Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 06-19-05

USCCB.org/New American Bible ^ | 06-19-05 | New American Bible

[Salvation]

June 19, 2005
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalm: Sunday 28

Reading I
Jer 20:10-13

Jeremiah said:
"I hear the whisperings of many:
'Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!'
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
'Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.'
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
for he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!"

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35

R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
"See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!"
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Reading II
Rom 5:12-15

Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned --
for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,
though sin is not accounted when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who did not sin
after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,
who is the type of the one who was to come.

But the gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.


Gospel
Mt 10:26-33

Jesus said to the Twelve:
"Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father."

[Salvation]

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[Salvation]

From: Romans 5:12-15


Adam's Original Sin

---

[12] Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death
through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men
sinned. [13] sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is
not counted where there is no law. [14] Yet death reigned from Adam to
Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgressions of
Adam, who was a type of the One who was to come.


[15] But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died
through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free
gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

---

Commentary:


12-21. Four important teachings are discernible in this passage:
1) Adam's sin and its consequences, which include, particular death
(verses 12-14); 2) the contrast between the effects of Original Sin and
those of the Redemption wrought by Christ (verses 15-19); 3) the role of
the Law of Moses in relation to sin (especially verses 13, 20),
anticipating what is explained more elaborately in Chapter 7; 4) the
final victory of the reign of grace (verses 20-21). These teachings are
closely connected by one single idea: only Jesus Christ can justify us
and bring us to salvation. The Apostle refers to Adam as a "type of the
One who was to come", that is, Jesus, the Messiah, who is the true head
of the human race; and he also stresses that Christ, by His obedience and
submission to the Father's will, counters the disobedience and rebellion
of Adam, restoring to us--superabundantly--the happiness and eternal life
which we lost through the sin of our First Parents.


Here we can see the clash of the two kingdoms--the kingdom of sin and
death and the kingdom of righteousness and grace. These two kingdoms
were established, the first by Adam and the second by Christ, and spread
to all mankind.


Because the superabundance of Christ's grace is the more important
factor, Adam's sin is referred to in no great detail. St. Paul takes it
as something everyone is familiar with. All Christians have read about
or been told about the account of the Fall in Genesis (Genesis 3) and
they are familiar with many passages in Sacred Scripture which confirm
and explain something which is self-evident--that all men are mortal and
that the human race is subject to a whole series of afflictions (cf.
Sirach 25:33; Wisdom 2:23-24; Psalm 51:7; Job 14:4; Genesis 8:21; etc.).


12-14. This passage can be elaborated on as follows: just as sin entered
the world through the action of a single individual man, so righteousness
is attained for us by one man--Jesus Christ. Adam, the first man, is a
type of the "new Adam": Adam contained within himself all mankind, his
offspring; the "new Adam" is "the first-born of all creation" and "the
head of the body, the Church" (Colossians 1:15, 18) because He is the
redeeming Word Incarnate. To Adam we are linked by flesh and blood, to
Christ by faith and the Sacraments.


When, in His infinite goodness, He raised Adam to share in the divine
life, God also decreed that our First Parent would pass on to us his
human nature and with it all the various gifts that perfected it and the
grace that sanctified it. But Adam committed a sin by breaking God's
commandment and as a result he immediately lost the holiness and
righteousness in which he had been installed, and because of this
disloyalty he incurred God's wrath and indignation and, as consequence,
death--as God had warned him. By becoming mortal and falling under the
power of the devil, Adam "was changed for the worse", in both body and
soul (cf. Council of Trent, "De Peccato Originali", Canon 1). From then
on Adam and his descendants pass on a human nature deprived of
supernatural gifts, and men are in a state of enmity with God, which
means that they cannot attain eternal beatitude.


The fact of Original Sin is a truth of faith. This has been stated once
again solemnly by [Pope] Paul VI: "We believe that in Adam all have
sinned. From this it follows that, on account of the original offense
committed by him, human nature, which is common to all men, is reduced to
that condition in which it must suffer the consequences of that Fall
[...]. Consequently, fallen human nature is deprived of the economy of
grace which it formerly enjoyed. It is wounded in its natural powers and
subjected to the dominion of death which is transmitted to all men. It
is in this sense that every man is born in sin. We hold, therefore, in
accordance with the Council of Trent, that Original Sin is transmitted
along with human nature, "not by imitation but by propagation", and is,
therefore, incurred by each person individually" ("Creed of the People of
God", 16).


