Parable or Table Manners

Luke 14:7  Now He told a parable to those who were invited, [when] He noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, saying to them, (AMP).

At the Gospel Reading of Mass of Saturday 30^th October the word PARABLE occurs, and leads into turmoil of questions.

At first gaze, ‘parable’ looks out of category. Benedict is very selective on ‘narrative parables’. It is more satisfying to learn that the preamble refers to table manners. The Luke’s word, parable’ here directs to the actual narrative, from verse 15 on.

There is more light from Joachim Jeremias below, as indicated by Ben XVI.

The Table Manners is not an aside as Jeremias brings to the fore the even more significant eschatological dimension.

 Notes.

Interactive Bible. www Bible Ca

III. Classification of Parables

A. God’s expectations for Israel

1. Big Dinner: Lk 14:16-24

IV. These Are Not Parables:

A. Instructions for actual conduct:

1. Take low seat: Lk 14:7-11

2. Feast for the poor: Lk 14:12-14.  

Sacra Pagina Luke 14.7

He began to speak parabolically: Is literally, "he began to speak a parable  (parabolë) to them"; what follows, however, is not a narrative (or at least not until 14.16) but an apparent direct discourse with a deeper level of meaning. (p. 224).

C. 7 The Message of the Parables. Pope Ben XVI p. 183, (ref to J Jeremias p12)
  “ (I) limit myself the three major parable narrative in Luke’s Gospel, - the story of the Good Samaritan, - the parable of the Prodigal Son, - and the tale of the  rich man and Lazarus.
J. Jeremias Index of Synoptic Luke 14:7-11, ‘The Choice of the Places at the Table’,   191ff.

The Parables of Jesus, J. Jeremias pp. 191-193.

That is what Jesus had in mind in the παραβολην  about the Choice of Places at the Table (Luke 14.7-11 par. Matt. 20.28 D it syc), In Aramaic this logion, transmitted in two versions, has the form of a 'rhythmic couplet' in antithetic parallelism." Both versions, exhibiting agreement in content and structure, together with completely different wording, provide a classical example of translation variants in the NT (see above, pp. 25 f.). Gamoi (Luke 14.8) corresponding to deipnhsai (Matt. 20.28 D), has the general meaning of ‘banquet’ The most important guests, who are distinguished by reason of age or social standing, usually arrive last. The humiliated guest is obliged to take the lowest place, since all the intermediate places have already been occupied. The exhortation to take the lowest place voluntarily has its Old Testament equivalent in Prov. 25.6 f.: 'Glorify not thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men: for better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince'; in rabbinical literature a similar saying is attributed to R. Simeon ben Azzai (c. AD 110), its closest parallel occurs in Mark 12.39 par. Luke 20.46, where Jesus sternly rebukes the scribes for the greedy way in which they choose the most honourable places at table. Jesus therefore is actually giving a direction for table-manners, and the word parabole should be so translated.

With regard to the question of what the concluding sentence in verse 11 [Edit. Luk 14:11

(GNT)  ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται.

(Vulgate)  quia omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur et qui se humiliat exaltabitur

(AMP)  For everyone who exalts himseif will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank)].

implies, it may first of all be conjectured that we have here a secondary generalizing conclusion (see above, pp. 110 f.). But of decisive weight against this conjecture is that the rabbinic parallel just mentioned concludes with a saying of Hillel's (c. 20 BC) of quite similar content: 'My abasement is my exaltation, and my exaltation is my abasement.'
From this we may infer that v. 11 is an ancient proverb which Jesus found already in use, and which was also in rabbinical literature associated with a direction concerning table-manners. The question is only whether the concluding sentence had the same meaning for Jesus as for Hillel.
For the latter it is a piece of practical wisdom: 'Pride will have a fall; humility will be rewarded.'
Is Luke 14.11 similarly intended to be a piece of practical wisdom, a rule of social etiquette? Surely not! The comparison with 14.1 I, as well as with Luke I4.I4b, (90^note  Both Luke 14.8-11 and 12-14 are arranged in antithetic parallelism with an eschatological conclusion), with 18.14, and with Matt. 23.12 shows that Luke 14.1 I is speaking of God's eschatological activity, the humbling of the proud and the exaltation of the humble in the Last Day. Hence the direction in Luke 14.1 about the desirability of modest behaviour in a guest becomes the introduction to an 'eschatological warning', which looks forward to the heavenly banquet, and is a call to renounce self-righteous pretensions and to self-abasement before God.

