Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-16-02, Opt'l, St. Margaret of Scot'd, St. Gertrude

Reading I
3 Jn 5-8

Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters,
especially for strangers;
they have testified to your love before the Church.
Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey.
For they have set out for the sake of the Name
and are accepting nothing from the pagans.
Therefore, we ought to support such persons,
so that we may be co-workers in the truth.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 112:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
Blessed the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house;
his generosity shall endure forever.
Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
R Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
the just one shall be in everlasting remembrance.
R Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
or:
R Alleluia.

Gospel
Lk 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

From The Word Among Us

Saturday, November 16, 2002

Meditation
Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told the parable about the persistent widow because he wanted his disciples to understand that knowing God’s goodness and faithfulness would enable them to imitate him. Seeing how completely Jesus loved and obeyed his Father can give us assurance as well that God really is worth our undying trust.

The unjust judge gave the persistent widow what she wanted just to get rid of her. But our Judge is the best of Fathers: He only wants what is good for us. We can take our cares and concerns to him, confident that he hears our every prayer and will respond in the ways that are best for us—and this is the challenge in the parable.

Can you believe that God really does want to make you happy? Each one of us is dear to him, as the apple of his eye. All he asks is that we approach him with a desire to line up our plans with his ways. This was the key to peace which the psalmist discovered: “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 25:9-10).

When we bring our needs to God with open hearts and with the same persistence that this widow had, we’ll begin to recognize his voice through the Scriptures and through other people. We’ll see him working in us, and we’ll know his presence in our daily lives. We’ll experience his power to change our hearts so that we love his will over our own. We may not actually see or understand how a particular situation is part of God’s plan, but we will still trust that God will answer our prayers in ways far greater than we can imagine. This is the faith Jesus will look for when he returns.

Let us focus our attention primarily on God’s mercy and faithfulness, and then on our cares and concerns. No one can take away our joy in knowing Christ, the faithful Son of God who fulfills Scripture’s promises of salvation and leads us to our eternal home with the Father.

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” (Psalm 66:16,20)

Catholic Online Saints
St. Margaret of Scotland
d. 1093 Feastday: November 16

Margaret was an English princess. She and her mother sailed to Scotland to escape from the king who had conquered their land. King Malcolm of Scotland welcomed them and fell in love with the beautiful princess. Margaret and Malcolm were married before too long.

As Queen, Margaret changed her husband and the country for the better. Malcolm was good, but he and his court were very rough. When he saw how wise his beloved wife was, he listened to her good advice. She softened his temper and led him to practice great virtue. She made the court beautiful and civilized. Soon all the princes had better manners, and the ladies copied her purity and devotion. The king and queen gave wonderful example to everyone by the way they prayed together and fed crowds of poor people with their own hands. They seemed to have only one desire: to make everyone happy and good.

Margaret was a blessing for all the people of Scotland. Before she came, there was great ignorance and many bad habits among them. Margaret worked hard to obtain good teachers, to correct the evil practices, and to have new churches built. She loved to make these churches beautiful for God's glory, and she embroidered the priest's vestments herself.

God sent this holy Queen six sons and two daughters. She loved them dearly and raised them well. The youngest boy became St. David. But Margaret had sorrows, too. In her last illness, she learned that both her husband and her son, Edward, had been killed in battle. Yet she prayed: "I thank You, Almighty God, for sending me so great a sorrow to purify me from my sins."

Let us take this saintly Queen for our example. While we do our duties, let us keep in mind the joys that God will give us in Heaven. Her feast day is November 16th.

From: 3 John 5-8

Praise for Gaius

[3] For I great rejoiced when some of the brethren arrived and
testified to the truth of your life, as indeed you do follow the truth.
[4] No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that my children
follow the truth.

[5] Beloved, it is a loyal thing you do when you render any service to
the brethren, especially to strangers, [6] who have testified to your
love before the church. You will do well to send them on their
journey as befits God's service. [7] For they have set out for his
sake and have accepted nothing from the heathen. [8] So we ought to
support such men, that we may be fellow workers in the truth.

Commentary:

With great simplicity St John says why his paternal heart feels so
happy--because Gaius, as his charity shows (vv. 5-8), is such a
good-living man (vv. 3-4).

He uses a typically Semitic turn of phrase to describe Gaius' upright
life: 'you follow the truth." In the Old Testament the Patriarchs
are praised for "walking with God" (cf., e.g. Gen 5:22, 24; 6:9).
This image of the wayfarer took on great importance after the Exodus:
the people of Israel by divine will made their way as pilgrims to the
Promised Land and in the course of that journey the great event of the
Covenant took place (cf. Ex 19:24). "Walking with God" means the same
as "fulfilling what the Covenant requires", that is, the commandments
(cf. 2 Jn 4). With the coming of Christ, who said of himself, "I am
the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), it has become quite
clear that walking in the truth means being totally attached to the
person of Christ: "live in him" (Col 2:6), "walk in the light" (1 Jn
1:7), "follow the truth" (2 Jn 4), all mean the same sort of
thing--living in communion with Christ, being a genuine Christian in
everything one thinks and does.

Gaius' charity expressed itself in welcoming and helping the preachers
sent by John (in the early times of the Church itinerant missionaries
helped to keep alive the faith and promote solidarity among the
scattered churches). They had set out "for his sake", that is,
Christ's (v. 7; cf. Acts 5:41; Phil 2:9-10; Jas 2:7). By helping
(even materially), Christians become "fellow workers in the truth" (v.
8) and merit the reward promised by our Lord: "He who receives you
receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me"(Mt 10:
40).

"Fellow workers in the truth": the Second Vatican Council applies
these words to lay people when explaining how their apostolate and
the ministry proper to pastors complement each other. And it goes on:
"Lay people have countless opportunities for exercising the apostolate
of evangelization and sanctification. The very witness of a Christian
life, and good works done in a supernatural spirit, are effective in
drawing men to the faith and to God; and that is what the Lord has
said: 'Let your light shine so brightly before men, that they may see
your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.' (Mt
5:16).

"This witness of life, however, is not the sole element in the
apostolate; the true apostle is on the lookout for opportunities to
announce Christ by word, either to unbelievers to draw them towards
the faith, or to the faithful to instruct them, strengthen them and
incite them to a more fervent life" ("Apostolicam Actuositatem", 6).

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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