heaven. In the second section he tells his
followers that those who are found to be vigilant will be rewarded at the end
of all things, while those who have fallen away will be punished.
CCC: Mt 24:44 673
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
Each day when we say our prayers, we pray for those who have
not been vigilant, either because they were unwary, or because they chose to
ignore Christ’s teachings, and have fallen into sin. We may even thank God, as we pray, that we
have not fallen into that trap. But,
there is a danger, even for the most faithful.
That danger is complacency.
Think about the soldier standing guard at a well-protected
base. Each day he stands guard and each
day he is reassured by the strength of the defenses around him. He thinks: “What enemy would be foolish
enough to attack such a strong fortress?”
As day follows day he goes about his guard duty and becomes less and
less vigilant, even though he is doing his duty faithfully. Then, when he has come to feel completely
safe, the enemy attacks, and he is not ready for that assault and falls.
For the faithful, this is an apt analogy, and one to which
the Gospel points. We must never take
for granted that, because we love the Lord and do what we think is our best to
follow him, the evil one will not find a way around our defenses and cause us
to fall. He does it every day! He whispers in the ear of the most faithful,
tempting them with rewards that on the surface may seem wholesome, but are in
fact deadly to the spirit.
How do we avoid this complacency? Each day we must thoroughly inspect our
defenses. We must look at our prayer and
see that it is not self-serving, condescending, or rationalizing. We must measure ourselves against Jesus and
the Saints he has sent to inspire and guide us. We must always see the room for
improvement that exists in all but Jesus himself. If we are daily striving to achieve that
perfect end, we can never be satisfied with our progress, and never take for
granted our assumed holiness.
Today we pray that we might never lose our vigilance and in
doing so, open the door to the thief.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Sacrilegious Robbery” by Alessandro Magnasco, 1731
[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