Ordinary Time: November 10th
Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
A
Decorated Letter, in Gregory the Great's 'Homilies on Ezekiel' f.105v
Medium: Ink and pigments on vellum Date: 1110
Gregory
the Great was pope from 590 to 604, a period in which he had to deal with an
unsympathetic emperor in Constantinople and invading barbarians who were
setting up a kingdom in northern Italy. In the middle of it all, he transformed
the church administration, improved monastic practices, wrote some of the most
important scriptural commentaries of the middle ages--and sent a mission to
convert the English. This copy of his homilies on the Book of Ezekiel belonged
to the cloister of St Andrew's Cathedral, Rochester. The cathedral had
historical links to Gregory. It was founded in 604 by Augustine, the missionary
sent by Gregory from his own monastery of St Andrew in Rome. The book arranges
the homilies so that they are preceded by the appropriate text from Ezekiel.
This
page has the beginning of the eighth homily on Ezekiel, Chapter 40. After the
clever drawings of animals and a human figure on the first two initials in the
book, decoration becomes simple, conventional red and green painted designs.
The markings above the red title alert the reader to the use of abbreviations.
A book like this would have been used for study and possibly also have been
read from during mealtime, daily prayers or chapter meetings.
THIRTY -SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY
TIME
SUNDAY
First Reading
EzekieI2:1-3.11.17-21
Responsory Is 55:7.6
Let the wicked abandon their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts: + let them return to the Lord, who will take pity on them, and
to our God who will freely forgive.
V. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on
him while he is near. + Let them
return ...
Second Reading
From a homily by Saint Gregory the Great
In Hierzech. I. 18:: CCL 40, 14-15
Because the Israelites had abandoned their maker, they went into
captivity and became slaves of the King of Babylon. But the prophet Ezekiel was
sent into captivity with them - he whom divine grace had rendered so pleasing
to God that he used him to foretell future events, and comfort the afflicted people.
Let us ponder if we can how wonderful is the dispensation of divine love by
which it was possible for the Lord to be so angry with his people, and yet not
be angry at all. Had he not been angry he would hardly have delivered them up
to captivity; had he been thoroughly angry he would not have sent his chosen
ones into captivity with them.
God's mercy uses one and the same event to punish the
carnal-minded and bring an increase of grace to the spiritual minded. While he
purifies the former by tribulation, he stirs up the latter to merit a brighter
future through association with those who suffer. Thus God is angry with the
unrighteous, but at the same time he consoles them through the righteous who
share their lot, so that they will not feel totally abandoned and none of them
repent of their sins. He rejects his people and at the same time holds them
fast when he hurls into the same tribulation those he condemns and those he
loves. Who can comprehend the depths of so great a love? The Lord does not let
his people's sins go unpunished, but still he does not utterly reject his
sinful people.
It was the same when Moses sent the twelve scouts into the promised
land. When they returned ten of these made the people despair and cry out
angrily, complaining that God had deceived them and their corpses would lie in
the desert. In anger almighty God declared that not one of them should enter the
promised land. Frightened into repentance, the people acknowledged their sin.
They wept, and taking up arms began immediately to go up against the enemy,
hoping to be able after the tears they had shed to enter the promised land. But
the Lord said to them through Moses: Do not
go up or fight or you will fall before the enemy, for I am not with you.
Think! If God were not with them, why did he forbid them to go
up because they were sure to be routed? But if he were with them, how could he
say: I am not with you? To be both
with them and not with them was a wonderful combination of discipline and
mercy. God condemns sin but protects the sinner. He shows that he is angry, but
defends his people against their enemies. So, often enough, is a mother angry
with a naughty boy. She corrects him, scolds him, beats him; but if she sees him
about to fall headlong to his death, she reaches out her hand and holds him.
She who beat her son in anger as though she did not love him holds him safe in
her love as though she had never been angry or beaten him.
Responsonj Prv
3:11-12; Rv 3:19
Do not
spurn the Lord's correction or resent his rebuke, for + the Lord reproves those he loves, and punishes the child who is
dear
to him.
V. Those
whom I love I reprove and discipline, so repent in real earnest. + The Lord reproves ...
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