14 November 2020. Saturday of Week 32 | St Laurence O’Toole, bishop (Opt. Mem.)
1st Reading: 3 John verses 5-8
It is well to provide hospitality for travelling missionaries
Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.
The Word of the Lord
_______________________________________
Responsorial: from Psalm 111
R./: Happy are those who fear the Lord
Happy the man who fears the Lord,
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth;
the children of the upright are blessed. (R./)
Riches and wealth are in his house;
his justice stands firm forever.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright:
he is generous, merciful and just. (R./)
The good man takes pity and lends,
he conducts his affairs with honour.
The just man will never waver:
he will be remembered forever. (R./)
_______________________________________
Gospel: Luke 18:1-8
God will act in response to persistent prayer
Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city, there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’
For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'”
The Gospel of the Lord
_______________________________________
Reflections - Keeping at it
In a crisis, most of us will go the extra mile (Mt 5:41), sometimes, but today’s Gospel asks for fidelity over the long haul, not the single heroic act but the persistence to stay with the daily routine of duty, whatever that maybe, given our age, our job and our local, familial or pastoral obligations to others. What we are expected to do is ordinary, but it takes God’s extraordinary grace to keep at it.
The gospel addresses this paradox of seemingly getting nowhere and yet accomplishing very much, exemplified in the widow who kept coming to the judge, demanding her rights. Finally, she wore him out, and so the judge settled matters in her favour. Monica, the mother of St Augustine, is the patroness of persistent people. We can accomplish very much by a faithful, daily routine.
This final verse in the gospel is probably a later addition to the original parable about the widow. No other parable in the gospels ends with such a question-mark as “When he comes, will he find faith on the earth?”. The editor added this “floating” remark which questions the quality of our faith. Originally it referred to the danger of apostasy during the persecutions but it can also question us, here and now. What are we (or what am I) doing to promote faith, love and justice, in imitation of Christ? To live our faith today we need the persistence of the widow who simply would not give up. And are our church leaders fostering faith as well as they could?
_______________________________________
Saint of the Day for November 14 |(January 6, 1256 – November 17, 1302) |Saint Gertrude the Great
Gertrude, a Benedictine nun in Helfta, Saxony, was one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Together with her friend and teacher Saint Mechtild, she practised a spirituality called “nuptial mysticism,” that is, she came to see herself as the bride of Christ. Her spiritual life was a deeply personal union with Jesus and his Sacred Heart, leading her into the very life of the Trinity.
But this was no individualistic piety. Gertrude lived the rhythm of the liturgy, where she found Christ. In the liturgy and in Scripture she found the themes and images to enrich and express her piety. There was no clash between her personal prayer life and the liturgy. The Liturgical Feast of Saint Gertrude the Great is November 16.
_______________________________________
Comments
Post a Comment