Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Almighty and everlasting God,
our source of power and inspiration,
give us strength and joy
in serving you as followers of Christ,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 39-48
Jesus said to his disciples. 'You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.'
Peter said, 'Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?'
The Lord replied, 'Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food?
Blessed that servant if his master's arrival finds him doing exactly that. I tell you truly, he will put him in charge of everything that he owns. But if the servant says to himself, "My master is taking his time coming," and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.
'The servant who knows what his master wants, but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes, will be given a great many strokes of the lash.
The one who did not know, but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating, will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be expected.
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel presents again the exhortation to vigilance with two other parables. Yesterday, it was the parable of the Master and the servant (Lk 12: 36-38). Today, the first parable is the one of the householder and the burglar (Lk 12: 39-40) and the other one speaks of the master and the steward (Lk 12: 41-47).
• Luke 12: 39-40: The parable of the householder and of the burglar. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the walls of the house. You too must stand ready, because the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So just as the householder does not know at what hour the burglar will come, in the same way, no one knows the hour when the Son of Man will arrive. Jesus says this very clearly: "But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son. No one but the Father!” (Mk 13: 32). Today many people live worried about the end of the world. On the streets of the cities, we see written on the walls: Jesus will return! There are even persons who are in anguish because of the proximity of the end of the world, and they commit suicide. But time goes by and the end of the world does not arrive! Many times the affirmation “Jesus will return” is used to frighten people and oblige them to go to church! After waiting and speculation about the coming of Jesus, many people no longer perceive the presence in our midst, in the most common things of life, or in daily events. What is important is not to know the hour of the end of the world, but rather being capable of perceiving the coming of Jesus who is already present in our midst in the person of the poor (cf Mt 25: 40) and in so many other ways and events of every day life.
• Luke 12: 41: Peter’s question. “Then, Peter said, Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone? The reason for this question asked by Peter is not clearly understood. It recalls another episode, in which Jesus responds to a similar question saying: “To you it is granted to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not granted” (Mt 13: 10-11; Lk 8: 9-10).
• Luke 12: 42-48ª: The parable of the householder and the steward. In the response to Peter’s question, Jesus formulates another question in the form of a parable: “Who then is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his household to give them at the proper time their allowance of food?” Immediately after, Jesus himself gives the response in the parable: the good steward is the one who carries out his mission of servant, he does not use the goods received for his own advantage, and is always vigilant and attentive. Perhaps this is an indirect response to Peter’s question, as if He would say: “Peter, the parable is really for you! It is up to you to know how to administer well the mission which God has given you: to coordinate the communities. In this sense, the response is also valid for each one of us. And here the final warning acquire much sense: “When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal, of that person even more will be expected”.
• The coming of the Son of Man and the end of this world. The same problems existed in the Christian communities of the first centuries. Many people of the communities said that the end of this world was close at hand and that Jesus would return afterwards. Some from the community of Thessalonica in Greece, basing themselves in Paul’s preaching said: “Jesus will return!” (1 Th 4: 13-18; 2 Th 2: 2). And because of this, there were even persons who no longer worked, because they thought that the coming would be within a few days or few weeks. Why work if Jesus would return? (cf 2 Th 3: 11). Paul responds that it was not so simple as it seemed, and to those who did not work he would warn: “He who does not work has no right to eat!” Others remained looking up to Heaven, waiting for the return of Jesus on the clouds (cf. Ac 1: 11). And others did not like to wait (2 P 3: 4-9). In general the Christians lived expecting the imminent coming of Jesus. Jesus would come for the Final Judgment to end the unjust history of this world here below and to inaugurate a new phase of history, the definitive phase of the New Heavens and the New Earth. They thought that it would take place after one or two generations. Many people would still be alive when Jesus would appear glorious in Heaven (1Th 4: 16-17; Mk 9: 1). Others, tired of waiting would say: “He will never come back!” (2 P 3: 4). Even up until today, the final return of Jesus has not yet taken place! How can this delay be understood? We are not aware that Jesus has already returned, and that He is in our midst: “Look, I am with you always, yes, till the end of time”. (Mt 28: 20). He is already at our side in the struggle for justice, for peace and for life. The plenitude and the fullness has not been attained, but an example or guarantee of the Kingdom is already in our midst. This is why, we wait with firm hope for the total liberation of humanity and of nature (Rm 8: 22-25). And when we wait and we struggle, we say rightly: “He is already in our midst!” (Mt 25: 40).
4) Personal questions
• The response of Jesus to Peter serves also for us, for me. Am I a good administrator of the mission which I have received?
• What do I do in order to be always vigilant?
5) Concluding prayer
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
praised be the name of Yahweh!
Supreme over all nations is Yahweh,
supreme over the heavens his glory. (Ps 113: 3-4)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Almighty and everlasting God,
our source of power and inspiration,
give us strength and joy
in serving you as followers of Christ,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 35-38
Jesus said to his disciples: 'See that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit. Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.
Blessed those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them.
It may be in the second watch that he comes, or in the third, but blessed are those servants if he finds them ready.
3) Reflection
• By means of this parable, the gospel today exhorts us to be vigilant.
• Luke 12: 35: Exhortation to be vigilant, watchful. "Be ready and have your belts done up and your lamps lit”. To gird oneself meant to take a cloth or a cord and put it around the robe. To be girded meant to be ready, prepared for immediate action. Before the flight from Egypt, at the moment of celebrating the Passover, the Israelites had to gird themselves, that is be prepared, ready to be able to leave immediately (EX 12: 11). When someone goes to work, to fight or to execute a task he girds himself (Ct 3: 8). In the letter of Paul to the Ephesians he describes the armor of God and he says that your waist must be girded with the cord of truth (Ep 6: 14). The lamps should be lit, because to watch is the task to be carried out during the day as well as during the night. Without light one cannot go in the darkness of the night.
• Luke 12: 36: A parable. In order to explain what it means to be girded, Jesus tells a brief parable. “Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks”. The task of waiting for the arrival of the master demands constant and permanent vigilance, especially during the night, because one does not know at what time the master will return. The employee has to always be attentive and vigilant.
• Luke 12: 37: Promise of happiness. “Blessed those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them”. Here in this promise of happiness, things turn up side down. The master becomes the employee and begins to serve the employee who becomes the master. At the Last Supper Jesus teaches that even though He is Lord and Master, He became the servant of all (Jn 13: 4-17).The happiness promised has something to do with the future, with happiness at the end of time, as opposed to what Jesus promised in the other parable when He said: “Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, come and have your meal at once? Would he not be more likely to say, ‘Get my supper ready; fasten your belt and wait on me while I eat and drink. You yourself can eat and drink afterwards? Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So with you, when you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘we are useless servants; we have done no more than our duty” (Lk 17: 7-10).
• Luke 12: 38: He repeats the promise of happiness. “And if he comes at midnight, or at dawn, and finds those servants ready, blessed are they!” He repeats the promise of happiness which requires total vigilance. The master could return at midnight, at three o’clock in the morning, or at any other moment. The employee must be girded, ready to be able to do his work immediately.
