Welcome to my blog and peace be with you.
You will find here the Scripture readings
prescribed by the Catholic Church for today. We are reading a semi continuous
reading of St. Luke’s Gospel and St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
When we listen or read the Word of God with
faith, then Jesus, Son of God speaks to us.
Saturday 5
September 2020
Jesus of
Nazareth, the man who is God
Prayer
Father in heaven, the root from which all goodness,
love and holiness grow, is to realise that you who are Love, have given us
everything we are and have, and desire to give us so much more. Grant us this
wisdom so that you can fill us with yourself. We make oour prayer through your
Son, Christ our Lord.
First reading
1 Corinthians 4:6-15 ·
What do you
have that was not given to you?
Take Apollos and myself as an example and
remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of
your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any
case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that
was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were
not? Is it that you have everything you want – that you are rich already,
in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside? Indeed I wish you were
really kings, and we could be kings with you! But instead, it seems to me, God
has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death;
it is true – we have been put on show in front of the whole universe,
angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, while you are
the learned men in Christ; we have no power, but you are influential; you are
celebrities, we are nobodies. To this day, we go without food and drink and
clothes; we are beaten and have no homes; we work for our living with our own
hands. When we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we
put up with it; we are insulted and we answer politely. We are treated as the offal
of the world, still to this day, the scum of the earth.
I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, as
my dearest children, to your senses. You might have thousands of guardians in
Christ, but not more than one father and it was I who begot you in Christ Jesus
by preaching the Good News. THE WORD OF THE LORD
“What do you have that
was not given to you?” To understand this is the source of all spiritual
growth. In ourselves, we are ‘zero.’ Physically – zero. So, all our physical
prowess and health doesn’t come from us. Intellectually – zero. So, the
determination and the ability to learn, doesn’t come from us. Spiritually with
all our holiness – zero. So, the holiness we may have doesn’t come from us. It cannot
do, because we are fashioned for nothing, which is the total absence of any
kind of being. Since God is love itself, he only wants to give the best and do
the best for our happiness. God can only give to us. He cannot receive
anything. Through his grace, however, because he has given us an intellect and
free will, we can give him love in return. This is also his gift, but because
free will is truly free will, then we can freely love and want to serve him. If
we do, then he will live us the ability to serve.
We might think Paul is
proud and speaks arrogantly. He has a relationship with the Corinthians that no
other pastor could possibly have. Many pastors may come after him, but Paul
alone is their father. He alone begot them through his preaching of the Gospel.
Without him, they would never have come to know Jesus and become his disciples.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 144(145):17-21
The Lord is close to all who call him.
The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.
The Lord is close to all who call him.
He grants the desires of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and he saves them.
The Lord protects all who love him;
but the wicked he will utterly destroy.
The Lord is close to all who call him.
Let me speak the praise of the Lord,
let all mankind bless his holy name
for ever, for ages unending.
The Lord is close to all who call him.
Gospel
Luke 6:1-5
The Son of
Man is master of the sabbath
One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk
through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing
them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you
doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So
you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry how he
went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave
them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And
he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD
Prayerful reflection
The Pharisees were meticulous in keeping the
rules regarding the sabbath. Harvesting and threshing were explicitly forbidden
on the sabbath. In the eyes of some of
the Pharisees, what the disciples
were doing was in effect harvesting and threshing. They were picking grains and
rubbing them in their hands. These Pharisees object. In answer Jesus points out
that David even broke the sabbath day law when it was necessary. But his final
reply is a bombshell. If Jesus is Lord of the sabbath, he is Lord of everything.
He is indeed claiming to be God. The sabbath law was given by God to Moses and
not even the High Priest could dispense from it. Was Jesus blaspheming or was
he speaking the truth? Everyone, including the Pharisees, had to decide. So do
we. If Jesus is God who walks this earth, then everything in my life changes.
Prayer
Father in heaven, through your Word may we come to
realise that Jesus who lives always with us, is the God of the universe and is
our Friend. We make our prayer through the same Lord Jesus, your Son.
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