Read this book online

The Parables of Jesus

by Joachim Jeremias

Pages: 248

Contributors: Joachim Jeremias

Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons

Place of Publication: New York

Publication Year: 1963

Subjects: Jesus Christ--Parables

Autumn Scene

"Jesus heals the dropsy" (Lk: 14 1-6)

Cardinal, pre-dawn of Papal Visit 16th Sept

Friday, 29 October 2010

Friday of the Thirtieth week in Ordinary Time 

Letter to the Philippians 1:1-11.
...
For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 14:1-6.
...
Then he said to them, "Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?" But they were unable to answer his question.  

Luke 14:2 Greek Study Bible  

καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος τις ἦν ὑδρωπικὸς ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ.

KJV with Strong's
And behold there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy

Latin: Biblia Sacra Vulgataet ecce homo quidam hydropicus erat ante illum

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From: Nivard ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Thu, 28 October, 2010 20:15:18

Pharisees & Christ

Subject: Introduction: Rescue son from cistern  

No matter how calculating, closed or downright treacherous we may become, Jesus reminds us of an absolute fact, namely, that any parent would rescue a son who had fallen into a cistern. The time or day of the week would be irrelevant. Christ wants us to recognize an inalienable ‘decency’, that precedes all our machinations. The one who began that ‘good work’ in us will continue to complete it. He will do it all the way to our complete conversion to ‘the affection of Christ Jesus’.

 

Commentary of the day :

Blessed Guerric of Igny (c.1080-1157), Cistercian abbot


Jesus at table with the Pharisees
The world's eternal and invisible Creator, preparing to save humankind, which for long ages had been hindered by its subjection to the heavy law of death, deigned «in these last days» (Heb 1,2) to become man... that in his mercy he might redeem those who in justice he condemned. And so as to show the depth of his love for us, he not only became a man but a poor and humble man so that, by drawing near to us in his poverty, he might make us sharers in his riches (2Cor 8,9). 

So poor did he become for our sake that he had nowhere to lay his head: «Foxes have dens and the birds of the air have their nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head» (Mt 8,20).

This is the reason why he agreed to go and dine wherever he was invited, not out of an excessive enjoyment in eating but so that he could teach the way of salvation and stimulate faith. There he would fill the guests with light by his miracles and the servants, who were kept busy inside and were not free to go with him, would hear the words of salvation. Indeed, he despised no one and none were considered unworthy of his love because «he has mercy on all; he hates nothing of what he has made and takes care of them all» (Wsd 11,24).

So that he might carry out this work of salvation the Lord entered the house of an eminent Pharisee on the sabbath. The scribes and Pharisees watched him with the intention of calling him to account, so that if he were to cure the man with dropsy they could accuse him of breaking the Law and, if he did not, they could accuse him of blasphemy or inability...

By the pure light of his word of truth they were to see the darkness of their deceit vanish away.

Add from Benedict xvi

Following Reading on Saints Simon and Jude we find more so penetrating from the Pope himself.

THURSDAY 28^th Oct 2010

From POPE BENEDICT XVI Audience Feb 26, 2009

Called to Carry the Light of God in This World

Really what we must teach is how to be human.