Our own experience bears out what divine Revelation tells us: when we
examine our conscience we realize that we have this inclination towards
evil and we are conscious of being enmeshed in evils which cannot have
their source in our holy Creator (cf. Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 13).
The obvious presence of evil in the world and in ourselves convince us of
the profound truth contained in Revelation and moves us to fight against
sin.


"So much wretchedness! So many offenses! Mine, yours, those of all
mankind....


"Et in peccatis concepit me mater mea!" In sin did my mother conceive
me! (Psalm 51:5). I, like all men, came into the world stained with the
guilt of our First Parents. And then...my own sins: rebellions, thought
about, desired, committed....


"To purify us of this rottenness, Jesus chose to humble Himself and take
on the form of a slave (cf. Philippians 2:7), becoming incarnate in the
spotless womb of our Lady, His Mother, who is also your Mother and mine.
He spent thirty years in obscurity, working like everyone else, at
Joseph's side. He preached. He worked miracles.... And we repaid Him
with a cross.


"Do you need more motives for contrition?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way of
the Cross", IV, 2).


13-14. Both the commandment imposed by God on Adam, and the Mosaic Law,
threatened the transgressor with death; but the same cannot be said of
the period between Adam and Moses. In that period also people did sin
against the natural law written on every person's heart (cf. 2:12ff).
However, their sins "were not like the transgression of Adam", because
the natural law did not explicitly bind under pain of death. If,
nevertheless, they in fact had to die, this proves, the Apostle
concludes, that death is due not to personal sins but to Original Sin.
It is also proved, the Father of the Church usually add, by the fact
that some people die before reaching the use of reason, that is, before
they are capable of sinning.


Death is a consequence of Original Sin, because that sin brought with it
the loss of the "preternatural" gift of immortality (cf. Genesis 2:17;
3:19). Adam incurred this loss when, through a personal act of his, he
broke an explicit, specific command of God. Later, under the Mosaic
Law, there were also certain precepts which involved the death penalty
if broken (cf., for example, Exodus 21:12ff; Leviticus 24:16). In the
period from Adam to Moses there was no law which stated: If you sin, you
shall die. However, people in that period were all subject to death,
even those who committed no sin "like the transgression of Adam" that
is, what is termed "actual sin".


Therefore, death is due to a sin--Original Sin--which attaches to each
man, woman and child, yet which is not an "actual sin". This Original
Sin is the cause of death, and the fact that everyone dies is the proof
that everyone is affected by Original Sin. The Second Vatican Council
sums up this teaching as follows: "The Church, taught by divine
Revelation, declares that God has created man in view of a blessed
destiny that lies beyond the limits of his sad state on earth.
Moreover, the Christian faith teaches that bodily death, from which man
would have been immune had he not sinned (cf. Wisdom 1:13; 2:23-24;
Romans 5:21; 6:23; James 1:15), will be overcome when that wholeness
which he lost through his own fault will be given once again to him by
the almighty and merciful Savior. For God has called man, and still
calls him, to cleave with all his being to Him in sharing forever a life
that is divine and free from all decay" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 18).

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

From: Matthew 10:26-33


Jesus' Instructions to the Apostles (Continuation)

---

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [26] "So have no fear of them; for nothing
is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
[27] What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear
whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. [28] And do not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy
both soul and body in hell. [29] Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will.
[30] But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. [31] Fear not,
therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. [32] So every one
who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My
Father who is in heaven; [33] but whoever denies Me before men, I also
will deny before My Father who is in heaven."

---

Commentary:


26-27. Jesus tells His disciples not to be afraid of calumny and
detraction. A day will come when everyone will come to know the whole
truth about everyone else, their real intentions, the true dispositions
of their souls. In the meantime, those who belong to God may be
misrepresented by those who resort to lies, out of malice or passion.
These are the hidden things which will be made known.


Christ also tells the Apostles to speak out clearly. Jesus' divine
teaching method led Him to speak to the crowds in parables so that they
came to discover His true personality by easy stages. After the coming
of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:8), the Apostles would have to preach
from the rooftops about what Jesus had taught them.


We too have to make Christ's doctrine known in its entirety, without
any ambiguity, without being influenced by false prudence or fear of
the consequences.


28. Using this and other Gospel texts (Matthew 5:22, 29; 18:9; Mark
9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5), the Church teaches that hell exists; there
those who die in mortal sin suffer eternal punishment (cf. "St. Pius V
Catechism", I, 6, 3), in a manner not known to us in this life (cf. St.
Teresa of Avila, "Life", Chapter 32). See notes on Luke 16:19-31.


