Monday - September 11, 2017
A piece of advice I have insisted on repeatedly:
"BE CHEERFUL, ALWAYS CHEERFUL. SADNESS IS FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT CONSIDER THEMSELVES TO BE CHILDREN OF GOD."
--Saint Josemaria Escriva
TODAY'S READINGS
September 11, 2017
Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 437
Reading 1COL1:24–2:3
Brothers and sisters:I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his Body, which is the Church,
of which I am a minister
in accordance with God's stewardship given to me
to bring to completion for you the word of God,
the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.
But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,
to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
It is he whom we proclaim,
admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
For this I labor and struggle,
in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you
and for those in Laodicea
and all who have not seen me face to face,
that their hearts may be encouraged
as they are brought together in love,
to have all the richness of assured understanding,
for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Responsorial PsalmPS 62:6-7, 9
R. (8) In God is my safety and my glory.Only in God be at rest, my soul,
for from him comes my hope.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.
R. In God is my safety and my glory.
Trust in him at all times, O my people!
Pour out your hearts before him;
God is our refuge!
R. In God is my safety and my glory.
AlleluiaJN 10:27
R. Alleluia, alleluia.My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 6:6-11
On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
"Come up and stand before us."
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?"
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
"Stretch out your hand."
He did so and his hand was restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
******************************
Healing and suffering for God's kingdom
I believe in miracles that bring an end to pain, not only in biblical times but also for today's needs. I have witnessed them and I have experienced them personally. I have also learned the value of a different kind of miracle: the mystical union with Christ that comes from "offering up our sufferings" -- what Saint Paul describes in today's first reading as filling up, through our own flesh, "what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ."
Complete what is lacking? What could possibly be lacking in what Jesus did on Good Friday?
Christ's sufferings were a complete gift of love, and it totally made a difference, but this world has an ongoing need for salvation. We who are now his followers all have the very important responsibility of continuing his mission -- all of us! When Jesus said, "Follow me," he was beckoning us toward heaven. To follow him into resurrection glory we have to first join him in his mission, which goes all the way to the cross.
This means that we are not truly his followers if we do not make sacrifices for the sake of the salvation of others.
However, despite the redemptive value of suffering, in our Gospel reading today, Jesus makes it clear that it is good -- very good -- to preserve life and improve life and that it is his desire to provide healing. In fact, he demonstrates that putting an end to suffering is a better way to honor God than what the Pharisees were trying to do.
In an apparent contrast to this, Paul finds joy in suffering; to him, it's a very significant way to honor God.
So, when should we ask for a healing and when should we grit our teeth and bear our pains for the Lord? Keep in mind that Paul's sufferings in this reading came from imprisonment, not disease. However, no matter what the source of our sufferings, there are two essential gifts of love that are embedded in all of them if we want to be holy.
One is the gift of our life: We choose to let the Lord decide what to do with our illnesses, our crises, and our other painful trials. We use every means that he provides to overcome hardships; meanwhile, we choose to allow our sufferings to unite us to Jesus' redemptive love on the cross.
The second is the gift of our death: Before we die physically and follow Jesus to heaven, we die to self, we die to our desires and our ideas of how our sufferings should end and how swiftly, and we do this as a sacrifice of love. By letting Jesus lead us, we become channels of his mercy and sometimes even his miraculous intervention.
In other words, when I am healed, that's nice. But when others benefit, either through my healing or through my sufferings, that is so much better! It unites me -- and those other people -- to Jesus in his resurrection.
------------------------------
God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
No comments:
Post a Comment