Words of the Word

If I should forget you Jerusalem

Priest and Founder of the Order of Carthusians

An excerpt from Discourse on the Psalms

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

How beautiful are your tabernacles! My soul longs to reach the courts of the Lord, the fullness of the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the Lord. He then explains why he desires to enter the courts of the Lord.

It is because they are blessed who dwell in your house, the heavenly Jerusalem, Lord, God of the heavenly powers, my King and my God. It is as if he were to say: Who does not long to enter your courts since you are God, the Creator and King and Lord of hosts, and all who dwell in your house are blessed? For him courts and house are the same. When he says blessed, he means that they enjoy as much happiness as can be conceived. Clearly they are blessed because out of their devoted love they will praise you for ever, that is, for all eternity. For they would not offer praise for all eternity unless they were blessed for all eternity.

Now even though we may have faith, hope and love, none of us can attain this state of blessedness by ourselves. Rather, blessed is the man—he alone attains blessedness—whose help is from you in rising to the heights of happiness on which he has set his heart. In other words, he alone can be said to come to true blessedness who, having resolved in his heart to rise to this state of happiness by the many stages of the virtues and good works, receives the help of your grace. No one can rise up by himself as the Lord testified: No one ascends into heaven, of his own power, except the Son of Man who is in heaven.

Thus he contemplates this journey, living as he does in a vale of tears, for this life is lowly and full of tears and sorrow. The life of heaven, by contrast, is called a mountain full of joy.

But since the psalmist said: Blessed is the man whose help comes from you, someone might ask: Does God really help us in this? And the answer is that God does help the blessed. For our lawgiver Christ, who gave us the law, gives now and will continue to give his blessings, the abundant gifts of grace, by which he will bless his own, that is, raise them to beatitude. By these blessings, then, they will rise from strength to strength. One day in the heavenly Zion they will see Christ as the God of gods, as the one who, being God, will deify his own. Or again, those who are to be the new Zion will see in the spirit the God of gods—the Trinity. In other words, then their minds will see God, who cannot be seen in this life. For then God will be all in 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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Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week
in Ordinary Time

“And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said...” (Luke 6:20.)

Origen of Alexandria (part 2 of Pope Benedict’s reflections on Origen) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed at Mass today:

“The phrase “lift up your eyes” occurs in many places in Scripture. By this expression, the divine Word admonishes us to exalt and lift up our thoughts. It invites us to elevate the insight that lies below in a rather sickly condition and is stooped and completely incapable of looking up. For instance, it is written in Isaiah, “Lift up your eyes on high and see. Who has made all these things known?”

The Savior too, when he is about to deliver the Beatitudes, lifts up his eyes to the disciples and says “blessed” are such and such.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John)

Collect

O God,
by Whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
look graciously upon Your sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ
may receive true freedom
and an everlasting inheritance.
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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The stages of contemplation

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Abbot and Doctor of the Church

An excerpt from Sermon 5

Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Let us take our stand on secure ground, leaning with all our strength on Christ, the most solid rock, according to the words: He set my feet on a rock and guided my steps. Thus firmly established, let us begin to contemplate, to see what he is saying to us and what reply we ought to make to his charges.

The first stage of contemplation, my dear brothers, is constantly to consider what God wants, what is pleasing to him, and what is acceptable in his eyes. We all offend in many things; our strength cannot match the rectitude of God’s will, being neither one with it nor wholly in accord with it; let us then humble ourselves under the powerful hand of the most high God and be concerned to show ourselves unworthy before his merciful gaze, saying: Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved. And again, Lord have mercy on me; heal my soul because I have sinned against you.

Once the eye of the soul has been purified by such considerations we no longer abide within our own spirit in a sense of sorrow, but abide rather in the Spirit of God with great delight. No longer do we consider what is the will of God for us, but rather what it is in itself. For our life is in his will. Thus we are convinced that what is according to his will is in every way more advantageous and fitting for us. And so, concerned as we are to preserve the life of our soul, we should be equally concerned, insofar as we can, not to deviate from his will.

Thus having made some progress in our spiritual exercise under the guidance of the Spirit who searches the deep things of God, let us reflect how sweet is the Lord and how good he is in himself; in the words of the prophet let us pray to see God’s will; no longer shall we frequent our own hearts but his temple. At the same time we shall say: My soul is humbled within me, therefore I shall be mindful of you.

