Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 09-24-14

September 24, 2014

Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Every word of God is tested;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Add nothing to his words,
lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver.

Two things I ask of you,
deny them not to me before I die:
Put falsehood and lying far from me,
give me neither poverty nor riches;
provide me only with the food I need;
Lest, being full, I deny you,
saying, “Who is the LORD?”
Or, being in want, I steal,
and profane the name of my God.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163

R. (105) Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
R. Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
R. Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
Your word, O LORD, endures forever;
it is firm as the heavens.
R. Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
From every evil way I withhold my feet,
that I may keep your words.
R. Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
Through your precepts I gain discernment;
therefore I hate every false way.
R. Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.
Falsehood I hate and abhor;
your law I love.
R. Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet.

Gospel Lk 9:1-6

Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.
Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.
And as for those who do not welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”
Then they set out and went from village to village
proclaiming the Good News and curing diseases everywhere.

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 9
1.	THEN calling together the twelve apostles, he gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.	Convocatis autem duodecim Apostolis, dedit illis virtutem et potestatem super omnia dæmonia, et ut languores curarent.	συγκαλεσαμενος δε τους δωδεκα εδωκεν αυτοις δυναμιν και εξουσιαν επι παντα τα δαιμονια και νοσους θεραπευειν
2.	And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.	Et misit illos prædicare regnum Dei, et sanare infirmos.	και απεστειλεν αυτους κηρυσσειν την βασιλειαν του θεου και ιασθαι τους ασθενουντας
3.	And he said to them: Take nothing for your journey; neither staff, nor scrip, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats.	Et ait ad illos : Nihil tuleritis in via, neque virgam, neque peram, neque panem, neque pecuniam, neque duas tunicas habeatis.	και ειπεν προς αυτους μηδεν αιρετε εις την οδον μητε ραβδους μητε πηραν μητε αρτον μητε αργυριον μητε ανα δυο χιτωνας εχειν
4.	And whatsoever house you shall enter into, abide there, and depart not from thence.	Et in quamcumque domum intraveritis, ibi manete, et inde ne exeatis.	και εις ην αν οικιαν εισελθητε εκει μενετε και εκειθεν εξερχεσθε
5.	And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off even the dust of your feet, for a testimony against them.	Et quicumque non receperint vos : exeuntes de civitate illa, etiam pulverem pedum vestrorum excutite in testimonium supra illos.	και οσοι εαν μη δεξωνται υμας εξερχομενοι απο της πολεως εκεινης και τον κονιορτον απο των ποδων υμων αποτιναξατε εις μαρτυριον επ αυτους
6.	And going out, they went about through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.	Egressi autem circuibant per castella evangelizantes, et curantes ubique.	εξερχομενοι δε διηρχοντο κατα τας κωμας ευαγγελιζομενοι και θεραπευοντες πανταχου

1. Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
2. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
3. And he said to them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
4. And whatsoever house you enter into, there abide, and thence depart.
5. And whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
6. And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the Gospel, and healing every where.

CYRIL; It was fitting that those who were appointed the ministers of holy teaching should be able to work miracles, and by these very acts themselves be believed to be the ministers of God. Hence it is said, Then called he his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils. Herein He brings down the haughty pride of the devil, who once said, There is none who shall open his mouth against me.

EUSEB. And that through them the whole race of mankind may be sought out, He not only gives them power to drive away evil spirits, but to cure all kind of diseases at His command; as it follows, And to cure diseases.

CYRIL; Mark here the divine power of the Son, which belongs not to a fleshly nature. For it was in the power of the saints to perform miracles not by nature, but by participation of the Holy Spirit; but it was altogether out of their power to grant this authority to others. For how could created natures possess dominion over the gifts of the Spirit? But our Lord Jesus Christ, as by nature God, imparts graces of this kind to whomsoever He will, not invoking upon them a power which is not His own, but infusing it into them from Himself.

CHRYS. But after that they had been sufficiently strengthened by His guidance, and had received competent proofs of His power, He sends them out, as it follows, And he sent them to teach the kingdom of God. And here we must remark, that they are not commissioned to speak of sensible things as Moses and the Prophets; for they promised a land and earthly goods, but these a kingdom, and whatsoever is contained in it.

