Memorial ofSaints John de Brébeuf andIsaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs

“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13.)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:

“He was correct when he did not listen to the man who, in disagreement with his brother, said, “Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” He said, “Master, tell my brother.” Tell him what? He said, “To divide the inheritance with me.” The Lord said, “Speak, man.” Why do you want to divide it except because you are human? Whenever someone says, “I am of Paul,” but another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not merely human? “Tell me, man, who has appointed me a judge of the inheritance among you? I have come to gather, not to scatter.” He said, “I say to you, guard against all greed.” Greed wants to divide, just as love desires to gather. What is the significance of “guard against all greed,” unless it is “fill yourselves with love”? We, possessing love for our portion, inconvenience the Lord because of our brother just as that man did against his brother, but we do not use the same plea. He said, “Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” We say, “Master, tell my brother that he may have my inheritance.” (Sermon 265.)

Collect

O God,
Who chose to manifest the blessed hope
of Your eternal Kingdom by the toil of
Saints John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues and
their companions and
by the shedding of their blood,
graciously grant that through their intercession
the faith of Christians
may be strengthened day by day.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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May I die only for you, Jesus, who willingly died for me

North American Martyrs

Jesuits Missionaries

An excerpt from his Spiritual Diaries
Saint John de Brébeuf

Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs

For two days now I have experienced a great desire to be a martyr and to endure all the torments the martyrs suffered.

Jesus, my Lord and savior, what can I give you in return for all the favors you have first conferred on me? I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name. I vow before your eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, before your most holy Mother and her most chaste spouse, before the angels, apostles and martyrs, before my blessed fathers Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier - in truth I vow to you, Jesus my savior, that as far as I have the strength I will never fail to accept the grace of martyrdom, if some day you in your infinite mercy should offer it to me, your most unworthy servant.

I bind myself in this way so that for the rest of my life I will have neither permission nor freedom to refuse opportunities of dying and shedding my blood for you, unless at a particular juncture I should consider it more suitable for your glory to act otherwise at that time. Further, I bind myself to this so that, on receiving the blow of death, I shall accept it from your hands with the fullest delight and joy of spirit. For this reason, my beloved Jesus, and because of the surging joy which moves me, here and now I offer my blood and body and life. May I die only for you, if you will grant me this grace, since you willingly died for me. Let me so live that you may grant me the gift of such a happy death. In this way, my God and savior, I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

My God, it grieves me greatly that you are not known, that in this savage wilderness all have not been converted to you, that sin has not been driven from it. My God, even if all the brutal tortures which prisoners in this region must endure should fall on me, I offer myself most willingly to them and I alone shall suffer them all.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Surprise, surprise, surprise — a Gentile King is the Anointed ... the Messiah!

Note: Today is WORLD MISSION SUNDAY, a very important Sunday in Ordinary Time. Given the importance of mission in the Church as it reflects an essential work of Jesus, Scripture Readings and Prayers may be different in your parish. What follows below is based on the Scriptures and Prayers for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
Subduing nations before him,
stripping kings of their strength,
Opening doors before him,
leaving the gates unbarred…”

Isaiah 45:1
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord speaks and addresses him by name. He is the Lord’s “anointed” (Hebrew, מָשִׁיחַ mashiach, this is the same root for Messiah). The Lord grasps his “right hand.” He conquers. He strikes fear among leaders of nations. He is “chosen.” He is given a mission that all people may know “I am the Lord and there is no other.” Sound familiar? Perhaps it is Isaiah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. No. Perhaps it is one of the kings of Israel? No. He is Cyrus, the pagan, gentile king of Persia. This point becomes even more interesting as we take a crash-course in a particular period of Israel’s history.

The historical context of the Isaian proclamation this Sunday is the era of the Babylonian Captivity, second only to the Exodus as a pivotal event in Israel’s life as the Chosen People. The Babylonians conquered Israel in 587 BC (the Northern Kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians about 134 years earlier, 721 BC). Despite repeated warnings from the prophets to return to living the Covenant faithfully and devoutly, many in Israel preferred a life of pleasure and instant gratification. Covenant living was too hard and certainly inconvenient. Such a way of living was also an embarrassment when it came to wanting to be like everyone else. Israel once again ‘forgot’ that she was different: she was set-apart (Hebrew, qadosh which eventually is translated “holy” in English) but wanting to be like her neighbors, Israel forsook monotheism and its radical demands of living. Yes, God is One – AND – monotheism requires that this oneness of life be demonstrated in how one as an individual and as a community lives. Morally weakened, Israel had no power born of a disciplined, covenant way of living to battle an enemy. Not only did Jerusalem fall to the Babylonians, but the glorious Temple of Solomon lie in ruins. The movers-and-shakers of society were rounded up and marched back to Babylon to be assimilated into a new culture. The elderly, sick, criminals, women and children were left behind in Jerusalem. As the Babylonian conquers returned home, they gave Jerusalem and her inhabitants one last gift: salted water supplies and fields. Those who were left behind died from dehydration and starvation.

