Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-17-03, Memorial, St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Reading I
1 Macc1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63

[From the descendants of Alexander's officers]
there sprang a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes,
son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome.
He became king in the year one hundred and thirty-seven
of the kingdom of the Greeks.

In those days there appeared in Israel
men who were breakers of the law,
and they seduced many people, saying:
"Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all around us;
since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us."
The proposal was agreeable;
some from among the people promptly went to the king,
and he authorized them to introduce the way of living
of the Gentiles.
Thereupon they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem
according to the Gentile custom.
They covered over the mark of their circumcision
and abandoned the holy covenant;
they allied themselves with the Gentiles
and sold themselves to wrongdoing.

Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people,
each abandoning his particular customs.
All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king,
and many children of Israel were in favor of his religion;
they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.

On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev,
in the year one hundred and forty-five,
the king erected the horrible abomination
upon the altar of burnt offerings
and in the surrounding cities of Judah they built pagan altars.
They also burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets.
Any scrolls of the law which they found they tore up and burnt.
Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant,
and whoever observed the law,
was condemned to death by royal decree.
But many in Israel were determined
and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean;
they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with unclean food
or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.
Terrible affliction was upon Israel.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 119:53, 61, 134, 150, 155, 158

R (see 88) Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Indignation seizes me because of the wicked
who forsake your law.
R Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Though the snares of the wicked are twined about me,
your law I have not forgotten.
R Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Redeem me from the oppression of men,
that I may keep your precepts.
R Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
I am attacked by malicious persecutors
who are far from your law.
R Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Far from sinners is salvation,
because they seek not your statutes.
R Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
I beheld the apostates with loathing,
because they kept not to your promise.
R Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.

Gospel
Lk 18:35-43

As Jesus approached Jericho
a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,
and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening.
They told him,
"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"
The people walking in front rebuked him,
telling him to be silent,
but he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me!"
Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
"What do you want me to do for you?"
He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

From: Luke 18:35-43

The Cure of the Blind Man of Jericho

[35] As He (Jesus) drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the
roadside begging; [36] and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired
what this meant. [37] They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing
by." [38] And he cried, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" [39]
And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but
he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" [40] And
Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to Him; and when he came
near, He asked him, [41] "What do you want Me to do for you?" He said,
"Lord, let me receive my sight." [42] And Jesus said to him, "Receive
your sight; your faith has made you well." [43] And immediately he
received his sight and followed Him, glorifying God; and all the
people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Commentary:

35-43. The blind man of Jericho is quick to use the opportunity
presented by Christ's presence. We should not neglect the Lord's
graces, for we do not know whether He will offer us them again. St.
Augustine described very succinctly the urgency with which we should
respond to God's gift, to His passing us on the road: "`Timeo Jesum
praetereuntem et non redeuntem': I fear Jesus may pass by and not come
back." For, at least on some occasion, in some way, Jesus passes close
to everyone.

The blind man of Jericho acclaims Jesus as the Messiah--he gives Him
the messianic title of Son of David--and asks Him to meet his need, to
make him see. His is an active faith; he shouts out, he persists,
despite the people getting in his way. And he manages to get Jesus to
hear him and call him. God wanted this episode to be recorded in the
Gospel, to teach us how we should believe and how we should pray--with
conviction, with urgency, with constancy, in spite of the obstacles,
with simplicity, until we manage to get Jesus to listen to us.

"Lord, let me receive my sight": this simple ejaculatory prayer should
be often on our lips, flowing from the depths of our heart. It is a
very good prayer to use in moments of doubt and vacillation, when we
cannot understand the reason behind God's plans, when the horizon of
our commitment becomes clouded. It is even a good prayer for people
who are sincerely trying to find God but who do not yet have the great
gift of 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.

FEAST OF THE DAY

St. Elizabeth was daughter of the Hungarian king born around the
year 1207. She was raised in the court, and at the age of 14, she
married Louis of Thuringia. The marriage bore three children in the
six years of marriage before Louis was called to the Crusades. Louis
was killed in the Crusades, and Elizabeth was left alone.

Instead of turning into herself and despairing at her life, Elizabeth
developed a great love and charity for the poor. She wore simple
clothing and led a life of prayer, charity, and sacrifice. Elizabeth's
relatives thought she was squandering the wealth of her husband
and she was thrown out of the palace. Elizabeth continued her
simple life of charity, even when she was reinstated in the palace
when her husband's allies returned from the Crusades.

