Words of the Word

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Tuesday-Week31-2013.

“The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled.” (Luke 14:23)

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

“He turned to the Gentiles from the careless scorn of the rich. He invites both good and evil to enter in order to strengthen the good and change the disposition of the wicked for the better. The saying that was read today is fulfilled, “Then wolves and lambs will feed together.” He summons the poor, the maimed and the blind. By this, he shows us either that handicaps do not exclude us from the kingdom of heaven and whoever lacks the enticements of sinning rarely offends, or that the Lord’s mercy forgives the weakness of sinners. Whoever glories in the Lord glories as one redeemed from reproach not by works but by faith. He sends them into the highways, because wisdom sings aloud in passages. He sends them to the streets, because he sent them to sinners, so that they should come from the broad paths to the narrow way that leads to life. He sends them to the highways and hedges. They, who are not busied with any desires for present things, hurry to the future on the path of good will. Like a hedge that separates the wild from the cultivated and wards off the attacks of wild beasts, they can distinguish between good and evil and extend a rampart of faith against the temptations of spiritual wickedness.” (Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7)”

Almighty and merciful God,
by whose gift Your faithful offer
You right and praiseworthy service,
grant, we pray, that we may hasten
without stumbling to receive
the things you have promised.
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 You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Monday-Week31-2013. St Charles Borromeo.

“Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind ...” (Luke 14:13)

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons offers the following insight on this verse from today’s Gospel:

“Where are the hundredfold rewards in this age for the dinners offered to the poor? These things will be during the times of the kingdom, on the seventh day that is sanctified when God rested from all his works that he made. This is the true sabbath of the just, in which they will have no earthly work to do, but will have a table prepared before them by God, who will feed them with all kinds of delicacies.” (Against Heresies, 5)

Today is the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo. Pope Saint Pius X wrote an encyclical, On Saint Charles, 26 May 1910. An excerpt from Saint Charles’ writing on prayer appears as the Second Reading in today’s Office of Readings, Liturgy of the Hours.

On this day, kindly remember in your prayers the seminarians, faculty and staff of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, PA. Archbishop Charles Chaput will celebrate Mass at the Seminary today and admit a number of seminarians as Candidates for the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Preserve in the midst of your people,
we ask, O Lord,
the spirit with which you filled
the Bishop Saint Charles Borromeo,
that your Church may be constantly renewed and,
by conforming herself to the likeness of Christ,
may show his face to the world.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.

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

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Sunday-Week31-2013.

“So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.” (Luke 19:4)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“Zacchaeus climbed away from the crowd and saw Jesus without the crowd getting in his way. The crowd laughs at the lowly, to people walking the way of humility, who leave the wrongs they suffer in God’s hands and do not insist on getting back at their enemies. The crowd laughs at the lowly and says, “You helpless, miserable clod, you cannot even stick up for yourself and get back what is your own.” The crowd gets in the way and prevents Jesus from being seen. The crowd boasts and crows when it is able to get back what it owns. It blocks the sight of the one who said as he hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” ... He ignored the crowd that was getting in his way. He instead climbed a sycamore tree, a tree of “silly fruit.” As the apostle says, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block indeed to the Jews, [now notice the sycamore] but folly to the Gentiles.” Finally, the wise people of this world laugh at us about the cross of Christ and say, “What sort of minds do you people have, who worship a crucified God?” What sort of minds do we have? They are certainly not your kind of mind. “The wisdom of this world is folly with God.” No, we do not have your kind of mind. You call our minds foolish. Say what you like, but for our part, let us climb the sycamore tree and see Jesus. The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree. Let Zacchaeus grasp the sycamore tree, and let the humble person climb the cross. That is little enough, merely to climb it. We must not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, but we must fix it on our foreheads, where the seat of shame is. Above where all our blushes show is the place we must firmly fix that for which we should never blush. As for you, I rather think you make fun of the sycamore, and yet that is what has enabled me to see Jesus. You make fun of the sycamore, because you are just a person, but “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” (Sermon 174, 25)

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

Voices ever ancient, ever new. All Souls 2013.