GREG. NAZ. Now in sending His disciples to preach, our Lord enjoined many things on them, the chief of which are, that they should be so virtuous, so constant, so temperate, and, to speak briefly, so heavenly, that no less through their manner of living than their words, the teaching of the Gospel might be spread abroad. And therefore were they sent with lack of money, and staves, and a single garment; He accordingly adds, And he said to them, Take nothing in the way, neither staves.

CHRYS. Many things indeed He ordained hereby; first indeed it rendered the disciples unsuspected; secondly, it held them aloof from all care, so that they might give their whole study to the word; thirdly, it taught them their own proper virtue. But perhaps some one will say that the other things indeed are reasonable, but for what reason did He command them to have no scrip on their way, nor two coats, nor staff? In truth, because He wished to rouse them to all diligence, taking them away from all the cares of this life, that they might be occupied by the one single care of teaching.

EUSEB. Wishing then that they should be free from the desire of wealth and the anxieties of life, He gave this injunction. He took it as a proof of their faith and courage, that when it was commanded them to lead a life of extreme poverty, they would not escape from what was ordered. For it was fitting that they should make a kind of bargain, receiving these saving virtues to recompense them for obedience to commands. And when He was making them soldiers of God, He girds them for battle against their enemies, by telling them to embrace poverty. For no soldier of God entangles himself in the affairs of a secular life.

AMBROSE; Of what kind then he ought to be who preaches the Gospel of the kingdom of God is marked out by these Gospel precepts; that is, he must not require the supports of secular aid; and clinging wholly to faith, he must believe that the less he requires those things, the more they will be supplied to him.

THEOPHYL. For He sends them out as very beggars, so that He would have them neither carry bread, nor any thing else of which men are generally in want.

AUG. Or, the Lord did not wish the disciples to possess and carry with them these things, not that they were not necessary to the support of this life, but because He sent them thus to show that these things were due to them from those believers to whom they announced the Gospel, that so they might neither possess security, nor carry about with them the necessaries of this life, either great or little. He has therefore, according to Mark, excluded all except a staff, showing that the faithful owe every thing to their ministers who require no superfluities. But this permission of the staff He has mentioned by name, when He says, They should take nothing in the way, but a staff only.

AMBROSE; To those also who wish it, this place admits of being explained, so as to seem only to represent a spiritual temper of mind, which appears to have castoff as it were a certain covering of the body; not only rejecting power and despising wealth, but renouncing also the delights of the flesh itself.

THEOPHYL. Some also understand by the Apostles not carrying scrip, nor staff, nor two coats, that they must not lay up treasures, (which a scrip implies, collecting many things,) nor be angry and of a quarrelsome spirit, (which the staff signifies,) nor be false and of a double heart, (which is meant by the two coats.)

CYRIL; But it may be said, How then shall necessary things be prepared for them. He therefore adds, And into whatsoever house you enter, there abide, and thence depart. As if He said, Let the food of disciples suffice you, who receiving from you spiritual things, will minister to you temporal. But He ordered them to abide in one house, so as neither to incommode the host, (that is, so as to send him away,) nor themselves to incur the suspicion of gluttony and wantonness.

AMBROSE; He pronounces it to be foreign to the character of a preacher of the heavenly kingdom to run from house to house and change the rights of inviolable hospitality; but as the grace of hospitality is supposed to be offered, so also if they are not received the dust must be shaken oil; and they are commanded to depart from the city; as it follows, And whosoever will not receive you when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony, &c.

THEOPHYL; The dust is shaken off from the Apostles' feet as a testimony of their labors, that they entered into a city, and the apostolical preaching had reached to the inhabitants thereof. Or the dust is shaken off when they receive nothing (not even of the necessaries of life) from those who despised the Gospel.

CYRIL; For it is very improbable that those who despise the saving Word, and the Master of the household, will show themselves kind to His servants, and seek further blessings.

AMBROSE; Or it is a great return of hospitality which is here taught, i.e. that we should not only wish peace to our hosts, but also if any faults of earthly infirmity obscure them, they should be removed by receiving the footsteps of apostolical preaching.