The whole of the spiritual life consists of these two elements. When we think of ourselves, we are perturbed and filled with a salutary sadness. And when we think of the Lord, we are revived to find consolation in the joy of the Holy Spirit. From the first we derive fear and humility, from the second hope and love.

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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Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week
in Ordinary Time

“In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12.)

Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel proclamation:

“So the Lord prays, not to entreat for himself but to intercede for me. Although the Father placed all things in the power of his Son, yet the Son, in order to fulfill the form of a man, thinks that the Father must be entreated for us, because he is our Advocate. If he is an Advocate, he must intercede on account of my sins.

It says, “He passed the whole night in prayer.” A model is given to you. A form is prescribed which you must imitate. Unless I am mistaken, it is nowhere found that he prayed with the apostles. Everywhere he entreats alone, for human prayers do not grasp the counsels of God, nor can anyone share with Christ in the inward mysteries.” (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, 5.)

Collect

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

I shall stand upon my watch tower to see what the Lord will say to me

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Abbot and Doctor of the Church

An excerpt from Sermon 5

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

We read in the gospel that when the Lord was teaching his disciples and urged them to share in his passion by the mystery of eating his body, some said: This is a hard saying, and from that time they no longer followed him. When he asked the disciples whether they also wished to go away, they replied: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

I assure you, my brothers, that even to this day it is clear to some that the words which Jesus speaks are spirit and life, and for this reason they follow him. To others these words seem hard, and so they look elsewhere for some pathetic consolation. Yet wisdom cries out in the streets, in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, to call back those who take this path.

Finally, he says: For forty years I have been close to this generation, and I said: They have always been faint-hearted. You also read in another psalm: God has spoken once. Once, indeed, because for ever. His is a single, uninterrupted utterance, because it is continuous and unending.

He calls upon sinners to return to their true spirit and rebukes them when their hearts have gone astray, for it is in the true heart that he dwells and there he speaks, fulfilling what he taught through the prophet: Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.

You see, my brothers, how the prophet admonishes us for our advantage: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. You can read almost the same words in the gospel and in the prophet. For in the gospel the Lord says: My sheep hear my voice. And in the psalm blessed David says: You are his people (meaning, of course, the Lord’s) and the sheep of his pasture. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Hear also the prophet Habakkuk. Far from hiding the Lord’s reprimands, he dwells on them with attentive and anxious care. He says: I will stand upon my watchtower and take up my post on the ramparts, keeping watch to see what he will say to me and what answer I will make to those who try to confute me. I beg you, my brothers, stand upon our watchtower, for now is the time for battle. Let all our dealings be in the heart, where Christ dwells, in right judgment and wise counsel, but in such a way as to place no confidence in those dealings, nor rely upon our fragile defenses.

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 Peter Claver, Priest

“On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.” (Luke 6:6.)

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

“The miracle sometimes converts to faith those who had disbelieved the word, but the Pharisees watched him to see if he would heal on the sabbath. The nature of an envious person is such that he makes the praises of others food for his own disease and is wickedly maddened by their reputation. Once more he spoke to this; “he reveals deep and mysterious things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” And why did he do this? Perhaps it might be to move the cruel and unpitying Pharisee to compassion. The man’s malady [his withered hand] perhaps might shame them and persuade them to dispel the flames of their envy.

This question is most wise indeed and a most suitable statement to meet their folly. If it is lawful to do good on the sabbath and nothing prevents the sick being pitied by God, cease picking up opportunities for fault-finding against Christ and bringing down on your own head the sentence which the Father has decreed against those who dishonor the Son. You have heard the Father where he says of the Son by the voice of David, “I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.” But if it is not lawful to do good on the sabbath and the law forbids the saving of life, you have made yourself an accuser of the law.” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 23)

Collect

O God,
Who made Saint Peter Claver
a slave of slaves and strengthened him
with wonderful charity and patience
as he came to their help,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things of Jesus Christ,
we may love our neighbor
in deeds and in truth.
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

To preach the Gospel to the poor
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim pardon to captives

Saint Peter Claver

Priest

An excerpt from Letter of May 1627

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of bricks. This, then, was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them.

