31c                                                     10/26/16

Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2

The awesomeness of God – “Before the Lord the whole universe is a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew…”

As the Creator – “you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made;”

In creating us you put something of yourself in us – “O Lord and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things!

You are a gentle loving Father – “Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O lord!”

 

Luke 19: 1 –10

Zacchaeus, it would appear, got much of his wealth through extortion by charging much more for taxes than he rightly should have and collecting the excessive overage for himself.  He “was seeking to see who Jesus was.”  Why?  Perhaps because, though wealthy, he was not happy, despite his wealth.  Jesus perceives that Zacchaeus is ready to have him enter into his life, saying to him, “for today I must stay at your house.”  Zachaeus was ready as he “received him with joy.”

The crowd grumbled, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”

In that part of the world, the culture is that the dirt of the sinner soils those who are near him, but Jesus is the one who can wash away the dirt of sin and make sinless/holy.  Zacchaeus is washed clean by presence of Jesus, whom Zacchaeus has not only received into his house but also into his heart.  “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”  Jesus responds, “Today salvation has come to this house…”  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”  Zacchaeus was open to the work of the Spirit so that he recognized his sinfulness and sought salvation.  He opened the door to Jesus when he knocked.

 

2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2

“that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith”.  It is by God’s action that every good thing is done; however, he requires of us that we cooperate with his grace.  When we do work with him, according to his Will, Jesus is glorified in us and we in him.

 

1. B.: disregard anything or anyone who declares they know the day of the coming of our Lord.

 

 

30C22.    Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18.   The Lord is “not unduly partial toward the weak,” the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, “the one who serves God,” and the lowly.  Nevertheless, He will not delay in responding to their prayer.

Luke 18:9-14.  The Lord makes a point in this parable of dealing with those who “were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.”  The Pharisee “took up his position” in a both physical and spiritual sense and thanked God that he made himself better than “the rest of humanity” by his observance of the Law or Torah.  In Luke 6:36-37ab, Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful.  Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.” It belongs to God alone to the Judge.  We are made righteous or justified by the grace of God and our cooperation with that grace, not by the force of own actions alone without God, because we know the rules and follow them.  Secondly, we must live and breathe in union with our God who is loving and merciful.  Thoughts and feelings of being superior to others only serves to rob us of the prayers we ought to be making instead that all live in the grace of God.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18.  “Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.”  Paul feels totally drained of life.  He feels that he has given everything he has and that there is nothing left.  “From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.” Paul is so much ‘at home’ with God his loving Father that he feels totally confident in God’s closeness to him that he Paul will be in heaven along with the many others who are like him.  Paul remembers that when he was alone in dire circumstances, the Lord stood by him.   So Paul writes, “I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”    There is a time for fear when we realize we have been going along without God.  There is a time for confidence when we know that we have been living in union with our loving God.

30C19.   Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18.   “God hears the cry of the oppressed,” the orphan, the widow, the lowly and of those who serve him. Those who feel a need for God and who recognize that only God can give them what they need and desires to help those call upon him in their need, he will judge as being just and right.

Luke 18:9-14.   The Pharisee implies that he is better than the rest of humanity because he, and he himself only, makes himself better than the rest of humanity.   He knows what to do and gets the job done on his own without the help of anyone, not even God.  The tax collector, on the other hand, recognizes he needs God because without God he falls short of what God wants him to do and be; and so, he has become a sinner.  Jesus finishes this parable saying, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Humility requires of us to recognize that only with God’s help can we become holy and just.  Only with God actively working for us in our lives can we reach heaven.  Those who delude themselves in thinking that they can reach heaven without God will end up in hell.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18.   Paul is confident that he will go to heaven because he knows that day after day he did God’s will and worked with the strength that God had given him to promote the belief that Jesus is the Savior of the world.  He especially recognized the strength of the presence of God when he was being threatened with death for his preaching.  Paul finishes by writing: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

 

30c 10/23/2016

In the first reading(Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18) the author states that Yahweh is not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he does hear the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, the lowly, always affirming what is right.  In other words, those who are powerful because they have earthly resources can depend and use what they have at their fingertips, but those who are without earthly resources have God to call upon to enable them to obtain what is just and right.

The gospel reading this Sunday (Lk 18:9-14) starts: “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.”  The Pharisee starts off by thanking God that he is so much better than ‘the rest of humanity’.  However, it is not recognize what God does that makes him so much better but what he does: “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.”  The tax collector, however, has much to be sorrowful for but he puts himself in the hands of God’s mercy and power.  When God does it, it is truly done.  When we think we do it without God, it is a mirage.  If we please ourselves and not God, we are lost.  If we please God, no matter what others think, we have truly accomplished something.

