Catechism Links[1]
CCC 273, 300, 314: God’s transcendence
CCC 36-43: knowledge of God
according to the Church
CCC 2544: prefer Christ to
all else
CCC 914-919, 93-932: following Christ in
consecrated life
 |
| “Christ Carrying the Cross” by Cecchino del Salviati, 1540s |
Reading 1:
Wisdom 9:13-18b
Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the Lord intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many
concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Wis 9:13-18b
This selection is
part of what is known as Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom (see also 1
Kings 3:6-9; 1
Chronicles 1:8-10). In it
the author asks the ancient question: “Who can divine the will of the Lord?”
It is asked rhetorically, in that the question is answered. We mortals alone
cannot understand God's will. We are not pure spirit, nor are we in communion
with God. Our only salvation is that God sent the Holy Spirit who shows us what
pleases God, and leads us on the right paths.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13,
14-17
R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our
refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every
age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every
age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every
age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every
age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13,
14-17
The psalm in its entirety is a communal lament. The strophes in this selection reflect on the
mortality of humanity, and the brevity of human life. (It is also an example of
the human understanding that God’s immortal view of time is not like ours.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II:
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Phmn 9-10, 12-17
The passage from St. Paul’s
Letter to Philemon is his plea (not command) for the runaway slave (and perhaps
thief), Onesimus. The apostle alludes to Onesimus’ conversion (whose father
I have become in my imprisonment). In the strongest possible terms, he lets
the slave’s former master know that he (St. Paul) considers him (Onesimus) to
be a brother in the Gospel of Christ, rather than a slave. The Apostle then
encourages the community at Colossae, to which the letter is directed, to
accept his return on that basis.
CCC: Phmn 16 2414
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel:
Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to
finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Lk 14:25-33
The Lord, perhaps in an action intended
to identify those who had the zeal to be true disciples, tells the crowd of the
necessity of total dedication to the call to discipleship. They had seen his
recent miracles of healing, and were, no doubt, hoping to learn wisdom from
him.
He tells them that they must
place their love of God first, before family and even their own lives. He tells
them, through two examples – the construction of the tower and the evaluation
of the battle – that they must measure the sacrifice needed to be his follower.
He punctuates his statement by telling them they must “renounce” all
their possessions to follow him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homily:
When the Gospel was
proclaimed I suspect many of us reacted the same way saying: “That’s not a very
uplifting piece of scripture. …“If anyone comes to me without hating his
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own
life, he cannot be my disciple.”
Where is the Lord coming from with that?
Luke goes on to quote the Lord as saying: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple.”
First, let’s address St. Luke’s use of the word “hate.” In almost all English translations of the
scripture the Latin words “non odit”
are translated as “hate not.” Many
scripture scholars look at the parallel passage in St. Matthew’s Gospel for a
sense of what that word means in this context, since it is so unlikely that our
Lord actually used the word hate. St.
Matthew’s Gospel says “Whoever loves
father or mother more than me…” (Matthew 10:37ff). Because of this cross- reference many
scholars believe the term was used idiomatically and meant “loved less.”
Moving beyond the word that caused us to sit up and pay attention,
what is the Lord really saying? Let’s
look at the situation in which Jesus found himself. He had been preaching and healing the sick
for some time now, and was becoming famous.
We were told at the beginning of the Gospel passage that “great crowds were traveling with Jesus.” We pose this question to you: do you think
these “great crowds” that were following Jesus [the miracle worker] were doing
so because of his compelling message about the Kingdom of God? Almost certainly, most people were there for
the entertainment value, out of curiosity, or even because they thought it was
a good thing to do.
Jesus knew all of this. So
he made a decision to tell the crowds what was expected of them if they wanted
to continue to traipse around the countryside with him, following along as was
the custom. So he turned and asked them,
through example, if they are willing to pay the price that must be paid to be
his disciples. Were they willing to give
up everything they found important in their lives and to undergo the
persecution Jesus knew was coming in order to follow him? We can imagine the response, can’t we? There was likely a rapid exit for a majority
of those crowds when they heard him telling them that nothing in the world
could be as important as his Father’s Kingdom.
That price would have been too much for all but the most devout and
serious members of the crowd.
It is a very hard thing we are being asked to do by this
Gospel. Jesus asks the crowds then, and
us now, if we have calculated the price of following Jesus. He begs us to think carefully about our
answers because, whether we like it or not, visibly following the Lord today
means that we are indeed picking up our cross to take the path of
discipleship. Acting on the Gospel
message in today’s society in an obvious way (e.g. making it clear that the
charitable actions, our outspoken defense of a just economic system, or our
defense of religious freedom is based upon our Christian faith) is becoming
dangerous.
That is the Gospel question we are being asked to consider
today. Of course we have support in
considering our answer. We are reminded,
for instance in the reading from the Book of Wisdom, that in things of the
soul, the Holy Spirit will guide us on straight paths. That means, however, we must look to the Holy
Spirit for guidance. We are also reminded by St. Paul as he writes on behalf of
Onesimus, that we are not alone; there are many others who will stand with us
in the cause of discipleship.
But let us not sugarcoat the real message. The price the Lord demands for discipleship
is complete dedication to him, subordinating all other worldly interests to
love of God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We are asked the question he asked St. Peter on the shore of the Sea of
Tiberias after his resurrection (John 21:15-19). Do you recall what the Lord
asked, three times? He asked St. Peter
if he loved him. This is how St. Peter’s
exchange was concluded. It will help us
as we consider this message today:
“Amen, amen, I
say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you
wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone
else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify
God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic
Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2]
The picture used today is “Christ Carrying the Cross” by Cecchino del Salviati,
1540s
[4]
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