20th Sept 2009 25th Mass and the Gospel is from: Mark –the 9th Chapter – all part on the Instructions to the Disciples by Jesus – in Harmony with Matthew and Luke.
The Mass Introduction, & Blessing of Holy Water, could do no harm with a shock. An Holy Ghost father said, “we begin our celebration with the sign of the cross.”
The Cross as an emblem was once News and horrific, “as if one were wearing an electric chair.”
“The Cross is a summery of Mark’s Gospel and is shocking teaching.”
On the other hand the words, in this section, also include,
“35 Jesus took a little child, and gave it a place in the midst of them; and he took it in his arms, and said to them:
36 Whoever welcomes such each as this in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcome not me, but him that sent me.”
And Saint Leo the Great knits these words of ‘one child such as this in my name’, can be the Child of the Nativity of Christ.
The Birth of Christ is the source of life for all Christian people.
True it is that each individual called takes his place in his own prper order, and appears at different periods of time.
The celebration of the Blessing of Water at the beginning of this Mass, reminding of our Baptism, Christ Nativity,
each of us is crucified with Christ in Passion,
raised in his Resurrection,
and placed at the Father in his Ascension.
Saint Leo the Great (?-c.461), Pope and Doctor of the Church
6th sermon for Christmas, comments with words that surpass our facility:
"Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me"
The infancy that God's majesty did not disdain reached mature manhood through his advance in years. Then, when the triumph of his passion and resurrection were completed, all the actions of his lowly state, which he adopted for love of us, became a thing of the past. Nevertheless, the feast of his nativity renews for us Jesus' first moments, born of the Virgin Mary, and when we adore the birth of the Savior we find we are celebrating the origin of our own life.
For the birth of Christ is the source of life for all Christian people and the birthday of the Head is the birthday of the body. True, each individual who is called takes his place in his own proper order and the Church's offspring appear at different periods of time. But just as the entire body of the faithful, born in the font of baptism, is crucified with Christ in his passion, raised again in his resurrection, and placed at the Father's right hand in his ascension, so they are born with him in his nativity.
Any believer, from any part of the world, who is born again in Christ, having abandoned the sinful ways retained from his first beginnings, becomes a new person through his second birth. No longer does he belong to his father's ancestry according to the flesh but to our Savior's race. For he became Son of man that we might become sons of God.
Knox Harmony §52. Instruction to the Disciples
| MATTHEW 18: 1-4 1 The disciples came to Jesus at this time and said, Tell us, who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 Whereupon Jesus called to his side a little child, to whom he gave a place in the midst of them, and said, 3 Believe me, unless you become like little children again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 He is greatest in the kingdom of heaven who will abase himself like this little child. He who gives welcome to such a child as this in my name, gives welcome to me. | MARK 9: 29-49 29 Then they left those parts, and passed straight through 30 let anyone know of his passage; he spent the time teaching his disciples. The Son of Man, he said, is to be given up into the hands of men. They will put him to death, and he will rise again on the third day. 31 But they could not understand his meaning, and were afraid to ask him. So they came to Capharnaum, and there, when they were in the house, he asked them, 32 What was the dispute you were holding on the way? 33 They said nothing, for they had been disputing among themselves which should be the greatest of them. 34 Then he sat down, and called the twelve to him, and said, If anyone has a mind to be the greatest, he must be the last of all, and the servant of all. 35 And he took a little child, and gave it a place in the midst of them; and he took it in his arms, and said to them: 36 Whoever welcomes such each as this in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcome not me, but him that sent me. | LUKE 9:46-48 46 And a question arose among them, which of them was the greatest. 47 Jesus, who saw what was occupying their thoughts, took hold of a little child and gave it a place beside him, and said to them, 48 He who welcomes this child in my name, welcomes me; and he who welcomes me welcomes him that sent me. He who is least in all your company is the greatest. |
The Gospel speaks on about the Cross often but it also does so on the mystery on the childhood. Too much about the quarreling of the disciples can be misleading.
Jesus has a constructive view of such rivalry.
The
From a commentary on Saint Mark's gospel by Saint Theophylact (PG 123, 588-589)
Two of the many paradoxes of Christianity are seen in this simple gospel commentary. Death leads to resurrection, humility to exaltation.
As he was teaching his disciples the Lord said to them: "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will put him to death, but after his death, on the third day, he will rise again."
The Lord always alternated prophecies of his passion with the performance of miracles, so that he would not be thought to have suffered through lack of power. Therefore, after imparting the grievous news that men would kill him, he added the joyful tidings that on the third day he would rise again. This was to teach us that joy always follows sorrow, and that we should not be uselessly distressed by painful events, but should rather have hope that better times will come.
He came to
"What were you arguing about on the way?" Now the disciples still saw things from a very human point of view, and they had been quarrelling amongst themselves about which of them was the greatest and the most esteemed by Christ. Yet the Lord did not restrain their desire for preeminent honor; indeed he wishes us to aspire to the most exalted rank He does not however wish us to seize the first place, but rather to win the highest honor by humility.
He stood a child among them because he wants us to become childlike. A child has no desire for honor; it is not jealous, and it does not remember injuries. And he said: "If you become like that, you will receive a great reward, and if, moreover, for my sake, you honor others who are like that, you will receive the kingdom of heaven; for you will be receiving me, and in receiving me you receive the one who sent me."
You see then what great things humility, together with simplicity and guilelessness, can accomplish. It causes both the Son and the Father to dwell in us, and with them of course comes the Holy Spirit also.
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