• We must teach this great art: how to be a human being ... If it is true that the human being's "measuring stick" for what is just and what is not lies not within but without, in God, it is important that this God is not distant but recognizable, concrete, and that he enter our life and truly be a friend with whom we can speak and who can speak with us. We must ... learn to know intimately Jesus Christ, the God with the human face, and really come into contact with him. We must learn to listen to him and learn to let him enter into us. Sacramental Communion is precisely this interpenetration between two persons. I do not take a piece of bread or meat, I take or open my heart so that the Risen One may enter the context of my being, so that he may be within me and not only outside me. In this way he speaks within me and transforms my being, giving me the meaning of justice, the dynamism of justice and zeal for the Gospel.
• This celebration, at which God not only comes close to us but also enters the very fabric of our existence, is fundamental to being able truly to live with God and for God and to carry the light of God in this world ... Naturally, while accepting and learning more and more about the aspect of mystery where words and reasoning leave off, it is also completely realistic, because it brings me to God and God to me. And it brings me to the other because the other receives the same Christ. Therefore if the same Christ is in him and in me, the two of us are no longer separate individuals ... Therefore our neighbour is truly near: no longer are we two separate "selves" but we are united in the same "self" of Christ. In other words, Eucharistic and sacramental catechesis must really reach the heart of our existence. It must be an education that opens us to God's voice, that lets us be opened so that the original sin of selfishness may be broken, that in the depths of our existence we may become open, in order to also become truly just. .. We must all work together to celebrate the Eucharist ever more profoundly: not only as a rite, but as an existential process that touches me in the very depths of my being, more than any other thing, and changes me, transforms me. And in transforming me, it also begins the transfor­mation of the world that the Lord desires and for which he wants to make us his instruments.

His Holiness Benedict XVI was elected to the See of Saint Peter in 2005.

Simon & Jude

Thursday, 28 October 2010

Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles - Feast

---

SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE
Apostles
(Feast)

         The name of Saint Simon usually appears eleventh in the list of the apostles. Nothing is known of him except that he was born at Cana and is surnamed "The Zealot".
         Saint Jude, also called Thaddeus, was the apostle who asked the Lord at the Last Supper why he has manifested himself only to his disciples and not to the whole world (John 12:22).

Christian Prayer : The Liturgy of the Hours - Daughters of St. Paul * St. Paul Editions * 1976

Commentary of the day :

Pope Benedict XVI
General audience 11/10/2006 (coyright Libreria vaticana editrice)

Unity of the Twelve, unity of the Church

Today, let us examine two of the Twelve Apostles: Simon the Cananaean and Jude Thaddaeus (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot). Let us look at them together, not only because they are always placed next to each other in the lists of the Twelve (cf. Mt 10: 3, 4; Mk 3: 18; Lk 6: 15; Acts 1: 13), but also because there is very little information about them, apart from the fact that the New Testament Canon preserves one Letter attributed to Jude Thaddaeus.


Simon is given a nickname that varies in the four lists: while Matthew and Mark describe him as a "Cananaean", Luke instead describes him as a "Zealot". In fact, the two descriptions are equivalent because they mean the same thing: indeed, in Hebrew the verb qanà' means "to be jealous, ardent"... Thus, it is highly likely that even if this Simon was not exactly a member of the nationalist movement of Zealots, he was at least marked by passionate attachment to his Jewish identity, hence, for God, his People and divine Law. If this was the case, Simon was worlds apart from Matthew, who, on the contrary, had an activity behind him as a tax collector that was frowned upon as entirely impure. This shows that Jesus called his disciples and collaborators, without exception, from the most varied social and religious backgrounds. It was people who interested him, not social classes or labels!

And the best thing is that in the group of his followers, despite their differences, they all lived side by side, overcoming imaginable difficulties: indeed, what bound them together was Jesus himself, in whom they all found themselves united with one another. This clearly constitutes a lesson for us who are often inclined to accentuate differences and even contrasts, forgetting that in Jesus Christ we are given the strength to get the better of our continual conflicts. Let us also bear in mind that the group of the Twelve is the prefiguration of the Church, where there must be room for all charisms, peoples and races, all human qualities that find their composition and unity in communion with Jesus. 

Mass

Letter to the Ephesians 2:19-22.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:12-19.

Introduction: Fr. S…,

In the Gospel St Luke records that prior to Jesus’ selection of the twelve, He spent the entire night in prayer so that according to the will and wisdom of the Father, He may choose the twelve disciples who would carry on his mission later.