Therefore, out Lord warns His disciples against false fear. We should
not fear those who can only kill the body. Only God can cast body and
soul into hell. Therefore God is the only one we should fear and
respect; He is our Prince and Supreme Judge--not men. The martyrs have
obeyed this precept of the Lord in the fullest way, well aware that
eternal life is worth much more than earthly life.


29-31. An "as" (translated here as "penny") was a small coin of very
little value. Christ uses it to illustrate how much God loves His
creatures. As St. Jerome says ("Comm. in Matth.", 10:29-31): "If
little birds, which are of such little value, still come under the
providence and care of God, how is it that you, who, given the nature
of your soul, are immortal, can fear that you are not looked after
carefully by Him whom you respect as your Father?" Jesus again teaches
us about the fatherly providence of God, which He spoke about at length
in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew 6:19-34).


32-33. Here Jesus tells us that public confession of our faith in
Him--whatever the consequences--is an indispensable condition for
eternal salvation. After the Judgment, Christ will welcome those who
have given testimony of their faith and condemn those whom fear caused
to be ashamed of Him (cf. Matthew 7:23; 25:41; Revelation 21:8). The
Church honors as "confessors" those Saints who have not gone physical
martyrdom but whose lives bore witness to the Catholic faith. Although
every Christian should be ready to die for his faith, most Christians
are called to be confessors of the faith.

---

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

[Salvation]

Sunday, June 19, 2005
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel:

Jeremiah 20:10-13 Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35 Romans 5:12-15 Matthew 10:26-33 In tribulations we should never cease to hope with confidence that the divine mercy will console us; and if our afflictions continue, we must say with Job: "Athough he should kill me, I will trust in Him." -- St Alphonsus de Liguori

[Smartass]

We light a candle and enjoy the flickering light
the fragrance and warmth it creates.
But without the spark that ignites
there will be no flame

Without the wax the source of power the wick will not burn
Without the flame there will be no fragrance no warmth, no light.

And so with us, Lord
You are the catalyst that ignites us and the fuel that sustains us
You fill us with your fragrance as you enter our lives.
You empower us to carry your flame in our hearts
To be the fragrance, warmth and light of your love
in this dark world. Amen

 

[Salvation]

Happy Fathers' Day to all.

[Coleus]

KNOW THAT JESUS FREES US FROM FEAR AND WE MUST LIVE WITHOUT ANXIETY IN OUR LIVES


"Christ Frees Us From Fear," Says Father Cantalamessa

Pontifical Household Preacher Comments on Sunday's Readings

ROME, JUNE 17, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In a commentary on this Sunday's readings, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the Pontifical Household, proposes that Christ is key to overcoming fear.

* * *

Have No Fear!

The Gospel's dominant theme this Sunday is that Christ frees us from fear. Like illnesses, fears can be acute or chronic. Acute fears are determined by a situation of extraordinary danger. If I am about to be run over by a car, or begin to notice that the earth is moving under my feet because of an earthquake, I am gripped by acute fears. As they arise unexpectedly and without warning, so they disappear as soon as the danger is over, leaving perhaps only a bad memory. They do not depend on us and are natural. More dangerous are chronic fears, those that live with us, which we carry from our birth or childhood, which become part of our being, and which sometimes we end up being attached to.

Fear is not an evil in itself. It is often the occasion to reveal unsuspected courage and strength. Only someone who knows fear knows what courage is. Fear can really become an evil that consumes and does not allow one to live, rather than being a stimulus to react and a spring for action, it can become an excuse for inaction, something that paralyzes. When it is turned into anxiety: Jesus named man's most common anxieties: "'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" (Matthew 6:31). Anxiety has become the illness of the century, and it is one of the main causes for the multiplication of heart attacks.

We live in anxiety, and that is why we do not live! Anxiety is an irrational fear of an unknown object. To always be afraid of everything, to systematically expect the worst and to always live in a palpitation. If there is no danger, anxiety invents it; if it exists, anxiety magnifies it. The anxious person suffers evils twice over: first in the anticipation and then in the reality. What Jesus condemns in the Gospel is not simple fear so much or just concern for tomorrow, but precisely this anxiety and disquiet. "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day," he said.

But let's stop describing our fears of different sorts and let's try, instead, to see what remedy the Gospel offers us to overcome our fears. The remedy is summarized in one word: to trust God, to believe in Providence and in the heavenly Father's love. The real root of all fears is that of finding oneself alone, like that continuous fear of the child of being abandoned.