We laid aside our cloaks, therefore, and brought from a warehouse whatever was handy to build a platform. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, while I addressed the other group. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. Of these we had two wallets full, and we used them all up on this occasion. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of this sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.

This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick.

After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. When by their answers to our questions they showed that they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to a more extensive instruction, namely, about the one God, who rewards and punishes each one according to his merit, and the rest. We asked them to make an act of contrition and to manifest their detestation of their sins. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.

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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The groan that heals, frees and opens

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

“... then He looked up to heaven
and groaned (ἐστέναξεν, estenazen),
and said to him, “Ephphatha!”
that is, “Be opened!””

Mark 7:34.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

This Sunday’s proclamation from the Gospel according to Saint Mark opens with Jesus traveling an impressible distance: from Tyre to the district of the Decapolis and once there, an event with meticulous and vivid detail unfolds. When Jesus got to the district of the Decapolis (an alliance of 10 Greek cities, south of the Sea of Galilee, formed to help preserve and advance their culture and commercial interests), nameless “people” brought to Jesus a “deaf man who had a speech impediment.” Reminiscent of an episode earlier in Mark’s Gospel, the paralyzed man being brought to Jesus by 4 people [chapter 2], once again ‘others’ are instrumental in bringing people to an encounter with the Person, Jesus.

The people who bring the deaf man to Jesus want Him “to lay his hand on him,” a gesture certainly familiar to many people who witnessed various healings by Jesus. Yet this time, Jesus follows a different course of action by removing Himself and the deaf man from the crowd and using His fingers and spittle. Some scholars suggest that the Greek people of the Decapolis would have recognized these gestures as inherently healing, even though Jesus and the deaf man are off by themselves. The healing gesture is followed by a Jesus emitting a mystifying “groan.”

στενάζω (stenázo) is the Greek verb translated “to groan” (and it can also be translated “to sigh”). There are certainly situations and circumstances that occur in day-to-day living that cause one to groan or to sigh, many of them involving disappointment that a particular course of action did not result the way one had planned. In the biblical world of the Gospels, though, στενάζω is often used as a response to oppression. Someone or something is actively preventing a person or people from living fully and another is needed in order to remove the oppression (for example, the Hebrew people caught in the slavery bondage of Egypt). στενάζω also signals to the people of the Decapolis that Jesus’ work is in no way associated with variants of Greek magical rites but a recognition of the reality of oppression that must be conquered. Jesus conquers the oppression here and, as the Cross looms ever present in His Public Ministry, He will definitely conquer all oppression and then command His disciples to freely and boldly speak of Him and His power to liberate humanity.

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Say to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God, he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense he comes to save you.”
(Isaiah 35:4.)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“This is the divine arrangement, as far as any human being can investigate it, better minds in a better way, lesser minds less effectively; this divine arrangement is giving us hints of a great and significant mystery. Christ, you see, was going to come in the flesh, not anyone at all, not an angel, not an ambassador; but “he himself will come and save you.” It wasn’t anyone who was going to come; and yet how was he going to come? He was going to be born in mortal flesh, to be a tiny infant, to be laid in a manger, wrapped in cradle clothes, nourished on milk; going to grow up, and finally even to be done to death. So in all these indications of humility there is indeed a pattern of an extreme humility.” (Sermon 293)

Reflection on this Sunday’s Gospel.

Collect

O God,
by Whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
look graciously upon Your beloved sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ
may receive true freedom
and an everlasting inheritance.
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

Christian Wisdom

Pope Saint Leo the Great

Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Sermon 95 On the Beatitudes

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord then goes on to say: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. This hunger is not for any bodily food, this thirst is not for any earthly drink: it is a longing to be blessed with righteousness, and by penetrating the secret of all mysteries, to be filled with the Lord himself.

Happy is the soul that longs for the food of righteousness and thirsts for this kind of drink; it would not seek such things if it had not already savored their delight. When the soul hears the voice of the Spirit saying to it through the prophet: Taste and see that the Lord is good, it has already received a portion of God’s goodness, and is on fire with love, the love that gives joy of the utmost purity. It counts as nothing all that belongs to time; it is entirely consumed with desire to eat and drink the food of righteousness. The soul lays hold of the true meaning of the first and great commandment: You shall love the Lord God with your whole heart, and your whole mind and your whole strength, for to love God is nothing else than to love righteousness.

