Tag: lectio

Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus drives out from the temple area all who were selling things, those who would deceive others in a temple made into a marketplace. The sellers were there for financial gain, not worship. When Jesus drives out of the temple those who made it into a marketplace, he is acting on truth he has spoken. Jesus is just in his judgment. Today, how does Jesus purify sacred spaces by driving out what doesn’t belong? In my own life, how does Jesus drive out from me, a temple of the Holy Spirit, the four substitutes for God, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas—honor, power, pleasure, wealth?

God, help me understand that Jesus made enemies by proclaiming the truth and judging justly. He drove out what didn’t belong in the temple area. Although the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders tried to find a way to put him to death, they couldn’t stop Jesus because people clung to the truths he was teaching them. Help me, Lord, learn wisdom from you to boldly proclaim the truth. As the refrain from today’s Psalm goes, “How sweet to my taste is your promise!”

When I am overwhelmed with tasks today, Lord, drive out self-possessing anxiety and let me remember “your will be done,” not mine. Grant me the grace to remember to return to you, who will drive out of me what doesn’t belong. In the words of Saint Paul: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

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.

Readings

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. . . . Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

There is a clear line between cause and effect in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus spends the night in prayer to God, and the next day he called the Twelve Apostles to follow him and healed everyone in the crowd of their diseases and unclean spirits. How was this possible except through Jesus’ connection to God through prayer? And what was the result? “Power came forth from him and healed them all.”

As Father Burke Masters says, “If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray?” God, help me understand the necessity of prayer, not because of its effect or because through it I will become powerful, but because you are the source of all love and you loved me first. Jesus models how to pray to the Father, and he sets a high standard for having an authentic relationship with him through prayer. In the midst of a busy day, how will I be able to rise to that standard? God, give me the grace to return to you throughout today.

Jesus, teach me to go as you did to the Father, who knows what I need even before I ask. I want to know that I can ask anything of you as I weigh the day’s decisions, however small, and be confident that you hear and answer 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.

Readings

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

“In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus lays out to the crowds—not just the disciples—the cost of discipleship. What Jesus says seems harsh and confusing: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” In my own life with my family, how can it be that I hate my family and then follow Jesus?

God, help me understand this. Because the use of the word hate seems discordant with the same God made man who says you must love your neighbor as yourself, I looked up the the Greek term from which hate is translated. Some of the translations render the Greek term as “love less” or “esteem less.” It is much easier for me to think that Jesus is asking me not to hate my family but to love them or give them less esteem than I do God. As Chicago Bears running back Gayle Sayers has said, “I am third. God is first, others are second, and I am third.”

From the Gospel acclamation, we hear: “Let your face shine upon your servant; and teach me your laws.” If anything stands in the way of that, Lord, let me put that aside. When you say that I cannot be your disciple unless I renounce my possessions, I must remember that everything I know in this world will pass away but that you are always present at my side. I think about Saint Francis renouncing all material goods right down to the robe that covered his skin. As Saint Paul says, “For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” God, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.” Through your grace, let me learn to love you more than anything else I know or have.

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.

Readings

Podcast

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.

In today’s Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law from her fever, cured sick with various diseases, and expelled demons. At daybreak, Jesus went to a deserted place until crowds found him and tried to prevent him from leaving them. Jesus told them that in order to fulfill his purpose, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.” Luke’s account of this day in the life of Jesus presents the divine physician, capable of healing any illness and various diseases.

God, help me understand that, as in so many other accounts of Jesus healing people, it takes effort on the part of the people being healed to show themselves to him. Just as doctors diagnose and heal the sick when they present the illness to them, Jesus sees and heals those who come to him for the sake of being healed. In the account of Simon’s mother-in-law, who was sick with a severe fever, Luke says that they interceded with Jesus about her. Intercessory prayer, then, is also a means of bringing others to Jesus for healing. And how does he heal? Jesus, the Son of God, creator of the universe, heals them by laying his hands on them.

