Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 9-16-02, Memorial of St. Cornelius & St. Cyprian

Reading I
1 Cor 11:17-26, 33

Brothers and sisters:
In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact
that your meetings are doing more harm than good.
First of all, I hear that when you meet as a Church
there are divisions among you,
and to a degree I believe it;
there have to be factions among you
in order that also those who are approved among you
may become known.
When you meet in one place, then,
it is not to eat the Lord's supper,
for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper,
and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.
Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink?
Or do you show contempt for the Church of God
and make those who have nothing feel ashamed?
What can I say to you? Shall I praise you?
In this matter I do not praise you.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, "This is my Body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my Blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17

R (1 Cor 11:26b) Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
R Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know.
R Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
May all who seek you
exult and be glad in you
And may those who love your salvation
say ever, "The Lord be glorified."
R Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.

Gospel
Lk 7:1-10

When Jesus had finished all his words to the people,
he entered Capernaum.
A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,
and he was valuable to him.
When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,
asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,
"He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us."
And Jesus went with them,
but when he was only a short distance from the house,
the centurion sent friends to tell him,
"Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I too am a person subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, ‘Go,' and he goes;
and to another, ‘Come here,' and he comes;
and to my slave, ‘Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him
and, turning, said to the crowd following him,
"I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."
When the messengers returned to the house,
they found the slave in good health.

From The Word Among Us

Monday, September 16, 2002

Meditation
Luke 7:1-10

Centurions seem to have a good track record in Scripture. Today we read about the one who told Jesus, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (Luke 7:6). Think, too, of the centurion at Calvary who proclaimed: “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54). Then there is also Cornelius, whose openness to Peter brought the blessings of Pentecost to Gentiles (Acts 10). As Roman soldiers, in the service, these men knew how to recognize and commit themselves to legitimate authority. So, when they encountered the supreme authority of God, some of them were ready to put their faith in it as well.

On a more basic level, a similar preparation takes place in good parent-child relationships. When parents exercise their authority appropriately, children normally develop secure attachments and healthy respect. They believe that when they come to mom and dad with problems, they will find compassion and wisdom. Faith in their parents makes children confident and stable, while those who rebel against parental authority end up having to learn things the hard way.

Almighty God has the highest authority over us. He is also our loving Father who wants the very best for us. We may be soldiers in Christ, but we are also children invited to approach God with confidence in his love. Which kind of child are you? Do you live as the centurion in today’s reading did, in the security that comes from being under God’s authority? Or are you trying to go it on your own? If it’s time to take another step in trust, know that you can move forward. God is a kind, generous Father whose authority is rooted in love. He delights in blessing all his children. Go to him, then. He’s waiting patiently for you.

“Father, how often we suffer the consequences of failing to obey you. If we say we believe in you but don’t accept your authority, that shows we really don’t trust you. Father, forgive us and teach us to honor and obey you.”

Abusues, The Institution of the Eucharist and its Worthy Reception

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Commentary:

17-22. Here St Paul discusses a much more serious abuse. These Christians used to combine the celebration of the Eucharist with a meal in common. In principle, this meal was intended to be a sign of charity and solidarity among those present: hence the fact that it was sometimes called an agape or fraternal banquet; these meals also provided an opportunity to help those most in need. However, certain abuses had arisen: instead of a meal in which all shared equally, they had been eating in groups, each group eating the food they had brought, which meant that some ate and drank too much, while others did not have enough or had nothing at all. The net effect was that this meal--giving rise as it did to discontent and discord--was in sharp contrast with the Eucharist the source of charity and unity. Very early on in the Church the Eucharist was separated from these meals, which then became simple fraternal meals with no liturgical significance.

23-26. These verses clearly bear witness to the early Christians' faith in the eucharistic mystery. St Paul is writing around the year 57--only twenty-seven years since the institution of the Eucharist--, reminding the Corinthians of what they had been taught some years earlier ("c." the year 51). The words "received" and "delivered" are technical terms used to indicate that a teaching is part of apostolic Tradition; cf. also 1 Cor 15:3. These two passages highlight the importance of that apostolic Tradition. The words "I received from the Lord" are a technical expression which means "I received through that Tradition which goes back to the Lord himself."

There are three other New Testament accounts of the institution of the Eucharist (Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:16-20). This account, which is most like St Luke's, is the earliest of the four.

The text contains the fundamental elements of Christian faith in the mystery of the Eucharist: 1) the institution of this sacrament by Jesus Christ and his real presence in it; 2) the institution of the Christian priesthood; 3) the Eucharist is the sacrifice of the New Testament (cf. notes on Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22: 16-20; 1 Cor 10: 14-22).