Finally, just as concern for one’s neighbor is added to love of God, so the virtue of mercy is added to the desire for righteousness, as it is said: Blessed are the merciful, for God will be merciful to them.

Remember, Christian, the surpassing worth of the wisdom that is yours. Bear in mind the kind of school in which you are to learn your skills, the rewards to which you are called. Mercy itself wishes you to be merciful, righteousness itself wishes you to be righteous, so that the Creator may shine forth in his creature, and the image of God to be reflected in the mirror of the human heart as it imitates his qualities. The faith of those who live their faith is a serene faith. What you long for will be given you; what you love will be yours for ever.

Since it is by giving alms that everything is pure for you, you will also receive that blessing which is promised next by the Lord: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Dear friends, great is the happiness of those for whom such a reward is prepared. Who are the clean of heart if not those who strive for those virtues we have mentioned above? What mind can conceive, what words can express the great happiness of seeing God? Yet human nature will achieve this when it has been transformed so that it sees the Godhead no longer in a mirror or obscurely but face to face—the Godhead that no man has been able to see. In the inexpressible joy of this eternal vision, human nature will possess what eye has not seen or ear heard, what man’s heart has never conceived.

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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Saturday of the Twenty-second Week
in Ordinary Time

“Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath…” (Luke 6:2.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:

““Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” Our Lord had instructed them in advance and trained them in the truth of the just, so that whenever he dispensed from the law fully, they would not be alarmed. His Father had also dispensed from sabbaths to show that the sabbath was of his own making. He was also continuing to dispense from it that he might show that these were discerning remedies, proposed by the skilled physician for the pain which stretches from the sole of the foot to the head.” (Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron, 5.)

Collect

O God,
Who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary,
foremost among the poor and humble,
to be the Mother of the Savior,
grant, we pray, that, following her example,
we may offer You the homage of sincere faith
and place in You all our hope of salvation.
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.

God of might,
giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of Your Name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
You may nurture in us what is good and,
by Your watchful care,
keep safe what You have nurtured.
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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The blessedness of Christ’s Reign

Pope Saint Leo the Great

Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from his On the Beatitudes, Sermon 95

Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

After preaching the blessings of poverty, the Lord went on to say: Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But the mourning for which he promises eternal consolation, dearly beloved, has nothing to do with the ordinary worldly distress; for the tears which have their origin in the sorrow common to all mankind do not make anyone blessed. There is another cause for the saints, another reason for their blessed tears. Religious grief mourns for sin, one’s own or another’s; it does not lament because of what happens as a result of God’s justice, but because of what is done by human malice. Indeed, he who does wrong is more to be lamented than he who suffers it, for his wickedness plunges the sinner into punishment, whereas endurance can raise the just man to glory.

Next the Lord says: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. To the meek and gentle, the lowly and the humble, and to all who are ready to endure any injury, he promises that they will possess the earth. Nor is this inheritance to be considered small or insignificant, as though it were distinct from our heavenly dwelling; for we know that it is the kingdom of heaven which is also the inheritance promised to the meek and which will be given to the gentle for their own possession is none other than the bodies of the saints. Through the merit of their humility their bodies will be transformed by a joyous resurrection and clothed in the glory of immortality. No longer opposed in any way to their spirits, their bodies will remain in perfect harmony and unity with the will of the soul. Then, indeed, the outer man will be the peaceful and unblemished possession of the inner man.

Then, truly will the meek inherit the earth in perpetual peace, and nothing will be taken from their rights; for this perishable nature shall put on the imperishable and this mortal nature shall put on immortality. Their risk will turn into reward; what was a burden will have become an honor.

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-second Week
in Ordinary Time

“And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” (Luke 5:33.)

