Posted on 09/30/2014 8:10:47 PM PDT by Salvation
October 1, 2014
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Reading 1 Jb 9:1-12, 14-16
Job answered his friends and said:
I know well that it is so;
but how can a man be justified before God?
Should one wish to contend with him,
he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has withstood him and remained unscathed?
He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.
He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
He does great things past finding out,
marvelous things beyond reckoning.
Should he come near me, I see him not;
should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay?
Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.
If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 88:10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15
R. (3) Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Daily I call upon you, O LORD;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades arise to give you thanks?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Do they declare your mercy in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?
Are your wonders made known in the darkness,
or your justice in the land of oblivion?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
But I, O LORD, cry out to you;
with my morning prayer I wait upon you.
Why, O LORD, do you reject me;
why hide from me your face?
R. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
Gospel Lk 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,
“I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him,
“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
And to another he said, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”
And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”
Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
October 1, 2014
In the Gospel passage, St. Luke enumerates the hardships of the apostolic calling. First he says that the apostle/missionary should be ready to be sent anywhere, even far away from home. Wherever he goes, he should be prepared to stay in a nice house or in one that is quite bare. If he has to sleep on a hard bed, he must be prepared to do so. The number of meals he will eat may vary from day to day. In other words, he must be ready for discomforts, deprivations and hardships for love of Christ.
The second condition in becoming an apostle is to be able to cut off all familial ties. No matter how much he loves his family, the missionary puts the evangelization mission as first priority before his natural desire of being surrounded by the love and comfort of family. He has the duty to make people become children of God which is very important. He now surrounds himself with a bigger family – the Church, the Christian community.
Lastly, the apostle must be ready to do his mission for all his life. Once a missionary, always a missionary. Once we have decided to serve the Lord, we know it is a lifetime work. A father will always be father to his children, always husband to his wife, etc. When we start serving the Lord who has served us first, we realize our lives have no meaning apart from that service. So the missionary works tirelessly and cheerfully for the growth of the Church.
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