DAILY GOSPEL: 09/09/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Thursday of the Twenty-third week in Ordinary Time
First Letter to the Corinthians 8:1-7.11-13.
Now in regard to meat sacrificed to idols: we realize that "all of us have knowledge"; knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.
If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
But if one loves God, one is known by him.
So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that "there is no idol in the world," and that "there is no God but one."
Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many "gods" and many "lords"),
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist.
But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.
Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died.
When you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their consciences, weak as they are, you are sinning against Christ.
Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin.
Psalms 139(138):1-3.13-14.23-24.
For the leader. A psalm of David. I LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.
I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew;
Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my concerns.
See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:27-38.
But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit (is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
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. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
Now in regard to meat sacrificed to idols: we realize that "all of us have knowledge"; knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.
If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
But if one loves God, one is known by him.
So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that "there is no idol in the world," and that "there is no God but one."
Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many "gods" and many "lords"),
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist.
But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.
Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died.
When you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their consciences, weak as they are, you are sinning against Christ.
Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin.
Psalms 139(138):1-3.13-14.23-24.
For the leader. A psalm of David. I LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.
My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.
I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew;
Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my concerns.
See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:27-38.
But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit (is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
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. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
Lc 6,27-38
Saint Isaac the Syrian (7th Century), monk near Mosul
Ascetical discourses, 1st series, no. 81 (DDB 1981, p. 395)
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful"
Make no attempt to draw distinctions between the worthy and the unworthy. In your eyes let all be equal, to love and serve. In this way you can lead all to what is good. Didn't our Lord sit at table with publicans and prostitutes without rejecting those who were unworthy? Even so should you grant the same blessings and honors to unbelievers and murderers in that they, too, are your brothers since they share in the one, human nature. Here, my son, is the commandment I give you: that mercy should always weigh down your scales until you come to feel within yourself the mercy that God feels towards the world.
How can we tell when our heart has attained purity? When we regard all others as good without anyone seeming to us to be impure and defiled. Then, in truth, are we pure of heart (Mt 5,8)...
What is this purity? In brief, it is to have a heart of mercy towards the whole world. And what is mercifulness of heart? It is the fire that enflames it for all creation, men, birds, beasts, demons, for all created things. Whenever he thinks about them or considers them, a man feels his eyes fill with tears out of a deep, an intense pity constricting his heart and making him unable to bear, hear or see the least harm or affliction endured by any creature. That is why prayer accompanied by tears reaches out at all times just as much over beings without speech as over enemies of the truth or those who harm him, to keep them and purify them. An immense and limitless compassion is born in the heart after the image of God.
How can we tell when our heart has attained purity? When we regard all others as good without anyone seeming to us to be impure and defiled. Then, in truth, are we pure of heart (Mt 5,8)...
What is this purity? In brief, it is to have a heart of mercy towards the whole world. And what is mercifulness of heart? It is the fire that enflames it for all creation, men, birds, beasts, demons, for all created things. Whenever he thinks about them or considers them, a man feels his eyes fill with tears out of a deep, an intense pity constricting his heart and making him unable to bear, hear or see the least harm or affliction endured by any creature. That is why prayer accompanied by tears reaches out at all times just as much over beings without speech as over enemies of the truth or those who harm him, to keep them and purify them. An immense and limitless compassion is born in the heart after the image of God.
St. Peter Claver, Priest (1580-1654)
SAINT PETER CLAVER
Priest
(1580-1654)
Priest
(1580-1654)
Peter Claver was a Spanish Jesuit. In Majorca he fell in with the holy lay-brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, who, having already learned by revelation the saintly career of Peter, became his spiritual guide, foretold to him the labors he would undergo in the Indies, and the throne he would gain in heaven.
Ordained priest in New Granada, Peter was sent to Cartagena, the great slave-mart of the West Indies, and there he consecrated himself by vow to the salvation of those ignorant and miserable creatures. For more than forty years he labored in this work. He called himself "the slave of the slaves." He was their apostle, father, physician, and friend. He fed them, nursed. them with the utmost tenderness in their loathsome diseases, often applying his own lips to their hideous sores. His cloak, which was the constant covering of the naked, though soiled with their filthy ulcers, sent forth a miraculous perfume. His rest after his great labors was in nights of penance and prayer. However tired he might be, when news arrived of a fresh slave-ship, Saint Peter immediately revived, his eyes brightened, and he was at once on board amongst his dear slaves, bringing them comfort for body and soul.
A false charge of reiterating Baptism for a while stopped his work. He submitted without a murmur till the calumny was refuted, and then God so blessed his toil that 40,000 negroes were baptized before he went to his reward, in 1654.
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