Saint Ambrose of Milan offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel proclamation:

“But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them.” Which are these days in which Christ is taken from us, especially when he himself has said, “I shall be with you, even to the end of the world,” when he has said, “I will not leave you orphans”? For it is certain that if he were to leave us, we could not be saved. None can take Christ from you, unless you take yourself away. Your boasting will not take you away, nor arrogance, nor may you presume on the law for yourself. “For he came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The righteous are those who do not strike him who strikes them, who love their enemy. If we do not endure thus, the opposite is found. “I came not to call the righteous.” Christ does not call those who say they are righteous, for not knowing God and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Therefore the usurpers of righteousness are not called to grace. For if grace comes from penitence, surely one who scorns penitence renounces grace. Those who make themselves out to be holy will be wounded. The Bridegroom is taken from them. Neither Caiaphas nor Pilate took Christ from us. We cannot fast, because we have Christ, and we feast on the body and blood of Christ. For how does he who does not hunger seem to fast? How does he who does not thirst seem to fast? Then, how can he who drinks Christ thirst when he himself said, “Whosoever shall drink of the water that I will give him shall be thirsty no more”? Then what follows will declare the saying to concern the fasting of the spirit.” (Exposition on the Gospel of Luke, 5.)

Collect

Grant, we pray, Almighty God,
that we, who glory in
the Heart of Your Beloved Son and
recall the wonders of His love for us,
may be made worthy to receive
an overflowing measure of grace
from that fount of heavenly gifts
. 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.

God of might, giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of Your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
you may nurture in us what is good
and, by Your watchful care,
keep safe what You have nurtured.
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

Blessed are the poor in spirit

Pope Saint Leo the Great

Bishop of Rome and Father of the Church

An excerpt from a Sermon on the Beatitudes

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

It cannot be doubted that the poor can more easily attain the blessing of humility than those who are rich. In the case of the poor, the lack of worldly goods is often accompanied by a quiet gentleness, whereas the rich are more prone to arrogance. Nevertheless, many wealthy people are disposed to use their abundance not to swell their own pride but to perform works of benevolence. They consider their greatest gain what they spend to alleviate the distress of others.

This virtue is open to all men, no matter what their class or condition, because all can be equal in their willingness to give, however unequal they may be in earthly fortune. Indeed, their inequality in regard to worldly means is unimportant, provided they are found equal in spiritual possessions. Blessed, therefore, is that poverty which is not trapped by the love of temporal things and does not seek to be enriched by worldly wealth, but desires rather to grow rich in heavenly goods.

The apostles were the first after the Lord himself to provide us with an example of this generous poverty, when they all equally left their belongings at the call of the heavenly master. By an immediate conversion they were turned from the catching of fish to become fishers of men, and by their own example they won many others to the imitation of their own faith. In these first sons of the Church there was but one heart and one soul among all who believed. Abandoning all their worldly property and possessions in their dedicated poverty, they were enriched with eternal goods, and in accordance with the apostolic preaching, they rejoiced to have nothing of this world and to possess all things with Christ.

Therefore, when the apostle Peter was on his way up to the temple and was asked for alms by the lame man, he replied: Silver and gold I have not; but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk. What is more sublime than this humility? And what could be richer than this poverty? Though Peter cannot assist with money, he can confer gifts of nature. With a word Peter brought healing to the man who had been lame from birth; he who did not give a coin with the emperor’s image refashioned the image of Jesus in this man.

And by the riches of this treasure, not only did he help the man who recovered the power to walk, but also five thousand others who believed the preaching of the apostle because of this miraculous cure. Thus Peter, who in his poverty had no money to give to the beggar, bestowed such a bounty of divine grace that in restoring to health the feet of one man, he healed the hearts of many thousands of believers. He had found all of them lame; but he made them leap for joy in Christ.

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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Thursday of the
Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

“When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.” (Luke 5:6.)

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

“He told Simon and his companions to sail off a little from the land and to let down the net for a draught. But they replied that they had been toiling the whole night and had caught nothing. However, in the name of Christ, they let down the net, and immediately it was full of fish. By a visible sign and by a miraculous type and representation, they were fully convinced that their labor would be rewarded, and the zeal displayed in spreading out the net of the gospel teaching would be fruitful. Within this net they should most certainly catch the shoals of the heathen. But note that neither Simon nor his companions could draw the net to land. Speechless from fright and astonishment — for their wonder had made them mute—they beckoned to their partners, to those who shared their labors in fishing, to come and help them in securing their prey. For many have taken part with the holy apostles in their labors, and still do so, especially those who inquire into the meaning of what is written in the holy Gospels. Yet besides them there are also others: the pastors and teachers and rulers of the people, who are skilled in the doctrines of truth. For the net is still being drawn, while Christ fills it, and calls to conversion those who, according to the Scripture phrase, are in the depths of the sea, that is to say, those who live in the surge and waves of worldly things.” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 12)