In the year 1228, Elizabeth joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and
spent the remaining years of her life caring for the sick and poor. She
founded a hospital in honor of St. Francis won the approval of many
for her charity. She died before her 24th birthday in the year 1231
and was canonized four years later. St. Elizabeth of Hungary is the
patron of Catholic charities, and Third Order Franciscans.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

He who trusts in himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all
things. -St. Alphonsus Liguori

TODAY IN HISTORY

1800 Congress held 1st session in Washington DC

TODAY'S TIDBIT

The process for canonization that allowed Elizabeth to be canonized
so quickly is no longer used. Now a more formalized, legal process is
required before a person is recognized officially as a saint. This
process has several different stages and minimum requirements on
how much time can pass before moving on to the next stage in the
process.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray for all people that do not have adequate shelter against
the weather.

Once, For All 11/17/03

From the very outset of the Reformation,
Protestant leaders could not see eye to eye.
They disagreed about whether Christ’s body is
really present in the Eucharist. The argued
about whether we should baptize infants. They
bickered about predestination.

But they were 100% united on two points: 1) the Mass is not a sacrifice and
2) those who offer the Eucharist should not be called priests.

The reason? Look what Heb 10:11-4 says about the Lord Jesus: “For by a
single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” To the
early Protestants, it seemed that the Sacrifice of the Mass was crucifying
Christ again and again, Sunday after Sunday, as if His awesome act on
Calvary was not enough. To add insult to injury, Catholics were calling the
Mass a sacrifice offered by the Church, as if we Christians could ever add
anything to the all-sufficient work of Christ, the High Priest.

Were the Reformers all wet, or were they on to something?

The answer is, a little of both.

Christ’s sacrifice is unrepeatable and entirely sufficient. There can be no other
sacrifice and there can be no other priest. But at the same time, it is entirely
appropriate to call the Mass a sacrifice and those who offer it “priests.”

How can this be?

First of all, keep in mind that there is a unique quality to all of Jesus’ activity,
especially His death and resurrection, the climax of His mission. After all, He is
God, and there is no time with God. Everything God does is “now,” it is past,
present, and future. So the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary and His glorious
resurrection are not dead events, buried in the past like other milestones of
human history. No, they are eternally present, alive, and active.

The Mass does not repeat these unrepeatable moments. It simply re-presents
them, making them present again. Mass makes the power of the
once-and-for-all sacrifice available to all those present in body and in
prayerful remembrance. Yes, Jesus offered one sacrifice that objectively
perfected everyone, once and for all. Yet the power of that sacrifice needs to
be personally accepted and progressively appropriated by each human being
throughout history. What better way than weekly, or better, daily Eucharist
through which the Good Samaritan pours the wine and oil of His sacrifice upon
our bruised flesh that we may be healed, strengthened, and made perfect in
Him.

But what about this business of the Mass being our sacrifice?

Think about the ramifications of St. Paul calling the Church “the body of
Christ.” In baptism we are united to Him so that we become members of His
Body. St. Paul says in Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Through baptism, we share in
His death and risen life; in confirmation, we are anointed by His Spirit in order
to share in His mission. Christ the Prophet, the Priest, the King begins to work
in and through us. That’s why we are called a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9;
Rev 1:6).

Jesus, the head of the Body, was the perfect priest who offered the perfect
sacrifice — Himself. We, the not-yet-perfect, offer ourselves with Him to the
Father, in obedience to St. Paul who said “present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Ro
12:2). In the Mass, His sacrifice becomes present and, as it ascends to the
Father, bears our imperfect lives and sacrifices with it. His sacrifice mingles
with ours much as the rich wine in the chalice unites with the insipid drops of
water added by the presiding minister.

It is entirely the sacrifice of Christ that is offered in the Mass, the sacrifice of
Jesus the head and we His members. And it is offered by the entire body of
Christ too, head and members.

That’s the point. It is no longer He and us, His sacrifice versus ours. All is His,
all is ours. One sacrifice. One priesthood. One body. Forever and ever.

Dr. D'Ambrosio

Words of Encouragement

Title: God's Odds!
Author: Mark Shea
Date: Monday, November 17, 2003

Joshua 1:5
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life;
as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or
forsake you.

Having to subdue seven nations and conquer a strange land in
bloody warfare, all while trying to manage the life of a nation of
ex-slaves who are only in the rudimentary stages of civilization,
can make a fella jittery. Joshua, like Moses, did not feel up to the
task. But Joshua, like Moses, found he wasn't being asked to be
up to the task. Instead, he found that God was up to the task and
that he only had to do the next practical thing as God assigned it.
We are in Joshua's shoes. For the task of the Church is to conquer
the world and we can't do it either. Still less can we face the fact
that the blood that is to be shed is ours, if it is anybody's. But we
still have this advantage: God will be with us and will not fail us or
forsake us. Those are good odds.

