Sunday 25 July 2010 LUKE 11:1-13 SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME LUKE'S GOSPEL SIMPLY SAYS “FATHER” (LK 11:2)
The Disciples asked ‘Lord teach us to pray’ and he says, ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. …’
Luke is today’ Gospel, at other times it is Matthew, as it is called ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ – as it fits with ‘The Lord’s Day’, our Sabbath.
The great Jesuit scholar said, “At Mass, all prayer is addressed to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, that is it is always the Father who appears to us as the source of every gift: “Every good endowment and every perfect gift from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” (Jas 1:17). In his presence we feel our unworthiness, but also the permanent possibility that we shall be heaped with good things.
In the days this week that great Hebrew name came to mind, SHEKINAK, Shekinah Glory. It is all about the presence of God. The Israelites departed from Egypt and guarded and guided by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire of the Presence.
In our own austere chapel we have our Shekinah. When we visit the Blessed Sacrament in the dawn or the dusk the light plays above the tabernacle.
The history of Salvation fills the history of the Presence.
We prayed for the people of Lebanon through intercession of Saint Sharbel Makhluf.
Saint SHARBEL MAKHLUF
Born in 1828, Sharbel Makhluf was a monk and priest of the Lebanese Maronite Order in Annaya, Lebanon, who spent many hours praying before the Blessed Sacrament. He later lived as a hermit of his order. He celebrated Mass close to noon so as to devote the morning to preparation, and the rest or the day to thanksgiving. He died in 1898.
Entrance Antiphon
Spirit of God is upon me; he has anointed me. He sent me to bring good news to the poor and to heal the broken hearted. (Lk 4: 18)
Opening Prayer
God our Father, in Saint Sharbel Makhluf, you gave a light to your faithful people. You made him a pastor of the Church to feed your sheep with his word and to teach them by his example. Help us by his prayers to keep the faith he taught and follow the way of life he showed us.
St. Bridget of Sweden was born in 1303 and died on July 23rd, 1373. Her father, Birger, was the royal prince of Sweden and her mother, Ingeborg, was a very pious woman. She received attentive religious training from a young age and liked to meditate on the Passion of Christ. In 1316, at age thirteen, she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was eighteen. St. Bridget and her husband had eight children, the youngest of whom later became St. Catherine of Sweden.
Mary at first did not recognize the risen Jesus in the garden. She knew him when he spoke her name. Her great love bursts forth, echoing the first reading, "I took hold of him and would not let him go".
Jesus says, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father". Their now entirely new relationship is a much deeper one. It rests in faith rather than physical contact.
At first, the apostles did not believe Mary. Christ's followers, even today, meet disbelief in their witness to the Resurrection.
Opening Prayer
Father, your Son first entrusted to Mary Magdalene the joyful news of his resurrection.
By her prayers and example
may we proclaim Christ as our living Lord and one day see him in glory,
for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Prayer after Communion
Father, may the sacrament we have received fill us with the same faithful love
that kept Mary Magdalene close to Christ, who
Fr. Nivard
History of Mary Magdalene
For centuries, Christians have wondered about the real identity of this woman who was beloved by Jesus. Many false ideas about Magdalene persist today. For example, early church fathers incorrectly identified her with the sinful woman who anointed Christ's feet at the house of Simon the Pharisee, but there is nothing in the Bible to support this view and much to dispute it. Others wrongly believed that she was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We may never know details about Mary Magdalene, but Bible gives us clues about her importance as a significant leader of early Christianity. According to the Gospel of John, after Jesus' resurrection, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene and not to Peter. In other scriptures, her name is first in the list of witnesses (Mk. 16:1-11; Mt. 28:1; Lk. 24:10; Jn. 20:11-18; 1 Cor. 15:5-8). As Mary wept in the garden where Jesus was buried, she did not recognize Jesus until he called her name. Her encounter with Christ that first Easter morning was the inspiration of the popular hymn, "I Come to the Garden." One tradition concerning Mary Magdalene says that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, she gained an invitation to a banquet given by Emperor Tiberius Caesar. When she met him, she held a plain egg in her hand and exclaimed "Christ is risen!" Caesar laughed, and said that Christ rising from the dead was as likely as the egg in her hand turning red while she held it. Before he finished speaking, the egg in her hand turned a bright red, and she continued proclaiming the Gospel to the entire imperial house. Mary Magdalene is considered by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches to be a saint, with a feast day of July 22.