Collect

O God,
Who called blessed Teresa, virgin
to respond to the love of Your Son
thirsting on the cross with outstanding charity
to the poorest of the poor, grant us,
we beseech You, by her intercession,
to minister to Christ
in our suffering brothers and sisters.
Who lives and reigns with You and
the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

God of might, Giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of Your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
You may nurture in us what is good
and, by Your watchful care,
keep safe what You have nurtured.
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 shall put my laws within them

Pope Saint Leo the Great

Bishop of Rome and Father of the Church

An excerpt from his Sermon on the Beatitudes

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Dearly beloved, when our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the Gospel of the kingdom and healing various illnesses throughout the whole of Galilee, the fame of his mighty works spread into all of Syria, and great crowds from all parts of Judea flocked to the heavenly physician. Because human ignorance is slow to believe what it does not see, and equally slow to hope for what it does not know, those who were to be instructed in the divine teaching had first to be aroused by bodily benefits and visible miracles so that, once they had experienced his gracious power, they would no longer doubt the wholesome effect of his doctrine.

In order, therefore, to transform outward healings into inward remedies, and to cure men’s souls now that he had healed their bodies, our Lord separated himself from the surrounding crowds, climbed to the solitude of a neighboring mountain, and called the apostles to himself. From the height of this mystical site he then instructed them in the most lofty doctrines, suggesting both by the very nature of the place and by what he was doing that it was he who long ago had honored Moses by speaking to him. At that time, his words showed a terrifying justice, but now they reveal a sacred compassion, in order to fulfill what was promised in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. After those days, says the Lord, I shall put my laws within them and write them on their hearts.

And so it was that he who had spoken to Moses spoke also to the apostles. Writing in the hearts of his disciples, the swift hand of the Word composed the ordinances of the new covenant. And this was not done as formerly, in the midst of dense clouds, amid terrifying sounds and lightning, so that the people were frightened away from approaching the mountain. Instead, there was a tranquil discourse which clearly reached the ears of all who stood nearby so that the harshness of the law might be softened by the gentleness of grace, and the spirit of adoption might dispel the terror of slavery.

Concerning the content of Christ’s teaching, his own sacred words bear witness; thus whoever longs to attain eternal blessedness can now recognize the steps that lead to that high happiness. Blessed, he says, are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It might have been unclear to which poor he was referring, if after the words Blessed are the poor, he had not added anything about the kind of poor he had in mind. For then the poverty that many suffer because of grave and harsh necessity might seem sufficient to merit the kingdom of heaven. But when he says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, he shows that the kingdom of heaven is to be given to those who are distinguished by their humility of soul rather than by their lack of worldly goods.

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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Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek

In some areas of the world today [4 September] (such as Holy Family University, Philadelphia PA), the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth are celebrating the Feast of the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek.

From the Congregation’s website:

“Sister Mary Stella CSFN, (Adela Mardosewicz) and her 10 companion sisters were executed by the Nazi regime on 1 August 1943 and buried in a common grave outside Nowogródek, then in Poland now part of Belarus.

In the wake of mass arrests the previous month in Nowogrodek, Sister Mary Stella and her companions prayed:

‘O God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us who are free from family obligations and spare those who have wives and children.’

Sr. Stella and her 10 companions were beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on March 5, 2000.”

O Most Blessed Trinity,
we praise and thank You
for the example of Blessed Mary Stella
and Her ten companions,
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth,
who by imitating Jesus Christ,
offered themselves as a sacrifice of love.
God of mercy and compassion,
through the merits of their martyrdom
and by their intercession,
grant us the grace we humbly ask…
(insert intention here)…
so that like them,
we may witness with our lives
to the presence of the Kingdom of God’s love
and extend it to the human family
throughout the world.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Blessed Martyred Sisters of Nowogródek,
pray for us.

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week
in Ordinary Time

“After he left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her.” (Luke 4:38.)

Saint Jerome offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel Proclamation:

“Now Simon’s mother-in-law was kept in her bed sick with a fever.” May Christ come to our house and enter in and by his command cure the fever of our sins. Each one of us is sick with a fever. When-ever I give way to anger, I have a fever. There are as many fevers as there are faults and vices. Let us beg the apostles to intercede for us with Jesus, that he may come to us and touch our hand. If he does so, at once our fever is gone. He is an excellent physician and truly the chief Physician. Moses is a physician. Isaiah is a physician. All the saints are physicians, but he is the chief Physician.” (Homilies on the Gospel of Mark, 75.)