And Jesus assures us precisely about this: that we will not be abandoned. "For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up," says Psalm (27:10). Even if all were to abandon us, the Lord would not. His love is stronger than all.

We cannot leave the topic of fear, however, on this point. It would be less than close to reality. Jesus wants to free us from fears and he always frees us. But he does not have only one way to do so; he has two: he either takes away the fear from our hearts or he helps us to live with it in a new way, more freely, making of it an occasion of grace for ourselves and for others.

He himself wished to live this experience. It is written that, in the Garden of Olives "he began to feel sadness and anxiety." The original text even suggests the idea of a solitary terror, as of someone who feels removed from human association, in an immense solitude. And he wished to experience this precisely to redeem this aspect of the human condition also. Since that day, living in union with him, fear, especially fear of death, has the power to uplift us instead of depressing us, of making us more attentive to others, more understanding, and in a word, more human

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=72813

[Coleus]

June 19, 2005
St. Romuald

(950?-1027)

After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a relative in a duel over property. In horror he fled to a monastery near Ravenna in Italy. After three years some of the monks found him to be uncomfortably holy and eased him out.

He spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding monasteries and hermitages. He longed to give his life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the pope’s permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with illness as soon as he arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed.

During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness. One day as he was praying Psalm 31 (“I will give you understanding and I will instruct you”), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit which never left him.

At the next monastery where he stayed, he was accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a dissolute life. Amazingly, his fellow monks believed the accusation. He was given a severe penance, forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated, an unjust sentence he endured in silence for six months.

The most famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli (Campus Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life.

His father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the encouragement of his son.

Comment:

Christ is a gentle leader, but he calls us to total holiness. Now and then men and women are raised up to challenge us by the absoluteness of their dedication, the vigor of their spirit, the depth of their conversion. The fact that we cannot duplicate their lives does not change the call to us to be totally open to God in our own particular circumstances.

[Smartass]

 

[Coleus]

Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time; Father's Day

Jesus said to the Twelve: "Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Matt 10:26-28).

---

Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 20:10-13. This reading has the tone and force of a lamentation psalm where persecutors are all around the just man, and his only strength is the Lord himself. — A Celebrants Guide to the New Sacramentary - A Cycle by Kevin W. Irwin

The second reading is from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 5:12-15. St. Paul is speaking of some of the immediate effects of Christian salvation, as brought to mankind by Christ. St. Paul stresses the fact that Christ through his death not only conquered sin but poured out divine grace so abundantly and lavishly on mankind, making them his brothers and therefore sons of God, that there is no comparison between the world redeemed by Christ's death and the world of sin which prevailed up to then. — The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 10:26-33. What our Lord said to his Apostles applies to all Christians in the practice of their faith. By the very fact of living our faith openly and fully we are apostles by example. If we are always truthful and faithful to our promises, if we are honest in all our dealings, if as employers we pay a just wage and treat those working for us not as "hands" but as whole men and women, if as employees we give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, if we live chaste lives whether in single life or in marriage, we are true Christians. Above all, if we have true love of God and show our appreciation of all that he has done for us, and if we prove that love, by helping his other children, our neighbors, we are a light shining in the darkness, because we are helping others to see the true meaning of the Christian religion.

This true light is needed more today perhaps than ever before. Our world is three quarters pagan or neo-pagan. The neo-pagans are those who once were Christians but abandoned their religion, sometimes through their own fault, but more often than not, because of the bad example they were given by their fellow Christians. These are worse off spiritually than the pagans who have never heard of Christ or the true God. These latter have at least some idols, some ancestral deities, to whom they pay respect. The neo-pagans have only themselves to venerate, and they can find little spiritual uplift in this form of religion.

A large majority of today's teenagers, in most so-called Christian countries, have come to despise, or at least to neglect, the religion of their ancestors. In most cases the cause of this is that Christianity was never really put into practice in their own homes. There are cases of very black sheep coming out of very white Christian homes, but these are cases of weak personality—they prefer to follow the mob rather than try to force their way against it. On the whole, the decline of religion among today's youth is due to bad example from their elders.

In today's gospel message, our Lord is asking each one of us to be a fearless apostle. We will be, if we live up to our religion at home and abroad. "Have no fear of men," he tells us, "don't mind what your fellowmen think of you, if you object to obscene language in your work-place. Don't fear what will be thought of you if you say your grace before and after meals in a public restaurant or hotel. Don't take that extra drink just because your companions at the party might ridicule your control ..."