Bringing a taste of the Kremlin to Jerusalem, the 19th-century Church of Mary Magdalene is a distinctive Jerusalem landmark on the Mount of Olives.
The Church of Mary Magdalene was built by Tsar Alexander III in 1888 in the traditional Russian style. Easily spotted from the TempleMount, the Russian church's seven golden domes have been newly gilded and sparkle in the sun. Combined with its multiple levels and sculpted white turrets, the church looks like something out of a fairytale.
The church is worth a close-up visit as well, for it stands in a tranquil garden and is filled with Orthodox icons and wall paintings inside.
The crypt holds the remains of Tsar Alexander's mother, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, who was killed in the Russian revolution of 1917.
Also buried here is Princess Alice of Greece (Queen Elizabeth's mother-in-law), who harbored Jews during the Nazi occupation of Greece.
… (Pope Benedict -referring directly to verse 47).
While reading (Joseph Ratzinger's) Pope Benedict's book, "Jesus of Nazareth", and relating to this passage, he has a very interesting comment (on which he expands, page 112ff, having written on the Sermon on the Mount). He writes of Israel's view of the Fourth Commandment anchoring the heart of the social order, the rationale for Israel's social existence, saying that this is exactly the connection that Jesus calls into question (when Jesus is "told that his mother and brothers are outside"... referring directly to verse 47). Pope Benedict writes that while the Torah presents a very definite social order, discipleship of Jesus offers no politically concrete program for structuring society, saying that Jesus' new interpretation of the fourth commandment affects not only the parent-child relation, but the entire scope of the social structure of the people of Israel. His analysis is very penetrating... but it is his inclusion of verse 47 that weights in favour of the inclusion for me of the missing verse!
You have caused my reading of the Gospels to have become an altogether more inquiring and more rewarding experience!
… in Our Lord,
William
PS. Later: Thank you for the extract from "Sacra Pagina"'s commentary on Matt 12: 43ff. It will be brilliant to have these beside me... soon! I love the extract, especially the conclusion, both as to the 'inclusion' of verse 47 and as to the 'omission', or break, in the Lectionary's readings. What this emphasises for me (as does Pope Benedict's writings) is the of the Gospel narratives that at first glance appear almost disparate. How open and responsive I need to become to sense and appreciate the continuity of the Gospel narrative.
W …
Sacra Pagine Series Volume 1
"The most confusing, ignored, and problematic passages in the Synoptic Gospels".
Richard Rohr, OFM, certainly articulated the problem.
The most confusing, ignored, and problematic passages in the Synoptic Gospels.
Richard Rohr, OFM certainly articulated the problem. It still looked beyond a pschological explaination.
Happily William has found the excellent resolution to not only Mt. 12:43-45 but to a beutifull comprehensive account of 12:43-50 by Fr. Harrington of Sacra Pagina.Happily William has found the excellent resolution to not only Mt. 12:43-45 but to a beutifull comprehensive account of 12:43-50 by Fr. Harrington of Sacra Pagina.
SACRA PAGINA
The Gospel of Matthew pp. 190-193
30. This Evil Generation; the Family of Jesus (12:43-50)
30. This Evil Generation; the Family of Jesus (12:43-50)
43. "When an unclean spirit goes forth from a person, it travels through waterless places seeking rest, and it does not find it. 44. Then it says: 'I will go back to my house from which 1 came forth.' And it goes and finds it unoccupied and swept clean and put in order. 45. Then it goes and brings with itself seven other spirits worse than itself, and it enters and dwells there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first. And so it will be for this evil generation."
46. While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to him. 47. Someone said to him: "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to you." 48. He answered and said to the one speaking to him: "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49. And he stretched out his hand to his disciples and said: "Behold my mother and my brothers. 50. For who- ever does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother."
Notes
43.an unclean spirit: The whole speech of Jesus in Matt 12:25-42 has been Occasioned by the exorcism of a demon in Matt 12:22. The idea that the wilderness ("waterless places") was the abode of demons appears in Isa 34:14-15; Lev 16:10. Jesus was tested by the devil in the wilderness (see Matt 4:1-11).