The people who knew of Jesus went looking for him, bringing to him all who were sick, so much so that they tried to prevent him from leaving. The crowds found him, and he laid hands on each of them. What a gift we have, then, in the Eucharist, where Jesus is truly present! There, we encounter him face to face and body and soul—not as if he were present but present in flesh and blood. How could I doubt for a minute that the same Jesus Christ who cured the sick with the touch of his hands lives in me through the sacraments and the Eucharist? Divine physician, here I am; heal me of every illness and let me desire to be healed.

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.

Readings

Podcast

Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

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!”

It always strikes me that demons, unclean spirits, recognize the divinity of Jesus, while the scribes and Pharisees don’t. If the Evil One takes pride in his work on earth, surely one of his greatest apparent victories is a person’s failure to recognize what Satan knows without a doubt: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And if Satan knows this about Jesus, he knows that Jesus came in power and glory to destroy him. With a word, Jesus quiets the demon and expels him from the man.

Thank you, God, for your Son in this account of his work on earth. In saying “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Jesus speaks, and a new reality is created for the man possessed. It takes only a his word to bring forth reality, just as when God spoke at the beginning of creation to bring it into existence: “Let there be light, and there was light.” In my own life, there is great peace and security in knowing that to speak the name Jesus is to bring into reality at that moment the risen and living Word of God that can banish darkness and expel into the light anything that does not belong.

Jesus, if I put myself into your presence and say your name and see behind closed eyes only a blue-black void, I have no doubt in my mind that you are present. If the many voices I hear run ceaselessly all while I stay with you for a moment, I know you hear me as I say your name. Hear me throughout the day as I work and speak with others and try to use your gift of time as best as I am able. Jesus, one more thing I ask, give me peace to silence the many voices and desires that do not lead me to you. Bring me into your presence and show me where to go.

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.

Readings

Podcast

Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so.

Today’s Gospel reading describes an age-old clash between good and evil: John proclaims what is truthful, and Herod’s wife holds a deadly grudge. It sounds like the beginning of a murder mystery, an archetypal human story. Anybody can harbor this grudge to kill, if not literally, then certainly in spirit. Although Jesus doesn’t appear in this passage, what he said elsewhere in the Gospel applies: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” The body survives what can devastate the soul, and there are those whose grudges mean to destroy the soul.

God, help me understand that I will encounter in my life people whose aim is to persecute me and other Christians because of you. Because I am Christian, there are people who mean to mistreat me. Against that, there is power that shines through in words and deeds inspired by the Holy Spirit. From the first reading, Saint Paul says, “I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” It’s hard for me to imagine someone as tough and resilient as Saint Paul saying that he was afraid. But although he came in weakness and fear and trembling, he knew his strength was in the crucified and risen Christ and “with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

Jesus, I know you are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. How is it that the body given up to crucifixion is the body that becomes our Eucharistic food, your real presence? Against any doubt I might have in your real presence, it is no trick or deception that you are there before me. Stay with me today and shield all who are persecuted—body and soul—by the work of the Evil One because of your holy name.

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.

Readings

Podcast

Friday of the Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time

At midnight, there was a cry, “Behold, the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him!” Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.”

The bridegroom comes late. At midnight, at the hour least expected, there was a cry to come out to meet him. While driving a few days ago, I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Look busy. Jesus is coming.” If I knew when Jesus was coming, I’m sure I’d go all in at looking busy. The five foolish virgins are unprepared for the bridegroom’s arrival; the wise ones are ready. Again, like yesterday’s parable of the faithful and wicked servants, Jesus presents polar opposites: the wise and the foolish; the ones prepared for his coming and the ones unprepared. The bridegroom is long delayed, Jesus says, “for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Jesus, help me understand that I have the choice of being unprepared, looking busy but finding that the door has already been shut, or of being ready at an unexpected hour. Memento mori. Help me see every day what I need to take with me as I wait for your coming: a little flask of oil to light the lamp, the light of faith, keeping enough for myself to let the light burn. Either I am ready or I am not; either I go out to meet you, the light of lights, or I plunge into the dark to make up for lost time. Either/or: Is there no in between?