One can only imagine the state of mind that gripped the Israelites living in captivity. It began to dawn on them gradually that the reason for the destruction of Jerusalem was their own sinfulness and lack of attentiveness to the demands of Covenant living. But it was now impossible to atone for those sins. Even if they could get back to Jerusalem there was no Temple within which to offer a fitting sacrifice. To say that Israel was depressed was certainly an understatement. They needed an infusion of hope and that was the mission God entrusted to Isaiah (see chapter 40).

One can appreciate Israel’s reticence to immediately embrace Isaiah’s hope-filled words. They seemed too good to be true, and human nature knows that if something is that good, chances are it will backfire. Israel could also point to obstacles: mountains, valleys and rugged terrain. Isaiah proclaimed boldly that the obstacles would be transformed (not destroyed) by the hand of God. Practically speaking, people wondered how they would be able to leave from under the Babylonian rule; they were, after all, prisoners of war. That changed in 539/538 BC when Cyrus (King of Persia), known in history as “the Great,” conquered Babylon. Unlike many leaders before him, Cyrus believed it made good political sense to permit people to hold onto their culture, their way of life and even their religious beliefs and practices. So long as people paid their taxes and kept the peace, the Persian government was happy. Cyrus believed that if people could keep their customs, such would reduce civil unrest and make the task of managing an empire far easier than imposing a particular culture or exiling whole groups of people to foreign lands. With Cyrus as sole ruler, Israel travelled home and began to rebuild the temple, with the intentional and bountiful assistance of Cyrus.

On one level, this appears as a ‘happily ever after story’ since everything works out in the end. Yet within the context of Isaiah, there is much about Cyrus and his work that is important for believers of any age – ours certainly included – to take to heart for the good of the salvation of all. There is the temptation for people of religious traditions, especially those with a substantial human history to live by the ‘11th commandment:’ ‘we’ve always done it this way. God can’t certainly act in any other way.’ Intellectually we know that such a commandment never made it to the list but our ways of thinking, speaking and acting reveal otherwise. Historically, we can look back and marvel at the hand of God and give thanks for great thinkers and leaders such as Cyrus. Yet at the time, how many in Israel’s camp would have tolerated the good talk about Cyrus? He was a pagan, a gentile and not numbered among the Chosen People as Israel understood it at that time. Many, no doubt, considered Isaiah a heretic when he delivered the prophetic Word naming Cyrus an anointed, a chosen and one entrusted with a Divine mission. Hindsight is 20-20 and when we’re in the thick of things, it is hard to think outside the box. When life as we know it is crashing in all around us, we naturally revert to the familiar and fight change at all costs. Yet the covenant-person and covenant-community must be properly attentive and discern the will of God in the present time. Thankfully in this setting, Israel was docile and pliable enough to discern the movement of God in their lives and in the world. It resulted in a joyous return home and the rebuilding of a cherished culture and life in what would be the iconic Second Temple.

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
Who in the abundance of Your kindness
surpass the merits and desires
of those who entreat You,
pour out Your mercy upon us
to pardon what conscience dreads and
to give what prayer does not dare to ask.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“He [Jesus] said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” (Matthew 22:21-22)

In an ancient work known as the Incomplete Work on Matthew, an anonymous Ancient Christian Writer (ACW) offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“The image of God is not depicted on gold but is imaged in humanity. The coin of Caesar is gold; that of God, humanity. Caesar is seen in his currency; God, however, is known through human beings. And so give your wealth to Caesar but reserve for God the sole innocence of your conscience, where God is beheld. For the hand of Caesar has crafted an image by likenesses and lives each year by renewable decree. However, the divine hand of God has shown his image in ten points.