4) Personal questions
• We are employees of God. We should be girded, ready, attentive and vigilant twenty-four hours a day. Do you succeed to do this? How do you do it?
• The promise of future happiness is the opposite of the present. What does this reveal to us of the goodness of God for us, for me?
5) Concluding prayer
I am listening. What is God's message?
Yahweh's message is peace for his people.
His saving help is near for those who fear him,
his glory will dwell in our land. (Ps 85: 8-9)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 10: 1-9
The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of Him in pairs, to all the towns and places He himself would be visiting. And He said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to do his harvesting. Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.
Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, "Peace to this house!" And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you."
3) Reflection
● Today, on the feast of the Evangelist Saint Luke, the Gospel presents to us the sending out of the seventy-two disciples who have to announce the Good News of God in the villages and in the cities of Galilee. We are the seventy-two who come after the Twelve. Through the mission of the disciples, Jesus seeks to recover the community values of the tradition of the people who felt crushed by the twofold slavery of the Roman domination and by the official religion. Jesus tries to renew and organize the communities in such a way that again they are an expression of the Covenant, an example of the Kingdom of God. This is why He insists in hospitality, sharing, communion, and acceptance of the excluded. This insistence of Jesus is found in the advice that He gave to his disciples when He sent them out on mission. At the time of Jesus there were other movements which, like Jesus, were looking for a new way to live and to live together. John the Baptist, the Pharisees and others for example. They also formed communities of disciples (Jn 1: 35; Lk 11: 1; Ac 19: 3) and they had their missionaries (Mt 23: 15). But as we will see there was a great difference.
● Luke 10: 1-3: The Mission. Jesus sends out the disciples to the places where He wanted to go. The disciple is the spokesperson of Jesus. He is not the owner of the Good News. He sends them out two by two. That favors reciprocal help, because the mission is not individual, but rather it is a community mission.
● Luke 10: 2-3: Co-responsibility. The first task is to pray in order that God sends laborers. All the disciples have to feel that they are responsible for the mission. This is why I should pray to the Father for the continuity of the mission. Jesus sends out his disciples as lambs in the middle of wolves. The mission is a difficult and dangerous task because the system in which the disciples lived, and in which we live, was and continues to be contrary to the reorganization of living communities.
● Luke 10: 4-6: Hospitality. Contrary to the other missionaries, the disciples of Jesus should not take anything with them, no haversack, no sandals; but they should take peace. This means that they have to trust in the hospitality of the people. This is because the disciple who goes without anything, taking only peace, indicates that he trusts in people. He thinks that he will be welcomed and people will feel respected and confirmed. By means of this practice the disciple criticizes the laws of exclusion and recovers the ancient values of life in a community. Do not greet anybody on the way means that no time should be lost with things which do not belong to the mission.
● Luke 10: 7: Sharing. The disciples should not go from house to house, but they should remain in the same house. That is, that they should live together with others in a stable way, participate in the life and work of the people and live from what they receive in exchange, because the laborer deserves his wages. This means that they should trust the sharing. Thus, by means of this new practice, they recover an ancient tradition of the people, criticizing a culture of accumulation which characterized the politics of the Roman Empire and they announced a new model of living together.
● Luke 10: 8: Communion around the table. When the Pharisees went on mission, they got ready. They thought that they could not trust the food the people would give them and that it was not always ritually “pure”. For this reason they took with them a haversack, a purse and money to be able to get their own food. Thus, instead of helping to overcome divisions, the observance of the laws of purity weakened the living out of the community values even more. The disciples of Jesus should eat whatever the people offered them. They could not live separated, eating their own food. This means that they should accept sharing around the table. They should not be afraid to lose legal purity in contact with the people. Acting in that way, they criticize the laws which are in force, and they announce a new access to purity, that it is intimacy with God.
● Luke 10: 9a: The acceptance of the excluded. The disciples have to take care of the sick, cure the lepers and cast out devils (Mt 10,:8). That means that they should accept those who were excluded within the community. This practice of solidarity criticizes the society that excluded many and indicates concrete ways for changing this. This is what the pastoral ministry with the excluded, migrants and marginalized does today.
● Luke 10: 9b: The coming of the Kingdom. If these requests are respected, then the disciples can and should shout out to all parts of the world: The Kingdom of God has arrived! To proclaim the Kingdom is not, in the first place, to teach truth and doctrine, but to lead toward a new way of living and living together as brothers and sisters starting from the Good News which Jesus has proclaimed to us: God is Father and Mother of all of us.
4) Personal questions
● Hospitality, sharing, communion, welcoming and acceptance of the excluded: are pillars which support community life. How does this take place in my community?
● What does it mean for me to be Christian? In an interview on TV a person answered as follows to the journalist: “I am a Christian, I try to live the Gospel, but I do not participate in the community of the Church”. And the journalist commented: “Then do you consider yourself a football player without a team!” Is this my case?
5) Concluding prayer
All your creatures shall thank you, Yahweh,
and your faithful shall bless you.
They shall speak of the glory of your kingship
and tell of your might. (Ps 145: 10-11)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 8-12
Jesus said to his disciples: 'I tell you, if anyone openly declares himself for me in the presence of human beings, the Son of man will declare himself for him in the presence of God's angels. But anyone who disowns me in the presence of human beings will be disowned in the presence of God's angels.
'Everyone who says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but no one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven. 'When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say.'
3) Reflection
• Context. While Jesus is on the way toward Jerusalem, we read in Luke, chapter 11, that precedes our passage, presenting Him as having the intention to reveal the abyss of the merciful acting of God and at the same time the profound misery hidden in the heart of man. Particularly in revealing this to those who have the task of being witnesses of the Word and of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. Jesus presents such realities with a series of reflections which provoke effects in the reader, such as to feel attracted by the force of his Word to the point of feeling judged interiorly and detached from all desires of greatness which shake and agitate man (9, 46). The reader identifies himself with various attitudes that the teaching of Jesus arouses. Above all, he recognizes himself as follower of Christ in the disciple and sent to precede him in the role of messenger of the kingdom, in the one who hesitates somewhat in following him, and in the Pharisee or doctor of the Law, a slave of their interpretations and life style. In summary, the course of the reader in chapter 11 is characterized by this encounter with the teaching of Jesus who reveals to him the intimacy of God, the mercy of God’s heart, and the truth of his being a man. In chapter 12, Jesus opposes the perverted judgment of man to the goodness of God who always gives with superabundance. Man’s life enters into play here. It is necessary to be attentive to the perversion of the human judgment and to the hypocrisy that distorts values in order to privilege only one’s own interests and advantages more than being interested in life, that life which is accepted gratuitously. The Word of God gives the reader an appeal on how to face the question regarding life: man will be judged on his behavior at the time of threats. It is necessary to be concerned with the men who can “kill the body” but rather to have at heart the fear of God who judges and corrects. But Jesus does not promise the disciples that they will be free from threats and persecutions, but He assures them that they will have God’s help at the moments of difficulty.