These acts and many others like them, may seem trivial to some but they are giving testimony to the faith that is in us. Those who scoff at such things at first, may begin later to look into their own hearts, and come to realize what it is to be a man of principle. Eventually they may become men of principle themselves.

Let us remember our Lord's promise "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven."

Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

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  • » Blessing of Fathers on Father's Day (Third Sunday of June)

Collect:
Father, guide and protector of your people, grant us an unfailing respect for your name, and keep us always in your love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

[Salvation]

The Life-giving Love of True Fathers

[Salvation]

The Blessings of the Father

by Fr. John De Celles

Other Articles by Fr. John De Celles

The Blessings of the Father

06/18/05

Today’s Gospel tells us: “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

When Jesus speaks of our Father in heaven, He describes Him as one who cares for us in such a way that takes care of even our smallest needs, and takes away all of our fears. That is probably the most fundamental aspect of being a father: he protects and takes care of his children.

But a father does this in a unique way: he does it as a man. Because while male and female are both created in God’s image, completely equal in dignity, there remain many differences between men and women. Equality does not mean sameness. For the last few decades our society has made great strides in understanding this male/female equality. Unfortunately, in the process we’ve lost sight of what the differences mean. So as we have of grown in our appreciation of the dignity and identity of women, the dignity and identity of men has become confused.

Psychologists tell us, as does common sense, that men tend to be more — for lack of a better word — aggressive, while women tend to be more nurturing. This isn’t to say that men aren’t loving or that women aren’t strong, but that the love and strength of men and women are predominately expressed in these different ways.

In a man, his “aggressiveness” needs to be lived out, or he’ll never be happy, always trying to become someone he isn’t. Sometimes people try to make men less aggressive and more nurturing, more like women. But while men can definitely learn a lot from women, instead of asking how a father should love as a man, some try to make fathers love like women, especially by suppressing the distinctly aggressive aspects of their masculinity.

And how do fathers react? Men denied the opportunity to express their aggressiveness in constructive ways, often tend to abuse it in destructive ways. Some react by fighting, so we see that spousal and child abuse is way up over the last few decades. Others make strategic retreats, looking for another place to exercise their masculinity. Some abandon their spouses and children, while others retreat without ever leaving home, perhaps by having a mistress or throwing themselves into their careers.

What should a man do? Does Christ offer us an answer? In Christ, fathers see what a true man should be like: they love by being aggressive for their families. A Christian father follows Jesus’s counsel in today’s Gospel to “fear no one.” He’s not afraid of outsiders who try to hurt or mislead his children, and he’s not afraid of his children, not afraid to love them by teaching them, correcting them and disciplining them.

He becomes a man by laying down his life for his family, not by running away. And just as his heavenly Father knows when even a sparrow falls to the ground, he aggressively seeks to know when his children are near trouble, and he protects them.

This weekend, as America celebrates Father’s Day, we turn to the Gospel and, by keeping our eyes fixed on Christ, who is the Son and image of the Father, we learn what a true father is and does — how a father loves. In Christ and His Father we see what fathers were created to be, and the promise of the grace necessary to become a true man, a true a father, in Christ.


Fr. De Celles is Parochial Vicar of St. Michael Parish in Annandale, Virginia.

(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)

[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Collect: Father, guide and protector of your people, grant us an unfailing respect for your name, and keep us always in your love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Recipes: » Brew Burgers Activities: » Miniature Mystical Body -- Raising Children to Be Adults Prayers: » Blessing of Fathers on Father's Day (Third Sunday of June)