Today we celebrate the feast of two apostles, Simon and Jude. We call them Apostles. What is the real meaning of an apostle? This is the definition of an apostle: a witness to the resurrection. In Act 1:21-22, we read that after the death of Judas Peter called the apostles together and told them to choose someone who has been with them from the time of John baptizing until the day Jesus was taken up to heaven so that he can act with them as a witness to Jesus’ resurrection. Apostle means to give witness to the resurrection of Jesus. This is heart of the apostolate. The mystery of the resurrection is the central to our faith. It is the core of the Gospel. In the first Century the Christians grew more in numbers because of the witnessing power of the risen Christ in apostles’ works and deeds by way of performing miracles.

We are called to be apostles of Christ. We pray that we may grow in the faith of the powerful presence of the risen Christ, thus making Christianity more meaningful, attractive and vibrant to the people.

Saturday Memorial BVM

MEMORIAL OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARYChapter V of the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, issued by the Holy See in December 2001, describes the Church's traditional dedication of Saturday to the Virgin Mary. "Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (218). The chapter also describes the importance of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Catholic devotional life, including the Liturgy, and includes reflections on popular devotions to Mary, her feast days, and the Rosary. See the complete document on Vatican web site (www.vatican.va) Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

Saturday, October 23, Thirtieth Week of Ord. Time
Blessed Virgin Mary   

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To: donald ...
Sent: Fri, 22 October, 2010 17:14:42
Subject: BVM In Sabbato  

Mass, in today’s First Reading, from St Paul, we have the remarkable sentence:    

   “Living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body's growth, and builds itself up in love.”

   These words apply, above all, to our Mother Mary. Her special role is to make us more and more like her Son, Jesus. She helps each of us to fulfil our role, our vocation, in the mystical body of her divine Son.

Collect.   

   Lord God, give to your people the joy of continual health in mind and body. With the prayers of the Virgin Mary to help us, guide us through the sorrows of this life to eternal happiness in the life to come.

   Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Synod on Middle East

Thanks,  Fr. Patrick,

For the Synod of Middle East article from the New Internationalist.

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From: father patrick slaney
To: Fr Donald . . .
Sent: Tue, 19 October, 2010 19:48:29
Subject: Great article on Synod on Church in the Middle east

Hope and challenge for Middle East Synod

By Harry Hagopian

18 Oct 2010

Fortunately, perhaps not too much media hype has yet surrounded what is formally described as The Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. But this synod, whether in its original Greek significance of syn-hodos (a way together) or in its more vernacular understanding of an ecclesiastical council of bishops, is now well under way at the Vatican in Rome and will last for two weeks until 24 October 2010.

The Assembly is being held under the theme ‘The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness’, and draws its scriptural inspiration from the Acts of the Apostles that “Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” (Acts 4.32)
If you wish to acquire more specialist knowledge about the way synods are held, as well as refer to the initial guidelines and stated aims of this particular assembly, I would suggest an Internet search in order to explore further how the Lineamenta and Instrumentum Laboris qualify this event and the manner in which they enunciate its background, let alone its objectives.

But let me first start off with a few short lines of history. The original seed for this event was sown on 19 September 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI announced the convocation of a special assembly for the Middle East that would demonstrate the interest of the Universal Churches in the Churches of the Middle East as much as address the anxiety that the Pope felt for those Christian communities in the Middle East.

His decision was made public after he had completed his pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories for the purposes of this article). And as Archbishop Nikola Eteroviç, Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, wrote later in the preface to the Lineamenta, this assembly taking place at the Vatican this week underlines how many people consider that “the present-day situation in the Middle East is much like that of the primitive Christian community in the Holy Land”, which had to face difficulties and persecution.

So the first focus of the synod is meant “to confirm and strengthen the members of the Catholic Church in their Christian identity, through the Word of God and the Sacraments” whilst the second one is “to foster ecclesial communion among the sui juris Churches, so that they can bear witness to Christian life in an authentic, joyous and attractive way”.