• To know how to recognize Jesus. The courageous commitment to recognize the friendship of Jesus publicly implies as a consequence a personal communion with Him at the moment of his return to judge the world. At the same time, the betrayal in “who will deny me”, the one who is afraid to confess and recognize Jesus publicly, condemns himself. The reader is invited to reflect on the crucial importance of Jesus in the history of salvation. It is necessary to decide to be either with Jesus or against Him and of his Word of Grace. This decision, to recognize or to reject Jesus, depends is critical to our salvation. Luke makes it evident that the communion that Jesus gives at the present time to his disciples will be confirmed and will become perfect at the moment of his coming in glory (“he will come in his glory and of the Father and of the angels”: 9: 26). The call to the Christian community is very evident. Even if it has been exposed to the hostility of the world, it is indispensable not to cease to give a courageous witness of Jesus, of communion with him, to value and not to be ashamed to show one is a Christian.
• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Here Luke understands blasphemy as offensive speaking or speaking against. This verb was applied to Jesus when in 5, 21 He had forgiven sins. The question presented in this passage may give rise in the reader to some difficulty: is blasphemy against the Son of man less grave or serious than the one against the Holy Spirit? The language of Jesus may seem rather strong for the reader of the Gospel of Luke. Through the Gospel he has seen Jesus as showing the behavior of God who goes to look for sinners, who is demanding but who knows how to wait for the moment of return to Him, when the sinner attains maturity. In Mark and Matthew blasphemy against the Spirit is the lack of recognizing the power of God in the exorcisms of Jesus. But in Luke it may mean the deliberate and known rejection of the prophetic Spirit that is working in the actions and teaching of Jesus, that is to say, a rejection of the encounter with the merciful acting of salvation with the Father. The lack of recognition of the divine origin of the mission of Jesus, the direct offenses to the person of Jesus, may be forgiven, but anyone who denies the acting of the Holy Spirit in the mission of Jesus will not be forgiven. It is not a question of an opposition between the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, or of some contrasting symbol of two diverse periods of history, that of Jesus and that of the community after the Passover, but rather, the evangelist wants to definitively show that to reject the Holy Spirit in the mission of Jesus is equal to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
4) Personal questions
• Are you aware that to be a Christian requires the need to face difficulties, deceit, dangers, and even to risk one’s own life to give witness of one’s own friendship with Jesus?
• Do you become embarrassed of being a Christian? Are you more concerned about the judgments of men, their approval, are these more important for you or that of losing your friendship with Christ?
5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh our Lord,
how majestic is your name throughout the world!
Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens,
even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms. (Ps 8: 1-2)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 12,1-7
Meanwhile the people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And Jesus began to speak, first of all to his disciples. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed from the housetops.
'To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, He is the one to fear.
Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God's sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel presents a last criticism of Jesus against the religious authority of his time.
• Luke 12, 1ª: Thousands were looking for Jesus. “At that time people had gathered in the thousands and were treading on one another”. This phrase allows to have a glimpse of the enormous popularity of Jesus and the desire of the people to encounter Him (cf. Mk 6, 31; Mt 13, 2). It makes us also see the abandonment in which people found themselves. “They are like sheep without a shepherd,” said Jesus on another occasion when He saw the crowds get close to Him to listen to his words (Mk 6, 34).
• Luke 12, 1b: Attention with hypocrisy. “Jesus began to speak first of all to his disciples: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees – their hypocrisy”. Mark had already spoken of the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Herodians and had suggested that it was a question of the mentality, or of the dominant ideology of that time, which expected a glorious and powerful Messiah (Mk 8, 15; 8, 31-33). In this text Luke identifies the yeast of the Pharisees with hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is an attitude which turns up side down or overturns the values. It hides the truth. It shows a beautiful cloak or cape which hides and falsifies what is rotten inside. In this case, hypocrisy was like the apparent cover of the extreme fidelity to the word of God which hid the contradiction of their life. Jesus wants the contrary. He wants coherence and not that which remains hidden.
• Luke 12, 2-3: That which is hidden will be revealed. “Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaims from the housetops”. It is the second time that Luke speaks about this theme (cf. Lc 8, 17). Instead of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees which hides the truth, the disciples should be sincere. They should not be afraid of truth. Jesus invites them to share with the others the teachings which they learn from Him. The disciples cannot keep these to themselves, but they should spread them. One day, the masks will fall completely away and everything will be clearly revealed and will be proclaimed on the housetops (Mt 10, 26-27).
• Luke 12, 4-5: Do not be afraid. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear Him who after He has killed has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, He is the one to fear”. Here Jesus addresses himself to his friends the disciples. They should not be afraid of those who kill the body, who torture, who trample on and make one suffer. Those who torture can kill the body, but they cannot kill liberty and the spirit. Yes, they should be afraid that fear of suffering may lead them to hide or to deny the truth will lead them to offend God,; because he who separates himself from God will be lost forever.
• Luke 12, 6-7: You are worth more than many sparrows. “Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God’s sight. For every hair on hour head has been counted. Do not fear you are worth more than many sparrows”. The disciples should not be afraid of anything, because they are in God’s hands. Jesus asks them to look at the sparrows. Two sparrows are sold for a few pennies and not one of them falls to the ground without the will of the Father. Even the hair on your head is counted. Luke says that not one hair falls from your head without the permission of the Father (Lk 21, 18). And so many hairs fall from our head! This is why, “Do not fear, you are worth more than many sparrows”. This is the lesson that Jesus draws from the contemplation of nature (cf Mt 10, 29-31).
• The contemplation of nature. In the Sermon on the Mountain, the most important message Jesus takes is from the contemplation on nature. He says: “Have you heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy; but I say: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for He causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore set no bounds to your love, just as the Heavenly Father sets non to his” (Mt 5, 43-45.48). The observation of the rhythm of the sun and the rain lead Jesus to make that revolutionary affirmation: “Love your enemies”. The same thing is valid concerning the invitation to look at the flowers of the fields and the birds of the sky (Mt 6, 25-30). This contemplative and surprising attitude before nature led Jesus to criticize truths apparently eternal. Six times, one after another, He had the courage to publicly correct the Law of God: “It has been said, but I tell you...” The discovery made in the renewed contemplation of nature becomes a very important light to reread history for Him.A different look which discovers lights that were not perceived before. Today there is new vision of the universe which is circulating. The discoveries of science concerning the immensity of the macro-cosmos and of the micro-cosmos are becoming sources of a new contemplation of the universe. Many apparently eternal truths are now beginning to be criticized.
4) Personal questions
• What is hidden will be revealed. Is there in me something which I fear that it be revealed?
• The contemplation of the sparrows and of the things of nature lead Jesus to have a new and surprising attitude which reveals the gratuitous goodness of God. Do I usually contemplate nature?
5) Concluding prayer
The word of Yahweh is straightforward,
all He does springs from his constancy.
He loves uprightness and justice;
the faithful love of Yahweh fills the earth. (Ps 33,4-5)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11: 47-54
Jesus said: 'Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets, the people your ancestors killed! In this way you both witness to what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building.
'And that is why the Wisdom of God said, "I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet's blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple." Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all.
'Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge! You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others from going in who wanted to.'
When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on Him and tried to force answers from Him on innumerable questions, lying in wait to catch Him out in something He might say.
3) Reflection
• Once again for the hundredth time, today’s Gospel speaks about the conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities of that time.
• Luke 11: 47-48: Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets. “Alas for you because you build tombs for the prophets, the people your ancestors killed! In this way you both witness to what your ancestors did and approve it; they did the killing, you do the building”. Mathew says that these were the Scribes and the Pharisees (Mt 23: 19). Jesus’ reasoning is clear. If the ancestors killed the prophets and the sons built the tombs, it is because the sons approved the crime of their fathers. Besides this, everybody knows that the dead prophet does not disturb anybody. In this way the sons become witnesses and accomplices of the same crime (cf. Mt 23: 29-32).
• Luke 11: 49-51: To ask for an account of the blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world. “That is why the wisdom of God said: I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Able to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple. Yes, I tell you, this generation is lying in wait to catch Him out in something He might say”. Compared with the Gospel of Matthew, Luke usually offers a brief version of Matthew’s text. But here he increases the observations: “shed since the creation of the world, of the blood of Abel”. He did the same thing with the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew, who wrote for the converted Jews, begins with Abraham (Mt 1: 1.2.17), while Luke goes back to Adam (Lk 3: 38). Luke universalizes and includes the Pagans, then he writes his Gospel for the converted Pagans. The information about the murdering of Zechariah in the Temple is given in the Book of Chronicles: “The spirit of God then invested Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, ‘God says this, ‘Why transgress Yahweh’s commands to your certain ruin? For if you abandon Yahweh, He will abandon you. Then they plotted against him and at the king’s order stoned him in the court of the Temple of Yahweh” (2Cr 24: 20-21). Jesus knew the story of his people to the minutest detail. He knew that He would be the next one on the list from Abel to Zechariah; and up until now the list continues to be open. Many people have died for the cause of justice and of truth.
• Luke 11: 52: Alas for you doctors of the Law. “Alas for you lawyers who have taken away the key of knowledge. You have not gone in yourselves and have prevented others from going in who wanted to”. How do they close the Kingdom? They believe that they have the monopoly on knowledge in regard to God and to God’s Law and they impose on others their own way, without leaving a margin for a different idea. They present God as a severe judge, and in the name of God they impose laws and norms which have nothing to do with the commandments of God. They falsify the image of the Kingdom and kill in others the desire to serve God and the Kingdom. A community which organizes itself around this false god “does not enter into the Kingdom”. Neither is it an expression of the Kingdom, and prevents its members from entering into the Kingdom. It is important to notice the difference between Matthew and Luke. Matthew speaks about the entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven and the phrase is written in the verbal form in the present: "Alas for you, lawyers of the Law and Pharisees, hypocrites, who close the Kingdom of Heaven before men, because in this way you do not enter and you prevent others from going in who wanted to enter (Mt 23: 13). The expression to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven could mean to enter in Heaven after death, but it is possible that it is a question of entering into the community, around Jesus and in the communities of the first Christians. Luke speaks about the key of knowledge and the phrase is written in the past tense. Luke simply shows the pretension of the Scribes to possess the key of knowledge in regard to God and to the law of God which prevents them from recognizing Jesus as Messiah and prevents the Jewish people from recognizing Jesus as Messiah: You take possession of the key of knowledge. You yourselves do not enter and you prevent others to enter.
• Luke 11: 53-54: The reaction against Jesus. The reaction of the religious authority against Jesus was immediate. “When He left there, the Scribes and the Pharisees began a furious attack on him, and tried to force answers from Him on innumerable questions, lying in wait to catch Him out in something He might say”. Since they considered themselves the only true interpreters of the Law of God, they tried to provoke Jesus on questions of interpretation of the Bible so as to be able to surprise Him in something He would say. Thus the opposition against Jesus and the desire to eliminate Him continues to grow. (Lk 6: 11; 11: 53-54; 19: 48; 20: 19-20; 22: 2).
4) Personal questions
• Many persons who wanted to enter were prevented from doing it and they no longer believed because of the anti-evangelical attitude of the priests. Do you have any experience regarding this?
• The Scribes began to criticize Jesus who thought and acted in a different way. It is not difficult to find reasons for criticizing anyone who thinks differently from me. Do you have any experience regarding this?
5) Concluding prayer
Yahweh has made known his saving power,
revealed his saving justice for the nations to see,
mindful of his faithful love
and his constancy to the House of Israel. (Ps 98:2-3)
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make Your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for You express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11:42-46
The Lord said: "Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk." Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, "Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too." And he said, "Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them."
3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel the conflicting relationship between Jesus and the religious authority of the time continues. Today in the church we have the same conflict. In a certain diocese the Bishop convoked the poor to participate actively. They accepted the request and numerous began to participate. A great conflict arose. The rich said that they had been excluded and some priests began to say, “the Bishop is doing politics and forgets the Gospel.”
• Luke 11: 42: Alas for you who do not think of justice and love. “Alas for you, Pharisees, because your pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God. These you should have practiced without neglecting the others.” Jesus’ criticism of the religious leaders of the time can be repeated against many religious leaders of the following centuries, even up until now. Many times, in the name of God, we insist on details and we forget justice and love. For example, Jansenism rendered arid the living out of faith, insisting on observance and penance and leading people away from the path of love. Saint Therese of Lisieux grew up in a Jansenistic environment which marked France at the end of the XIX century. After a painful personal experience, she knew how to recover the gratuity of the love of God with the force which has to animate the observance of the norms from within because, without the experience of love, observance makes an idol of God.
The final observation of Jesus: “You should practice this, without neglecting the others.” This observation recalls another observation of Jesus which serves as a comment: “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. In truth I tell you, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved. Therefore, anyone who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5: 17-20).
• Luke 11: 43: Alas for you, because you like to take the seats of honor. “Alas for you, Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market places.” Jesus calls the attention of the disciples to the hypocritical behavior of some Pharisees. They like to go around the streets with long tunics, and receive the greetings of the people, to occupy the first seats in the synagogues and the seats of honor at banquets (cf. Mt 6:5; 23:5-7). Mark says that they liked to enter the houses of widows to recite long prayers in exchange for some money. Such people will be judged very severely (Mk 12:38-40). This also happens today in the Church.
• Luke 11: 44: Alas for you, unmarked tombs. “Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, because you are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of corruption” (Mt 23: 27-28). The image of “whitewashed tombs” speaks for itself and does not need any comments. Through this image, Jesus condemns a fictitious appearance of persons who are correct, but interiorly there is the complete negation of how they want to appear to be on the outside. Luke speaks about unmarked tombs: Alas for you, because you are like those unmarked tombs that people walked on without knowing it.” Anyone who walks on or touches a tomb becomes impure, even if the tomb is hidden under the ground. This image is very strong: on the outside the Pharisee seems to be just and good, but this aspect is deceitful because inside there is a hidden tomb that, without people being aware, spreads a poison that kills, communicates a mentality that leads people away from God,suggests an erroneous understanding of the Good News of the Kingdom. It is an ideology which makes God a dead idol.