Collect

God of might, Giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love of Your name,
so that, by deepening our sense of reverence,
You may nurture in us what is good
and, by Your watchful care,
keep safe what You have nurtured.
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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Christ spoke of his body as a temple

Origen of Alexandria

Priest, Ancient Christian Writer and Martyr

An excerpt from his Commentary on John

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. It seems to me that Jesus meant the Jews in this episode to stand for sensual men and those desirous of carnal and sensual things. These Jews were angry at his expulsion of the people who were turning his Father’s house into a market. So they asked for a sign to justify these actions, a sign that would show that the Word of God, whom they refused to accept, was acting rightly. The Savior’s reply combines a statement about the temple with a prophecy about his own body, for in answer to their question: What sign can you give to justify your conduct? he says: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

Indeed, I think that both the temple and the body of Jesus can be seen together as a type of the Church. For the Church is being built out of living stones; it is in process of becoming a spiritual dwelling for a holy priesthood, raised on the foundations of apostles and prophets, with Christ as its chief cornerstone. Hence it bears the name “temple.” On the other hand, it is written: You are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. Thus even the harmonious alignment of the stones should seem to be destroyed and fragmented and, as described in the twenty-first psalm, all the bones which go to make up Christ’s body should seem to be scattered by insidious attacks in persecutions or times of trouble, or by those who in days of persecution undermine the unity of the temple, nevertheless the temple will be rebuilt and the body will rise again on the third day, after the day of evil which threatens it and the day of consummation which follows. For the third day will dawn upon a new heaven and a new earth when these bones that form the whole house of Israel are raised up on that great day of the Lord, when death has been defeated. So the resurrection of Christ, accomplished after his suffering on the cross, embraces the mystery of the resurrection of his whole body.

For just as that physical body of Christ was crucified and buried, and afterward raised up, so in the same way the whole body of Christ’s holy ones has been crucified and lives no longer with its own life. For each of them, like Paul, makes his boast of nothing else but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which he has himself been crucified to the world, and the world to him. But each Christian has not only been crucified with Christ and crucified to the world; he has been buried with Christ too, as Paul tells us: We have been buried with Christ. But as though already in possession of some pledge of the resurrection, Paul goes on to say: And we have risen with him.

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 Gregory the Great
Pope and Great Western Father of the Church

“Jesus then went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee He taught them on the sabbath…” (Luke 4:31.)

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

“People who cannot be brought by argument to the sure knowledge of him who by nature and in truth is God and Lord may perhaps be won by miracles to a quiet obedience. Therefore helpfully, or rather necessarily, he often completes his lessons by going on to perform some mighty work. For the people of Judea were not ready to believe. They snubbed the words of those who called them to salvation. The people of Capernaum had this character especially. For this reason the Savior reproved them. He said, “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, shall be brought down to hell.” Although he knows them to be both disobedient and hard of heart, nevertheless he visits them as a most excellent physician would visit those who were suffering from a very dangerous disease and endeavors to rid them of their illness. He himself says, “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, only those who are sick.” He taught, therefore, in their synagogues with great freedom of speech. For he had foretold this by the voice of Isaiah: “I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth.”” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 12)

Collect

O God,
Who care for Your people with gentleness
and rule them in love,
through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory,
endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom
those to whom You have given authority to govern,
that the flourishing of a holy flock
may become the eternal joy of the shepherds.
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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For Christ's love I do not spare myself in speaking of Him

Saint Gregory the Great

Bishop of Rome and Great Western Father of the Church

An excerpt from a Homily on Ezekiel

Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Great Western Father of the Church

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Note that a man whom the Lord sends forth as a preacher is called a watchman. A watchman always stands on a height so that he can see from afar what is coming. Anyone appointed to be a watchman for the people must stand on a height for all his life to help them by his foresight.

How hard it is for me to say this, for by these very words I denounce myself. I cannot preach with any competence, and yet insofar as I do succeed, still I myself do not live my life according to my own preaching.

