Optional Memorial for
Saint Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr, and His Companions, Martyrs
 |
“Christ Carrying the Cross” (detail)
by Lorenzo Lotto,1526 |
Readings for Friday of the
Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
See,
upon the mountains there advances
the
bearer of good news,
announcing
peace!
Celebrate
your feasts, O Judah,
fulfill
your vows!
For
nevermore shall you be invaded
by
the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed.
The
Lord will restore the vine of Jacob,
the
pride of Israel,
Though
ravagers have ravaged them
and
ruined the tendrils.
Woe
to the bloody city, all lies,
full
of plunder, whose looting never stops!
The
crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of wheels;
horses
a-gallop, chariots bounding,
Cavalry
charging, the flame of the sword, the flash of the spear,
the
many slain, the heaping corpses,
the
endless bodies to stumble upon!
I
will cast filth upon you,
disgrace
you and put you to shame;
Till
everyone who sees you runs from you, saying,
“Nineveh
is destroyed; who can pity her?
Where
can one find any to console her?”
-------------------------------------------------
Commentary
on Na
2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7
This
passage takes excerpts from the two sections of the short book of the prophet
Nahum. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, writing in about 612 BC. The focus of
this selection is on the significance of the fall of Nineveh. His oracle envisions the restoration of Judah
and Israel as well as God’s just retribution against the Assyrians, whose
ruthlessness was legendary.
‘It
is very difficult to capture in translation the full impact of the Hebrew
original. The prophet manages to convey the sheer terror and anguish of the
Ninevites as the Babylonian army pours through the streets and squares of the
great capital of Assyria.” [4]
-------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Deuteronomy 32:35cd-36ab, 39abcd, 41
R. (39c) It is I who deal death and give life.
Close
at hand is the day of their disaster,
and
their doom is rushing upon them!
Surely,
the Lord shall do justice for his people;
on
his servants he shall have pity.
R. It is I who deal death and give
life.
“Learn
then that I, I alone, am God,
and
there is no god besides me.
It
is I who bring both death and life,
I
who inflict wounds and heal them.”
R. It is I who deal death and give
life.
I
will sharpen my flashing sword,
and
my hand shall lay hold of my quiver,
“With
vengeance I will repay my foes
and
requite those who hate me.”
R. It is I who deal death and give
life.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary
on Dt
32:35cd-36ab, 39abcd, 41
In
this selection from Deuteronomy, Moses begins to describe the unique
participation of the Hebrew people, the Chosen People, in God’s covenant. Moses
actually presents a homily on the election of Israel, how God has shown his
omnipotence through the salvific acts and signs (e.g. plagues in Egypt, saving
miracles that facilitated the exodus).
These
proofs, Moses explains, are the reason they must be faithful to God, and
instruct their children to do the same. In doing so they receive the reward for
their fidelity: “that you and your children after you may prosper." This
section acts as a prologue to the introduction to Mosaic Law.
CCC:
Dt 32:39 304
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 16:24-28
Jesus
said to his disciples,
“Whoever
wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take
up his cross, and follow me.
For
whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What
profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and
forfeit his life?
Or
what can one give in exchange for his life?
For
the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and
then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen,
I say to you, there are some standing here
who
will not taste death
until
they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary
on Mt
16:24-28
This
is the second time, within the Gospel of St. Matthew, the Lord instructs the
disciples that if they wish to follow him, they must take up the cross (the
first time is in Matthew
10:38).
"Jesus'
paradox at 16:25 ('whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it') is fulfilled first of all in
Jesus himself, in the way his life's loss on the Cross flowers in the
Resurrection and the birth of the Church." [5]
This
passage focuses the followers of Christ on the idea that serving the Lord must
come before any other purposes in life, since it is through following Jesus
that eternal life is gained. It is also explicit that bringing the Word of God,
the message of the kingdom of God, to the world will lead to persecution, and
even the possibility of death.
CCC:
Mt 16:24-26 736; Mt
16:24 226, 618, 2029; Mt
16:25-26 363; Mt
16:25 2232; Mt
16:26 1021
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
The message that resonates
with us today is the Lord calling us to “deny
himself, take up his cross and follow me.”
That call is different for each one of us. Denying oneself we interpret to mean putting
aside our personal desires and goals when they conflict with what we perceive
God is calling us to. This phrase, taken
to extremes, has led many of our saintly predecessors in the faith to excesses
of physical hardship, even to the point of death in some cases. Each of us must look into our own heart and
find there that reflexive relationship between what it means to deny our human
ambitions, and answer Christ’s call to follow him.
The “following Christ” part
of our call may dictate what necessarily needs to be denied. For example, there is an individual in our
parish who feels called to take Holy Communion to the sick and elderly, to
bring them the sacramental grace and hope in eternal life that flows from that
sacrament. Each Sunday after Mass he
goes to the houses of a number of the elderly or homebound on that holy
errand. He has done this for over ten
years. In following Christ this way he
has reflexively given up his leisure pursuits on that day. In placing the mission of Christ before his
own personal comfort, he has denied himself and followed Christ.
There is another example of a
husband and wife who are actively involved in ministry to migrant workers who
come to the region each summer to work in the fields. In addition to going to the camps to minister
to them, this family has spent thousands of dollars of their own funds to put
together a special day for these people, the poor and burdened, that included
bringing in speakers, putting on a meal (for three hundred, for which they
paid) and having a Spanish-speaking bishop preside at a special Mass for
them. They denied themselves, gave up
time and resources, in order to follow Christ’s call to serve the poor.
There is one other example
that should be shared. There is an
elderly parishioner who is afflicted with osteoporosis; she can barely walk
because of the pain. Each day she comes
to Mass and prays for people who have written down prayer requests in the book
of intentions. She prays for
others! She has given of her time and
her own comfort to take up her cross and follow the Lord.
It is up to us to examine our
own call to follow Christ. What has he
given us that can be used to proclaim his love to the world through our
efforts? What are we called to offer to
him? It is a question that needs to be
considered constantly and we are called to do that once more today.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Christ Carrying the Cross” (detail) by Lorenzo Lotto,1526.
[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]
The Navarre Bible, Minor Prophets (Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003),
223-24.
[5]
Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume II (Ignatius
Press, San Francisco, CA, © 2003), 543.
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