What ten points? From five carnal ones and five spiritual ones through which we see and understand what things are useful under God’s image. So let us always reflect the image of God in these ways:

I do not swell up with the arrogance of pride;

nor do I droop with the blush of anger;

nor do I succumb to the passion of avarice;

nor do I surrender myself to the ravishes of gluttony;

nor do I infect myself with the duplicity of hypocrisy;

nor do I contaminate myself with the filth of rioting;

nor do I grow flippant with the pretension of conceit;

nor do I grow enamored of the burden of heavy drinking;

nor do I alienate by the dissension of mutual admiration;

nor do I infect others with the biting of detraction;

nor do I grow conceited with the vanity of gossip.

Rather, instead,

I will reflect the image of God in that I feed on love;

grow certain on faith and hope;

strengthen myself on the virtue of patience;

grow tranquil by humility;

grow beautiful by chastity;

am sober by abstention;

am made happy by tranquility;

and am ready for death by practicing hospitality.

It is with such inscriptions that God imprints his coins with an impression made neither by hammer nor by chisel but has formed them with his primary divine intention. For Caesar required his image on every coin, but God has chosen man, whom he has created, to reflect his glory.” (Incomplete Work on Matthew, «Homily 40»

Background on Cyrus the Great for Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
grant that we may always conform our will to Yours
and serve Your majesty in sincerity of heart.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

Let us exercise our desire in prayer

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Bishop and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from The Letter to Proba (Letter 130)

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Why in our fear of not praying as we should, do we turn to so many things, to find what we should pray for? Why do we not say instead, in the words of the psalm: I have asked one thing from the Lord, this is what I will seek: to dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, to see the graciousness of the Lord, and to visit his temple. There, the days do not come and go in succession, and the beginning of one day does not mean the end of another; all days are one, simultaneously and without end, and the life lived out in these days has itself no end.

So that we might obtain this life of happiness, he who is true life itself taught us to pray, not in many words as though speaking longer could gain us a hearing. After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows what we need before we ask for it.

Why he should ask us to pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realize that our Lord and God does not want to know what we want (for he cannot fail to know it) but wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it. That is why we are told: Enlarge your desires, do not bear the yoke with unbelievers.

The deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger will be our capacity to receive that gift, which is very great indeed. No eye has seen it; it has no color. No ear has heard it; it has no sound. It has not entered man’s heart; man’s heart must enter into it.

In this faith, hope and love we pray always with unwearied desire. However, at set times and seasons we also pray to God in words, so that by these signs we may instruct ourselves and mark the progress we have made in our desire, and spur ourselves on to deepen it. The more fervent the desire, the more worthy will be its fruit. When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing, he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

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Memorial of Saint Ignatius of AntiochBishop and Martyr

“I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.” (Luke 12:8.)

Saint Cyprian of Carthage comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“In the Gospel, the Lord speaks saying, “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me, even I will deny him.” He does not deny him who denies or acknowledge him who acknowledges. The gospel cannot be firm in part and waver in part. Either both must be strong or both must lose the force of truth. If those who deny will not be guilty of a crime, those who acknowledge him will not receive the reward of virtue. If he crowns the faith that has conquered, he must punish the treachery that has been conquered. If the gospel can be broken, the martyrs can be of no benefit. If the gospel cannot be broken, they who become martyrs, according to the gospel, cannot act contrary to the gospel. Most beloved brothers and sisters, let no one defame the dignity of the martyrs. Let no one destroy their glories and crowns. The strength of an uncorrupted faith is sound. No one can say or do anything against Christ whose hope, faith, virtue and glory are entirely in Christ. They who have performed the commands of God cannot be the authors of anything done by the bishops contrary to the command of God. ” (The Lapsed, 20.)

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
Who adorn the sacred body of Your Church
with the confessions of holy Martyrs,
grant, we pray,
that, just as the glorious passion of
Saint Ignatius of Antioch,
which we celebrate today,
brought him eternal splendor,
so it may be for us unending protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by the teeth of wild animals

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Bishop, Apostolic Father of the Church and Martyr

An excerpt from his The Letter to the Romans

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.

