Love fulfils all God’s Commandments

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

Sunday is the when we especially thank God for the creation, he has given us. It is the day when the light first shone on the chaos of darkness. It is the day when the true light of the World, Christ Jesus our Lord, rose from the dead to give us all the true light of life.

Through the Word of God, prescribed by the Catholic Church, we can hear the Risen Lord speaking to us. Let us not harden our hearts.

Sunday 6 September 2020

23^rd  Sunday in Ordinary Time

Love fulfils all God’s Commandments

 

Reading

Romans 13:8-10 ·

Your only debt should be the debt of mutual love

Avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations. All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour; that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 95:1-2,6-9

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;

hail the rock who saves us.

Let us come before him, giving thanks,

with songs let us hail the Lord.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come in; let us bow and bend low;

let us kneel before the God who made us:

for he is our God and we

the people who belong to his pasture,

the flock that is led by his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

O that today you would listen to his voice!

‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

as on that day at Massah in the desert

when your fathers put me to the test;

when they tried me, though they saw my work.’

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

 

Gospel

Matthew 18:15-20

If your brother listens to you, you have won back your brother

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.

‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

‘I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Homily  

In the world that God made out of nothing, there was field and in that field there was a clod of earth. The eye of God fell on that lump of earth and he said to himself: I will make a king out of this.

God took the lump of earth and fashioned into the shape of a human being. But it was still a lifeless clay doll. Then he breathed into it. It became a living being and stood up and began to speak.

God spoke to this living being and said. ‘If you like I will make you far more than this. If you would like me to, then I will make you just like I am. You will be just like God. You will be able to think like God, act like God and love like God. Your future will be something you cannot even imagine.’

That living being, fashioned by God, is you and I. This is the truth about who we are. We have come from the hands of God.

What return can I make to God for creating me like this and for promising such a future? I cannot give him anything because the whole world is his.

All I can give him is my gratitude and the promise that I will do what he asks of me. This is not only what I can do, but it is what I owe to him for the wonder of my being (Ps.139). This is the debt I owe to God.

God only asks one thing of us. He says: show your love for me by loving my creation. The greatest thing in creation are the men and women I have created. I want you to love them as I have loved you.’

And so, St. Paul tells we should have no debt except to love one another. Loving one another is the debt we repay to God for everything he has done for us.  It is the only thing he asks of us. It is the only thing we  can give.

If we love we will do no harm to anyone. We will not hate or murder. We will not commit adultery, or steal or lie. “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor.13:4-7). In our life with others this is what God asks of us. The more we do this, the happier he is with us.

Unfortunately, we often forget this as soon as we leave the church. However, Jesus has promised to be with us whenever we come together in his name. If in our families and communities we come together each day in the name of Jesus, then he will be present with us. He is truly present. Family prayer is the key to a life of family peace. If we then focus on his presence among us, as he has promised in today’s Gospel, he will not only remind us but will help us to love and serve one another. The more we love, the more we will serve and the more we will become like God. This is the goal of our existence.

 

 

 

Jesus of Nazareth, the man who is God

 

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

 Prayerful rerflection

“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.

 

 

The Bridegroom and his Bride

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.

 

Friday 4 September 2020

The Bridegroom and his Bride

 Prayer

Father in heaven, open our hearts that we may hear to speaking to us through your Word and may we come to love and serve Jesus with all our hearts, for he is your human manifestation. We make our prayer through the same Lord and Sviour, Jesus, your Son.  

First reading

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 ·

The Lord alone is our judge

People must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge. There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

A pastor/priest is Christ’s servant and his steward. The Lord employs him to continue to teach the truth which Jesus first taught in Palestine. As a priest, for there is a difference between a priest and a pastor, he is called to offer for and with the community the Sacrifice of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine and, flowing from this, to carry out for the community the sacred actions of Christ for their salvation.

He is not employed by the community to whom he preaches or ministers. Therefore, the pastor/priest is not answerable to the community but to Jesus the Christ.