• Luke 11: 45-46: Criticism of the doctors of the Law and Jesus’ response. A lawyer then spoke up and said, “Master, when You speak like this You insult us, too!" In His response Jesus does not turn back, rather He shows clearly that the same criticism is also for the scribes: “Alas for you lawyers as well, because you load on people burdens that are unbearable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips!” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expresses the same criticism which serves as a comment: “The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must, therefore, do and observe what they tell you, but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them?” (Mt 23: 2-4).
4) Personal questions
• Hypocrisy maintains an appearance which deceives. In what ways am I hypocritical? How far does the hypocrisy of our Church go?
• How can I address this hypocrisy? How have others in history addressed it? Is there guidance in their example for me?
• Jesus criticized the scribes who insisted on the disciplinary observance of the minute points of the law, as, for example, paying the tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and forgetting the objective of the Law, which is the practice of justice and love. How does this criticism also apply to me?
5) Concluding prayer
How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked
and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread,
nor a seat in company with cynics,
but who delights in the law of Yahweh
and murmurs His law day and night. (Ps 1: 1-2)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11: 37-41
Jesus had just finished speaking when a Pharisee invited Him to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at table. The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that He had not first washed before the meal. But the Lord said to him, 'You Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness. Fools! Did not He who made the outside make the inside too? Instead, give alms from what you have and, look, everything will be clean for you.
3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel there is the continuation of the tense relationship between Jesus and the religious authority of his time. But in spite of the tension there was a certain familiarity between Jesus and the Pharisees. Invited to eat at their house, Jesus accepts the invitation. He does not lose his freedom before them, and neither do the Pharisees before him.
• Luke 11: 37-38: The admiration of the Pharisees before the liberty of Jesus. “At that time after Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited Him to dine at his house. He went in and sat down at table. The Pharisee saw this and was surprised that He had not first washed before the meal”. Jesus accepts the invitation to eat at the house of the Pharisee, but He does not change his way of acting, sitting at table without washing his hands. Neither does the Pharisee change his attitude before Jesus, because he expresses his surprise at the fact that Jesus did not wash his hands. At that time, to wash the hands before eating was a religious obligation, imposed upon people in the name of purity, ordered by the law of God. The Pharisee was surprised by the fact that Jesus does not observe this religious norm. But in spite of their total difference, the Pharisee and Jesus have something in common: for them life is serious. The way of doing of the Pharisee was in the following: every day, they dedicated eight hours to study and to the meditation of the law of God, another eight hours to work in order to be able to survive with the family and the other eight hours to rest. This serious witness of their life gives them a great popular leadership. Perhaps because of this, in spite of the fact of being very diverse, both Jesus and the Pharisees understood and criticized one another without losing the possibility to dialogue.
• Luke 11: 39-41: The response of Jesus. “You Pharisees you clean the outside of the cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness. Fools! Did not He who made the outside make the inside too? Instead, give alms from what you have and, look, everything will be clean for you”. The Pharisees observed the law literally. They only looked at the letter of the law and because of this they were incapable to perceive the spirit of the law, the objective that the observance of the law wanted to attain in the life of the persons. For example, in the law it was written: “Love the neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19:18). And they commented: “We should love the neighbor, yes, but only the neighbor, not the others!” And from there arose the discussion around the question: “Who is my neighbor?” (Lk 10: 29) The Apostle Paul writes in his second Letter to the Corinthians: “The letter kills, the spirit gives life” (2 Co 3: 6). In the Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus criticizes those who observe the letter of the law put transgress the spirit (Mt 5: 20). In order to be faithful to what God asks us it is not sufficient to observe the letter of the law. It would be the same thing as to clean the cup on the outside and to leave the inside all dirty: robbery and injustice so on. It is not sufficient not to kill, not to rob, not to commit adultery, not to swear. Only to observe the law of God fully, beyond the letter, goes to the roots and pulls out from within the person the desires of “robbery and injustice” which can lead to murder, robbery, adultery. It is in the practice of love that the fullness of the law is attained (cf. Mt 5: 21-48).
4) Personal questions
• Does our Church today merit the accusation which Jesus addressed against the Scribes and the Pharisees? Do I deserve it?
• To respect the seriousness of life of others who think in a different way from us, can facilitate today dialogue which is so necessary and difficult. How do I practice dialogue in the family, in work and in the community?
5) Concluding prayer
Let your faithful love come to me, Yahweh,
true to your promise, save me!
Give me an answer to the taunts against me,
since I rely on your word. (Ps 119: 41-42)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11: 29-32
The crowds got even bigger and Jesus addressed them, 'This is an evil generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation.
On Judgement Day the Queen of the South will stand up against the people of this generation and be their condemnation, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, look, there is something greater than Solomon here.
On Judgement Day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and, look, there is something greater than Jonah here.
3) Reflection
• The Gospel today presents a very hard accusation of Jesus against the Pharisees and the Scribes. They wanted Jesus to give them a sign, because they did not believe in the signs and in the miracles which He was working. This accusation of Jesus continues in the Gospels of the following days. In meditating on these Gospels we have to be very attentive not to generalize the accusation of Jesus as if it were addressed to the Hebrew people. In the past, this lack of attention, unfortunately, contributed to an increase in anti-semitism among Christians, which has caused so much harm to humanity throughout the centuries. Instead of pointing the finger against the Pharisees of the time of Jesus, it is better to look at ourselves in the mirror of the texts to discover in them the Pharisee which may live hidden in our Church and in each one of us, and who merits this criticism from Jesus.
• Luke 11: 29-30: The sign of Jonah. “At that time, the people crowed and Jesus began to say: This is an evil generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah”. The Gospel of Matthew says that it was the Scribes and the Pharisees who were asking for a sign (Mt 12: 38). They wanted Jesus to work a sign for them, a miracle, in such a way that they could become aware if He was the one sent by God, as they had imagined. They wanted Jesus to submit himself to their criteria. They wanted to fit Him into the framework of their own idea of the Messiah. There was no openness for a possible conversion in them. But Jesus did not submit himself to their request. The Gospel of Mark says that Jesus, before the request of the Pharisees sighed profoundly (Mk 8: 12), probably because He was upset and sad in the face of such blindness. It serves nothing to try to show a beautiful picture to a person who does not want to open their eyes. The only sign that will be given is the sign of Jonah. “For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation “. How will this sign of the Son of man be? The Gospel of Matthew responds: “For as Jonah remained in the belly of the sea-monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights” (Mt 12: 40). The only sign will be the resurrection of Jesus. This is the sign which will be given in the future to the Scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus, who was condemned to death by them and to death on the cross, will rise from the dead by God and will continue to resurrect in many ways in those who believe in him. The sign which converts is not the miracles but the witness of life!
