Posted on 11/29/2005 8:54:35 AM PST by Salvation
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From: Isaiah 11:1-10
The New Descendant of David
From: Luke 10:21-24
Jesus Gives Thanks
Good afternoon bttt.
Aand, hello to you too! Guess I am a little late today! LOL!
| Tuesday, November 29, 2005 All Saints of the Seraphic Order (Feast) |
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November 29, 2005    Tuesday of the First Week of Advent Old Calendar: St. Saturninus, martyr
Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar today was the feast of St. Saturninus, a Roman martyr of the Diocletian persecution in about the year 303. He was a native of Carthage.
St. Saturninus Symbols: Bishop dragged by a bull; bishop with a bull at his feet. |
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Is 11:1-10 / Lk 10:21-24 It’s an astonishing fact that in the 2000 years since the birth of Christ there has been only a handful of years in which there was no war. We yearn for peace, we pray for peace, but we rarely get it. And that is not what God wants for us. In today’s reading from Isaiah, we hear God’s vision of the world. “The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.” It sounds wonderful. Why doesn’t it happen? The answer for each of us can be found in our mirrors. We haven’t learned the art and the habit of being peacemakers, makers and builders of peace. Many of us are quite good at ducking or running away from conflict. But that isn’t building peace. On the contrary, running away generally leaves important issues unresolved, unhealed, and waiting to rise again in a more virulent form. So what are we to do? Pope Paul VI said it perfectly and so very simply, “If you want peace, work for justice.” That’s what it means to be a peacemaker at every level of life. It’s a noble work, worthy of us all. And it’s a work that needs to begin now. |
Faith-sharing bump.
Peace-making bump.
Great commentaries - thank you.
Tuesday November 29, 2005 First Week of Advent
Reading (Isaiah 11:1-10) Gospel (St. Matthew 10:21-24)
Our Lord in the Gospel reading today rejoices in the Holy Spirit and gives praise to His Father, saying that what has been hidden from the wise and the learned has been revealed to the childlike. That is the point all of us have to understand especially when we hear the words of the first reading when the prophet Isaiah talks about what is going to happen with Our Lord. First, to put it into context, remember that this point of Our Lord talking about the things that He is going to do and how the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him, He Himself told us that this is the case. And so He is using this particular passage from Isaiah in reference to Himself, and then talks about how He is going to judge and how justice is going to be the belt upon His waist. He goes on, then, to talk about how all of these things that seem to be contradictory to us are going to take place, and then finally how it says there will be no harm or ruin on all His holy mountain, but the earth “shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea.”
That holy mountain of the Lord is the Church. If we look in the Church today, we would say, “Well, it doesn’t look like there is no ruin or harm within.” In the people, of course, right now there is. On the other side of whatever purification we are going to have to deal with, it will be a whole different situation; but even before that we have to understand that within the teaching of the Church there is complete purity, that nothing there is going to be of any kind of ruin or harm. That has been preserved, and it is there for each and every one of us to be able to recognize and to accept. That means we have to look beyond the human element, because in there we are going to find sin. And while it is easy for us to point our fingers at everyone else, all we have to do is first look in the mirror and remember that within the Church the sinners start with “me,” and every single other person is just like that. So, of course, we are going to find sinners and we are going to find lots of imperfection. Yet we can look beyond that to what is objective, to the teaching of the Church, and there we will find pure truth. There we will find the absolute teaching of Jesus Christ.
The wonderful thing that is going to happen in this time when Our Lady intervenes is that the fullness of truth is going to be revealed and accepted by all people who will remain. Our Lady promised at Fatima that there would be unprecedented growth for the Church. Saint Louis de Montfort tells us that in this time of Our Lady the Gospel is going to spread, that knowledge of Our Lady is going to be known by all, and therefore through her knowledge of Christ is going to be known by all. This is exactly what Isaiah is talking about. At that point, everyone on the face of the earth will live a truly Catholic life and there will be peace and justice.
In the meantime, the question is: Are we willing to do it even now–where there is not peace, where there is not justice, where people are not living the Gospel, and where they have rejected the knowledge of truth? Even with all of that, the true teaching of Christ is still there. Now we have the choice of whether we are going to look at all of the corruption and all of the problems, or whether we are going to look beyond that and look to Christ and look to the objective teaching and follow it. That is the choice we have even now. Are we going to be wise and clever and learned, and be just like everyone else and think that we have a better way? Remember what Our Lord said at the end of the Gospel: Many prophets and many kings longed to see what you see and did not see it, to hear what you hear and did not hear it. Why is it that there are so many throughout history who longed for the truth but did not have the fullness? Now we have the fullness of the truth, yet we do not want it.
