Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 10-24-02, Optional: St. Anthong Mary Claret

Reading I
Eph 3:14-21

Brothers and sisters:
I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,
by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19

R (5b) The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Exult, you just, in the Lord;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the Lord on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
R The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
For upright is the word of the Lord,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.
R The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
But the plan of the Lord stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
But see, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Gospel
Lk 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

From The Word Among Us

Thursday, October 24, 2002

Meditation
Ephesians 3:14-21

Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart! Let me see the length and breadth and height and depth of your great love!

O Jesus, show me the length of your love in the great distance you came to save me. You left your throne in heaven and came to earth, taking a human nature like mine so you could show me how to live for your Father. I wish I could have met you halfway, but you came all the way to me and saved me.

Lord, show me the breadth of your love in your mercy and compassion. Your mercy is so wide that in one act of sacrifice you won forgiveness for every sin this world will ever see. Your love spans the entire earth, touching men and women from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Your arms of love are wide enough and strong enough to hold the whole world in a loving embrace.

Jesus, show me the height of your love in the wonderful plan you have for my life. You have lifted me out of the miry pit and set my feet upon a rock. I know that one day you will lift me up to heaven to live with you in happiness for all eternity. Each day, you want to raise my heart and mind to a new level of spiritual alertness and readiness to do your will. O the heights from which I had fallen—and the heights to which I have been lifted up by your great love!

Finally, Jesus, show me the depth of your love in the blow that your cross and resurrection have dealt to my old, sinful life. When you descended into hell, you took my fallen nature with you and left them there. When you rose, you poured your Holy Spirit into me and empowered me to turn from sin and live a life of service in your kingdom. Your love took you to the lowest place, just so you could raise me to the highest place.

“Lord, let my knowledge of the length and breadth and height and depth of your love cause me to see myself as you see me. May it cause me to see others as you see them. Let me be a sign to the world of this love, so that everyone may experience it.”

The Apostle's Prayer

Commentary:

14. St Paul now continues the prayer which he interrupted in v. 1, to
entreat the Father to let Christians understand as deeply as possible
the divine plan for salvation implemented in Christ (vv. 16-l9).

"I bow my knees": the Jews generally prayed standing up. Only at
moments of special solemnity did they kneel or prostrate themselves
in adoration. The Apostle, by introducing this almost liturgical
reference, is expressing the intensity of his prayer, and the
humility which inspires it.

Bodily gestures--genuflections, bowing of the head, beating the breast,
etc.--which accompany prayer should be sincere expressions of devotion.
They allow the entire person, body and soul, to express his love for
God. "Those who love acquire a refinement, a sensitivity of soul, that
makes them notice details which are sometimes very small but which are
important because they express the love of a passionate heart" (J.
Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 92).

15. To "take a name" from something means to derive one's being or
existence from it, and the word translated here as "family" ("patria"
in Greek) means a grouping of individuals who are descended from a
common father; it could be translated as "paternity", as the New
Vulgate does.

The Apostle is saying that every grouping which is regarded as a
family, whether it be on earth (like the Church or the family), or in
heaven (like the Church triumphant and the choirs of angels), takes
its name and origin from God, the only Father in the full meaning of
the word. Thus, the word "Father" can be correctly used to designate
not only physical but also spiritual fatherhood.

The parenthood of married people is an outstanding example of the love
of God the Creator. They are cooperators in that love, and, in a
certain sense, its interpreters (cf. Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes",
50). Hence, "when they become parents, spouses receive from God the
gift of a new responsibility. Their parental love is called to become
for the children the visible sign of the very love of God, 'from whom
every family in heaven and on earth is named"' (John Paul II,
"Familiaris Consortio", 14).

16-17. The strengthening of the inner man through the Spirit means
growth in faith, charity and hope, which is what the Apostle prays for
here (cf. vv. 16-19).

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
not seen" (Heb 11:1); it is, then, a virtue whereby the Christian in
this life anticipates, imperfectly, the object of his hope--that
perfect union with God which will take place in heaven.

Love follows from knowledge: one cannot love someone one does not know.
And so, when goodness is known, it comes to be loved. Thus, the
knowledge of God, which faith provides, is followed by the love of God,
which stems from charity. Charity, for its part, is the basis of the
Christian's spiritual life. "The spiritual edifice cannot stay
standing--the same is true of a tree without roots, or a house without
a foundation, which can easily be toppled--unless it be rooted and
grounded in love" (St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").

18. St Paul asks God to give Christians understanding of the "mystery
of Christ", which essentially is the outcome of his love. In referring
to the vast dimensions of this mystery he uses an enigmatic phrase--
"the breadth and length and height and depth". These and similar terms
were used by Stoic philosophy to designate the cosmos as a whole. Here
they express the immense scale of the "mystery" which embraces the
entire plan of salvation, the actions of Christ and the activity of the
Church. St Augustine interpreted these words as referring to the cross,
the instrument of salvation which Christ used to show the full extent
of his love (cf. "De Doctrina Christiana", 2, 41).

St Paul may indeed be trying to sum up all the richness of the
"mystery" of Christ in a graphic way--in terms of a cross whose
extremities reach out in all four directions seeking to embrace the
whole world. The blood which our Lord shed on the cross brought about
the Redemption, the forgiveness of sins (cf. Eph 1:7). It did away with
hostility, reconciling all men and assembling them into one body (cf.
Eph 2:15-16), the Church. Therefore the cross is an inexhaustible
source of grace, the mark of the true Christian, the instrument of
salvation for all. When, through the action of Christians, the cross of
Christ is made present at all the crossroads of the world, then is that
"mystery" implemented whose purpose it is to "unite all things in
Christ" (cf. Eph 1:10).