44.unoccupied: Only Matthew adds this qualifier to the following two qualifiers. Its presence provides a preliminary image to "swept clean and put in order," suggesting that the emptiness of the house calls out for the arrival of a new tenant.
45.the last state:The eight devils now occupying the house will be harder to expel than the one demon was previously. So the situation has become much worse.
for this evil generation: The concluding sentence, found only in Matthew, applies the story to the generation of Jesus. It suggests that the exorcisms done by Jesus were only an interlude and promises that worse things will happen. The Lukan context (Luke 11:23-26) uses the story in an individual context (see Luke 11:23), not in the historical context indicated by Matthew.
46.his mother and brothers: The term "brothers" (adelphoz)has been interpreted in several ways: the blood brothers of Jesus born of Mary and Joseph; the half-brothers of Jesus, the children of Joseph's prior marriage; or the cousins of Jesus based on the fact that "brother" can cover a wide range of relationships. It is doubtful that Matthew knew the tradition about the perpetual virginity of Mary (see Matt 1:25).
47.Someone said: Some important ancient manuscripts omit the entire verse. The best argument for its inclusion is verse 48, which demands something like verse 47; -its omission could be explained by its similarity in wording to verse 46. An argument against its inclusion is Matthew's tendency to omit whatever does not move the story along. But Matt 12:47 merely repeats what has already been said in 12:46.
48.his disciples: By his words and actions Jesus redefines membership in his family.
He also defines discipleship as doing the will of his heavenly Father (see Matt 12:50). By omitting Mark 3:20-21 Matthew avoids the suggestion that Jesus' family ("those around him") thought that he was mad. In Matthew the family functions more as a literary foil than as a solid opposition to Jesus.
Interpretation
From the perspective of sources and literary forms the last two texts in Matthew 12-the story about the return of the evil spirit (12:43-45) and the statement about the true family of Jesus (12:46-50)-have little in common. The first text (12:43-45) is a parable-like narrative based almost entirely on Q (see Luke 11:24-26). Matthew's distinctive contribution comes in the application contained in the final sentence: And so it will be for this evil generation. "This comment takes the parable out of its mysterious realm and offers an interpretation, or at least an application: The exorcisms done by Jesus provide only a temporary respite from demon possession; an even worse period is in store for "this evil generation." At the same time, Matthew's comment expresses an alienation, or even separation,' on Jesus' part from "this evil generation" (see Matt 12:39).
The second text (Matt 12:46-50) is a pronouncement by Jesus about his true family; it is based on Mark 3:31-35. As in Mark, it expresses an alienation, or even separation, on Jesus' part from his own family. When placed beside Matt 12:43-45 as the climax of a section devoted to the rejection of Jesus (Matthew 11-12) and leading into an exploration of the reasons for Jesus' rejection (Matt 13:1-52), the statement about Jesus' true family (Matt 12:46-50) takes on a pivotal significance. Matthew has joined the two texts on the basis of their content. Both concern Jesus' alienation and separation from "this evil generation" and from his earthly family.
The biblical background for these texts is the theme of the people of God; see D. J. Harrington, God's People in Christ: New Testament Perspectives on the Church and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980). The basic shape of God's relation to Israel remains the same throughout its history: It is the result of God's gracious offer of election, is communal in nature, and takes the form of a covenant between God and Israel. But in post-exilic times there was a tendency to narrow down who in Israel really continues this special relationship with God. Only those who avoid marriages with non-Iews, or observe circumcision or Sabbath regulations, or belong to the right group count with respect to this special relationship. The destruction of the JerusalemTemple and of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 made this relationship even more problematic, for the major unifying religious institution-the Temple-no longer existed. And so a major matter of debate in Jesus' time was the identity of the people of God. It was an even more controversial issue in the time when Matthew wrote his Gospel.
The message of Matt 12:43-50 to Matthew's community as it tried to define itself vis-à-vis other Jewish groups after A.D. 70 would have been something like the following: The exorcisms performed by Jesus were only an interlude or temporary victory; this “evil generation" will see an even worse infestation of demons (Matt 12:43-45). The true family of Jesus (=the Church as the people of God) is made up of those who do God's will (Matt 12:46-50). Here there may also be a criticism of a Christian group that took its leadershipfrom Jesus' family. Matt 12:43-50 distinguishes the community of Jesus from “this evil generation" and the blood relatives of Jesus. It reduces membership in the community of Jesus to one simple requirement: doing the will of God.