I know you want me to love you, God, with all my heart and soul and mind. Throughout the day, I think of you little, if at all. Like a child in a playground, I am unaware of time passing as I find new challenges and problems to solve. Give me the grace today, Lord, to keep the lamp burning within me, carrying within me all that I need to come out to meet you, early or late or sometime in between.

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.

Readings

Podcast

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

Jesus replies to a question from someone in one of the towns he passed through: ”Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Strive to enter through the narrow gate, Jesus tells him. Many will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. He then tells the parable of the master of the house who locks the door and doesn’t let in the one standing outside. “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!” says the master of the house. And Jesus then says, “There will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.”

God, help me learn the meaning of strive to enter and wailing and grinding of teeth. It is not enough to slide by to remain in the kingdom of God. On the other hand, I would not want to see myself cast out from the kingdom of God against my desire and will. You are merciful, Lord, and your mercy extends from this life to eternal life. Do I merely eat and drink from your spirit in a passing acquaintance? “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Jesus, help me learn to be humble by asking for your help to continue striving to be in your kingdom and to manifest it.

Today, Lord, as I receive you in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity, give me the grace to be firm in my desire to seek you. Allow your grace to work through me to bring glory to your Father. Stay with me today, 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.

Readings

Podcast

Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

“All their works are performed to be seen. . . . The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus’ words to the crowds and the disciples resound to the present day. Self-aggrandizement and seeking places of honor is a reality today as much as it was then. To be honored means sustaining and placing the burden of expectation on others and invites hypocrisy. Jesus says, “Don’t go that way.” Instead, seek to humble yourself and don’t fall for the lie that you are to be called master.

From the first reading, Ezekiel describes the vision he sees as the angel leads him to the gate of the temple where God dwells among the children of Israel, that is, all people forever. Ezekiel, looking upon the place where the Lord dwells, says, “And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the LORD.” Help me understand, God, that honor is yours; that the works I perform are for you to see; and that it is not for myself but for you that I humble myself, that the glory in humbling myself is for your sake.

The day presses on, Lord, and I am drawn into accomplishing its various tasks. Stay with me today; stay within, and let the ones I meet throughout the day see you in me—whether in the way I smile or give selflessly of my time or in a loving embrace. Father in heaven, let the here and now of today be where you set the soles of your feet and dwell among your children.

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.

Readings

Podcast

Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees question Jesus about which commandment in the law is the greatest. A key word here is law, an area in which the Pharisees and Sadducees often challenged Jesus. Following the law as it had been passed down through tradition, the Pharisees sought to trip up Jesus by questioning him about the greatest law. His response? The whole law and the prophets depend on love of God and love of neighbor.

God, help me understand the greatest commandment, which is nothing but dry bones without spirit if limited only to human endeavor. It takes a relationship with God to bring them to life. In the first reading from Ezekiel, the Lord takes Ezekiel out to walk among a vast plain covered by human bones. Through cooperation with the commands of the Lord, Ezekiel puts sinews, flesh, and skin over the bones. But, although they were covered in skin, there was no spirit in them. And then the Lord says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.” Ezekiel then says, “I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.” Here, every step of the way on the plain of dry bones, the Lord instructs Ezekiel to prophesy to bring his commandment to life. Alone, Ezekiel could do nothing to bring the bones to life. In the same way, without God’s love, there is little I can do to carry out his greatest commandment with genuine love.

Lord, you led Ezekiel to the plain to hear your word and see in every direction dry bones, beings dead in spirit that he would bring to life through your saving power. Today, when my spirit starts to fade and wither, feeling the sting of little deaths and disappointment, let me remember Ezekiel’s reply when you asked him if these bones can come to life. He said in reply to you, “I answered, ‘Lord GOD, you alone know that.’ ” Let me have the faith to love and trust you as Ezekiel did.

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.

Readings

Podcast