Monday - February 13, 2023
If you see that you have not yet suffered tribulations, consider it certain that you have not begun to be a true servant of God; for Saint Paul says plainly that all who chose to live piously in Christ, shall suffer persecutions
--St. Augustine
TODAY'S READINGS
Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 335
Reading I
The man had relations with his wife Eve,
and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,
“I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”
Next she bore his brother Abel.
Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.
In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD
from the fruit of the soil,
while Abel, for his part,
brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
but on Cain and his offering he did not.
Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.
So the LORD said to Cain:
“Why are you so resentful and crestfallen.
If you do well, you can hold up your head;
but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door:
his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”
Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.”
When they were in the field,
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
He answered, “I do not know.
Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The LORD then said: “What have you done!
Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!
Therefore you shall be banned from the soil
that opened its mouth to receive
your brother’s blood from your hand.
If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce.
You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.”
Cain said to the LORD: “My punishment is too great to bear.
Since you have now banished me from the soil,
and I must avoid your presence
and become a restless wanderer on the earth,
anyone may kill me at sight.”
“Not so!” the LORD said to him.
“If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.”
So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.
Adam again had relations with his wife,
and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth.
“God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel,” she said,
“because Cain slew him.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (14a) Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.”
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
“You sit speaking against your brother;
against your mother’s son you spread rumors.
When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.”
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia
Gospel
The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.
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From the Depths...
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.” Luke 6:24–26
Luke 6:20–49 offers us a shortened version of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew’s Gospel. Luke’s version of this sermon takes place on a plain, “a stretch of level ground.” The teachings in the two Gospels are very similar, despite their difference in length. Luke’s teaching on the Beatitudes adds the “woe to you’s” quoted above, which are not found in Matthew’s version.
The early Church Father Saint Bede comments that Saint Luke’s version of the “woes” are meant for those who are “uninstructed hearers” because they “must first be brought by terrors to good works.” He goes on to say that the first part of the Beatitudes, the “blessings,” are meant for the “perfect” because they “need but be invited by rewards” rather than fear of punishment. The fact that Saint Luke includes a teaching for both the sinner and the saint should lead us to the conclusion that we can benefit from both approaches in our spiritual lives.
When your spiritual life is strong and you are consistently avoiding serious sin, it might be more helpful to reflect regularly upon the blessings found in the Beatitudes. This will have the effect of drawing you into greater perfection as the desire for the reward of holiness becomes the object of your hope.
When your spiritual life is weaker and you are regularly struggling with more serious sin, it might be more helpful to reflect upon the woes of the Beatitudes. This will have the effect of deterring you from the cycle of sin you struggle with, on account of the fear of the consequences of those sins.
In the end, the Beatitudes and their subsequent woes are meant to point us interiorly to the desires of our hearts. We must become more and more aware of what occupies our thinking and desires. Ultimately, wealth or poverty, hunger or satisfaction, worldly praise or persecution do not matter. What matters is that our hearts are detached from the desires identified in this sermon so that we more fully desire only God and His holy will, regardless of the circumstances of life we find ourselves in.
Reflect, today, upon your own spiritual and moral life and first consider whether you are blessed to be living a life that more imitates the saints or whether you more often reflect the serious struggles of the sinner. From there, try to choose which form of teaching you need the most. Do you need to ponder the rewards of seeking even greater beatitude in life so as to grow deeper in holiness? Or do you need Jesus’ clear condemnations to help you break free from the cycle of sin with which you are struggling? Humbly identify that which is most helpful to you right now in your spiritual life and allow this full sermon of Jesus to help you on your journey to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Today's Prayer
Lord of holiness, I do desire to follow You and become truly holy. Please free me from my sin so that I am able to avoid the consequences of those sins. Please help me to also desire the heights of holiness so that I will receive the great rewards that You promised to the saints in Heaven. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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