What Does the Prayer Really Say?

20 July 2010

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 16^th 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.  

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Afterthought:

Matthew 12:43-45

The most confusing, ignored, and problematic passages in the Synoptic Gospels

Richard Rohr, OFM

In our search for the true spirit of Jesus, and the search for authentic peace, I would like to tackle one of the most confusing, ignored, and problematic passages in the Synoptic Gospels.

This passage could help us understand why peace is so hard to come by for most people and most groups, especially if they presume they can eliminate all evil from themselves or from the world. It is a story of false exorcism.

The precise text I am referring to is called "the return of the unclean spirit", and is found in both Mathew and Luke. It is a passage that has little track record of interpretation in church history. It is distant and esoteric to most people, based on a strange demonology that we no longer understand or agree with.

Most commentators and preachers just choose to ignore it. I am convinced that it is not demonology that will explain this passage, but it needs a very astute analysis of human nature.

Maybe it is only now that we have the language to unravel Jesus’ spiritual genius. Let’s quote one version at length to see what he is saying: "When the spirit of uncleanness goes out of a person it wanders through arid lands looking for a place to rest, and it cannot find one. Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I came from’.

But on arrival, finding it unoccupied, swept and tidied, it then goes off and collects seven other spirits more evil than itself and they go in and set up house there, so that the person ends up being worse than he was before". (Matthew 12:43-45)

Cheap Religion is Worse Than No Religion. Richard Rohr
http://www.christian-faith.com/forjesus/deliverance