Indeed, the initial guidelines in the Lineamenta initially set the ground for a series of responses and feedbacks from both the church and political leaders of the Middle East and led to the subsequent Instrumentum Laboristhat Pope Benedict XVI presented on 6 June 2010 to the representatives of the Catholic episcopate of the Middle East in Nicosia during his apostolic visitation to Cyprus.

The document suggests the five challenges facing Christians in the Middle East, namely political conflict, freedom of religion and conscience, Christians and developments in contemporary Islam, emigration from the whole region and finally, the immigration of Christians to the Middle East from the rest of the world.

The aims of the synod are perhaps simultaneously given an upbeat as well as downbeat dual impression since the document concludes with an exhortation for local Christian believers, “Do not be afraid, little flock. You have a mission; the growth of your country and the vitality of your Church depend on you. This will only be achieved with peace, justice and equality for all citizens!”

So will this special assembly resolve the problems, concerns or issues bedevilling Christians across a whole region? As someone who hails from the region itself and who has worked for long decades with most churches of the Middle East, let alone with many of their affiliated institutions, I would like to place this whole event in its more pragmatic context.

Beginning with a few seminal impressions, let me say that this assembly reflects a veritable Who’s Who of the Catholic Church in the Middle East - including delegates from Turkey and Iran. Perhaps this impressive presence was to be expected since the host is no more a distinguished person than the Pope himself. But what was equally eye-catching for me is that additional to the Catholic delegates with all the hierarchs, experts and auditors, there also are regional representatives - decidedly as observers - of Orthodox and Reform Churches such as Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Lutheran as well as Muslim and Jewish representatives the likes of Ayatollah Sayyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Ahmadabadi from Iran, Dr Mohammad Sammak from Lebanon and Rabbi David Rosen from Jerusalem.

Moreover, there are representatives from many other Catholic conferences of the world - including Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) in view of the annual efforts of coordination that this conference deploys in Israel-Palestine as well as its solidarity with Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere in the region.

But let us go behind the scenes awhile and overtake all those who are busily praying, meeting, talking, discussing, contradicting, strategising, worrying, organising and equally enjoying the various ancillary programmes of the synod as well as the redoubtable delights of the Eternal City. What are they exactly hoping to achieve come 24 October, when the assembly reaches its conclusion? Having reflected upon their communion and witness over a span of two weeks, will they be faithful to the multiple and variegated realities of the region? Will they have dealt with the deep fissures within the different societies? Will they have got a handle on the haemorrhaging of indigenous Christians from almost every Middle Eastern country represented at the Vatican assembly today? And having achieved all this, will they then still succeed in proclaiming in one confident voice - as did the apostles before them - that ‘they are all of one heart and soul?’

If we look at the Middle East today, we can detect signs of hope and despair in equal measure. What are they, and how do we incarnate their relevance to the communities of the faithful in the region?

• First, there is the encouraging fact that indigenous Christians - overwhelmingly Arab in their ethnicity, but with some Iranians, Turks, Jews, Armenians and Greeks amongst others too - have continued their faith-centred presence and witness in the region. Granted, most commentators worth their salt have already pointed out that the number of Christians has dropped dramatically over the past few decades from just under 25 per cent to just over five per cent region-wide. Yet, despite those dwindling numbers, alarming as they are in some instances, Christians are still very much present in the biblical land where their faith was born over two millennia ago. Moreover, their institutions - hospitals, schools, old peoples’ homes, hospices, charities, missions or ecumenical organisations - continue their labour to date.

Augustine Everything there is gives praise to God

Friday 29^th Week Ord. Time  Year II

Night Office

From a sermon by Saint Augustine of Hippo

(Enarr. in Ps 144, 13.15: CCL 40, 2098-2100)

Everything there is gives praise to God

The same God who has put everything in order is the God who made it. To some, he has given awareness and understanding and immortality, as he did to the angels; to others, awareness and understanding and mortality, as to us humans; to yet others, he gave bodily sense but not understanding nor immortality, like the beasts of the field; and to yet others still, neither awareness nor understanding nor immortality, like the plants, the trees, like stones. But even these, on their level, cannot fall short: so he has ordained creation at each step, from earth to sky, from visible to invisible, from mortal to immortal. This interweaving of creation, this most well-proportioned beauty and elegance, sealing the heights from the depths, plumbing the depths from the heights, never breaking off or going short indeed, yet ever harmonizing the variety. Everything there is gives praise to God.