June 19, 2005 Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time; Father's Day Jesus said to the Twelve: "Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Matt 10:26-28). Sunday Readings The first reading is taken from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 20:10-13. This reading has the tone and force of a lamentation psalm where persecutors are all around the just man, and his only strength is the Lord himself. — A Celebrants Guide to the New Sacramentary - A Cycle by Kevin W. Irwin The second reading is from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 5:12-15. St. Paul is speaking of some of the immediate effects of Christian salvation, as brought to mankind by Christ. St. Paul stresses the fact that Christ through his death not only conquered sin but poured out divine grace so abundantly and lavishly on mankind, making them his brothers and therefore sons of God, that there is no comparison between the world redeemed by Christ's death and the world of sin which prevailed up to then. — The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M. The Gospel is from St. Matthew 10:26-33. What our Lord said to his Apostles applies to all Christians in the practice of their faith. By the very fact of living our faith openly and fully we are apostles by example. If we are always truthful and faithful to our promises, if we are honest in all our dealings, if as employers we pay a just wage and treat those working for us not as "hands" but as whole men and women, if as employees we give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay, if we live chaste lives whether in single life or in marriage, we are true Christians. Above all, if we have true love of God and show our appreciation of all that he has done for us, and if we prove that love, by helping his other children, our neighbors, we are a light shining in the darkness, because we are helping others to see the true meaning of the Christian religion. This true light is needed more today perhaps than ever before. Our world is three quarters pagan or neo-pagan. The neo-pagans are those who once were Christians but abandoned their religion, sometimes through their own fault, but more often than not, because of the bad example they were given by their fellow Christians. These are worse off spiritually than the pagans who have never heard of Christ or the true God. These latter have at least some idols, some ancestral deities, to whom they pay respect. The neo-pagans have only themselves to venerate, and they can find little spiritual uplift in this form of religion. A large majority of today's teenagers, in most so-called Christian countries, have come to despise, or at least to neglect, the religion of their ancestors. In most cases the cause of this is that Christianity was never really put into practice in their own homes. There are cases of very black sheep coming out of very white Christian homes, but these are cases of weak personality—they prefer to follow the mob rather than try to force their way against it. On the whole, the decline of religion among today's youth is due to bad example from their elders. In today's gospel message, our Lord is asking each one of us to be a fearless apostle. We will be, if we live up to our religion at home and abroad. "Have no fear of men," he tells us, "don't mind what your fellowmen think of you, if you object to obscene language in your work-place. Don't fear what will be thought of you if you say your grace before and after meals in a public restaurant or hotel. Don't take that extra drink just because your companions at the party might ridicule your control ..." These acts and many others like them, may seem trivial to some but they are giving testimony to the faith that is in us. Those who scoff at such things at first, may begin later to look into their own hearts, and come to realize what it is to be a man of principle. Eventually they may become men of principle themselves. Let us remember our Lord's promise "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven." Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

[Salvation]

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	The Only Way to That New Room Is Through the Fire
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Sunday, June 19, 2005

Mt 10:26-33

Here's an unusual prayer:

Dear Lord, I want to thank you for being with me so far today. With your help, I haven't been impatient, or lost my temper, or been mean, cantankerous, grumpy, or judgmental. But now, Lord, I'm really going to need your help, because, in a just few minutes I'll be getting out of bed!

+ + +

With all the confusing stuff that hits us every day, none of us is immune to attacks of crabbiness. And when we think about all the bad things that could happen to us, we can really "lose it." Bad things happen to good people: We lose our health, our wealth, our looks, our loved ones, our minds. And in the end, we all lose our lives. And none of it happens on an orderly timetable.

It's frightening to think about. And all too easily, fears about our unseen future can rob us of the only thing we really have: the present. The Lord doesn't want that to happen to us, so he says over and over, "Don't be afraid. Don't let fear steal even a single day from you."

Easy to say till you face the prospect of going broke, or watching your child die, or getting sent to the rest home and knowing you're never coming back. Is the Lord blind to all that suffering? On the contrary! He's telling us what to do with it when it comes: "Don't let fear paralyze you or make you despair or run away," He says. "That's just throwing your life away.

"You have an alternative. And that is to trust me — trust how much I really care about you. And if you decide that's enough, you can take my hand and let me lead you through the pain and through the sadness — not around or over it, but through it all. If you can bring yourself to trust me, and relax in me, and let me guide you, I can bring you to the very core and center of life.

"I can help you let go of what doesn't matter. I can show you the joy of living in the present — even though your pains and troubles stay with you for the rest of your life. I can help you make your hurts grow into something new inside you."

That's what Jesus is talking about when he says, "Don't be afraid." He's not promising to immunize us against life's sorrows. He's showing us how to take life's sorrows and walk through them into whole new rooms in our souls — rooms we'd never even imagined before. He's telling us that every single moment of life — no matter how traumatic and awful — can be a moment of value, a key to a new door ... if we're bonded to him and thus can draw upon his power.

So trust him; take his hand. Don't run away, but walk through the "fire" with him. In the "fire" you'll find what you needed to find, and there will be more to you ... and more ... and still more.

 

[fatima]

Here's a Mass bump Salvation.Blessed Father's day to all,posters and lurkers:)

[Salvation]

I'll ditto that!

[fatima]

Jeremiah said:
"I hear the whisperings of many:
'Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!'
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
'Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.'
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
for he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!"