THEOPHYL; But if any by treacherous negligence, or even from zeal, despise the word of God, their communion must be shunned, the dust of the feet must be shaken off, lest by their vain deeds which are to be compared to the dust, the footstep of a chaste mind be defiled.

EUSEB. But when the Lord had girded His disciples as soldiers of God with divine virtue and wise admonitions, sending them to the Jews as teachers and physicians, they afterwards went forth, as it follows, And they departed, and went through the towns preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

Catena Aurea Luke 9

Part 4: Christian Prayer (2558 - 2865)

Section 1: Prayer in the Christian Life (2558 - 2758)

Chapter 1: The Revelation of Prayer (2566 - 2649)

Article 2: In the Fullness of Time (2598 - 2622)

Jesus prays ⇡

443
535
554
612
858
(all)

2600

The Gospel according to St. Luke emphasizes the action of the Holy Spirit and the meaning of prayer in Christ's ministry. Jesus prays before the decisive moments of his mission: before his Father's witness to him during his baptism and Transfiguration, and before his own fulfillment of the Father's plan of love by his Passion.⁴³ He also prays before the decisive moments involving the mission of his apostles: at his election and call of the Twelve, before Peter's confession of him as "the Christ of God," and again that the faith of the chief of the Apostles may not fail when tempted.⁴⁴ Jesus' prayer before the events of salvation that the Father has asked him to fulfill is a humble and trusting commitment of his human will to the loving will of the Father.

43.

Cf. Lk 3:21; 9:28; 22:41-44.

44.

Cf. Lk 6:12; 9:18-20; 22:32.

2765
(all)

2601

"He was praying in a certain place and when he had ceased, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray."'⁴⁵ In seeing the Master at prayer the disciple of Christ also wants to pray. By contemplating and hearing the Son, the master of prayer, the children learn to pray to the Father.

45.

Lk 11:1.

616
(all)

2602

Jesus often draws apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at night.⁴⁶ He includes all men in his prayer, for he has taken on humanity in his incarnation, and he offers them to the Father when he offers himself. Jesus, the Word who has become flesh, shares by his human prayer in all that "his brethren" experience; he sympathizes with their weaknesses in order to free them.⁴⁷ It was for this that the Father sent him. His words and works are the visible manifestation of his prayer in secret.

46.

Cf. Mk 1:35; 6:46; Lk 5:16.

47.

Cf. Heb 2:12, 15; 4:15.

2546
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494
(all)

2603

The evangelists have preserved two more explicit prayers offered by Christ during his public ministry. Each begins with thanksgiving. In the first, Jesus confesses the Father, acknowledges, and blesses him because he has hidden the mysteries of the Kingdom from those who think themselves learned and has revealed them to infants, the poor of the Beatitudes.⁴⁸ His exclamation, "Yes, Father!" expresses the depth of his heart, his adherence to the Father's "good pleasure," echoing his mother's Fiat at the time of his conception and prefiguring what he will say to the Father in his agony. The whole prayer of Jesus is contained in this loving adherence of his human heart to the mystery of the will of the Father.⁴⁹

48.

Cf. Mt 11:25-27 and Lk 10:21-23.

49.

Cf. Eph 1:9.

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478
(all)

2604

The second prayer, before the raising of Lazarus, is recorded by St. John.⁵⁰ Thanksgiving precedes the event: "Father, I thank you for having heard me," which implies that the Father always hears his petitions. Jesus immediately adds: "I know that you always hear me," which implies that Jesus, on his part, constantly made such petitions. Jesus' prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the gift is given, Jesus commits himself to the One who in giving gives himself. The Giver is more precious than the gift; he is the "treasure"; in him abides his Son's heart; the gift is given "as well."⁵¹ The priestly prayer of Jesus holds a unique place in the economy of salvation.⁵² A meditation on it will conclude Section One. It reveals the ever present prayer of our High Priest and, at the same time, contains what he teaches us about our prayer to our Father, which will be developed in Section Two.

50.

Cf. Jn 11:41-42.

51.

Mt 6:21, 33.

