Posted on 11/14/2005 9:34:30 AM PST by Salvation
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From: 1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63
Alexander the Great and His Successors (Continuation)
From: Luke 18:35-43
The Cure of the Blind Man of Jericho
Monday, November 14, 2005 St. Nicholas Tavelic, OFM, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs (Memorial) |
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November 14, 2005 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Monday of the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time Old Calendar: St. Josaphat, bishop and confessor
Before the reform of the General Roman Missal today was the feast of St. Josephat. His memorial is now celebrated on November 12.
Purgatory Is Temporary Purgatory is not eternal. Its duration varies according to the sentence pronounced at each particular judgment. It may be prolonged for centuries in the case of the more guilty souls, or of those who, being excluded from the Catholic communion, are deprived of the suffrages of the Church, although by the divine mercy they have escaped hell. But the end of the world, which will be also the end of time, will close for ever the place of temporary expiation. God will know how to reconcile His justice and His goodness in the purification of the last members of the human race, and to supply by the intensity of the expiatory suffering what may be wanting in duration. But, whereas a favorable sentence at the particular judgment admits of eternal beatitude being suspended and postponed, and leaves the bodies of the elect to the same fate as those of the reprobate; at the universal judgment, every sentence, whether for heaven or for hell, will be absolute, and will be executed immediately and completely. Let us, then, live in expectation of the solemn hour, when ' the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." He that is to come will come, and will not delay, as the Doctor of the Gentiles reminds us; His arrival will be sudden, as that of a thief, we are told, not only by St. Paul, but also by the prince of the apostles and the beloved disciple; and these in turn are but echoing the words of our Lord Himself: "As lightning cometh out of the east and appears even unto the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Excerpted from The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B. Things to Do:
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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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Monday, November 14, 2005 Meditation 1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-63 From their sojourn in Egypt to the time of Hitler and beyond, the Hebrew people have always lived precariously in the midst of hostile neighbors. They survived conquest by Assyria and captivity in Babylon, returning in rags to rebuild their homeland. Alexander the Great was the first Greek to sweep through the area, and by 175 b.c., the Jews were under a more serious threat from Alexanders Seleucid successors. The ruler Antiochus IV determined to consolidate his power by putting an end to divisive nationalism. He urged everyone in his kingdom to adopt the superior Greek culture. Many Israelites accepted these ways. Why not pay lip service to pagan gods just as the agnostic Greeks did? Where was the harm in eating pork in order to preserve ones life? Was it really that important to be circumcised? The voices of those urging accommodation seemed reasonable, just as they do today. Those who clung to the traditional ways of speech, worship, and culture seemed stubborn, behind the times, fanatic, even barbaric, again just as they do today. Does God really expect you to have more than two children? How cruel that the male-dominated church excludes women from public ministry! Where will we draw the line? We must prayerfully discern what entertainment enters our airwaves, what causes we will indirectly support with our shopping dollars, what proposed laws and actions of our government we will tolerate. St. Paul advised, Do not be conformed to this worldone translation says, Dont let the world around you squeeze you into its moldbut be transformed by the renewing of your minds (Romans 12:2). Now that is a rallying cry we can all respond to. Together, we can change this world! Holy Spirit, you have made us your new creation. Re-create us in your image and move us with passion and conviction when the world tries to squeeze us into its mold. Psalm 119:53,61,134,150,155,158; Luke 18:35-43 |
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Great commentaries. thank you.
Faith-sharing bump.
I love the passage about the blind man crying, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" And the Lord showed his great compassion for the afflicted by healing this man. A most moving story. At times when I have prayed to the Lord, that phrase comes to mind: Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.
Monday November 14, 2005 Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Reading (1 Maccabees 1:10-15, 41-43, 54-57, 62-63)
Gospel (St. Luke 18:35-43)
In the Gospel reading today, we hear about this blind man who calls out to Jesus with the desire to see. Of course, we can all understand what that desire is all about. Here is somebody who has no ability to see anything; consequently, he wants to see. But for those of us who have eyesight, what we need to do is to pray that our spiritual blindness would be lifted so that we will be able to see clearly what Gods Will is.