The community may criticise him for his words and actions. If they are justified, then he should take them to heart as Jesus correcting him. He should immediately reform himself. Jesus, however, is the judge of the pastor. Reflecting on the criticism of the community or of anyone, if his conscience is clear before the Lord, he must continue on his way. But this is dangerous. “True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted.” “The Lord alone is my judge.” But since the Lord has established a governing authority for his Church, the priest/pastor should listen to that authority (the magisterium). He simply cannot do his own thing. Furthermore, we are bad judges in our own case and easily judge ourselves ‘not guilty’ when we are fully responsible.

The priest/pastor ‘should be found worthy of the trust’ Jesus the Christ has put in him. If he is not, he will be severely punished  (Luke 12:47).

Psalm

Psalm 36(37):3-6,27-28,39-40

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

If you trust in the Lord and do good,

then you will live in the land and be secure.

If you find your delight in the Lord,

he will grant your heart’s desire.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Commit your life to the Lord,

trust in him and he will act,

so that your justice breaks forth like the light,

your cause like the noon-day sun.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Then turn away from evil and do good

and you shall have a home for ever;

for the Lord loves justice

and will never forsake his friends.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord,

their stronghold in time of distress.

The Lord helps them and delivers them

and saves them: for their refuge is in him.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

 

Gospel

Luke 5:33-39

When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast

The Pharisees and the scribes said to Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are always fasting and saying prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, but yours go on eating and drinking.’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely you cannot make the bridegroom’s attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come, the time for the bridegroom to be taken away from them; that will be the time when they will fast.’

He also told them this parable, ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one, but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.

‘And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the skins will be lost. No; new wine must be put into fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. “The old is good” he says.’ THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

Jesus is the bridegroom. He therefore has a bride. The bride he has chosen is the community of those who have chosen him in love. It is a loving and indestructible relationship. He gives his life for his bride. Nothing can ever separate his bride from his faithful and everlasting love. His bride can, of course, choose to separate herself from him and find another bridegroom. This she does by mortal sin. The community is the bride. But the community is not an entity separate from the individual members of the community. Jesus looks for this nuptial relationship with each member. This is, of course, figurative language conveying the truth of a deep and everlasting relationship in mutual love. This is the heart of the Christian faith. Jesus calls each member of his Catholic Church to have this personal relationship with himself.

Prayer

Father in heaven, in your tender mercy, you have made a new covenant with us by which we are your beloved sons and daughters in your only-begotten Son, Jesus. We pray that through reflecting in prayer on your Word, we may come to experience this relationship with you and the Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit. We make our prayer through your Son, the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Give us the wisdom that leads us to Life

 

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.

 

Thursday 3 September 2020

Give us the wisdom that leads us to Life

 

Prayer

Father in heaven teach us to rightly understand and use the things of this world so that we may come to know you, their Creator. We make our prayer through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

First reading

1 Corinthians 3:18-23 ·

The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God

Make no mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

“The wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.”  It is foolish because it focuses on understanding how things work and understanding life in this world. Of course, it I s not wrong. We need to understand the natural world in which we find ourselves living. We need also to understand the human mind and how to live in this world with other people. But if that is all we have learnt; we have learnt nothing of real and lasting value. Our wisdom will pass away with the world on which it is based.

The world and everything in it is given to us for one ultimate reason. We are to use the things of this world and to live with other people and understand ourselves so that we can reach the goal of our existence which is to live with God for ever. True wisdom is to understand how to use the things of this world to know, love and serve God now. We are to understand our minds and how to live with others for the same purpose – to come to know, love and serve God. In this way we prepare ourselves for the everlasting life with God.

Everyone and everything are for this purpose. They are our servants, as St. Paul says. Through faith and obedience, we belong to Jesus. We are united to him. We even become part of him, as Paul will explain. He belongs to God, because though a different person from the Father and  the Holy Spirit, he is the one God with them. So, we too belong to God. Even now, we live in God. To know this is to be truly wise.

As the wise of this world tell us, to be effective, always begin with the end in view. Always keep it first in your thoughts and actions. Don’t be side-tracked. Wisdom brings the results we desire.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 23(24):1-6

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,

the world and all its peoples.

It is he who set it on the seas;

on the waters he made it firm.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?

Who shall stand in his holy place?

The man with clean hands and pure heart,

who desires not worthless things.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.

He shall receive blessings from the Lord

and reward from the God who saves him.

