Reading I Responsorial Psalm GospelPosted on 09/03/2002 6:10:18 AM PDT by Salvation
Reading I Responsorial Psalm GospelReading I
1 Cor 2:10b-16
Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
For "who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?"
But we have the mind of Christ.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14
R (17) The Lord is just in all his ways.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R The Lord is just in all his ways.
Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R The Lord is just in all his ways.
Making known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R The Lord is just in all his ways.
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The Lord lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
R The Lord is just in all his ways.
Gospel
Lk 4:31-37
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"
Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
"What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out."
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
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| Catholic Online Saints | ||
St. Gregory, born at Rome about the year 540, was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. After he had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed him, in 574, Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years of age. After the death of his father, he built six monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. Here, he himself assumed the monastic habit in 575, at the age of thirty-five. After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died March 12, 604. He is the patron of teachers. |
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| Tuesday, September 03, 2002 Meditation 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 We have received the Spirit that is of God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
A poor man who had never flown on an airplane before scraped together enough money to visit his brother living in another country. On the flight, the man politely refused when the flight attendant offered him dinner. She asked him if he wanted her to give it to him later, but he declined. After the plane landed, the flight attendant asked him why he didn’t accept the dinner. He replied that he had spent all his money on the ticket. Only then did he discover that the meal was included in the price!
In our spiritual lives, we too can miss out on God’s gifts which are “included in the price.” When we were baptized, we received more than the hope of getting into heaven. We received the Holy Spirit, who wants to fill us with God’s love and teach us how to love God in return. But some of us decline the Spirit’s gifts, thinking they might cost us too much, or that we’re not good enough for them.
The Spirit longs to show us the Father’s love and guide us into his plan for our lives. By his presence, as we learn to listen to him, he seeks to reshape our thinking so that we take on Jesus’ outlook and make decisions that bring life to us and the people around us. How do we open up to the Spirit’s activity? We all know that prayer and Scripture are a good place to start. But the Spirit also wants to speak to us in our conscience, nudging us to choose what is right and reject what is wrong. As we look at the world, the Spirit will help us discern good and evil around us and show us the path to take in the decisions we face. At times he will speak through a Scripture verse; or, through the wisdom of a friend; or, through the teaching of the church. The Spirit is always speaking to us. All we have to do is learn to listen. Let’s not refuse the gifts he’s offering us. They’re ours for the taking!
“Holy Spirit, I want to hear your voice and take hold of your presence. Help me to unwrap the gifts you have given me.” |
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Not even a Communion Service done by the Deacon or Lay Associate?
That's what we have on the days our priest is off.
As does the fact that Constantinople fell to the Turks on a Tuesday.
The Cure of the Demoniac
Commentary:
33-37. Jesus now demonstrates by His actions that authority which was evident in His words.
34. The demons tells the truth here when he calls Jesus "the Holy One of God", but Jesus does not accept this testimony from the "father of lies" (John 8:44). This shows that the devil usually says something partially true in order to disguise untruth; by sowing confusion in this way, he can more readily deceive people. By silencing and expelling the demon, Jesus teaches us to be prudent and not let ourselves by deceived by half-truths.
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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.
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Commentary:
10-12. "God has revealed to us through the Spirit": meaning the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, "which is from God" (v. 12) and knows the very depths of God (vv. 10-11). These words reveal to us the divinity of the Holy Spirit; knowing a person implies having intimacy with him; the Holy Spirit knows the depths of God because by nature he is God, equal to the Father and the Son (cf. Mt 11:25). "The Holy Spirit is equally God with the Father and the Son, equally omnipotent and eternal, infinitely perfect, the supreme good, infinitely wise, and of the same nature as the Father and the Son [...]. Scripture also attributes to him the power to sanctify, to vivify, to search the depths of God, to speak through the Prophets, and to be present in all places--all of which can be attributed to God alone" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 9, 4).
Jesus had told his Apostles that "when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth" (Jn 16:13); and on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit did open their minds to understand the truth revealed by Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit also acted in St Paul, so that he had the same knowledge of Revelation as the other Apostles (cf. Gal 2:1-10). The same Spirit continues to act in the Church: "The Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of truth, because he proceeds from the Father, eternal Truth, and the Son, substantial truth, receives from each of them, along with his essence, all truth, which he then communicates to the Church, helping never to err" (Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud Munus", 7).
13. The handing on of the faith calls for great care in the terminology used: "The Church, with the long labor of centuries and not without the help of the Holy Spirit, has established a rule of language and confirmed it with the authority of the Councils. This rule, which has more than once been the watchword and banner of orthodox faith, must be religiously preserved, and let no one presume to change it at his own pleasure or under the pretext of new science" (Paul VI, "Mysterium Fidei", 3).
The Church has always been concerned about this need to explain the deposit of faith accurately: "You have received gold," St Vincent of Lerins comments, "let you therefore give gold. I do not want you to give one thing instead of another. I do not want you to be so shameless and deceptive that you give me lead or bronze in place of gold; I do not want something that looks like gold: I want pure gold" ("Commonitorium", 22).
The last part of this verse is unclear and can be translated in various ways as the RSV text and note show.
14-16. The original text says "psychikos". This is not easy to translate. Some versions say "natural man", others "animal man", which is literally what the New Vulgate says. What it means is the person who acts only by using his or her human faculties (intelligence and will) and who therefore can be wise only in the things of this world. The spiritual man is the Christian reborn by the grace of God; grace elevates his faculties to enable him to perform actions which have a supernatural value--acts of faith, hope and charity. A person who is in the state of grace is able to perceive the things of God, because he carries with him the Spirit in his soul in grace, and he has Christ's mind, Christ's attitude. "We have no alternative", Monsignor Escriva teaches. "There are only two possible ways of living on this earth: either we live a supernatural life, or we live an animal life. And you and I can only live the life of God, a supernatural life" ("Friends of God", 200).
St John Chrysostom very graphically contrasts the capacity of the spiritual man and that of the unspiritual man as far as understanding God's plan of salvation is concerned: "He who has sight sees everything, including the person who has no sight; but the sightless person cannot see the things of the person who has sight. We Christians know what our own situation is, and we also know the situation of unbelievers; the unbelievers, however, do not understand ours. Like them we know--and we know better than they do--the nature of things present; unbelievers do not know the sublimity of things to come, whereas we already see what will some day become of the world, and what sinners will suffer, and the righteous enjoy" ("Hom. on 1 Cor", 7, "ad loc."). And St Thomas Aquinas: "A conscious person rightly perceives both that he is awake and that the other person is asleep; but the person who is asleep cannot form a correct judgment concerning either himself or the one who is awake. Therefore, things are not the way they are seen by someone asleep: they are as they appear to be to a conscious person [...]. And so the Apostle says that 'the spiritual man judges all things': for a person whose understanding is enlightened and whose affections are regulated by the Holy Spirit forms correct judgments on particular matters to do with salvation. He who is unspiritual has a darkened understanding and disordered affection as far as spiritual things are concerned, and therefore the spiritual man cannot be judged by the unspiritual man, just as the sleeping person cannot judge the one who is awake" ("Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.").
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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.
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