The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favor, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

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Friday of the Twenty-eighth Weekin Ordinary Time

“Meanwhile, so many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot. He began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven — that is, the hypocrisy — of the Pharisees...” (Luke 12:1.)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“Being angry at this reproof, it says they began to urge him vehemently. This means to attack him with cunning, oppose him and show their hatred of him. They also tried, it says, to silence him about many things. What again is the meaning of their silencing him? It is that they required him to answer immediately and without consideration their wicked questions, expecting that he would fall and say something objectionable. They did not know that he was God. They despised him, were proud and disrespectful. Christ told his friends, that is, his disciples, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and scribes, meaning by leaven their false pretense. Hypocrisy is hateful to God and humanity. It does not bring a reward, and it is utterly useless for the salvation of the soul. It is rather the cause of its damnation. Although sometimes it may escape detection for a little while, before long, it is sure to be uncovered and bring disgrace on them. It is like an unattractive woman when she is stripped of that external embellishment which she produced by artificial means.” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 86)

Collect

May Your grace, O Lord, we pray,
at all times go before us and follow after
and make us always determined
to carry out good works.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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In every place there is sacrifice and a clean oblation offered to my name

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Bishop and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his The City of God (Book 10)

Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Every work that effects our union with God in a holy fellowship is a true sacrifice; every work, that is, which is referred to that final end, that ultimate good, by which we are able to be in the true sense happy. As a consequence even that mercy by which aid is given to man is not a sacrifice unless it is done for the sake of God. Sacrifice, though performed or offered by man, is something divine; that is why the ancient Latins gave it this name of “sacrifice,” of something sacred. Man himself, consecrated in the name of God and vowed to God, is therefore a sacrifice insofar as he dies to the world in order to live for God. This too is part of mercy, the mercy that each one has for himself. Scripture tells us: Have mercy on your soul by pleasing God.

Works of mercy, then, done either to ourselves or to our neighbor and referred to God are true sacrifices. Works of mercy, however, are performed for no other reason than to free us from wretchedness and by this means to make us happy (and we cannot be happy except through the good of which Scripture speaks: It is good for me to cling to God). It clearly follows that the whole redeemed city, that is, the assembly and fellowship of the saints, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice through the great high priest, who in the nature of a slave offered even himself for us in his passion, in order that we might be the body of so great a head. He offered this nature of a slave; he was offered in that nature, because in that nature he is the mediator, in that nature he is the high priest, in that nature he is the sacrifice.

The Apostle urges us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, and as our spiritual worship, and not to follow the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds and hearts, so that we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect, the total sacrifice that is ourselves. By the grace of God that has been given me, he says, I say to all who are among you: Do not think more highly of yourselves than you should, but judge yourselves with moderation according to the measure of faith God has given to each of you. As we have in the same body many members, yet all the members do not have the same functions, we are many, but are one body in Christ; we are each of us members of one another, having different gifts according to the grace that has been given us.

This is the sacrifice of Christians, the many who are one body in Christ. This is the sacrifice which the Church celebrates in the sacrament of the altar, that sacrament known to the faithful; in that sacrament it is made clear to the Church that in the sacrifice she offers, she herself is offered.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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Memorial of Saint Teresa of JesusVirgin and Doctor of the Church

“He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” (John 15:2.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel proclamation (John 15:1-8):

“The sons of truth grow large on this Branch of Truth;
they have been perfected and have
become fruits fit for the kingdom.

But, although the Branch is living, on it are
also dead fruits that only seem to blossom.

The wind tested them and shook down the wild grapes.
Blessed is he who crowned by [the Spirit] those who held fast in him!

Jesus, bend down to us your love that we may
grasp this Branch that bent down her fruits for the ungrateful;
they ate and were satisfied, yet they demeaned
her who had bent down as far as Adam in Sheol.

She ascended and lifted him up and with him returned to Eden.
Blessed is he who bent her down toward us that we might seize her and ascend on her.
Who indeed will not weep that although the Branch is great,
the weakness of one unwilling to seize her greatness maintains that
she is a feeble branch — she who has conquered all kings and cast
a shadow upon the entire world! By suffering her power has increased.

Blessed is he who made her greater than that vine from Egypt!
Who will not hold fast to this Branch of Truth.
She bore the true ones; she shed the false.
Not because they were too heavy for her did she shed them.

For our sake she tested them in the breeze;
it shook down the shriveled;
it ripened the firm.” (Hymn Against Julian: On the Church, 5.)

Collect

O God,
Who through Your Spirit
raised up Saint Teresa of Jesus
to show the Church the way to seek perfection,
grant that we may always be nourished
by the food of her heavenly teaching
and fired with longing for true holiness.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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