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“St. Vincent de Paul”
artist and date are unknown |
Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary
Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and
Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Ezra 9:5-9
At the time of the evening
sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness,
and with cloak and mantle torn I
fell on my knees,
stretching out my hands to the
LORD, my God.
I said: “My God, I am too ashamed
and confounded to raise my face to you,
O my God, for our wicked deeds
are heaped up above our heads
and our guilt reaches up to
heaven.
From the time of our fathers even
to this day
great has been our guilt,
and for our wicked deeds we have
been delivered up,
we and our kings and our priests,
to the will of the kings of
foreign lands,
to the sword, to captivity, to
pillage, and to disgrace,
as is the case today.
“And now, but a short time ago,
mercy came to us from the LORD, our God,
who left us a remnant and gave us
a stake in his holy place;
thus our God has brightened our
eyes
and given us relief in our
servitude.
For slaves we are, but in our
servitude our God has not abandoned us;
rather, he has turned the good
will
of the kings of Persia toward us.
Thus he has given us new life
to raise again the house of our
God and restore its ruins,
and has granted us a fence in
Judah and Jerusalem.”
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Commentary on Ezr
9:5-9
This
passage from the Book of Ezra is a prayer of atonement lamenting the situation
in Jerusalem. The prophet takes personal responsibility for the sin of the
residents of the city as he expresses the corporate guilt of all people for the
sins of some of its membership. The prayer recalls the unworthiness of the Jews
in all of their sinful acts and praises the mercy of God who brought them back
to Jerusalem and Judah.
CCC: Ezr 9:6-15 2585
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Responsorial Psalm: Tobit 13:2, 3-4a,
4befghn, 7-8
R. (1b) Blessed be God, who
lives for ever.
He scourges and then has mercy;
he casts down to the depths of
the nether world,
and he brings up from the great
abyss.
No one can escape his hand.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Praise him, you children of
Israel, before the Gentiles,
for though he has scattered you
among them,
he has shown you his greatness
even there.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
So now consider what he has done
for you,
and praise him with full voice.
Bless the Lord of righteousness,
and exalt the King of ages.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
In the land of my exile I praise
him
and show his power and majesty to
a sinful nation.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Bless the Lord, all you his
chosen ones,
and may all of you praise his
majesty.
Celebrate days of gladness, and
give him praise.
R. Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
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Commentary on Tb
13:2, 3-4a, 4befghn, 7-8
This
psalm and response are taken from the Book of Tobit. It is Tobit's response to
the Archangel Raphael’s instruction to give thanks to God for his blessings. It
is a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God for his help and salvation. It
recalls the Diaspora and the restoration of Israel. Echoing the prayer of
Ezra (Ezra 9:6), it
recalls that it was through God’s mercy that these things were accomplished
rather than the merit of a sinful people.
CCC:
Tb 13:2 269
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Gospel: Luke 9:1-6
Jesus summoned the Twelve and
gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure
diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the
Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing
for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack,
nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second
tunic.
Whatever house you enter, stay
there and leave from there.
And as for those who do not
welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in
testimony against them.”
Then they set out and went from
village to village
proclaiming the good news and
curing diseases everywhere.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk
9:1-6
St. Luke’s description of the mission of the Twelve is also
recounted (with some differences) in Mark
6:7-13 and Matthew
10:1-9,11,14. Because of these differences (e.g., Matthew
and Luke forbid a staff and sandals but Mark allows them), and assuming that
St. Mark’s Gospel was closest to Jesus' words, we can assume that Matthew and
Luke were spiritualizing Jesus' instructions to a point. Similarly: “because of
the necessity of shaking off foreign dust before entering the Jerusalem temple
and the prohibition against bringing profane money into the sacred precincts (John
2:14), the passage can be interpreted
metaphorically: in all your undertakings, act as though you are standing in
God’s presence; enter the home of each Christian as you would the temple of
God.” [4]
“Armed with the power and authority that Jesus himself has
been displaying in the previous episodes, the Twelve are now sent out to
continue the work that Jesus has been performing throughout his Galilean
ministry:” [5]
They are to rely completely on the Lord, being part of the
world but set apart from it.
CCC: Lk 9:2 551
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Reflection:
Jesus summoned the apostles (no longer just disciples) and
gave them power and authority and sent them out. That same “summoning and sending” has been
taking place ever since the Lord handed the keys to the kingdom of God to St.
Peter. We might ask: “Then why do all
Christians not have the same authority, the same power, over diseases and evil
spirits? We are all summoned, we are all
sent.”
That is actually a very good question. Why can’t each of us heal with a word, cure
with a touch? The answer, we propose,
can be likened to making a copy of a document.
Not like we do today by placing it into an electronic copier (in the old
days a Xerox machine) or scanning it into a computer. No, it’s like making a copy the way the monks
did sacred manuscripts in the Middle Ages.
Some of the copies turned out were works of art – accurate to the finest
detail – exact replicas of the manuscript in its original form. Others suffered small errors and those errors
were copied by subsequent copyists etc.
We could go into great detail here comparing flaws in the paper used or
the ink available. The words could have
been transliterated or changed. The
results, in many cases, caused meaning to be changed or lost.
The really good copies, those illuminated manuscripts, the
real works of art are analogous to the saints.
They captured most clearly the intent of Jesus when he summoned the
Twelve and sent them. We see in them the
authority that he passed on to the Twelve, the authority we know was effective
because later we will hear in the same Gospel how excited they were at their
own success.
This mission is passed on to us. Our ability to be effective in the work of
the apostles – now the broader work of the Holy Church – is limited by our
understanding of Jesus and his will for us. Essentially, using the analogy
above, how good is our internalized copy of the revealed Son of God? The more
perfectly we understand the Lord, the more deeply we delve into his mind and
heart, the more effective and powerful we can be in accomplishing the tasks he
sets before all of us.
What limits us is our human nature, that which we cannot
suppress in spite of our best intentions.
As we continue to seek the will of the Lord who calls and sends us, let
us pray that God will also strengthen us with his Holy Spirit, that we may more
perfectly put on the mind of Christ, His Only Begotten Son.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “St. Vincent de Paul” artist and date are unknown.
[2]
S.S Commemoratio[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]
See Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:84 p.140.
[5]
NAB footnote on Luke 9:1-6.
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