[Salvation]

 

 

A Voice in the Desert

 

 

June 19, 2005   Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I (Jeremiah 20:10-13)  Reading II (Romans 5:12-15)

  Gospel (St. Matthew 10:26-33)

 In the Gospel reading today, Our Lord tells us something that all of us would like to take to heart, but which hardly any of us actually live. The first words of the Gospel today are Fear no one. Would that we would actually live the words of Our Lord. Most of us live in fear constantly. We are afraid of what people think of us. We are afraid of what somebody might do to us, what they might say about us. We are afraid that we might lose our job if we offend somebody. We are afraid of all these different little things, and we give people all kinds of power over us. But the Lord tells us that we are to fear no one. 

Now, of course, if we look at the first reading, we would ask ourselves, “If we were in Jeremiah’s position, would we be saying that?” The first words from the first reading say, Terror on every side. Denounce! Let us denounce him! If we were in that position, would we be at peace? Would we not be afraid? Unfortunately, what happens for most of us is that when we are put in positions like that, in order to try to preserve our own self, we fight back with our own strength. We take our focus off of God; we remove our trust from God. Many of us stop praying when it becomes difficult like that because we think we have to do it all by ourselves – which is the most foolish thing in the world – and we give in completely to the fear. 

Jesus says, Do not fear the one who can kill the body but can do nothing to the soul. If we really, truly had faith in what we profess, we would rejoice that someone might actually kill us because we could go to heaven. But most of us do not think that way. And if we really think about, it is not that we do not believe in our heads, it is that it has not gotten down to the heart. If we think about some of the martyrs, the saints of old, they rejoice that they have an opportunity to suffer and die for the Lord. They look forward to being able to be freed from all the problems of this life, to be able to have entrance to eternal life. 

So the problem goes even a little further. If our focus is not on heaven, if we take our sights off of God when things become difficult, if we keep the focus solely on ourselves (which we know is only going to lead to despair), then we ask ourselves what follows. What follows is that we try to make friends with the wrong individuals because we are looking for the peace that the world gives rather than seeking the peace that Jesus gives, the peace of which He said the world cannot give. 

And so Our Lord tells us in the Gospel that the one person we are to fear is the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in our society seem to have made pretty good friends with the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. He is the Father of Lies. He is the one who wants to destroy us forever. Of course, what he does is to lie to us and say, “In order to keep yourself from being hurt and destroyed, be my pal. I’ll give you all kinds of material things and I’ll take care of you. Oh, won’t it be fun!” And we give into it because we are afraid. But if we really trusted the Lord, it would be very different.  

You see, what happens is laid out very clearly for us. Jeremiah, in the first reading, prays to the Lord and he says, To you I have entrusted my cause. Then he looks at the Lord and says, You who test the just. That is what Our Lord does for us: He tests us. And He tests us by putting us into situations where we are going to have to grow in virtue, where things are not going to be easy. The problem is that when the Lord does that to us most of us get angry. Again, we either quit praying or we get bitter and we start yelling at God and waving our fist at Him and calling Him names and we say, “Why do You hate me? Why are You doing this to me? I thought You were supposed to love me?” On and on and on our nonsense goes. But all we do over and over again is that every time the Lord gives us an opportunity to prove ourselves we do, however, in the wrong direction – we fall flat on our face. And so the Lord, in His mercy, gives us another opportunity, and another one and another one and another one, until we finally can learn to do what is right.  

Now we might look at that and say, “It’s not fair. Why would God be so mean?” Well, let me put it into a different context. If you decided, as you looked in the mirror one morning, that your body was not looking quite the way you would like it to (your muscles are way out of shape) and you decided that you were going to try to get into shape, so you decide that the way to do this is to start jogging everyday, then, if you are like me, the first day you would probably go out and be huffing and puffing by the end of the block. And the next day you would go out and try it again. After a few days, maybe you would actually be up to two or three blocks. If we apply to ourselves what happens with God, we would say, “Why are you being so mean? If you go out and run, your muscles are going to hurt. You’re going to sweat. It’s going to be painful! It won’t be fun! And why do you keep making yourself go further? If it was hard yesterday, why do you want to go even further? Why do you want to run three miles when you could hardly make it one mile? Aren’t you mean to yourself? Why do you hate yourself so much?” You would say, “No, no, no. It’s not about that. It’s that I realize I am very weak. I’m completely out of shape and I want to try to get into condition, so I have to push myself this way to grow in strength.” 

