Friday - October 06, 2017
" From Mary we learn to surrender to God’s will in all things. From Mary we learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. From Mary we learn to love Christ her son and the Son of God!
~~ Pope John Paul II
TODAY'S READINGS
October 6, 2017
Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 459
Reading 1BAR 1:15-22
During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:"Justice is with the Lord, our God;
and we today are flushed with shame,
we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,
that we, with our kings and rulers
and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,
have sinned in the Lord's sight and disobeyed him.
We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,
nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.
From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt
until the present day,
we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God,
and only too ready to disregard his voice.
And the evils and the curse that the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant,
at the time he led our ancestors forth from the land of Egypt
to give us the land flowing with milk and honey,
cling to us even today.
For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God."
Responsorial PsalmPS 79:1B-2, 3-5, 8, 9
R. (9) For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of heaven,
the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
They have poured out their blood like water
round about Jerusalem,
and there is no one to bury them.
We have become the reproach of our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
O LORD, how long? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
Help us, O God our savior,
because of the glory of your name;
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake.
R. For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.
AlleluiaPS 95:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 10:13-16
Jesus said to them,"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented,
sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
at the judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld.'
Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me.
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
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AS GOD'S PROPHET, YOU ARE NOT ALONE
Every time we open our mouths to speak, we need to remember that we have a ministry of words. Always. Nothing that is vocalized can be deleted from the air before penetrating the minds of those who hear us. Even our tone of voice conveys a message. So, too, the silent words of emails and blogs.
Are our words always holy? Is there any valid reason why our words shouldn't always be holy?
Jesus is our example of words and tones that reflect the kingdom of God.
He says to us in our Gospel reading today, "Anyone who listens to you is listening to me, and anyone who rejects you is rejecting both me and the Father who sent me." See how important our words are? Do others hear Jesus every time we open our mouths? Well, shouldn't they be able to? Did Jesus ever take a break from speaking the words of his Father?
As Christians, we serve as God's prophets. When we were baptized, we were joined to the ministry of Christ's priesthood, kingship, and mouth. We are Christ in the flesh for our contemporary world. Anyone who knows that we claim to be Christian gets either a good idea or a wrong idea about who Jesus is and what he is really like, based on what they hear from us.
Being a prophet is often a very sad ministry, because too many people fail to see Jesus in us. Sometimes it's our fault, but sometimes, no matter how holy our words and no matter how purely we speak with love, the people who hear us have the same problem as the Israelites did in today's first reading; they are "only too ready to disregard God's voice."
For many varied reasons, ranging from a faulty upbringing to freely made choices, they refuse to "heed the voice of the Lord in the words of the prophets he sends." However, Jesus isn't finished talking to them yet.
It's been said that a person has to hear the truth from seven different people before it begins to change them. That number won't always be literally accurate, but it is true that multiple prophets are needed. When it's our turn, we don't know if we're the first, in the middle, or the last prophet whom God puts in their path.
When they refuse to listen to us, it's important that we forgive them so that we convert our frustration into sadness instead of resentment. Then we can use our sorrow for prayer power. With yearning, ask God to soften their hearts through the circumstances and people who come their way. Remember, it is not you who's being rejected; it's Jesus, so don't take it personally. Let the rejection go through you to him where it belongs. He's the one who will figure out what to do next, not us.
We are not alone in this. God will indeed send other prophets. In him, there is always reason to hope. We are in partnership with Jesus and with the entire earthly Body of Christ.
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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