Monday - November 05, 2018
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
--Blessed Mother Teresa
November 5, 2018
Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 485
Reading 1PHIL 2:1-4
Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also everyone for those of others.
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also everyone for those of others.
Responsorial PsalmPS 131:1BCDE, 2, 3
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
AlleluiaJN 8:31B-32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you remain in my word, you will truly be my discip0les,
and you will know the truth, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you remain in my word, you will truly be my discip0les,
and you will know the truth, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelLK 14:12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
"When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
******************************
Finding and Plugging Our Pride-leaks
We're humble enough to recognize that we have too much pride, aren't we? Truly, you and I prefer to be humble and holy; that's why we put so much effort into our spiritual growth. And yet (sigh), pride is everyone's number one failing, isn't it. Why can't we get through just one day totally humble?
As soon as we think that we've overcome pride, it finds another way to leak out of us. We could humbly make a loving sacrifice by doing a good deed to someone and, when thanked for it, give the glory to God, but in the next moment pridefully "appreciate" the fact that we are more loving, i.e., "better", than those who don't do the same.
Sure, but don't forget that humility includes being patient with ourselves as we find and plug our pride-leaks, one at a time, day after day. Humility grows; we can't switch it on like a light bulb.
In today's first reading, Saint Paul lists some of the harmful effects of pride: Rivalry and conceit cause division and disunity, breaking the bonds of love. And he names the cure: We must consider others as more important than ourselves. Keep in mind, please, that he's not talking about an inferiority attitude, in which we lose sight of the equality of all people, including ourselves. It's not humble to treat ourselves poorly. To do so is to mock the Father who created us, implying that he made a mistake with us.
Rather, Paul is showing us that when we rise above our selfishness to serve others, Christ's love is at work in us, ministering to others through us, and we all feel better.
Jesus, too, gives us a cure for pride in the Gospel reading. When we give without expecting anything in return, we're immersed in humility. We overcome pride by doing for others what they cannot do for us. Similarly, when others do good to us, pride insists that we reciprocate, but humility means accepting the gift as a free gesture of love.
Today's responsorial Psalm gives us the key to humility: We can say, "O Lord, my heart is not proud" because, "In you, Lord, I have found my peace." Humility is recognizing that God is in everything that's good and holy. Humility says: "I am good and I do good because the Lord is good, and it is he who does good works in me and through me." Pride, on the other hand, says, "Look at me! Look at what I've done!" Period.
Daily, we need to pray for the grace to find and plug our pride-leaks. If you can get to weekday Masses, you've got a built-in opportunity to plug holes every day, the Penitential Rite when we call to mind our sins and ask Mary and all the angels and saints and all of our brothers and sisters to pray for us. It's one of the main reasons why I go to daily Mass.
God Bless You.....
Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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