The idea of the Church as the family of Jesus joined together by its dedication to doing God's will remains a powerful theme. It must, however, remain faithful to the premise that God's will has been expressed in the Scriptures and in the example of Jesus. It must also face the fact that in families there are often problems, crises, and conflicts. The Church as the family of Jesus should not be allowed to degenerate into vagueness or romanticism.
Mass - Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.
On Monday, yesterday, the Gospel was of Jonah and the Resurrection, Mt. 12:38-42
On Tuesday, this morning, the Gospel is of the Mother and Brothers to see Jesus,
Mt. 12:46-50.
Two popular stories, Jonah and ‘Who is my Mother’, for Homilies, but by the fact they raise the question about the break in the flow. There is an interruption with Mat 12:45 Then he (unclean spirit) goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself,
If it is missed in the Lectionary, it may seem to be passed in this round.
For the Introduction.we had thought about the Collect.
The famous Fr. Z.n WDTPRS, ‘What Does the Prayer Really Say?’, still goes strong. It all strated with the Vat II, ICEL translation of the Collects of the Mass. At the time, Abbot/Bishop Christopher Butler, OSB, said, “The search by ICEL for simplicity and immediate intelligibility has sometimes led to a jejune and staccato effect and to the loss of depth of meaning or the sense of mystery present in the Latin text”
The ICEL 16th Week Ordinary Collect goes like this,
(ICEL 1973 translation of the 1970 MR): Lord,
be merciful to your people.
Fill us with your gifts
and make us always eager to serve you
in faith, hope, and love. Abrupt stop, staccato, and there is no word of grace.
Our current Mass actually has a choice of Versions.
The copy I use this morning,
Collect
Have mercy on your people, Lord,
and make your grace increase within us,
so that with ardent faith, hope and charity
we may always be alert
to obey your commands.
Through our Lord.
(Hierarchy of England & Wales, Birmingham 1973)
It is very clear, and as we listen to the Collect we appreciate its important and pivotal point in the Mass. Nothing is to distract us by other actions or movements.
Let ‘What the Prayer Really Does Say’ in our hearts.
40For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. DRB
An "experience" is necessary if one is to open up to faith ... The disciples too desired a sign so that they could orient themselves toward Christ's return ... The sign of Jesus' resurrection is his death. Precisely in this apparent contradiction the faith Jesus demands gives proof of its victory over the world. What sign did Jonah make when he proclaimed to Nineveh her own destruction? Certainly no miraculous vision. Yet there must have been an incomprehensible power in his preaching if the whole city, including its king, believed him. It must have been the character of his word, embedded in the word itself yet reaching out beyond it to the hearts of his hearers. All that this reaching out required was that they not shut themselves up against the power and character of the word.
"No other sign," Jesus says. It is as if he thereby sweeps away all his healings and exorcisms, all his multiplication of loaves and calming of storms, as if all these "works" were invalid as signs, as if in the ultimate decision he was confining himself to himself, who surpasses Jonah in signification. He transcends Jonah's sign through the insignificance ("even to death on the cross") of his three days spent hidden in the bosom of the earth. Those demanding a sign receive nothing but the character of the (incarnate Divine) Word in its mundane, humiliated form. This, and only this, is believable - every ostentatious sign would be incredible 'and would point only to a power opposed to God (Rv 13: 3-4, 13-15).
That Jonah was spit out onto the dry ground on the third day, that Christ arose on the third day, is not given as a sign to "this evil generation." Unlike the healing of the mortally wounded beast in Revelation, the .resurrection is no spectacle upon which belief focuses. Nowhere is it called a "sign," and Thomas was explicitly instructed: "Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe" Un 20: 29). The witness must be believed; just as Jonah testified to his mission from God, so Jesus is the testimony of the Father, and the disciples are Christ's witnesses (Acts 13: 31; 10: 41). They will have both cross and resurrection to bear witness to, but the cross is the visible sign, and the resurrection is the invisible sign. The cross shows itself as a defeat; the resurrection victory is invisible.
Therefore, Christ's Church shows herself to the world as a sign of humiliation, persecution, and death.
