Thursday - December 14, 2017
We should love God because He is God, and the measure of our love should be to love Him without measure.
-- St Bernard
TODAY'S READINGS
December 14, 2017
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 184
Reading 1IS 41:13-20
I am the LORD, your God,
who grasp your right hand;
It is I who say to you, "Fear not,
I will help you."
Fear not, O worm Jacob,
O maggot Israel;
I will help you, says the LORD;
your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
I will make of you a threshing sledge,
sharp, new, and double-edged,
To thresh the mountains and crush them,
to make the hills like chaff.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off
and the storm shall scatter them.
But you shall rejoice in the LORD,
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain,
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
who grasp your right hand;
It is I who say to you, "Fear not,
I will help you."
Fear not, O worm Jacob,
O maggot Israel;
I will help you, says the LORD;
your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
I will make of you a threshing sledge,
sharp, new, and double-edged,
To thresh the mountains and crush them,
to make the hills like chaff.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off
and the storm shall scatter them.
But you shall rejoice in the LORD,
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain,
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Responsorial PsalmPS 145:1 AND 9, 10-11, 12-13AB
R. (8) The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let them make known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let them make known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
AlleluiaSEE IS 45:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let the clouds rain down the Just One,
and the earth bring forth a Savior.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
"Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it,
he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
Let the clouds rain down the Just One,
and the earth bring forth a Savior.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 11:11-15
Jesus said to the crowds:"Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it,
he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."
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The Gift of Recovering from Worminess!
In our first reading today, the Lord calls his people a maggot and a worm. Imagine that!
Yes, sometimes we are worms, slimy critters that crawl in the dirt because we prefer to defend or justify or rationalize our sins rather than rise above them through sincere repentance. We are, all too often, maggots thriving on the rotting corpses of damaged relationships as we cater to the passions of our selfishness and pride.
Jesus was born into this decaying world so that he could take our maggotness upon himself during his crucifixion and give us a new life in the Father's forgiveness. This new life becomes proof to others that God is real: Others may see and know, observe and understand that it is by the Lord's hand that we've become better people: healthier in relationships and holier in our activities.
However, Jesus never forces us to accept what he offers. Transformation occurs when we become willing to repent. Our sins become motivation for purifying our lives and growing in holiness.
We remain as maggots until we recognize the poverty of our souls. Then God responds to our thirst for goodness, to our desert of dry spirituality, and to our wastelands of poorly spent lives.
Even when we're slow to give up our wormy ways, God is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in kindness," as today's responsorial psalm reminds us. By his grace, we can learn. In his mercy, we accept the consequences of our sins and use them as lessons for holy living.
Why are we reluctant to change? Why do we have to get sick on our rotten meals before we repent?
Jesus says in the Gospel reading today that the kingdom of God is taken by force — our force, not God's. We have to force ourselves to walk away from sin. We have to force ourselves to give up our co-dependencies that substitute for real (i.e., unconditional) love. We have to force ourselves to overcome bad habits, short tempers, distrustful grumblings, judgmentalism, disobedience of whichever teachings of the Church we don't like, and all the other sins that feel comfortable and preferable.
Once we do this violence to ourselves, God embraces us in his tender but strong hands. He opens up rivers of rich holiness on our "bare heights." He quenches our thirst for spiritual growth. He sprouts new life from our deserts.
Today, give to Jesus a sincere request to be transformed. Force yourself to admit the sins that you've been ignoring or rationalizing away. Give Jesus your reluctance to change. Do it by utilizing one of the sacraments that provides God's grace for holy living: Confession (the Sacrament of Reconciliation), or if you're seriously ill, the Sacrament of Anointing, or the Eucharist and the Penance Rite at the beginning of Mass.
Force yourself to follow through on this! Why go into Christmas as a worm or maggot?
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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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