19. Christ's love for us is infinite; it is beyond our grasp, because
it is of divine dimensions (cf. Jn 15:9 and note on Jn 15:9-11).

Knowledge of the history of salvation and of the "mystery" of Christ is
ultimately what gives us a notion of the scale of God's love. Therefore,
it is the basis of the Christian life: "We know and believe the love
which God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in
God" (1 Jn 4:16). Eternal life will consist in enjoying the love of God
without any type of distraction. During his life on earth, the believer
receives a foretaste of this joy to the degree that he abides in the
love of Christ (cf. Jn 15:9), that is, is rooted and grounded in love
(v. 17). However, this knowledge of Christ is always very imperfect
compared with that in heaven.

It is worth pointing out that the "knowledge" ("gnosis") which St Paul
is speaking about is not simply intellectual cognition but rather a
kind of knowledge which permeates one's whole life. It does not consist
so much in knowing that God is love as in realizing that we are
personally the object, the focus, of God's love: he loves us one by one,
as good parents love their children.

20-21. The dogmatic section of the letter concludes at this point, and
St Paul breaks into a short hymn of praise or doxology, in awe at the
divine plan of salvation revealed in Christ. He speaks his praise "in
the church and in Christ Jesus".

God knows more than we do; and, since he is a Father who loves us
unreservedly, he is always providing us with those things we stand in
real need of; moreover, he anticipates our requests, "for he responds
to the inner, hidden desires of the needy, not waiting for them to make
explicit requests" ("St Pius V Catechism", IV, 2, 5).

St Thomas Aquinas points out that "neither the mind nor the will of man
could have thought or conceived or asked God that he might become man
and that man might become God, a share in the divine nature; yet the
latter has been wrought in us by his power, and the former has been
effected by the incarnation of his Son" ("Commentary on Eph, ad loc.").

In its liturgy the Church is forever giving God the honor which is his
due and praising him for the gifts which it receives in Jesus Christ:
in the Mass, for example, at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer it
proclaims, "Through him [Christ], with him, in him, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for ever
and ever. Amen."

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.

Jesus the Cause of Dissension

Commentary:

49-50. In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God's burning love
for men. This divine love finds its highest expression in the Son of
God become man: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son"
(John 3:16). Jesus voluntarily gave up His life out of love for us,
and "greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life
for his friends" (John 15:13).

In these words reported by St. Luke, Jesus Christ reveals His abounding
desire to give His life for love of us. He calls His death a baptism,
because from it He will arise victorious never to die again. Our
Baptism is a submersion in Christ's death, in which we die to sin and
are reborn to the new life of grace: "We were buried therefore with Him
by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans
6:4).

Through this new life, we Christians should become set on fire in the
same way as Jesus set His disciples on fire: "With the amazing
naturalness of the things of God, the contemplative soul is filled with
apostolic zeal. `My heart became hot within me, a fire blazed forth
from my thoughts' (Psalm 38:4). What could this fire be if not the
fire that Christ talks about: `I came to cast fire upon the earth, and
would that it were already kindled' (Luke 12:49). An apostolic fire
that acquires its strength in prayer: there is no better way than this
to carry on, throughout the whole world, the battle of peace to which
every Christian is called to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings
of Christ (cf. Colossians 1:24)" ([Blessed] J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By", 120).

51-53. God has come into the world with a message of peace (cf. Luke
2:14) and reconciliation (cf. Romans 5:11). By resisting, through sin,
the redeeming work of Christ, we become His opponents. Injustice and
error lead to division and war. "Insofar as men are sinners, the
threat of war hangs over them and will so continue until the coming of
Christ; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming together in
charity, violence itself will be vanquished" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et
Spes", 78).

During His own life on earth, Christ was a sign of contradiction (cf.
Luke 2:34). Our Lord is forewarning His disciples about the contention
and division which will accompany the spread of the Gospel (cf. Luke
6:20-23; Matthew 10:24).

I liked that reflection so much that I made a prayer out of it for a group that I will be working with.

Length, Breadth, Height and Depth

R. Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart! Let me see the length and breadth and height and depth of your great love!

Right Side: O Jesus, show me the length of your love in the great distance you came to save me. You left your throne in heaven and came to earth, taking a human nature like mine so you could show me how to live for your Father. I wish I could have met you halfway, but you came all the way to me and saved me.

R. Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart! Let me see the length and breadth and height and depth of your great love!

Left Side: Lord, show me the breadth of your love in your mercy and compassion. Your mercy is so wide that in one act of sacrifice you won forgiveness for every sin this world will ever see. Your love spans the entire earth, touching men and women from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Your arms of love are wide enough and strong enough to hold the whole world in a loving embrace.

R. Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart! Let me see the length and breadth and height and depth of your great love!

Right Side: Jesus, show me the height of your love in the wonderful plan you have for my life. You have lifted me out of the miry pit and set my feet upon a rock. I know that one day you will lift me up to heaven to live with you in happiness for all eternity. Each day, you want to raise my heart and mind to a new level of spiritual alertness and readiness to do your will. O the heights from which I had fallen—and the heights to which I have been lifted up by your great love!

R. Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart! Let me see the length and breadth and height and depth of your great love!

Left Side: Finally, Jesus, show me the depth of your love in the blow that your cross and resurrection have dealt to my old, sinful life. When you descended into hell, you took my fallen nature with you and left them there. When you rose, you poured your Holy Spirit into me and empowered me to turn from sin and live a life of service in your kingdom. Your love took you to the lowest place, just so you could raise me to the highest place.

R. Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart! Let me see the length and breadth and height and depth of your great love!

All: “Lord, let my knowledge of the length and breadth and height and depth of your love cause me to see myself as you see me. May it cause me to see others as you see them. Let me be a sign to the world of this love, so that everyone may experience it.”

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