52.

Cf. Jn 17.

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(all)

2605

When the hour had come for him to fulfill the Father's plan of love, Jesus allows a glimpse of the boundless depth of his filial prayer, not only before he freely delivered himself up ("Abba ... not my will, but yours."),⁵³ but even in his last words on the Cross, where prayer and the gift of self are but one: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do";⁵⁴ "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise",⁵⁵ "Woman, behold your son" — "Behold your mother";⁵⁶ "I thirst.";⁵⁷ "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?";⁵⁸ "It is finished";⁵⁹ "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"⁶⁰ until the "loud cry" as he expires, giving up his spirit.⁶¹

53.

54.

56.

57.

58.

Mk 15:34; cf. Ps 22:2.

59.

Jn 19:30.

60.

Lk 23:46.

61.

Cf. Mk 15:37; Jn 19:30b.

55.

Lk 23:43.

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All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up in this cry of the incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them by raising his Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama of prayer in the economy of creation and salvation. The Psalter gives us the key to prayer in Christ. In the "today" of the Resurrection the Father says: "You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession."⁶² The Letter to the Hebrews expresses in dramatic terms how the prayer of Jesus accomplished the victory of salvation: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him."⁶³

62.

Ps 2:7-8; cf. Acts 13:33.

63.

Heb 5:7-9.

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for:September 24, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbor, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Lattwaerrick

ACTIVITIES

o Celebrating the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin

o Description of Ember Days

o Ember Days

o Explanation of Ember Days

o Marian Hymn: A Single Branch Three Roses Bore

PRAYERS

o September Devotion: Our Lady of Sorrows

o Prayer for the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom

LIBRARY

o September 24: Feast of Our Lady of Ransom | Fr. Paul Haffner

· Ordinary Time: September 24th

· Wednesday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Old Calendar: Our Lady of Ransom ; Other Titles: Our Lady of Mercy

This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your favor. In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never fails: rescue me from sinking in the mud; save me from my foes.

The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1218 in separate visions to St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymond of Penafort and James, king of Aragon, asking them to found a religious order dedicated to freeing Christian captives from the barbarous Saracens or Moors, who at the time held a great part of Spain. On August 10, 1218, King James established the royal, military and religious Order of our Lady of Ransom (first known as the Order of St. Eulalia, now known as the Mercedarian Order), with the members granted the privilege of wearing his own arms on their breast. Most of the members were knights, and while the clerics recited the divine office in the commanderies, they guarded the coasts and delivered prisoners. This pious work spread everywhere and produced heroes of charity who collected alms for the ransom of Christians, and often gave themselves up in exchange for Christian prisoners. This feast, kept only by the Order, was extended to the whole Church by Innocent XII in the 17th century.

Our Lady of Ransom
Would you risk your life to free someone from a concentration camp? Would you take the place of a prisoner? Would you sacrifice comforts and even necessities to save a slave? Would you pray and do penance for the freedom of Christian captives?

These things were done by the followers of Christ from the earliest days, but especially during the Middle ages. At that time the enemies of Christ's Church had conquered a great part of Christian territory and had carried off into slavery many thousands of Christians. Hit and miss, though heroic, efforts to free these unfortunates had been made here and there.

The Church decided to organize the work of ransoming slaves. In 1198 St. John of Matha and St. Felix of Valois founded the Trinitarians. From then until 1787 they redeemed 900,000 captives. The Order of Our Lady of Ransom, called the Mercedarians, and founded by St. Peter Nolasco, ransomed 490,736 slaves between the years 1218 and 1632. St. Vincent de Paul, a slave himself, led his priests to save 1200 Christian captives in the short period between 1642 and 1660 at the staggering cost of 1,200,000 pounds of silver. An even greater achievement was the conversion of thousands in captivity, and steeling them against the sufferings of a cruel martyrdom for the faith.

All this has been admitted by a modern, competent Protestant historian, Bonet-Maury. He records that no expedition sent into the Barbary States by the powers of Europe or America equalled "the moral effect produced by the ministry of consolation, peace and abnegation, going even to the sacrifice of liberty and life, which was exercised by the humble sons of St. John of Matha, St. Peter Nolasco, and St. Vincent de Paul."