And yet, what do we mean when we say that? It really means this: when you consider it all and see how beautiful it all is, in so doing you yourself are praising God in it, or through it. For the speechless earth has yet a voice of its own, its eloquent beauty. Take stock of its beauty, its abundance and strength, the way the seed germinates; so much commonly being brought forth that never was planted. You examine it all, marvelling as you do so at the great strength, the great beauty of it, the potency you find in it, realizing that all this could not have come of itself. And it strikes you, therefore, that it could only have got there from the Creator. What you have found there is the voice, just alluded to: this manifestation presenting itself in praise of the Creator. Does not the thought of all the beauty there is in the world lead you on to the point where the very beauty itself seems to proclaim with one voice: It was not I who made me, who put me here, but God?

Observe, then, the beauty of the world: the earth, the sea, the air, the sky, and the stars! Does not all this overawe the beholder? Does not the beauty itself strike the gaze as if to suggest that naught else could be devised more beautiful? And yet, here amidst all this beauty and elegance well nigh unutterable, you have worms and mice and reptiles for company. How beautiful, then, that kingdom which you share but with the angels! It was little indeed to sing the praises of visual elegance, the beauty we can see. All that would apply to anything there is, in this world, the earth resplendent with forest and glade, or the sky aflame with celestial light. But those words, the great beauty of your kingdom, tell us of a sight which we have not seen and yet believe; not having seen, yet desire because we believe, bearing all things in the meantime for that desire. That is the measure of a beauty (one which does not fade): may it be loved before it can be seen, so that once seen it may be securely possessed.

Fire on the Eart 2

P.S.

Saint Luke 12:49-53. 
Letter to the Ephesians 3:14-21.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 

§ 696. 728-730 

"I have come to set the earth on fire"

       Symbols of the Holy Spirit: Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch" (Sir 48,1), brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah," proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire"(Lk 1,17). Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" In the form of tongues "as of fire," the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself (Ac 2,3-4). The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions: "Do not quench the Spirit." (1Th 5,19)...

       Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection... Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification does Jesus promise the coming of the Holy Spirit, since his Death and Resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the fathers. The Spirit of truth, the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus' prayer; he will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name; and Jesus will send him from the Father's side, since he comes from the Father...

       At last Jesus' hour arrives: he commends his spirit into the Father's hands at the very moment when by his death he conquers death, so that, "raised from the dead by the glory of the Father" (Rm 6,4), he might immediately give the Holy Spirit by "breathing" on his disciples(Jn 20,22).

Fire to the Earth

Thursday, 21 October 2010

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth week in Ordinary Time

"I have come to set the earth on fire"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:49-53.

Mass Intro. Fr. S…

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us, “I came to bring fire to the earth and hos I wish it were already kindled.”

This fire of Jesus is the Holy Spirit or fire of Jesus’ love.

A fire cannot burn unless it has fuel. Human hearts, souls and wills are the fuel that Jesus needs in order for the fire of the Holy Spirit to become ignited. Thus, through us, the blaze of divine love will spring up all over the world. We are free to give over to Jesus our life to be used as fuel for the fire of God’s love.

As long as we refuse to give ourselves over to the fire of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is unable to establish the Kingdom of love on earth. Our daily prayer time is the proper moment to give Jesus permission to use our life as fuel for his divine love.

+ + +

Nyssa Prayer Choir Leader

The Night Office, today the Reading re-echoed from Nyssa’s Sunday Reading.

It beautifully and powerfully enlightens our hearts on PRAYER.

On Sunday, Luke 18:1-8, gave the theme;

“There are lots of teachings on PRAYER.

I wondered what is the difference in Continuous Prayer and Continual Prayer?

Then the version of ‘Pray Constantly’ –‘Uninterrupted’.

It is a gift of grace, it is life in God’s presence.