Jesus desires that we would long for that truth, long for it to the point where we would seek it out and we would live it. That is what we have the opportunity to do right now. But it requires that we become childlike, that we realize we are not the ones who are the wise in the worldly sense, that we are not the powerful ones, that we are not the ones the world would look to. We need to be small, we need to be humble, and we need to recognize that what is true is not “me”–what is true is Christ–and He has placed that truth within each one of us so that we can accept it and live it. That is what He desires. He makes very clear that only those who are childlike will have this truth fully revealed to them. So we need to pray for that grace to truly be like a little child in accepting what Our Lord teaches us, and then to learn the obedience, the obedience of faith, as Saint Paul calls it, so we can live the truth that we have learned.
* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Meditation Isaiah 11:1-10 The imagination is an amazing thing. With our imaginations, we can form mental images of things, people, and events that are not present—even things that may never come to pass. How many of us have imagined a dream vacation or the perfect job? As children, we anticipate the sights and sounds of a parade or the joys of Christmas—all with our imaginations. Let’s take this gift of the imagination one step further. Consider a deaf person imagining the sounds of a symphony, or a blind person trying to picture a much-described sunset. Or even consider an unborn child anticipating life outside the womb. These examples show how our imaginations can help people to perceive a world outside of what their senses tell them. Now take this just one step more and think about your imagination’s noblest purpose: to help you picture the mysteries of God and his kingdom. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah imagined the age to come. For Isaiah, the Messiah would not only usher in an earth where people are upright and just but also where human nature as we know it is divinized. He leapt beyond his everyday experience to picture an age of complete harmony. If you close your eyes, you might be able to picture Isaiah smiling as the Spirit fills his imagination with images of what is in store for God’s people. And yet what’s funny is that even Isaiah’s imaginings fall far short of God’s plan. In Christ, we have been given a revelation that has far surpassed even Isaiah’s inspired dreams. In Christ, we share in the divine nature (see Catechism, 460). Yes, it’s true. God became man so that we could become like God! God wants to expand our vision as we use our imaginations. Spend time in prayer today trying to think expansively. Let God show you that his vision for your life goes far beyond moral rightness and liturgical correctness. It includes your being filled with Jesus’ divine nature! Who knows? The Holy Spirit just might press some new insight on your heart today as you imagine with him. “Holy Spirit, move in me today just as you did in Isaiah centuries ago. Lead me in my heavenly daydreams. Fill me with wonder as I picture myself being filled with your divinity. Give me eyes to see your bigger picture.” Psalm 72:1-2,7-8,12-13,17; Luke 10:21-24 |
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| Lk 10:21-37 | ||
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| # | Douay-Rheims | Vulgate |
| 21 | In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight. | in ipsa hora exultavit Spiritu Sancto et dixit confiteor tibi Pater Domine caeli et terrae quod abscondisti haec a sapientibus et prudentibus et revelasti ea parvulis etiam Pater quia sic placuit ante te |
| 22 | All things are delivered to me by my Father. And no one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father: and who the Father is, but the Son and to whom the Son will reveal him. | omnia mihi tradita sunt a Patre meo et nemo scit qui sit Filius nisi Pater et qui sit Pater nisi Filius et cui voluerit Filius revelare |
| 23 | And turning to his disciples, he said: Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see. | et conversus ad discipulos suos dixit beati oculi qui vident quae videtis |
| 24 | For I say to you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear and have not heard them. | dico enim vobis quod multi prophetae et reges voluerunt videre quae vos videtis et non viderunt et audire quae auditis et non audierunt |
Interesting!
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The Martyrology gives these details: "At Rome on the Via Salaria the death of the holy martyr, the aged Saturninus, and of the deacon Sisinius. Under the emperor Maximianus they suffered long in prison. The prefect of Rome ordered them placed on the rack till their joints were torn loose, then beaten with knotted whips, and burnt with torches; at last removed from the rack, they were beheaded." According to the inscription on his tomb by Pope St. Damasus, Saturninus hailed from Carthage. The Acts of Marcellus say he was condemned as a frail old man to carry sand for the construction of the Baths of Diocletian; but when by his patience and prayer and encouragement he led many to the faith, he was beheaded. 