This becomes critically important when we align this idea with the first reading. We hear about the horrible things that took place with regard to the Jewish people at the time of King Antiochus Epiphanes, as he set up the horrible abomination upon the altar, as he forced the people to embrace Gentile customs and to abandon the covenant of God and their ancestral ways. We need to see that what happened in the past is precisely what is going to happen in the future. It is the model for what is going to be. When you look at Scripture, over and over again we see the same patterns repeating themselves. We are told, for instance, in the Book of the Prophet Daniel, that at the very end of the world there is going to be a horrible abomination that is going to be erected upon the altar.
Well, we do not know that this is the end of the world (in fact, we know its not) but we do not know what is going to happen in the near future. We do know that they have already prepared their one world religion and it is ready to be implemented whenever they decide that they are going to try to do it. It will be something that is supposedly going to be acceptable to most everyone, except, I suppose, some groups of radicals that are not going to accept it. And you can talk about Jesus, just like the New-Agers do but they do not mean the same thing about Jesus that we do. Think about what is out there. The Jehovahs Witnesses talk about Jesus, the Mormons talk about Jesus, and neither one believe that He is God. They will talk about Him even being a savior, but they still do not believe He is God. They do not believe in the Holy Trinity. They certainly do not believe in the Sacrifice of the Mass. Yet they want to talk about Jesus, and therefore people are swept away by it. But this is going to be even worse. So we need to be very careful.
And we need to ask ourselves, when we hear the words that are spoken about the Jewish people, whether we would be in the same situation. It said, 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. We do not have to worry so much about eating food that is unclean because the Lord took care of that, but the question is: Are we going to profane the holy covenant or are we going to remain faithful even if that means being put to death? Are we willing to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and to His Church to the end?
Now it is easy to sit back today and say, Oh, yeah, I dont want to deny Jesus, but we need to make sure that we have the grace not to do so. Once again, the only way is prayer because otherwise, if we are left to ourselves, we know our human nature well enough. How many times have we determined even to do something simple like go on a diet? Three or four days later, that is completely over because in our weakness we fall flat on our face. We cant even say no to a candy bar! What are we going to do to somebody who is threatening to kill us? If that is the case, we realize our human weakness is so profound that by ourselves we will not remain faithful, but only by the grace of God can we remain faithful.
So, number one, we have to be so completely convinced of the truth of what it is we believe that we would be willing to die for that truth. Remember that the truth here is a person, and the person is Jesus Christ. Secondly, we need to be deeply rooted in our relationship with Christ so that it is not just something up in our heads that we would say, Oh, yeah, this is what the Church teaches and I believe it, but rather it is in our hearts because there is a Person with Whom we have fallen completely in love. Therefore, because of our love for Him we would never do anything that would violate Him. That is what we have to be about. And we need to pray for the spiritual insight to recognize anythingabsolutely anythingthat is going to gravitate against the Faith so that we will not be swept away even by the smallest, little things that are going to be fallacious.
We have to be very clear about praying to see, about praying to remain faithful, about praying so that we will be completely united with Christ in absolutely
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Lk 18:35-43 | ||
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# | Douay-Rheims | Vulgate |
35 | Now it came to pass, when he drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the way side, begging. | factum est autem cum adpropinquaret Hiericho caecus quidam sedebat secus viam mendicans |
36 | And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. | et cum audiret turbam praetereuntem interrogabat quid hoc esset |
37 | And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. | dixerunt autem ei quod Iesus Nazarenus transiret |
38 | And he cried out, saying: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. | et clamavit dicens Iesu Fili David miserere mei |
39 | And they that went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out much more: Son of David, have mercy on me. | et qui praeibant increpabant eum ut taceret ipse vero multo magis clamabat Fili David miserere mei |
40 | And Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, | stans autem Iesus iussit illum adduci ad se et cum adpropinquasset interrogavit illum |
41 | Saying; What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord, that I may see. | dicens quid tibi vis faciam at ille dixit Domine ut videam |
42 | And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole. | et Iesus dixit illi respice fides tua te salvum fecit |
43 | And immediately he saw and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. | et confestim vidit et sequebatur illum magnificans Deum et omnis plebs ut vidit dedit laudem Deo |
E pistis sou sesoken se. Can just as soon be translated "saved thee".
Most inspirational artwork from Armenia.
Thanks for posting the Bible commentaries. Very helpful and instructive commentary on Christ healing the blind man.
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