"Do this in remembrance of me": in instituting the Eucharist, our Lord charged that it be re-enacted until the end of time (cf. Lk 22:19), thereby instituting the priesthood. The Council of Trent teaches that Jesus Christ our Lord, at the Last Supper, "offered his body and blood under the species of bread and wine to God the Father and he gave his body and blood under the same species to the apostles to receive, making them priests of the New Testament at that time. [...] He ordered the apostles and their successors in the priesthood to offer this sacrament when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me", as the Catholic Church has always understood and taught" ("De SS. Missae Sacrificio", chap. 1; cf. can. 2). And so, Pope John Paul II teaches, the Eucharist is "the principal and central reason-of-being of the sacrament of the priesthood, which effectively came into being at the moment of the institution of the Eucharist, and together with it" ("Letter to All Bishops", 24 February 1980).

The word "remembrance" is charged with the meaning of a Hebrew word which was used to convey the essence of the feast of the Passover-- commemoration of the exodus from Egypt. For the Israelites the passover rite not only reminded them of a bygone event: they were conscious of making that event present, reviving it, in order to participate in it, in some way, generation after generation (cf. Ex 12:26-27; Deut 6:20- 25). So, when our Lord commands his Apostles to "do this in remembrance of me", it is not a matter of merely recalling his supper but of renewing his own passover sacrifice of Calvary, which already, at the Last Supper, was present in an anticipated way.

33-34. These precise instructions show how desirous the Apostle is to surround the mystery of the Eucharist with due adoration, respect and reverence, which are a logical consequence of the sublimity of this sacrament. The Church is tireless in making this point: "when celebrating the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, the full magnitude of the divine mystery must be respected, as must the full meaning of this sacramental sign in which Christ is really present and is received, the soul is filled with grace and the pledge of future glory is given (cf. Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47).

"This is the source of the duty to carry out rigorously the liturgical rules and everything that is a manifestation of community worship offered to God himself, all the more so because in this sacramental sign he entrusts himself to us with limitless trust, as if not taking into consideration our human weakness, our unworthiness, the force of habit, or even the possibility of insult. Every member of the Church, especially bishops and priests, must be vigilant in seeing that this Sacrament of love shall be at the center of the life of the people of God, so that through all the manifestations of worship due to it Christ shall be given back 'love for love' and truly become 'the life of our souls' (cf. Jn 6:51-57; 14:6; Gal 2:20)" (John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 20).
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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.

The Centurion's Faith

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Commentary:

1-10. "They besought Him earnestly" (verse 4). Here is an example of the effectiveness of the prayer of petition, which induces Almighty God to work a miracle. In this connection St. Bernard explains what we should ask God for: "As I see it, the petitions of the heart consists in three things [...]. The first two have to do with the present, that is, with things for the body and for the soul; the third is the blessedness of eternal life. Do not be surprised that He says that we should ask God for things for the body: all things come from Him, physical as well as spiritual things [...]. However, we should pray more often and more fervently for things our souls need, that is, for God's grace and for virtues" ("Fifth Lenten Sermon", 8f). To obtain His grace--of whatever kind--God Himself expects us to ask Him assiduously, confidently, humbly and persistently.

What stands out here is the centurion's humility: he did not belong to the chosen people, he was a pagan; but he makes his request through friends, with deep humility. Humility is the route to faith, whether to receive faith for the first time or to revive it. Speaking of his own conversion experience, St. Augustine says that because he was not humble, he could not understand how Jesus, who was such a humble person, could be God, nor how God could teach anyone by lowering Himself to the point of taking on our human condition. This was precisely why the Word, eternal Truth, became man--to demolish our pride, to encourage our love, to subdue all things and thereby be able to raise us up (cf. "Confessions", VII, 18, 24).

6-7. Such is the faith and humility of the centurion that the Church, in its eucharistic liturgy, gives us his very words to express our own sentiments just before receiving Holy Communion; we too should strive to have this interior disposition when Jesus enters our roof, our soul.
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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.

From Catholic Saints Online

St. Cornelius

Feastday: September 16

Cornelius whose feast day is September 16th. A Roman priest, Cornelius was elected Pope to succeed Fabian in an election delayed fourteen months by Decius' persecution of the Christians. The main issue of his pontificate was the treatment to be accorded Christians who had been apostasized during the persecution. He condemned those confessors who were lax in not demanding penance of these Christians and supported St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, against Novatus and his dupe, Felicissimus, whom he had set up as an antibishop to Cyprian, when Novatus came to Rome. On the other hand, he also denounced the Rigorists, headed by Novatian, a Roman priest, who declared that the Church could not pardon the lapsi (the lapsed Christians), and declared himself Pope - the first antipope. The two extremes eventually joined forces, and the Novatian movement had quite a vogue in the East. Meanwhile, Cornelius proclaimed that the Church had the authority and the power to forgive repentant lapsi and could readmit them to the sacraments and the Church after they had performed proper penances. A synod of Western bishops in Rome in October 251 upheld Cornelius, condemned the teachings of Novatian, and excommunicated him and his followers. When persecutions of the Christians started up again in 253 under Emperor Gallus, Cornelius was exiled to Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia), where he died a martyr probably of hardships he was forced to endure.

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