Our Blessed Mother herself appeared in a vision to St. Peter Nolasco, and requested him to found a religious order devoted to the rescue of captives. This was in 1218. Previous to that, since 1192, certain noblemen of Barcelona, Spain, had organized to care for the sick in hospitals and to rescue Christians from the Moors. St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymond of Pennafort, and King James formed the new Order of Our Lady of Mercy. The group included religious priests who prayed and gathered the means, while the lay monks or knights went into the very camps of the Moors to buy back Christians, and, if necessary, take their very places. We have mentioned the magnitude of their success, a success that was won through the heavenly assistance of the Mother of Mercy, Our Lady of Ransom.

Excerpted from the Feasts of Our Lady by Fr. Arthur Tonne

Patrons: Barcelona, Spain; people named Clemency, Mercedes, Mercedez, Merced or Mercy.

Things to Do:

Learn more about the spirituality, saints and history of the Order of Mercedarians who take a vow to risk their lives to save Christians who find themselves in extreme danger of losing their faith in the new types of captivity.
We cannot take the places of those enslaved in their own land. We cannot buy freedom for those doing slave labor in the world. But we can and must beseech Our Lady of Ransom to show her powerful concern toward these suffering millions. We can beg her to help them find their way home. We can pray for her powerful intercession that slavery of all kinds may disappear from the earth. There is also a slavery of sin, from which she is eager to deliver us and our loved ones and all the world. Put yourself in the position of these displaced unfortunates. Imagine yourself exiled to a strange land, with strange customs, a strange language, and a merciless master. Picture yourself without a home, without friends, and often without your family. Above all let your heavenly representative and advocate, Our Lady of Ransom, know that you are interested, you are concerned, you are begging her help for these unfortunates. Best of all, attend Mass and receive Holy Communion and pray with the Church on this ever-timely feast.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 9:1-6

25th Week in Ordinary Time

Take nothing for the journey. (Luke 9:3)

“Be prepared.” That’s the motto for the Boy Scouts of America. Can’t you just picture a pack of young boys on a camping trip, loaded down with supplies, ready for whatever nature can throw at them?

While this may be good training for ten-year-olds, it isn’t always the best advice when it comes to living in the Spirit. Jesus offers an alternative vision to his disciples in today’s Gospel reading. As he sends them out to preach and heal, he says, “Take nothing for the journey.” Nothing! Then, in case they’re wondering, he spells it out: “Neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic” (Luke 9:3). So much for the Boy Scouts!

Here’s what’s wrong with focusing too much on being prepared: we risk missing out on some of the work God has for us—and some of the blessings that come as a result. Maybe we are waiting until we feel close enough to someone to share our faith. Or maybe we are waiting until we have a large enough nest egg before we will donate to the Lord’s work. Whatever it is, Jesus wants us to think differently. He wants to make us confident in him. He wants us to know that we don’t have to be perfectly clear on every theological truth before we begin telling people how much Jesus loves them.

Think about the disciples Jesus sent out. They still had a lot to learn. Some of them were hoping for personal glory. Others were lacking in courage. One would go on to betray him! But Jesus sent them out anyway. Sure, they would make mistakes. But that’s how they would learn and grow. And while they were learning and growing, they would also do a lot of good.

What risk is the Lord calling you to take for his kingdom? Is there something that you have been waiting to do but just haven’t felt prepared for yet? Ask God if now is the time to go through that door. And then trust him to teach you as you go.

“Father, I am ready. Send me out, Lord! Give me the grace to trust you for all that I need.”

Proverbs 30:5-9; Psalm 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163

Regnum Christi

Take It or Leave It

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

September 24, 2014. Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time.

Luke 9: 1-6

Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, nor let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the Good News and curing diseases everywhere.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you are the author of life and the giver of all that is good. You are the Prince of Peace and my mainstay. You are my healer and the cure itself. I need you, and I need to give you. I love you and commit myself to you entirely, knowing you could never let me down or deceive me. Thank you for giving me your very self.

Petition: Lord, help me to rely on your grace and not on worldly things.

