Tag: lectio divina

“Behold, your mother.” | Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows | 9.15.23

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 2:33-35)

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

From the cross, Jesus entrusts to Mary the maternal care of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. By doing this, Jesus extends this gift from the cross to all people who believe and follow him. At the same time, he says to John: “Behold, your mother.” As Jesus entrusts his mother to the care of the beloved disciple, and by extension, to the care of the Church and all believers, he directs our gaze to divine love. The twofold charge to behold Mary Our Mother and to be beheld by her refers to a relationship like that between God the Father and Jesus his Son. John’s response exemplifies what our response should be to Jesus’ loving invitation: “And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”

Father in heaven, thank you for sending your Son into the world—into the midst of evil, sin, and death—to save us from the darkness of sin and to destroy death through the death and resurrection of your Son. Thank you, Jesus, for the profound words you spoke as you were dying on the cross. You entrusted your mother to the disciple John and to all disciples, making her the spiritual mother of all Christians. Mary, Lady of Sorrows, you entered into the Passion of your Son, united with him at the foot of the cross. Pray for us sinners; teach me to love your Son as you love him. Mother of mercy, hear our prayers!

From the Gospel acclamation: “Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary; without dying you won the martyr’s crown beneath the Cross of the Lord.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaVQ82g2C4

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 3:13-17)

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to Nicodemus, who asks him in an earlier passage how one can be born again after growing old. Jesus tells him that one must be born from above and that no one except the Son of Man, Jesus himself, has gone up to heaven and come down from it. Jesus also tells Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” In perfect union with the Father yet fully human—true God and true man—Jesus explains to Nicodemus the purpose of his incarnation: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

Father in heaven, help me hear and trust in the words of Jesus. Just as you and your Son are one, you desire that we become one with you in eternal life. In the person of Christ is the inseparable union of divine and human natures. Your desire that we might not perish but have eternal life lies hidden in the mystery of your being; it is love itself. Lord, help me comprehend that eternal love for all who would believe, came at the cost of lifting up your Son on the cross for the sake of our salvation. Let his Passion be strength to me. In dying, he destroys death; in rising, he restores life. Give me the desire to be in union with you and through your grace be unafraid to take up my own cross.

From the Gospel acclamation: “We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaVQ82g2C4

“Woe to you when all speak well of you.” | Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:20-26)

Jesus said to his disciples: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

In speaking to the great crowd of disciples who came to hear him, Jesus begins his Sermon on the Plain first with the beatitudes and then with the woes. As he begins speaking, Luke tells us that he raises his eyes toward his disciples. This image of Jesus, who appears first to reflect before speaking, echoes his retreat to the mountain to pray before choosing the Twelve Apostles. As he looks among the crowd, it’s not difficult to imagine that he looks up to see before him many men, women, and children who live in poverty. His first words, “Blessed are you who are poor,” are supportive and compassionate. He goes on to speak to the hungry, the sorrowful, the outcasts, and he says as he looks at them: “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” In addressing the woes of humanity—the conditions of wealth, satisfaction, unbridled pleasure—Jesus reverses the goals or values of this world in order to draw people to God’s kingdom.

Father in heaven, I want to understand today’s readings as they relate to my life. Who is Jesus addressing when he looks up to speak to the disciples? He looked at them with love and spoke his sermon long ago, but the risen Christ continues to speak today to everyone who would hear him. I have many blessings—more than I can count. Does that mean I will someday grieve and weep and lack honor in the eyes of others? That could be and might someday be the case. And what then? Jesus will speak to me still: “Blessed are you.” And then I take in the words of Saint Paul, who says, “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly.” I think either way, Jesus says, “Come to me in the Eucharist. Hunger for me; thirst for me; strive to make me your joy.”

“From the responsorial psalm: “Rejoice and leap for joy! Your reward will be great in heaven.” Hear me in your mercy, Lord; let me hunger for your Word. Saint John Chrysostom, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaVQ82g2C4

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:12-19)

And [Jesus] came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.

After spending the night in prayer, Jesus chooses the Twelve Apostles, including Judas Iscariot, who would betray him. After choosing them, Luke tells us that the apostles come down the mountain with Jesus, where he stands on a stretch of level ground. There he meets a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of people. From the mountaintop where Jesus prays, he carries with him and transmits to the people on level ground the divine love between the Father and the Son. They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases and unclean spirits. The miracles Jesus performs come from communication with his Father and is immediately passed on to the people, as Luke says, “because power came forth from him and healed them all.”

Father in heaven, please help me understand the trust that Jesus placed in you as he prayed to you on the mountain. The choosing of the Twelve came through your Son’s discernment through communication with you in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the same Holy Spirit, help me share in the love between you and the Son, placing my trust in his divinity. As Saint Paul says of Jesus in the first reading: “For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power.” Give me the grace to listen out for your Word with the same ardor with which the crowds sought out Jesus to hear him, be healed by him, and follow him.

From the responsorial psalm: “I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever.” Through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, Lord hear my prayer.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:6-11)

On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

The scene Luke sets in today’s Gospel presents the trickery of the Pharisees in their attempt to catch Jesus transgressing Mosaic law. Without their approaching Jesus directly, the Pharisees have playing out before them what they believe is a perfect dilemma: Will Jesus cure on the sabbath? Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus understood their intentions, and asking the man to stand before them, he said to the Pharisees: “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Jesus asks the man to stretch out his hand, and he cures him. But the Pharisees become furious, and they discuss together, as Luke says, “what they might do to Jesus.”