• Luke 11: 31: Solomon and the Queen of the South. The reference to the conversion of the people of Nineveh associates and recalls the conversion of the Queen of the South: “The Queen of the South will stand up against this generation and be their condemnation; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, there is something greater than Solomon here”. This reminder of the episode of the Queen of the South who recognizes the wisdom of Solomon shows how the Bible was used at that time. It was by association. The principal rule for the interpretation was this one: “The Bible is explained by the Bible”. Up until now, this is one of the more important norms for the interpretation of the Bible, especially for the reading of the Word of God in a climate of prayer.
• Luke 11: 32: And Look there is something greater than Solomon here. After the digression on Solomon and on the Queen of the South, Jesus returns to speak about the sign of Jonah: “The men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented”. The people of Nineveh were converted because of the witness of the preaching of Jonah. He denounces the unbelief of the Scribes and of the Pharisees because “something greater than Jonah is here”. Jesus is greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon. For us Christians, He is the principal key for Scripture (2Co 3: 14-18).
4) Personal questions
• Jesus criticizes the Scribes and the Pharisees who managed to deny the evidence, rendering themselves incapable to recognize the call of God in the events. As Christians today, personally and collectively, do we deserve the same criticism of Jesus?
• Níneveh was converted because of the preaching of Jonah. The Scribes and the Pharisees were not converted. Today, the calls of reality cause changes and conversions in people in the whole world: the ecological threat, urbanization that dehumanizes, consumerism which standardizes and alienates, injustice, violence, etc. Many Christians live far away from these calls of God which come from reality.
5) Concluding prayer
Praise, servants of Yahweh,
praise the name of Yahweh.
Blessed be the name of Yahweh,
henceforth and for ever. (Ps 113: 1-2)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11:27-28
It happened that as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!'
But He replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'
3) Reflection
• Today's Gospel is very brief, but it has a very important significance in the Gospel of Luke in general. It gives us the key to understand what Luke teaches regarding Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in the so-called Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2).
• Luke 11: 27: The exclamation of the woman. "At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said: "Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!" The creative imagination of some apocryphal books suggests that the woman was a neighbor of Our Lady, there in Nazareth. She had a son called Dimas, who with other boys of Galilee at that time, went to war with the Romans. He was made a prisoner and killed at the side of Jesus. He was the good thief (Lk 23: 39-43). His mother, having heard about the good that Jesus did to people, remembered her neighbor Mary, and said: "Mary must be very happy to have such a son!"
• Luke 11: 28: The response of Jesus. Jesus responds, giving the greatest praise to his mother: "More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it". Luke speaks little about Mary here (Lk 11: 28) and in the Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2). For Luke, Mary is the Daughter of Sion, the image of the new People of God. He represents Mary as the model for the life of the communities. In Vatican Council II, the document prepared on Mary was inserted in the last chapter of the document Lumen Gentium on the Church. Mary is the model for the Church. And especially in the way in which Mary relates with the Word of God, Luke considers her as an example for the life of the communities: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it". Mary teaches us how to accept the Word of God, how to incarnate it, live it, deepen it, make it be born and grow, and allow it to shape us, even when we do not understand it, or when it makes us suffer. This is the vision which is subjacent in the Gospel of the Infancy (Lk 1 and 2). The key to understand these two chapters is given to us by today's Gospel: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Let us see in these chapters how Mary enters into relationship with the Word of God.
a) Luke 1: 26-38:
The Annunciation: "Let it happen to me as you have said!"
To know how to open oneself, to accept the Word of God so that it becomes incarnate.
b) Luke 1: 39-45:
The Visitation: "Blessed is she who has believed!"
To know how to recognize the Word of God in a visit and in many other facts of life.
c) Luke 1: 46-56:
The Magnificat: "The Lord has done great things for me!"
To recognize the Word in the story of the people and sing a song of resistance and hope.
d) Luke 2: 1-20:
The Birth of Our Lord: "She pondered all these things in her heart!"
There was no outward place for them. The marginalized accept the Word.
e) Luke 2: 21-32:
The Presentation: "My eyes have seen the salvation!"
The many years of life purify the eyes.
f) Luke 2: 33-38:
Simeon and Anna: "A sword will pierce your soul too!"
To accept and incarnate the Word in life, to be a sign of contradiction.
g) Luke 2: 39-52:
At twelve years old in the Temple: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
They did not understand what He meant!
h)Luke 11: 27-28:
The praise to the mother: "Blessed the womb that bore you!"
Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.
4) Personal questions
• Do you succeed in discovering the Word of God in your life?
• How do you live devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus?
5) Concluding prayer
Sing to him, make music for him,
recount all his wonders!
Glory in his holy name,
let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice! (Ps 105: 2-3)
More...
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11:15-26
Jesus was driving out a devil, but some of the people said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that He drives devils out.' Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, He said to them, 'Any kingdom which is divided against itself is heading for ruin, and house collapses against house.
So, too, with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last? - since you claim that it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out, through whom do your own sons drive them out? They shall be your judges, then. But if it is through the finger of God that I drive devils out, then the kingdom of God has indeed caught you unawares. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
'Anyone who is not with me is against me; and anyone who does not gather in with me throws away.
'When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, "I will go back to the home I came from." But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, and so that person ends up worse off than before.'
3) Reflection
• Today's Gospel speaks about a long discussion around the expulsion of a mute demon which Jesus had performed before the people.
• Luke 11: 14-16: Three diverse reactions in the face of that expulsion. Jesus was casting out devils. Before this very visible fact, in front of everyone, there were three different reactions. People were surprised, astonished and applauded. Others said: "it is in the name of Beelzebul that He casts out devils". The Gospel of Mark tells us that it was a question of the Scribes who had gone to Jerusalem to control the activity of Jesus (Mk 3, 22). Others still asked for a sign from heaven because they were not convinced by a sign as evident as as the expulsion done in front of all the people.
• Luke 11: 17-19: Jesus shows the incoherence of the enemies. Jesus uses two arguments to confront the accusation of casting out the devil in the name of Beelzebul. In the first place, if the devil casts out the devil himself, he divides himself and will not survive. In the second place, Jesus gives them back their argument: If I cast out the demons in name of Beelzebul, your disciples cast them out in whose name? With these words, they were also casting out demons in the name of Beelzebul. .
• Luke 11: 20-23: Jesus is the strongest man who has come, a sign of the arrival of the Kingdom. Here Jesus leads us to the central point of his argument: "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares his spoil". According to the opinion of the people of that time, Satan dominated the world through the demons (daimônia). He was a strong and well armed man who guarded his house. The great novelty was the fact that Jesus succeeded to cast out the demons. This was a sign that He was and is the strongest man who has come. With the coming of Jesus the kingdom of Beelzebul was declining: "But if it is through the finger of God that I drive devils out, then the kingdom of God has indeed caught you unawares". When the magicians of Pharaoh saw that Moses did things that they were not capable of doing, they were more honest than the Scribes before Jesus and they said: "Here is the finger of God!" (Ex 8: 16-19).
• Luke 11: 24-26: The second fall is worse than the first one. At the time of Luke in the 80's, a time of persecution, many Christians returned back and abandoned the community. They went back to live as before. To warn them and all of us, Luke keeps these words of Jesus about the second fall which is worse than the first one.