Such are the men who seek him,

seek the face of the God of Jacob.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.

 

Gospel

Luke 5:1-11

They left everything and followed him

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.

When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him. THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

They could leave everything because they were so overawed by the catch of fish and with the Word Jesus had preached and which they had heard.

 

If we truly listen to his Word, then we too shall be open to dialogue with Jesus. Like Simon, we listen and then dialogue. To listen to his Word and then to dialogue with Jesus, in prayer, brings the transformation of our life. Transformation brings the commitment to live for and with Jesus. That commitment will bring ‘a catch fish’ beyond anything we can imagine, in the kingdom of God.

 

Prayer

Father in heaven, grant that we may not harden our hearts when we listen to your Word, for your Word is the key to life now and after death. We make our prayer through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Holy Spirit at work

 

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.

Wednesday 2 September 2020

The Holy Spirit at work

First reading

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 ·

Neither the planter nor the waterer matters, only God, who makes things grow

Brothers, I myself was unable to speak to you as people of the Spirit: I treated you as sensual men, still infants in Christ. What I fed you with was milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and indeed, you are still not ready for it since you are still unspiritual. Isn’t that obvious from all the jealousy and wrangling that there is among you, from the way that you go on behaving like ordinary people? What could be more unspiritual than your slogans, ‘I am for Paul’ and ‘I am for Apollos’?

After all, what is Apollos and what is Paul? They are servants who brought the faith to you. Even the different ways in which they brought it were assigned to them by the Lord. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God made things grow. Neither the planter nor the waterer matters: only God, who makes things grow. It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will duly be paid according to his share in the work. We are fellow workers with God; you are God’s farm, God’s building. THE WORD OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

The sign that the Holy Spirit is among us is unity in love. The sign that Satan’s influence is in a community is division, rivalry, and discord. These were present in Corinth and so, though they have faith in Jesus, St. Paul tells them that they are still attached to the mentality of this world. There deep and consoling truths in the Christian religion, but the foundation is love for one another. The Corinthians had not yet learned this.

They are divided over the rivalry of different parties. Some were in a group that followed Paul. This may be with regard to his views about the Law of Moses and the liberty he proclaimed for gentiles. Others had formed a party following another preacher, Apollos. He was a learned preacher from Alexandria. Some followed Peter who may have been more Jewishly orthodox. Paul tells them whoever we are, we are only workers in the vineyard of the Lord. We do different things but it is God who gives the growth. Let us pray God to look after his  vineyard of the Church.

Psalm

Psalm 32(33):12-15,20-21

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

They are happy, whose God is the Lord,

the people he has chosen as his own.

From the heavens the Lord looks forth,

he sees all the children of men.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

From the place where he dwells he gazes

on all the dwellers on the earth;

he who shapes the hearts of them all;

and considers all their deeds.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Our soul is waiting for the Lord.

The Lord is our help and our shield.

In him do our hearts find joy.

We trust in his holy name.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

 

Gospel

Luke 4:38-44

He would not allow them to speak because they knew he was the Christ

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Leaning over her he rebuked the fever and it left her. And she immediately got up and began to wait on them.

At sunset all those who had friends suffering from diseases of one kind or another brought them to him, and laying his hands on each he cured them. Devils too came out of many people, howling, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.

When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place. The crowds went to look for him, and when they had caught up with him they wanted to prevent him leaving them, but he answered, ‘I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.’ And he continued his preaching in the synagogues of Judaea. THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

 

Prayerful reflection

Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. He was always God, but as St. Paul tells us, he emptied himself and became a slave. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that he was like us in all things, except sin. We must take this truth seriously. He does his ministry as a man like you and me. However, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. We too must be filled with the Spirit of God. This should be our daily and earnest prayer. If, as we read in the first reading, it is God who gives the increase, then those filled with the Spirit will be the ones who transform their world.

We are to continue the mission of Jesus. This will not be exactly in the way Jesus did it since he was living in another time and place. Nonetheless if it is the Spirit who animates us, then mighty things will happen through us. They would not happen, if The Spirit were absent. It is God through his Spirit that achieves anything through us. The lives of the saints show us how the Spirit works through people in kinds of different ways.