I do not deny my responsibility; I recognize that I am slothful and negligent, but perhaps the acknowledgment of my fault will win me pardon from my just judge. Indeed when I was in the monastery I could curb my idle talk and usually be absorbed in my prayers. Since I assumed the burden of pastoral care, my mind can no longer be collected; it is concerned with so many matters.

I am forced to consider the affairs of the Church and of the monasteries. I must weigh the lives and acts of individuals. I am responsible for the concerns of our citizens. I must worry about the invasions of roving bands of barbarians, and beware of the wolves who lie in wait for my flock. I must become an administrator lest the religious go in want. I must put up with certain robbers without losing patience and at times I must deal with them in all charity.

With my mind divided and torn to pieces by so many problems, how can I meditate or preach wholeheartedly without neglecting the ministry of proclaiming the Gospel? Moreover, in my position I must often communicate with worldly men. At times I let my tongue run, for if I am always severe in my judgments, the worldly will avoid me, and I can never attack them as I would. As a result I often listen patiently to chatter. And because I too am weak, I find myself drawn little by little into idle conversation, and I begin to talk freely about matters which once I would have avoided. What once I found tedious I now enjoy.

So who am I to be a watchman, for I do not stand on the mountain of action but lie down in the valley of weakness? Truly the all-powerful Creator and Redeemer of mankind can give me in spite of my weaknesses a higher life and effective speech; because I love him, I do not spare myself in speaking of him.

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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Labor Day (USA)

Antiphon

“May Your favor, O Lord, be upon us, and may You give success to the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)

Collect

O God,
Who through human labor
never cease to perfect and govern
the vast work of creation,
listen to the supplications of Your people
and grant that all men and women
may find work that befits their dignity,
joins them more closely to one another
and enables them to serve their neighbor.
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.

Responsorial Psalm

Prosper the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:17).

Scripture excerpt

“Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth. God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened. God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed. On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” (Genesis 1:26-2:3)

Reflection

Today’s reflection is an excerpt from Saint John Paul II’s encyclical Laborem Exercens (On Human Labor). Click here for the text of the entire encyclical

“The truth that by means of work man participates in the activity of God himself, his Creator, was given particular prominence by Jesus Christ-the Jesus at whom many of his first listeners in Nazareth “were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? ... Is not this the carpenter?’” For Jesus not only proclaimed but first and foremost fulfilled by his deeds the “gospel,” the word of eternal Wisdom, that had been entrusted to him. Therefore this was also “the gospel of work.” because he who proclaimed it was himself a man of work, a craftsman like Joseph of Nazareth. And if we do not find in his words a special command to work-but rather on one occasion a prohibition against too much anxiety about work and life - at the same time the eloquence of the life of Christ is unequivocal: he belongs to the “working world”, he has appreciation and respect for human work. It can indeed be said that he looks with love upon human work and the different forms that it takes, seeing in each one of these forms a particular facet of man’s likeness with God, the Creator and Father. Is it not he who says: “My Father is the vinedresser,” and in various ways puts into his teaching the fundamental truth about work which is already expressed in the whole tradition of the Old Testament, beginning with the Book of Genesis?

On the basis of these illuminations emanating from the Source himself, the Church has always proclaimed what we find expressed in modern terms in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: “Just as human activity proceeds from man, so it is ordered towards man. For when a man works he not only alters things and society, he develops himself as well. He learns much, he cultivates his resources, he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly understood, this kind of growth is of greater value than any external riches which can be garnered ... Hence, the norm of human activity is this: that in accord with the divine plan and will, it should harmonize with the genuine good of the human race, and allow people as individuals and as members of society to pursue their total vocation and fulfill it.”

Such a vision of the values of human work, or in other words such a spirituality of work, fully explains what we read in the same section of the Council’s Pastoral Constitution with regard to the right meaning of progress: “A person is more precious for what he is than for what he has. Similarly, all that people do to obtain greater justice, wider brotherhood, and a more humane ordering of social relationships has greater worth than technical advances. For these advances can supply the material for human progress, but of themselves alone they can never actually bring it about.” This teaching on the question of progress and development – a subject that dominates present day thought-can be understood only as the fruit of a tested spirituality of human work; and it is only on the basis of such a spirituality that it can be realized and put into practice. This is the teaching, and also the program, that has its roots in “the gospel of work.”