• The expulsion of the demons. The first impact caused by the action of Jesus among the people is the expulsion of the demons: "He gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him!" (Mk 1: 27). One of the principal causes of the discussion of Jesus with the Scribes was the expulsion of the devils. They slandered against Him saying: "He is possessed by Beelzebul!" "It is in the name of Beelzebul, head of demons that He casts out devils!" The first power that the Apostles received when they were sent out on mission was the power to drive out demons. "He gave them authority over unclean spirits" (Mk 6: 7). The first sign which accompanies the announcement of the Resurrection is the expulsion of demons. "The signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils!" (Mk 16: 17). The expulsion of devils was what struck people more (Mc 1: 27). This reached the center of the Good News of the Kingdom. By means of the expulsion Jesus restored or recovered persons to themselves. He restored their judgment and their conscience (Mk 5: 15). Especially in the Gospel of Mark, from beginning until the end, with words which are almost the same, constantly repeats the same image: "And Jesus cast out devils!" (Mk 1: 26.34.39; 3: 11-12. 22.30; 5: 1-20; 6: 7.13; 7: 25-29; 9: 25-27.38; 16: 17). It seems to be a refrain which is always repeated. Today, instead of always using the same words, we will use different words to transmit the same image and we will say: "Jesus overcame the power of evil, Satan, who causes so much fear to people, He dominated him, seized him, conquered him, cast him out, eliminated him, exterminated him, destroyed him and killed him!" By this the Gospel wants to tell us: "It is forbidden to the Christian to fear Satan!" By his Resurrection and by his liberating action, Jesus drives away from us the fear of Satan, He gives freedom to the heart, firmness in our actions and causes hope to emerge in the horizon! We should walk along the path of Jesus savoring the victory over the power of evil!
4) Personal questions
• To drive out the power of evil. Which is today the power of evil which standardizes people and robs from them the critical conscience?
• Can you say that you are completely free? In the case of a negative response, some part of you is under the power of other forces. What do you do in order to cast out this power which dominates you?
5) Concluding prayer
Full of splendor and majesty his work,
his saving justice stands firm for ever.
He gives us a memorial of his great deeds;
Yahweh is mercy and tenderness. (Ps 111:3-4)
1) Opening prayer
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 11:5-13
Jesus said to his disciples, 'Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, "My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him;" and the man answers from inside the house, "Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you." I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship's sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants.
'So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.
What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake? Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion?
If you then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!'
3) Reflection
● The Gospel today continues to speak about the theme of prayer, which began with the teaching of the Our Father (Lk 11: 1-4). Today, Jesus teaches that we should pray with faith and insistence without giving up. For this He uses a provocative parable.
● Luke 11: 5-7: The parable that provokes. As always when Jesus has an important thing to teach, He has recourse to a comparison, a parable. Today, He tells us a strange story which ends with a question. He addresses the question to the people who listened to Him and also to us who today read or listen to the story. "Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say: My friend, lend me three loaves because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him; and the man answers from inside the house: “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now and my children are with me in bed: I cannot get up to give it to you". Before Jesus himself gives the answer, He wants our opinion. What would you answer: yes or no?
● Luke 11: 8: Jesus responds to the provocation. Jesus gives his response: "I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship's sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants". If not Jesus, would you have had the courage to invent a story which suggests that God expects our prayers to see himself free from blows? The response of Jesus strengthens the message on prayer: God always expects our prayer. This parable reminds us of another one, also found in Luke's Gospel: the parable of the widow who insists to obtain her rights before the judge who respects neither God nor justice. He pays attention to the widow only because he wants to free himself from her insistence(Lk 18: 3-5). Then Jesus draws a conclusion to apply the message of the parable to life.
● Luke 11: 9-10: the first application of the Parable. "So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, everyone who searches finds, everyone who knocks will have the door opened". To ask, to search, to knock at the door. If you ask, you will receive. If you search, you will find. If you knock, the door will be opened for you. Jesus does not say how much time the request should last, this knocking at the door, but the result is certain.
● Luke 11: 11-12: the second application of the parable. "What father among you, if his son asked for a fish, would hand him a snake? Or if he asked for an egg, hand him a scorpion?" This second application allows us see this type of public listening to the words of Jesus and his way of teaching under the form of dialogue. He asks: "You who are a father, when your son asks you for a fish, would you give him a snake?" The people answer: "No!" "And if he asks you for an egg, would you give him a scorpion?" -"No!" Through dialogue, Jesus involves the people in the comparison and, from the responses He receives from them, the commitment to the message of the parable.
● Luke 11: 13: The message: to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "If you then evil as you are , know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!". The greatest gift that God has for us is the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we were created, He breathed his spirit into our nose and we became living beings (Gen 2: 7). In the second creation through Faith in Jesus, He gives us the Holy Spirit again. This is the same Spirit which made the Word become incarnate in Mary (Lk 1: 35). With the help of the Holy Spirit, the process of the Incarnation of the Word continues up to the hour of his death on the Cross. At the end, at the hour of death, Jesus commits the spirit to the Father: "Into your hands I commit my Spirit" (Lk 23,:46). Jesus promises us this Spirit as the source of truth and of understanding (Jn 14: 14-17; 16: 13) and a help in persecutions (Mt 10: 20; Ac 4: 31). This Spirit cannot be bought with money at the supermarket. The only way of obtaining it is through prayer. After nine days of prayer the abundant gift of the Spirit is obtained on the day of Pentecost (Ac 1: 14; 2: 1-4).
4) Personal questions
● How do I respond to the provocation of the parable? A person who lives in a small apartment in a large city, how will she answer? Would she open the door?
● When you pray, do you pray convinced that you will obtain what you ask for?
5) Concluding prayer
I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart,
in the meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly.
Great are the deeds of Yahweh,
to be pondered by all who delight in them. (Ps 111:1-2)
1) Opening prayer
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 10,38-42
In the course of their journey Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking.
Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'
But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
3) Reflection
● Today's Gospel presents the episode of Martha and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus. Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word. Martha, in the kitchen was busy doing the domestic work. This family, friend of Jesus is frequently mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (Lk 10, 38-41) and of John (Jn 11, 1-39; 12, 2).
● Luke 10, 38: The friendly house in Bethany. At that time, Jesus came to a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house". Jesus was going toward Jerusalem, where he would die. He arrived to Martha's house and she welcomes him. Luke does not say that Martha's house was in Bethany. John tells us that Martha's house was in Bethany, near Jerusalem. The word Bethany means House of Poverty. It was a village on the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem. When he was in Jerusalem, Jesus usually went to the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus (Jn 12, 2)
●It is impressing to see how Jesus entered and lived in the houses of the people: in Peter's house (Mt 8, 14), of Matthew (Mt 9, 10), of Jarius (Mt 9, 23), of Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7, 36), of Simon the leper (Mk 14, 3), of Zacchaeus (Lk 19, 5). The official recognizes: "I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof" (Mt 8, 8). People looked for Jesus in his house (Mt 9, 28; Mk 1, 33; 2, 1; 3, 20). The four friends of the paralytic stripped the roof to lower the stretcher where the man was and put him before the place where Jesus was teaching the people (Mk 2, 4). When he went to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus (12, 2). In sending out the disciples, their mission was to enter in the houses of the people and take peace (Mt 10,12-14; Mk 6,10; Lk 10,1-9).