In the second reading (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18), Paul sees himself as having been poured out like a cup of sacrifice and now he is empty.  He sees the Lord as ready to award him, and all who have lived longing for his appearance, “the crown of righteousness.”  Then Paul goes on to relate how “the Lord stood by me and gave me strength.” “And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” (2 Timothy 4:14 – Paul relates that Alexander the coppersmith had done Paul great harm.  Paul in insinuates that he had to defend himself against Alexander.)  “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”  Paul proclaims his absolute dependence on God.  It is to God’s glory that we are saved, we are made holy, we are rescued from the evils of this world, from our own self-righteous inclinations.

29C22.     Exodus 17:8-13.   “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight.”  As long as we continue in prayer dependent upon the Lord, the end result will always be success, as God measures success.  “Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other.”  We join together and, as the People of God, we pray putting our faith in the Lord our God.

Luke 18:9-14.  “Two people went to the temple to pray.”  The Pharisee “spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.’”  He goes on so to say that he himself has made himself good.  In other words, he is his own God who has made himself good without God.  He prides himself on what he has accomplished without God.  The tax collector, on the other hand, throws himself on the mercy of God, acknowledging that he has not been able to make himself good.  The Pharisee is not justified in the eyes of God but the tax collector is.  If we try to be our own savior without God, we are lost.  If we allow God to be truly the God of our lives, we are saved by the God in whom we live.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:2.   Be immersed in the sacred Scriptures “so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”  The sacred Scriptures “are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  Through the Bible the invisible God makes himself very much present to us so that we come to appreciate God, as a living person, vibrant and active in our lives.

 

29C19.   Exodus 17:8-13.  The Israelites were battling the Amalekites to the death.  “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.  Aaron and Hur helped Moses keep hands up until Joshua, commander of the Israelite forces, mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”  The “Lord, who made heaven and earth,” helped his people to victory because Moses appealed to him persistently with raised hands.

Luke 18:1-8.  ”Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.”  He then tells of a widow who keeps bothering the unjust judge persistently without any sign of giving up until she got a fair decision against her adversary.  Widows were considered powerless without a male to protect them but this widow put her faith in God without any earthly being to help her.  In Luke 11:10 Jesus says: “For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  People of faith entrust themselves into the hands of God, our Father, as do babies into the hands of their parents.  1 John 5:14 reads, “And we have confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Our journey through life on the way to heaven is filled with joys and troubles.  Trusting in the Lord through it all requires, demands, makes it absolutely necessary to live each moment with the Lord as the strength that will enable us to remain faithful till our final moment here.  Jesus ends this reading with a question that deals with our discouraging earthly frailty: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  I think that Jesus answers his own question in John 17:12: “When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.”  This Sunday’s psalm 121 reads: “The Lord is your guardian;” and further on: “The Lord will guard you from all evil; he will guard your life.”  He never sleeps; he is always vigilant.  Jesus says in John 16:33 to assure us:  “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.  In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18.  As with any journey we must know where we are going and how to get there.  As we go through life, we need to take advantage of every opportunity to learn the “wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  The Holy Spirit is forever active in guiding us by using Scripture and the wisdom (mind) and courage (heart) given to us through others who become part of our lives through the years.  The Holy Spirit is “our help from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” He uses some of the things of this earth (as in the pages of the Scripture) and the people (whom he sends us on this earth) as the earthly means to help us for our spiritual benefit.  We must be ever mindful that life has been given us as a one-time opportunity to reach eternal happiness.  If we are mindless and careless, we risk eternal hell.

 

29C 10/29/16

Recently, I tried to use a ball point pen and it just would not write at all.  I tried a few more and, although, I got some of them to work for a little while, they would stop, then start again, and stop yet again.  They had either completely or partially dried up.  Such is our spiritual life when we don’t pray or just pray every now and then.  Our spiritual life runs dry or lackadaisical.  We have spiritual life when we are the branch that is connected to the vine and only insofar as we stay connected.

Prayer has many forms.  Aaron’s raised hands were his way of communicating with Yahweh.  Yahweh answered in return by giving the Israelites the victory as long as he was in prayer, i.e., as long as his hands were raised.  In Luke 18:1-8, it says,   ” Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.”  God will answer our prayers as he sees fit or as he sees things, i.e., according to his will.  I understand the phrase “without becoming weary,” to mean without stopping our prayer or becoming lackadaisical.  Otherwise, we cut ourselves off from the only true source of goodness.

In 2 Timothy 3:14-44:2, Paul writes, “ Beloved: Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  The sacred Scriptures that Paul is referring to, are what we call the Old Testament.  Paul’s   ‘2 Timothy’ is, in fact, an example or part of the New Testament in the act of being written.  When we read the Scriptures, not only in an intellectual mode, trying to understand what the words are saying, but also in a prayerful mode, trying to listen to what the Holy Spirit may be saying to us through the words of Scripture, then we are capable of receiving “wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

In the last line of Luke 18:1-8, it says, ”But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Jesus finds that all too many people fail to respond or respond only half-heartedly to him.  Some do become weary and are not persist.