Father in heaven, I turn to you in today’s readings to know you better, to come nearer to the source and end of love itself. “Only in God be at rest, my soul, for from him comes my hope,” I read in today’s psalms. You, Lord, are the sabbath rest that my soul seeks. Just as the man with the withered hand put his trust in Jesus, I also stretch out my hand to receive your mercy and healing. Taking refuge in you, enveloped in your love, give me the opportunity today and the grace to be a refuge to others and to be a witness to the mercy and self-sacrificial love of Christ.

From the first reading: “It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“There am I in the midst of them.” | Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 18:15-20)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

In today’s Gospel as in the first reading from Ezekiel, God shows his desire to bring all people to him in unity. Jesus tells the disciples to admonish and resolve any wrong done to them among their brothers and sisters, emphasizing forgiveness and mercy. “If your brother sins against you,” Jesus says, “go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” Jesus continues to speak of fraternal correction and guides the disciples toward reconciliation through the witness of mediators and before the Church. Through Christ’s presence and the action of the Holy Spirit, the process of reconciliation and decision-making among members of the Church is oriented toward God. Jesus promises that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is present among them.

Father in heaven, be my help today in orienting my words and actions toward you. Give me the opportunity to realize it is reconciliation to you and with others that you always offer because you are love itself. Let me take sin for what it is, an obstacle in receiving and expressing love. If necessary, help me do as you ask Ezekiel to do: “dissuade the wicked from his way.” So when sin divides, and it will, guide me to address offenses with the aim of reconciliation and resolution. As the psalmist says, you are our God and we are the people you shepherd, the flock you guide. I ask you for the grace to seek unity and reconciliation with others as you do with your people. “Love does no evil to the neighbor,” says Saint Paul, “hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

From the Gospel acclamation: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:1-5)

Jesus said to the Pharisees in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

Jesus responds to the Pharisees who criticize the disciples as they walk through a field, picking the heads of grain and eating them. It’s not difficult to imagine this scene. The Pharisees are on their way somewhere, and they stop in their tracks when they notice the disciples doing something unlawful. In response to the criticism of his disciples’ conduct, Jesus argues that human needs, including satisfying hunger and performing works of mercy, take precedence over the sabbath. In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus says: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus identifies the Pharisees’ confining legalistic understanding of the sabbath and offers a deeper understanding rooted in mercy, compassion, and fulfillment of the Father’s will.

Father in heaven, you look first to the care of your people over manmade rules, rules that become distorted through fallen human nature. When I am overzealous to go to the defense of a house rule or certain habit, help me slow down and think through what I am about to say or do. Is there instead an opportunity for me to be like your Son and offer mercy? When I am keen to point out someone’s wrongdoing, give me the grace to recognize that everything I have is from you. In the sabbath, as with all your good gifts, help me be merciful as you are merciful. Saint Peter Claver, pray for us!

From the Gospel acclamation: “I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 1:18-23)

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”

Matthew describes the events leading up to Jesus’ birth from Joseph’s point of view. Aware that Mary is pregnant, Joseph plans to divorce her quietly rather than expose her to public shame. But God communicates a different plan to Joseph through an angel, telling him: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” God breaks through all of the boundaries in which Joseph existed and acted—societal, moral, and spiritual—to allow him to choose to take Mary into his home and to adopt Jesus, Emmanuel, as his son.

Father in heaven, help me reflect throughout the day on the birth of Mary, Mother of God. Through the Holy Spirit, Mary gave birth to the incarnate Word, God made man. Give me the grace, like Mary, to proclaim your greatness and rejoice in you, who are alive and active in the world to come to our aid. Help me remember to let you work through me today beyond the ordinary scope of what I hope to accomplish. In her Magnificat, Mary said: “the Almighty has done great things for me.” Let me be grateful for the promise of your mercy and all your good gifts.

From the Gospel acclamation: “Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise; from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.” Blessed Virgin Mary, hope and daybreak of salvation, show us the way to your Son.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaVQ82g2C4

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 5:1-11)

Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Peter had been working hard all night in a futile attempt to catch fish, so he must have taken Jesus’ words “Put out into deep water” with a grain of salt. But after bringing in a large catch of fish—a miraculous sign of God’s extraordinary generosity—he confesses his sinfulness and responds immediately to Jesus’ call to follow him. “When they brought their boats to the shore,” Luke tells us, “they left everything and followed him.” By using the metaphor of fishing, Jesus demonstrates that discipleship is not limited or limiting, but they are called to cast their nets wide and bring people from all walks of life into the Kingdom of God.

God, help me understand today’s Gospel message. I so often get caught up in the plans I have for any given day only to find that I accomplished little of what I strived for. Peter’s reply to Jesus, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” reminds me that unless I listen out for your voice and do what is pleasing to you, my efforts are in vain. Give me the grace of humility to work today not for attaining and exceeding my own expectations but to be attentive to your Son. Just as Jesus approaches Simon and Andrew and invites them to follow him, he also calls me to work with him to accomplish your will.

From the Gospel acclamation: “Come after me, says the Lord, and I will make you fishers of men.” Lord, make known your ways to me as I set out on this day.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 4:38-44)

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

In a single day, Jesus performs a series of miracles that include healing Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever, curing people who had various diseases and illnesses, and casting out demons from many. At daybreak the next day, Jesus begins his journey to other towns, doing the will of his Father by proclaiming the Kingdom in his words and actions. In doing this, Jesus invites us to seek his healing power and at the same time participate in his mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

Father in heaven, just as Jesus had your will as his purpose, I have the same. Just as he was sent by you to proclaim your kingdom, I have that same task. Help me recognize you today in the opportunities you place before me. Give me the grace to be a witness of hope to your love and mercy.

From the responsorial psalm: “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.” Lord, I trust in your mercy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.