● Luke 10, 39-40: The attitude of the two sisters. "Mary sat at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking; Martha was distracted with all the serving". Two important attitudes, always present in the life of Christians: to be attentive to the Word of God and to be attentive to the needs of persons. Each one of these attitudes demands total attention. For this reason, both live in continuous tension which is expressed in Martha's reaction: "Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me". This is also expressed in the reaction of the Apostles before the problem which arose in the community of Jerusalem. The service at the tables took up all their time and they could not dedicate themselves completely to the announcement of the Word. This is why the community met together and they said: "It would not be right for us to neglect the Word of God so as to give out food" (Ac 6, 2).
● Luke 10, 41-42: Jesus' answer. "Martha, Martha! You worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her". Martha wanted Mary to sacrifice her attention to the Word and to go and help her in the service of the table. But one attitude cannot be sacrificed in favour of another one. What is necessary is to attain a balance. It is not a question of choosing between contemplative and active life, as if the first one was better than the latter. It is a question of finding a just distribution of the apostolic tasks and the ministries in the community. Basing oneself on this word of Jesus, the Apostles asked the community to choose seven deacons (servants). The service at the tables was entrusted to the deacons and in this way the Apostles would be able to continue their pastoral activity: "to dedicate themselves completely to prayer and to the service of the Word" (Ac 6, 4). It is not a question of trying to find in this word of Jesus an argument to say that contemplative life in the monasteries is superior to the active life of those who do pastoral work. Both of these activities have something to do with the proclamation of the Word of God. Martha cannot oblige Mary to sacrifice the attention to the Word. The interpretation of the mystic of the Middle Ages is beautiful. The Dominican friar Mestre Eckart who said: Martha already knew how to work and serve at table without compromising or impairing in any way, her attention to the presence and the word of God. Mary, he says, was still learning at the feet of Jesus. This is why she could not be interrupted. Mary chooses that which for her was the better part. The description of the attitude of Mary before Jesus recalls the other Mary. Of whom Jesus said: "Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it" (Lk 11, 27).
4) Personal questions
● How do you try to find a balance in your life between the desire of Mary and the concern of Martha?
● In the light of the response of Jesus to Martha, the apostles knew how to find a solution to the problem of the community of Jerusalem. Does the meditation on the words of Jesus and his gestures help me to enlighten the problems of my life?
5) Concluding prayer
The works of his hands are fidelity and justice,
all his precepts are trustworthy,
established for ever and ever,
accomplished in fidelity and honesty. (Ps 111,7-8)
Ordinary Time
1) Opening prayer
Father,
your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings,
keep us in your peace
and lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Luke 10:38-42
In the course of their journey He came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to Him speaking.
Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to Him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.'
But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' He said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
3) Reflection
• Context. The journey of Jesus, undertaken in 9, 51, is surrounded by particular encounters, among the doctors of the Law (10: 25-37), that precede the encounter with Martha and Mary (vv. 38-42). Above all, there is a doctor of the Law who asks Jesus a question and, for the reader, it becomes a convenient occasion to discover how eternal life is inherited or gained in intimacy with the Father. One can have access to eternal life by participating in the mission of Jesus, the first one sent who has shown us fully God’s mercy (v. 37). In Jesus, the Father has become close to men and has shown his paternity in a tangible way. At the end of the encounter, the expression that Jesus addresses to the Doctor of the Law and to every reader is crucial: “Go, and do the same yourself” (v. 37). To become a neighbor, to get close to others as Jesus did, makes us become instruments to show, in a living way, the merciful love of the Father. This is the secret key to enter into eternal life.
• Listening to the Word. After this encounter with an expert of the Law, while He is on the way, Jesus enters into a village and is welcomed by old friends: Martha and Mary. Jesus is not only the first one sent by the Father, but He is also the one who gathers together men, and in our case, the members of the house of Bethany in so far as He is the only Word of the Father. If it is true that there are many services to be carried out, in welcoming attention to the needs of others, then even more is it true that what is irreplaceable is listening to the Word. The account that Luke gives is a real episode and at the same time an ideal. It begins with the welcome of Martha (v. 38). Then it sketches Mary with an attitude typical of the disciple, sitting at the feet of Jesus and totally attentive to listening to his Word. This attitude of Mary is extraordinary because in Judaism at the time of Jesus it was not permitted for a woman to go to the school of a teacher, a master. Up until now we have a harmonious picture: the welcome of Martha, the listening of Mary. But soon the welcome of Martha will be transformed into super activism: the woman is “pulled”, divided by performing multiple services. She is so absorbed that she is unable to control the domestic services. The great amount of activities, understandable for such a guest, becomes so disproportionate as to prevent her living what is essential, precisely in the time that Jesus is present in her house. Her worry or concern is legitimate but then it becomes anguish, a state of mind that is not convenient when a friend is welcomed.
• Relate service to listening. Her service of acceptance, of welcome, is very positive but it is detrimental because of this state of anxiety with which she carries it out. The Evangelist makes the reader glimpse at this to show that there is no contradiction between the ‘diaconia’ of the table and that of the Word, but He wants to suggest that the service should be related to listening. Because she did not relate the spiritual attitude of service to that of listening, Martha feels that she has been abandoned by her sister. Instead, of dialoguing with Mary, she complains with the Master. Trapped in her solitude she goes against Jesus who seems to be indifferent to her problem (“Lord do you not care”...) and then with the sister, (“that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?”). In his response, Jesus does not reproach her, nor criticize her, but He tries to help Martha to recover that which is essential at that moment: listening to the Master. He invites her to choose that part, unique and a priority, that Mary has spontaneously taken. The episode invites us to consider a danger which is always frequent in the life of Christians: anxiety, worry, super activism that can isolate us from communion with Christ and with the community. The danger is more underhanded because frequently the material concerns or worries carried out with anxiety are those we consider a form of service. What presses Luke is that in our communities the priority that should be given to the Word of God, and to listen to it, should not be neglected. Before serving the others, the relatives, and the ecclesial community, it is necessary to be served by Christ with His Word of grace. And thus immersed in the daily tasks like Martha, we forget that the Lord desires to take care of us... It is necessary, instead, to place in Jesus and in God all our concerns and worries.
4) Personal questions
• Do you know how to relate service to listening to the Word of Jesus? Or rather do you allow yourself to be taken up by anxiety because of the multiple things to be done?
• Have you understood that before serving you have to accept to be served by Christ? Are you aware that your service becomes divine only if previously you will have accepted Christ and his word?
5) Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
you know when I sit, when I rise,
you understand my thoughts from afar.
You watch when I walk or lie down,
you know every detail of my conduct. (Ps 139:1-3)