These Sunday readings require rebirth(Jn.3:1-9), i.e., leaving behind, burying many habits that have become ingrained from our infancy: to be independent, self-reliant, not needing anyone, not even God. The devil and secular society do everything to reinforce those behaviors, those mental & emotional sets. To be truly a follower of Jesus & led by God, the Holy Spirit, we ought to die through the grace of God to one’s old self, to be reborn a new person in Christ, a person who is reliant only on the Lord, dependent on God every moment.

28C22.    2 Kings 5:14-17.    Naaman, a powerful and opulent non-Jew, made helpless by his leprosy, submits himself to the power of the God of the Jews and he is made clean.  Naaman returns to offer a generous thank-you gift to Elisha, the Jewish prophet, who had given Naaman the instructions for his cleansing but Elisha refuses any gift.  Rejecting any other gods, Naaman professes his faith in the God of the Jews.

Luke 17:11-19.   Jesus, while on his journey to Jerusalem, the holy city of his Jewish faith, cures ten lepers.  The one, who was not of Jesus’ Jerusalem Jewish faith and so considered to be a foreigner, returns to Jesus to show his gratitude by glorifying the God who in Jesus had just given him good health.  Jesus “then said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.’” With the cure of leprosy they all had the good health that they could perhaps enjoy till they day they died; but, with the Samaritan’s thanksgiving, he received the salvation that he could enjoy eternally after leaving life on this earth.  It is so natural to just enjoy our everyday good health and pleasant earthly life.  However, in turning back to the gracious source of the gift of our daily natural life, with a deep sense of how generous is the God whose generosity we enjoy every day, we open ourselves to live in his generosity for all of eternity.

2 Timothy 2:8-13.  Paul wrote that he was suffering for the gospel, “even to the point of chains, like a criminal.  Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.”  We rejoice in the salvation that is the being saved from the suffering of ill health that enables us to enjoy life here on earth; but we rejoice infinitely more in that salvation from sin that God gives us that enables us to enjoy life forever.

Psalm 98.  “The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.”  “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.”  From the hand of God and God alone comes at its root all truly good things.  We live in eternal thanksgiving to our loving God.

28C19.   2 Kings 5:14-17.  “Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God.”  Jesus himself had been baptized in the Jordan.  The symbolism of plunging below the water and rising up can be seen for Naaman as a cleansing as well as a resurrection from all that was sinful and a life lived in the belief of false gods.  Naaman “stood before Elisha and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.” He had found not only good health in place of leprosy but even more important a holiness that gave him eternal life.  Elisha rejects Naaman’s gift because he acts only to receive his reward from God and not any human being.  As well as Naaman Elisha lives for what is eternal and not just for what is temporary.

Luke 17:11-19.  Jesus has compassion on the lepers and cleanses them. Only the Samaritan, (who was deemed to be a wretched traitor to what was considered the only true Judaism because worship was thought only acceptable that was centered in Jerusalem) “realizing he had been healed, returned glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” Jesus “said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.’” Apparently the other nine were so self-absorbed and self-centered that they could not think beyond and outside of themselves to the Giver of the incredible gift they had just received. The nine received a gift that could only last to the grave; the Samaritan received the gift that was temporary also but more importantly the gift of faith that was eternal. The nine probably thought just of themselves returning to a normal healthy life. Living our lives within the boundaries of our own self is to live in a small insular world; living our lives with God as the center is to live in a world that is boundless.

2 Timothy 2:8-13.  Paul is witnessing from the sufferings of his own life to the necessity to endure the difficulties of staying on the narrow way in world that cannot understand or accept anyone who is not self-serving but is God-centered instead.  Jesus says in John 17:14a, b: “I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world.”  Paul writes, “This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.”  This world apart from God is only empowered to provide for us up to the grave and not beyond.  Only God can give what is eternal.

27C22.      Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4.    The prophet cries out, “O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!”  The Lord answered, “The just one, because of his faith, shall live.”  God’s mercy belongs to those who have made it clear in their life of faith in God that they belong to God.

Luke 17:5-16.  “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’”  Faith is powerful because it unites us to the all-powerful almighty divinity.  Faith gives us the power to rise above just being another animal of this world to being a child of the God who loves us dearly.  Faith is not something that is simply given to us but what we gradually gain by living a life of ever-growing union with God, seeing, as we grow in faith, the wondrous results of that growth.  However, we must do it in a spirit of humility, not brandishing our good works and demanding reward for our faithful service but living as humble servants whose reward is having the privilege of serving our Almighty God.

2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14.  Paul encourages Timothy “to stir into flame the gift of God” “of power and love and self-control.”  “Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me.”  “Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.”  What Paul gave to Timothy was what he had received from God.  Faith is the acceptance of having been entrusted with the presence of the Holy Spirit who breathes God’s heavenly life into us, while we are just only bodily creatures of this earth.