In the Asperges in the Mass Introduction,  we are reminded of the flow of life beginning at our Baptism.”

SEARCH -  it is worth seeing more:

Prayer; continual, continuous, or constant

Something is continual if it happens repeatedly: Our holiday was ruined by the continual rain (it rained often but not all the time). It is continuous if it goes on without a break: Our holiday was ruined by the continuous rain (it rained all the time). If something is constant it happens many times in the same manner: Ruth suffered from constant colds as a child.

Find a word

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data/d0081822.html

 

Wednesday 29^th Week Ord Time Yr II - Second Reading

From the writings of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
(The Christian Way of Life II: Jaeger VIII, 77-79)

Prayer is like a choir leader in the choir of virtues

In speaking about the different virtues, we cannot say that one is better than the rest, or that we should pursue them in order of merit. For in fact they are of equal importance with one another, and linked together they lead those who practice them to the height of perfection. Sincerity leads to obedience, obedience in turn to faith, and faith to hope, hope to righteousness, righteousness to service, and service to humility. From humility we learn gentleness which leads to joy, as joy leads to love, and love to prayer. Thus bound to one another and binding their zealous follower, the virtues lead him to the very height of his desires, just as the various forms of wickedness lead those attached to them down the oppo­site way to the utmost depths of evil.

But we must above all devote ourselves to prayer; for prayer is like a choir-leader in the choir of virtues, by means of which we ask God for the virtues we still lack. Devotion to prayer unites the Christian to God in the communion of a mystic sanctity, in a spiritual possession and a disposition of the soul that no words can describe. With the Spirit then to guide and help him, his love for the Lord like a bright flame, he prays unceasingly in ardent desire, always burning with love for the divine good and refreshing his soul with renewed zeal. As scripture says: Those who eat me will hunger for more, and those who drink me will thirst for more; and elsewhere: You have filled my heart with gladness; so too the Lord says: The kingdom of heaven is within you.

By the kingdom within us he certainly means that joy which the Spirit instills into our souls from above, as an image and a pledge, reflecting the eternal joy which the souls of the faithful possess in the life to come. So the Lord comforts us in all our afflictions through the working of the Spirit, to keep us safe and to grant us a share of spiritual gifts and of his own special grace. He comforts us in all our troubles, says the apostle, so that we may be able to comfort others in their distress. And the psalmist says: My whole being cries out with joy to the living God; and: My soul is richly feasted, indicating in all such symbolic sayings the joy and comfort that come from the Spirit.

North American Martyrs

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Sts. Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf and Companions - Memorial  PRIESTS

& THEIR COMPANIONS
MARTYRS
(1642-1649)

        Fr. Mark - Intro. Mass                                               

19 Oct/ North American Martyrs  

Today we call to mind the seventeenth century Jesuit missionaries to North America.  They show us an outstanding example of courage and commitment to the Christian faith that was equal to any martyr in the history of the Church.

Their love was total as they faced physical brutality and hardship to preach the gospel and to protect the fledging Christians in North America.  Their lifeblood was the seed that sowed the faith in that continent. 

Today the Church faces new threats of persecution in various parts of the world.  Let us pray that we may show some of the faith and courage of these seventeenth century Jesuits as we try to follow the gospel in our own lives.

Penitential Rite

1        Lord, through your death and resurrection you give us new life.
                                                                  - Lord, have mercy.

2        Through the life and death of your martyrs you renew the life of the Church.                                                       - Christ, have mercy.

3        In the adversities of daily life and the struggle to live the gospel we grow in your love.                                         - Lord, have mercy.

Conclusion to Prayer of Faithful

God our Father, we ask you to hear us as we pray for our needs and for what we lack in our lives.  Thro Christ our Lord.

Pray Continually Luke 18 1-8

 

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Raymond . . .

To: Donald . . . .

Sent: Tue, 19 October, 2010 8:01:32

Subject:  Pray Continually

SUN 29 OCT 2010   Homily: Fr. Raymond.