“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.” (John 6:37)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“This is the reason why he does not cast out those who come to him. “For I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me.” The soul departed from God because it was proud. . . . Pride casts us out, humility restores us ... When a physician in the treatment of a disease cures certain outward symptoms but not the cause that produces them, his cure is only temporary. So long as the cause remains, the disease may return ... That the cause then of all diseases, that is, pride, might be eradicated, the Son of God humbled himself. Why are you proud, O man? The Son of God humbled himself for you. It might shame you, perhaps, to imitate a humble man; but imitate at least a humble God ... And this is the proof of his humility: “I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me.” Pride does its own will; humility does the will of God. For this very reason, therefore, I will not cast out the one who comes to me, because I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. I came to teach humility by being humble myself. Whoever comes to me is made a member of me. Such a person is necessarily humble, because he will not do his own will but the will of God; and therefore [this person] is not cast out. He was cast out, as proud ... But he will not cast us out because we are members of the one who desired to be our head by teaching us humility.” (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 25)

Listen kindly to our prayers, O Lord,
and, as our faith in your Son,
raised from the dead, is deepened,
so may our hope of resurrection
for Your departed servants also find new strength.
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.

Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

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

Voices ever ancient, ever new. ALL SAINTS 2013.

“When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.” (Matthew 5:1)

In commenting on this verse from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew from today’s Gospel, Saint Jerome of Bethlehem writes:

“The Lord went up the mountain that he might bring the crowds with him to higher things. The crowds were unable to go up, however, and he was followed by the disciples to whom he spoke, not standing but sitting together. For they were unable to understand this brilliant man in his majesty. Many of the simple believers literally believed that he taught the Beatitudes and other things on the Mount of Olives, but this is not really true. From the events that went before and followed, the place in Galilee has been shown to be what we believe is either Mount Tabor or some other high mountain. After he finished speaking, the Evangelist says, “Now when he had entered Capernaum.”” (Commentary on Matthew, 1)

Almighty ever-living God,
by whose gift we venerate in one celebration
the merits of all the Saints,
bestow on us, we pray,
through the prayers of so many intercessors,
an abundance of the reconciliation
with You for which we earnestly long.
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. Amen.

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

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Thursday-Week30-2013.

“Behold, your house will be abandoned. [But] I tell you, you will not see me until [the time comes when] you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:35)

In commenting on this verse from the Gospel according to Saint Luke from today’s Gospel, Cyril of Alexandria writes:

““And I tell you,” he says, “you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.’” What does this mean? The Lord withdrew from Jerusalem and left as unworthy of his presence those who said, “Get away from here.” And after he had walked about Judea and saved many and performed miracles which no words can adequately describe, he returned again to Jerusalem. It was then that he sat upon a colt of a donkey, while vast multitudes and young children, holding up branches of palm trees, went before him, praising him and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Having left them, therefore, as being unworthy, he says that when the time of his passion has arrived, he will then barely be seen by them. Then again he went up to Jerusalem and entered amidst praises, and at that very time endured his saving passion in our behalf, that by suffering he might save and renew to incorruption the inhabitants of the earth. God the Father has saved us by Christ. ” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 100)”

Almighty ever-living God,
increase our faith, hope and charity,
and make us love what you command,
so that we may merit what you promise.
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. Amen.

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

Voices ever ancient, ever new. Wednesday-Week30-2013.

“And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.” (Luke 13:26)

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on these verses from today’s Gospel:

“Christ has hidden enemies. All those who live unjust and irreligious lives are Christ’s enemies, even if they are signed with his name and are called Christians. I mean the ones to whom he is going to say, “I do not know you,” and they say to him, “Lord, in your name we ate and drank. In your name, we performed many deeds of power. What did we eat and drink in your name?” You see that they did not value their food very highly, and yet it was with reference to it that they said they belonged to Christ. Christ is the food that is eaten and drunk. Even Christ’s enemies eat and drink him. The faithful know the Lamb without spot on which they feed, if only they fed on it in such a way that they are not liable to punishment! The apostle says, “Whoever eats and drinks unworthily is eating and drinking judgment upon himself.” (Sermon 308)

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