1. The Mission: Christ sends out his apostles to preach the good news with inadequate supplies. They are charged to trust in Providence. Jesus shrinks their suitcases to practically nothing. How could they touch people? Like St. Paul they were able to understand that Jesus was guiding their steps from a discreet distance: “I consider all as loss for the surpassing knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Jesus gave them restrictions to teach them that their strength in bearing fruit lies in their love for him rather than in their material possessions or management skills. Do I carry this same conviction in the home, in the office, or running the errands? Am I willing to go two miles if the local Church community presses me into service for one mile?

2. Detached from All Things: Christ warns us about hoarding possessions, not so much by what he says, but by what he does. He doesn’t send his friends out like sheep among wolves so he can retire to a comfortable sofa all weekend long. By giving them a good example first, Jesus has already demonstrated what is necessary for apostolic success. He was born in a musty cave. His first bed was an animal trough. His first apostolic success, at the age of twelve, was cut short by his parents who intimated to him that his timing was off. He sent Peter to pull coins out of a fish’s mouth because he had no money to pay the tax. He allowed simple things — a woman at a well, a funeral march in a village — to become moments remembered worldwide, for ages to come, by countless followers. Later, he would be laid in someone else’s grave. Material welfare alone cannot obtain what the Lord is sending us to accomplish!

3. A Free Choice: Jesus didn’t make the disciples go off to a survival camp. Nevertheless, the harder the conditions were, the more attraction they felt at being involved. These Galilean fishermen freely accepted an unknown trade. They had discovered a treasure that so filled them with enthusiasm they sold everything in order to get hold of it and share it. This treasure is Christ. The Gospel says, “Then they set out and went from village to village....” It didn’t take the apostles long to decide what they wanted to do, for within their vessels of clay they carried a treasure which needed to spread far and wide.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, as wonderful as material things are, they do not amount to anything compared to possessing you and teaching others about you. See the efforts I so intensely perform for your sake and bless them. Lord, help me, as you helped St. Paul, to continue fighting for a heavenly crown that doesn’t fade or rust.

Resolution: Today I will find a moment to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament and pray earnestly for the missionary intentions of the Holy Father for this month.

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Español

All Issues > Volume 30, Issue 5

<< Wednesday, September 24, 2014 >>

Proverbs 30:5-9
View Readings

Psalm 119:29, 72, 89, 101, 104, 163

Luke 9:1-6
Similar Reflections

NO ADDITIVES

"Add nothing to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be exposed as a deceiver." —Proverbs 30:6

When the Bible uses the phrase, "God's words," it does not refer only to the Bible. The Bible refers to itself as "the Scriptures," that is, the written Word of God. "God's words" include the Scriptures, and also the authoritative teaching of the Church which preceded and is the basis of the Scriptures. So in Proverbs 30:6, the Lord commands us to add nothing to the teachings of the Church, including both its teaching through the Bible and its oral, authoritative teachings throughout the centuries.

However, many people nullify God's Word in favor of merely human traditions (Mk 7:13). For example, they take pop-psychology and the propaganda of secular humanist institutions as the gospel truth, while denying the truth of the Gospel. We nullify God's Word by adding to it in giving unquestioned authority to those ideas which the media chooses to present as infallible.

At the same time, we are arrogant and confused enough to subtract from God's Word. We are tempted to take less and less of it authoritatively, as we ignore the Church and water down the Bible. In the last few verses of the Bible, the Lord warns us: "If anyone adds to these words, God will visit him with all the plagues described herein! If anyone takes from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city described here!" (Rv 22:18-19)

Prayer: Father, Your words are spirit and life (Jn 6:63). May I know and live them. May I submit to them as they are taught by the Church.

Promise: "So they set out and went from village to village, spreading the good news everywhere and curing diseases." —Lk 9:6

Praise: William could not understand the Scriptures. Then he was baptized in the Holy Spirit at a Life in the Spirit Seminar. Now he is teaching the Bible to others.

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Meditation: Luke 9:1-6

Marriage=One Man and One Woman 'Til Death Do Us Part

One Bread, One Body

NO ADDITIVES