In today’s  Gospel Jesus told his disciples about “..the need to pray continually”.  In doing this he was well aware that he would also have to tell them about the need “never to lose heart”  The two things go together: “praying continually” and “not losing heart”.....perseverance and trust.  In this story of the widow and the unjust judge, Jesus is obviously inviting us to consider how the unjust Judge yields to the perseverance and trust of the widow’s prayers and he is inviting us to compare this with how God yields to the perseverance and trust of our own prayers.

This is not the only time in the gospels when Jesus teaches us that our persevering prayers are always heard, our persevering prayers are always answered:   “Ask and you shall receive.  Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you.”  What teaching could be clearer?  Whatever you ask the Father in my name will be granted you”.   What could be more explicit?

Unfortunately, however, our own personal experience doesn’t seem to give us proof of the validity of this teaching.  How often have we not prayed long and earnestly and sincerely for something and yet not got it? So, if Jesus’ teaching is true, as indeed it must be, then we are forced to conclude that God’s answers to our prayers are often something different from what we expect them to be, they are something that we cannot understand, they are something that comes under the category of “God’s ways and not our ways”.  

Perhaps one way to consider this problem is to realise that we are like children before him.  We ask for things unreasonably, we ask for things that would be harmful for us in one way or another:  we ask for things that might even destroy us if we got them. We ask for things that would even separate us from the God from whom we are asking them.  God, as a truly loving Father then, cant answer such requests, not in the way we would hope anyway.  But one thing is certain, God, as a loving Father, will never ignore our requests.

There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.

Beloved Luke

Feast of Saint Luke 18 October

Luke 10:1-9

Acts of the Apostles (9:27-31; 11:19-26)

The Monastic Lectionary offers us four alternative Readings on Saint Luke.  The first choice was served best for the Night Office in both translation and content.

Second Reading        

From an unknown Greek writer of the eleventh century (PG l15, l133-l136)

When Paul, abandoning the darkness of error, accepted the true faith and joined the band of the disciples, Luke, desiring to do battle for that faith, became his travelling companion and accompanied him wherever he went. As the associate of such a soldier of Christ, Luke suffered imprisonment with him like a criminal, and joined him in spreading the light of divine knowledge to the ends of the earth. So close was he to Paul and so pleasing in every way, that in his letters to the faithful, Paul frequently refers to his beloved Luke. Luke preached the gospel with Paul all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and while travelling from Judea to Rome he was imprisoned with him, he toiled and suffered with him, he was shipwrecked with him. Luke's desire was to be known as Paul's associate in everything, including his crown.

After trading with the talent of preaching with Paul, gaining many nations and bringing them to the true faith under the direction of his master, this loving and beloved disciple proved to be a sacred writer and evangelist, having first followed closely the events that had taken place among them, gaining a knowledge of them from the first disciples and receiving divine inspiration. He was the evangelist who recorded the mystery of Gabriel's mission to the Virgin to announce the joy that was coming to the whole world. He was the one who described the birth of Christ so vividly, showing us the new born babe lying in a manger, and telling us of shepherds and angels proclaiming the glad tidings. He has made known inconceivable wonders with such a love for truth and beauty that the truth of those wonders is conveyed through the very beau ty of his words, his language being worth y of the richness of his thought. He records more of the saving teachings given in parables than do the other evangelists; and just as he told us of the Word's coming down to earth, so also did he describe his going up to heaven and his return to the Father's throne.

But with Luke the grace of the Spirit did not stop at this. He did not confine himself to writing a gospel, but after recounting the wonders wrought by Christ, he went on to record the Acts of the Apostles: first the holy ascension of the Saviour into heaven; then the descent of the Spirit upon the apostles in tongues of fire; then the stoning of Stephen, the conversion of Paul - his being called by Christ from heaven, and his passing from the letter to the spirit; the times Paul was bound, imprisoned, wounded, beaten, ambushed by unbelievers; his journey from Jerusalem to Rome; his sufferings at sea, his afflictions, dangers, misfortunes, shipwrecks. Luke was not a mere spectator of all this but an actual participant, and that is why he took such pains to record it.   

     Picture St Luke: Saints.SQPN.com

Id. Star Quest Production Network.