From the picture in the basilica of the Transfiguration
on
Mount Tabour
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Eccles 3:17-20. 28-29., Ps 67:4-7.10-11. Rv. 11. Heb12: 18-19. 22-24.
The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly.
In your goodness, O God, you prepared a home for the poor.
You have come to the Heavenly Jerusalem
When the host comes, he may say, “My friend move up higher”.
Luke 14: 1. 7-14.
1 Now it happened that on a Sabbath day he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. 7 He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this, 8 'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, 9 and the person who invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man." And then, to your embarrassment, you will have to go and take the lowest place. 10 No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, "My friend, move up higher." Then, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured. 11 For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be raised up.' 12 Then he said to his host, 'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich neighbours, in case they invite you back and so repay you. 13 No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again.'
Remember who you are
However we think about ourselves and whatever books of spirituality may have said, we are not worms, we are not useless. In fact each of us is a masterpiece if only we knew it. There is no limit to how great we can become. When we really look at ourselves we can indeed be happy and rejoice. Our life can be a celebration from day one. But we have nothing to be arrogant about. Everything we are and everything we will become is a gift of love. We will never understand the Good News of Jesus until we realize that we have a Father who has deliberately created us because he loved us before ever we were conceived in our mother’s womb. He conceived us in his heart before time began. He longs for the day when he can give us everything he has; we are all ‘first-born sons’ for him.
This is what Jesus is telling us with today’s parable. He is not telling us how to earn esteem among our peers. He is talking of the wedding feast – the divine wedding feast in the Kingdom. We have no right to be there. In fact we have no right to be at all! We are ‘the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind’. God has invited us to share as his guests in the eternal banquet with his Son, the Bridegroom. We cannot earn or win the highest place. We cannot, in fact, earn or win an entrance. Our Father invites us. We are all to be his chief guests. Jesus will tell us this again in the story of the loving father and the prodigal son. His Father will make each of us a welcome guest. Jesus too proclaimed it by deed at the Last Supper. He washed all his disciples’ feet: a mark of honour for the chief guest. We are all chief guests! And it is all a gift gladly given.
We too should be like our Father in heaven and Jesus on earth. Let us rejoice in all that God has given us in the natural and supernatural arenas. The greater our gifts then let us be even humbler as we give thanks. God welcomes us the blind and the lame so let us welcome ‘the blind and lame’ of this world. Let us go out of our way to bring joy into the lives of others. Whoever they are, everyone needs our love! To be God’s son or daughter you should seek out those with whom you can share yourself in love. If you open your eyes you will find so many. We don’t look for merit. We do it out of love. However Jesus will not forget: you did it to me. Can you find those who need your love among your relatives, friends and parish community?
Father give me a thankful heart which brings warmth and comfort to others.
Reading Corinth
Reading
At last hope has come into this world. The Anointed One has come and evil cannot resist him. Jesus is full of the Spirit of God. He teaches with authority. Does he teach you? Do you listen? Jesus is still present in the world but invisible and silent. So he anoints the baptized with the same Holy Spirit that he received. He can now continue his work through them to confront evil in all its forms and to teach with authority. Have you entered into his life and work? Have you taken your anointing seriously praying constantly for the Spirit to possess you and use you? Do you surrender yourself to Jesus so that he can be again a power to destroy evil and proclaim God’s rule but this time through you and in your world? If you cooperate you can be a saviour in your world
Monday August 30, 2010
Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
In Athens Paul had spoken like a philosopher but had failed dismally to make any converts. When then he came to proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
Gospel
Jesus came to Nazareth
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done inCapernaum
And he said,
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows inIsrael
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in theland of Sidon
Again, there were many lepers inIsrael
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in
And he said,
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the
Again, there were many lepers in
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
It was actually a world event. Jesus declared that he was the Messiah foretold by the prophets. He wasn’t the kind of Messiah the people were imagining and they could not accept him. They wanted miracles not the Word of God. He explains to them that God’s Salvation goes beyond Israel Nazareth
August 31, 2010
Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
We can only know the Spirit through his effects. We have received the Spirit of God who knows the depths of God. Through the Spirit we understand the message of God. It is through the Spirit that we proclaim the message. “We have the mind of Christ” means we have the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit can influence us without our realising it is the Spirit. Hence the importance of praying that others receive the Spirit and of our own praying always in the Spirit.But we have the mind of Christ.
Gospel
Jesus went down to Capernaum , a town of Galilee
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with us, Jesus ofNazareth
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
“What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.”
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
“What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.”
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
At last hope has come into this world. The Anointed One has come and evil cannot resist him. Jesus is full of the Spirit of God. He teaches with authority. Does he teach you? Do you listen? Jesus is still present in the world but invisible and silent. So he anoints the baptized with the same Holy Spirit that he received. He can now continue his work through them to confront evil in all its forms and to teach with authority. Have you entered into his life and work? Have you taken your anointing seriously praying constantly for the Spirit to possess you and use you? Do you surrender yourself to Jesus so that he can be again a power to destroy evil and proclaim God’s rule but this time through you and in your world? If you cooperate you can be a saviour in your world
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