Well, the word virtue means “strength.” God wants you to grow in virtue, and the only way you are going to grow in virtue is to have to practice it. So He is not being mean when He gives us these opportunities. It is not because He hates us that He is doing these things. It is because He loves us! It is because when push comes to shove on the last day of our lives, if we do not have spiritual strength built up, if we are not accustomed to looking to God in the midst of fear and in the midst of difficulty, then what is going to happen? On the last day of our lives we are going to look at ourselves again, if we are not accustomed to looking at God. We are going to despair. We are going to think that somehow we have to do this ourselves. So God in His mercy gives us plenty of opportunities to realize how foolish that line of thinking is.  

We cannot do it by ourselves. Now the real question we have to ask ourselves is how many times we have to go through this before we are convinced of it. We have proved it to ourselves literally thousands of times, and still we think (so foolishly!) that we can do this alone. We cannot. As we grow in strength, God, of course, is going to make things even bigger, more difficult, more painful, whatever it is. But that is so we can continue to grow; it is not because He does not like us. If you decide to take up your exercise regimen and say, “My goal is to be able to work my way up to three or five miles a day and be able to lift some weights and do this, that, and the other thing,” well, God looks at each one of us and says, “You know what, I have a spiritual exercise regimen for you and I want you to be a saint. My goal for you is to go to heaven, and in order to do this we’re going to have to push it. We’re going to have to push hard.” 

Now think about what Our Lord says at the end of the Gospel, and think about what happens to us when we get pushed. Jesus says, Anyone who denies Me before men, I will deny before My heavenly Father. How many times have we denied Christ? out of fear? in order to be liked by others? in order to fit in? in order to be accepted? We deny what we know to be right. We wimp out, literally. How many times when things get hard, when we are put into various trials do we deny the Lord? Or if we do not deny Him, perhaps we scream at Him. We realize just how weak we are. If God were to call us home today, would we be able to look at the Lord and say, “I have not denied You, I have remained faithful”? Could we say with Saint Paul, I have fought the fight, I have run the race, I have completed the course, and I have remained faithful to what God called me to do? Most of us probably could not say that.  

Therefore, God in His mercy gives us opportunities. And the opportunity, the choice is laid out very clearly in the second reading. We can do like Adam did, or we can do like Jesus did. The first Adam, who was in the state of grace, who had full knowledge of what he was doing, in the very first temptation of his life fell flat, and the rest of us have been dealing with it ever since. Jesus, on the other hand, was severely tempted and He rejected the advances of Satan. So we have it all laid out for us. We have the two ways that we can choose.  

The difference is that we have the power, the grace, and the strength of Jesus Christ. We are not on our own. If it was just us, we have no ability to fight the devil. He is far more powerful than we are. He is exceedingly more intelligent than we are. We are told in Scripture that He was the most subtle, crafty, and deceptive of all the creatures that God had made. He is the Father of Lies and he is the one who brought death. We do not want to make friends with Satan – it is to make friends with death. To give into all the fears of life is to make friends with death.  

If we are at peace, we have the fullness of life within us. And that peace can only come by rejecting Satan and keeping our focus on Jesus. But that is the lesson we have to learn, to learn to turn to Jesus, to learn to rely on the Lord, to learn to trust in the Lord. We know in our heads that He is perfectly trustworthy, and we also know in our heads that when things are difficult we ought to turn to Him. We also know that every single time it happens (or nearly every single time) we do not do it. We turn to ourselves and we try to rely on ourselves and we fail. So what is God going to do? He is going to give you more chances to try again. 

We need to be convinced of our own weakness, of our own inability. We need to be convinced of His power and His strength, and we need to trust Him and all the promises He has made. That, of course, requires prayer. We need to be turning to Him daily in prayer so that when things are difficult the most natural thing in the world to do is to turn to Him because that is what we do always. And when we are united with Jesus Christ, we will fear nothing because all the power is His. Satan has no power over Jesus. All the human respect in the world has no power over Christ, and it will have no power over us either because we are united with the only One Whose opinion really matters. We will be united with the only One Who has overcome the world and Who has overcome Satan and all of his temptations and all of his lies.  

Everything is there for us to succeed. We have only to choose it and to put it into practice. So we go back to what Our Lord has told us: to fear no one, except the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. It is time that we break our ties of friendship with Satan, and that we unite ourselves perfectly to Jesus Christ, to learn to trust Him, to rely on Him, the One Who tests the just in order to make them saints. 

*  This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

[Ciexyz]

Happy Fathers Day to all FReepers reading this thread.