Friday October 29

Thirtieth Week In Ordinary Time

ROOM FOR GROWTH IN LOVE

 

Introduction

We are the new Israel, the people of God’s promise, the new chosen people. God has given us many privileges. Is the anguish that Paul expresses with regard to Israel not to be felt by the Church too, with regard to many Christians, and by many Christians with regard to a Church sluggish to seek renewal? Are we ready with St. Paul to dedicate ourselves, whatever the cost, to the salvation of our brothers and sisters, including those outside the Church?

Something of what this goodness means is shown in practice. When eating at the house of a prominent man on a Sabbath, Jesus cures someone there who suffers, even on a Sabbath. Love is the reason and inspiration of the Christian Law. Is it in our lives, in our Christian community?

 

Opening Prayer

God of all grace and peace,
you have chosen us to be
your kingdom of peace and love.
But we have to acknowledge with shame
that there is still much room for growth.
Make our love richer, more sensitive,
complete the work you have begun in us,
that we may have a permanent place in your heart
and reflect the perfect goodness
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Reading 1: ROM 9:1-5

Brothers and sisters:
I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie;
my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness
that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh.
They are children of Israel;
theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
theirs the patriarchs, and from them,
according to the flesh, is the Christ,
who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

Alleluia: JN 10:27

Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel: LK 14:1-6

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.
Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking,
“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”
But they kept silent; so he took the man and,
after he had healed him, dismissed him.
Then he said to them
“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern,
would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?”
But they were unable to answer his question.

 

Intercessions

– That the Church, for which Christ died, may grow into a large community of love, which makes God’s unconditional love visible to all people far and near, we pray:

– That in our Christian families, Christ may be the bond between husbands and wives, between parents and children, and that the young may grow up in an atmosphere of security, love and generosity, we pray:

– That those who are happy and healthy and surrounded by friends may, like Christ, lift up those who are tired and lonely, those humiliated and wounded in life, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
you set the table of your Son
not merely for a select few
but for all, for the sick and the suffering,
for the weak and the lonely.
Let Jesus’ love, his acceptance of people,
his spirit of sharing be ours
in all our Christian communities.
Teach us to set the table of ourselves,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who lives with you and stays with us,
now and for ever.

 

Prayer after Communion

Our God and Father,
we thank you for uniting us
in this Eucharistic celebration
at the table of your Son.
By the strength of Jesus,
let the Christian community be
to us, who belong to the Church
and to all people,
what you are to us:
love, peace and joy and a gift –
a gift freely given and never regretted.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing

Heal the sick. We, too, can do this. How often do you visit a sick relative, another sick person? Sunday would be a good day for it. We bring healing to the sick also by our visit, by encouraging words. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Here we are once again in the Valley of the Squinting Windows. The Pharisees are watching him closely. The incident is practically the same as the one we saw on October 25. 

In the way he describes things Luke sometimes shows he’s an outsider, a Gentile. For example, in the reading we had on the 26th, he speaks of a “mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden.” The mustard tree was not a garden plant; it grew wild around the shores of the lake of Galilee. It grew to a height of three or four meters and would not be an ornament to any garden! In today’s reading he mentions “a leading Pharisee,” or “a leader of the Pharisees,” as the RSV translates it. In fact, the scholars tell us, the Pharisees were not a sect with rulers or leaders and disciples. Still, he knew as much as he needed to know about them. Probably one malicious stare from a Pharisee was a full education on the whole brood! 

A girl was giving me a blow by blow account of a row she had with another girl. It had escalated from a disagreement to an outright shouting match. Had they been boys the next stage would have been fisticuffs. But in this case the climax was, “I gave her a look!” Ever since then I’ve been more aware of looks! In a history of malicious looking the Pharisees would represent the golden age.