The Word Among Us

Monday, November 17, 2003

Meditation
1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43,54-57,62-63 41-43,54-57,62-63

The Books of Maccabees deal with a clash of cultures between Jews and Gentiles about 175 years before Christ. They describe how the Jewish people overcame a devastating persecution and regained the right to worship God and live out their covenant with him. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes took the reins of the Kingdom of Syria in 175 b.c., tension had already existed between the Jews who wanted to live more like the Gentiles around them and those who wanted to maintain their identity as God’s chosen people.

Antiochus exploited this tension in his aggressive promotion of Greek culture and religion. He went so far as to plunder the Temple in Jerusalem and to erect an altar to the Greek god, Zeus, in its sanctuary.

As the conflict worsened, Jews were forced—under pain of death—to pay homage to Zeus, to eat unclean foods, and even to renounce Yahweh as their God. Ultimately, the persecution sparked a revolt led by a priest named Mattathias and his sons, known as the Maccabees. The books in the Bible that bear this family’s name detail this uprising, which ultimately led to the restoration of the Temple and religious freedom for the Jews.

Throughout history, God’s people have been subject to one form of persecution or another. Whether it is open aggression or the more subtle opposition of a culture of death, these persecutions reveal a clash between the kingdom of God and the realm of darkness.

The witness of Scripture and history shows us that the kingdom of God is the only one that will last. God remains in control. He will never abandon those who stay faithful to him. So let’s pray today for everyone suffering persecution. May they know the comfort and courage of the Lord!

“Jesus, help everyone who is suffering for their witness to you. Give them strength, Lord, to overcome all obstacles and to persevere in building your kingdom.”

One Bread, One Body

<< Monday, November 17, 2003 >>

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63

Psalm 119:53, 61, 134, 150, 155, 158

Luke 18:35-43

View Readings

AMONG OUR GREATEST NEEDS

“A blind man sat at the side of the road begging. Hearing a crowd go by the man asked, ‘What is that?’ The answer came that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.” —Luke 18:35-37

Imagine if you were color-blind and nearsighted with impaired peripheral vision. Could you see? Yes. Would you need healing of your vision? Absolutely. Likewise, we can see spiritually but “we see indistinctly, as in a mirror” (1 Cor 13:12). We should not let the fact that we have some vision keep us from crying out to Jesus for vision good enough to live His abundant life.

If we don’t see God better in our spouse, what chance do we have to persevere in our wedding vows? If we don’t see more deeply into God’s plan, will we ever stop abortion? Until we see with the eyes of our hearts (Eph 1:18) our eucharistic Lord under the appearances of bread and wine, we will not center our lives to be in communion and go to Communion. This is severe self-deprivation.

Some of us have spent thousands of dollars so that we can see better physically. We have glasses, sunglasses, reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, contacts, eye drops, and laser surgery to improve our sight physically. It is much more important to see better spiritually. Consequently, cry out to Jesus “all the more, ‘Son of David, have pity on me!’ ” (Lk 18:39) Pray to Jesus: “Lord, I want to see” (see Lk 18:41).

Prayer: Father, may I follow Your orders exactly so that I will see rightly.

Promise: “Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.’ At that very moment he was given his sight and began to follow Him, giving God the glory.” —Lk 18:42-43

Praise: St. Elizabeth saw God in the poor, the sick, and the elderly and spent much of her life in service to them.

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	Stay Connected or You'll Lose Your Way
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Monday, November 17, 2003

I Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63 / Lk 18:35-43

We have the beginnings of a great tragedy in today's reading from the book of Maccabees. The Greeks had decided to impose their own language and culture on the various parts of their empire. And that meant zero tolerance for the religion of all conquered peoples, including the Jews. The temple at Jerusalem was converted into a gymnasium, and all Jewish religious observances were forbidden under pain of death.

It was decision time for the Jews, young and old, and many of them forgot what it was that made them special, what made them who they were: It was their conscious connection to the Lord. Hoping to win acceptance and advancement from those who held power, many of the Jews turned their backs on their connection to the Lord. And in doing so they lost their identity and lost their way.

It's a temptation that presents itself in every age, if not in so dramatic a way. We face it now, the temptation to give in to a culture that in so many ways has considerable appeal, but is simultaneously seriously flawed. It's hard not to fall victim to its subtle allures and distorted values without even noticing we've done so. Only one thing can prevent that from happening, and that is serious time spent with the Lord every day.

Take that time every day. Let Him help you remember who you are and what really matters. Let Him give you the energy to be faithful and true.

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