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| “St. Paul Miki and His Companions” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN |
Reading 1: Hebrews 12:4-7,
11-15
In
your struggle against sin
you
have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
You
have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children:
“My
son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord
or
lose heart when reproved by him;
for
whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;
he
scourges every son he acknowledges.”
Endure
your trials as "discipline";
God
treats you as his sons.
For
what "son" is there whom his father does not discipline?
At
the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet
later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to
those who are trained by it.
So
strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make
straight paths for your feet,
that
what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.
Strive
for peace with everyone,
and
for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
See
to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God,
that
no bitter root spring up and cause trouble,
through
which many may become defiled.
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Commentary on
Heb 12:4-7, 11-15
St. Paul encourages the Hebrew
Christians to look at the persecution they endure, not as a fall from favor,
but rather as a means by which the Lord strengthens them as his adopted
children. “This teaching is supported by Proverbs
3:11-12, taken from a long discourse in which a father exhorts his son to
acquire true wisdom. In the present passage the father is identified with God
and we with the sons whom he is addressing.” [4]
The proverb teaches that divine
discipline is inspired by divine love. Without this wisdom, one might mistake
the trials of life (such as persecution; Hebrews
10:32-36) for signs of God’s anger hammering down on every fault and
failure. On the contrary, God is a wise and caring Father who desires
only to make his children better. It is because he loves them too much to
overlook their sins and selfishness that he sends difficulties to train them in
righteousness and to raise them to spiritual adulthood. In point of fact,
the sons of God are being forged in the image of God the Son who ‘learned
obedience through what he suffered.’ (5:8) (CCC 2825)" [5] He
calls them to remain faithful in the face of these trials so that God’s work
may continue in them. The passage ends with encouragement to seek the peace of
Christ in all things and with everyone.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103:1-2,
13-14, 17-18a
R. (see 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those
who fear him.
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's kindness is
everlasting to those who fear him.
As
a father has compassion on his children,
so
the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,
For
he knows how we are formed;
he
remembers that we are dust.
R. The Lord's kindness is
everlasting to those who fear him.
But
the kindness of the LORD is from eternity
to
eternity toward those who fear him,
And
his justice toward children's children
among
those who keep his covenant.
R. The Lord's kindness is
everlasting to those who fear him.
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Commentary on
Ps 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a
Psalm 103 is a hymn of praise (and
thanksgiving). It is a simple and beautiful reaction to God’s goodness.
Contemplating human mortality, the psalmist reflects on the brevity of life and
the goodness God bestows upon us in his eternal blessing of those who follow
him and keep his covenant. It continues the analogy used in Hebrews 12:4-7,
11-15, speaking to us of the loving and compassionate Father. It
goes on to emphasize the omnipresence of God and his eternal nature, knowing us
from eternity.
CCC: Ps 103 304
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Gospel: Mark 6:1-6
He
(Jesus) departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his
disciples.
When
the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and
many who heard him were astonished.
They
said, "Where did this man get all this?
What
kind of wisdom has been given him?
What
mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is
he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and
the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And
are not his sisters here with us?"
And
they took offense at him.
Jesus
said to them,
"A
prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and
among his own kin and in his own house."
So
he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart
from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He
was amazed at their lack of faith.
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Commentary on
Mk 6:1-6
This passage is St. Mark’s account
of the Lord returning to his home town. As is his custom, he goes to speak in
the synagogue and amazes the people he grew up with. The Lord encounters
intense skepticism, born out of the fact that the people knew him before he
took up his mission. In St. Luke's version (Luke 4:28ff),
reference is made to the feeling that Jesus, in assuming the role of the
Messiah, had blasphemed. The resulting attempt on his life is omitted in St.
Mark's Gospel, but we still see the Lord’s response to their lack of faith.
Non-canonical documents of the early Church Fathers (c. 400) refer to the
relationships of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. See The
History of Joseph the Carpenter.
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Reflection:
In
this account of Jesus returning home, we understand something about the Lord’s
early years, that period between age 12 when he was presented at the temple the
second time and his baptism in the Jordan by St. John the Baptist. The last we were told following his first
presentation was: “The child grew and
became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2: 40).
That does not tell us much about his interaction with the community in
which he grew up. This exchange,
however, hints at what the young Jesus must have been like in those years.
When
he came to teach in the synagogue that sabbath, we are told that those who
heard him were “astonished.” They asked
themselves where he had come by the knowledge and wisdom he displayed. In order for them to react this way, we can
only assume that as a young man, Jesus was humble and unassuming. He did not presume to instruct his elders or
even his peers. He was growing into what
he must become, a humble and compassionate man who could weep for those who
mourned at the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11: 35).
The
people of his community would have certainly seen the young Jesus, unassuming,
learning the carpenter’s trade at the side of his foster father, St. Joseph
Is
it any wonder then, that when he came home after his remarkable transformation
at the Jordan
Now,
robed as he was in his Father’s mighty mission, we can feel the Lord’s
disappointment as the great lack of faith displayed by those friends with whom
he had grown up was shown in their petty attacks on him. Such lack of faith would naturally prevent
the full effect of his healing power from being effective with those
people. We are told: “he was not able to perform any mighty deed
there” (Mark 6:5).
And
what message do we take away from this encounter? Do we think our friends and families will be
kinder to us as we go through our ongoing conversion? Especially if we are away for a while and
come home with great zeal for our faith, we should expect to be received as
Christ was; human nature has not changed.
Our hope remains in the Lord, and when we do encounter this kind of response,
we rejoice as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews encouraged. For the
trials we face for our faith are blessings from God our Father. In this case – we know we are doing something
right.
Pax
[1]
The picture used is “St. Paul Miki and His Companions” 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 republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[4]
NAB Footnote for Hebrews 12:18.
[5]
The Navarre Bible: “Revelation and Hebrews and
Catholic Letters”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 262.
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