Tag: Saint Peter Claver

“He called his disciples to himself.” | Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy upon their couches; Let the high praises of God be in their throats. This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. The Lord takes delight in his people.”

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

And he 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. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

After Jesus spends a night in prayer on the mountain away from the disciples, he comes down and chooses the Twelve. As Luke says, he “called his disciples to himself,” including Judas, who would betray Jesus. In communion with his Father after a night of prayer, Jesus discerns the will of the Father to choose each of the apostles. From there, Jesus goes out to meet the great crowds that began following him and listening to his every word. Healing their diseases and curing those who had unclean spirits, Jesus brings the mountaintop power of unity with God to the crowd who seeks to touch the source of the power that heals them. What do we have in the Eucharist and in the sacraments but the very presence of Christ and his power to heal?

God, help me understand the power of your Son to draw people of all cultural backgrounds and faiths to go to Jesus to hear him and be healed. This is the story of the ages, and it is my story. The power of Jesus to teach and heal is in union with your will—the will of God the Father. Just as Jesus chose the apostles, the ones sent forth, he chooses me. Help me, Lord, be attentive and worthy of the call to discern and do your will. With your grace, help me in everyday matters judge justly the things of this world. “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?” Paul asks. You, Lord, are just because you are justice itself. Help me in my shortcomings so that I respond to you, as Paul says, “justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Let me hear and know the voice of the one who calls me to himself.

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.

“Stretch out your hand.” | Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

From the responsorial psalm: “But let all who take refuge in you be glad and exult forever. Protect them, that you may be the joy of those who love your name. Lead me in your justice, Lord.”

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

But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “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?” Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Picking up where last week’s Gospel left off, we hear of another sabbath when Jesus taught in the synagogue under the scrutiny of the Pharisees. Knowing that they were seeking to trap him, Jesus performs a miracle on a day of sabbath rest. Jesus asks the Pharisees a question that silences them; they say nothing to him in reply. As the man stretches out his withered hand at the Lord’s command, the Pharisees do the work that their rage compels them to do—to find a way to do evil rather than good and bring destruction rather than salvation. What Paul says to the Corinthians, he might also have said to the Pharisees about the sacrifice of Christ, the Paschal Lamb: “Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

God, help me find courage in the words and actions of Jesus before his accusers. I want to be free to call on your name and give thanks to you for Jesus Christ your Son in the celebration of the Eucharist—the means of doing good on earth and the preparation for eternal life. I think of the Canticle of Zechariah, who praised you for setting us free in teaching us to worship you: “This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,” Zechariah says, “to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.” Free me, Lord, to serve you and love you in my words and actions; strengthen me through the Church, the sacrament of salvation. Saint Peter Claver, 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.

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is addressing the disciples and not the scribes and Pharisees this time. At the end of the passage, he calls the brother hypocrite who tries to remove the splinter in his brother’s eye without noticing the wooden beam in his own eye. If Jesus calls the disciples to this standard, then it is also me he is calling; and if it is the hypocrisy of the disciples he is calling out, how much more so is he calling it out in me?

God, help me understand the logic of your love. It is not enough that you convict in me what sets up barriers between us but that you want me to be fully trained to become like you; that is, free of hypocrisy and living in your truth.

Quiet me, Lord. See how easily I am disturbed by thoughts that fly through my mind. You are there, you are always there, when I turn my attention to other things—good things, things you created for joy in this life but also things that lead me off course. Breathe in me today as I breathe the breath of the Holy Spirit, the breath of peace, the end of longing that finds you waiting for me. As the psalmist says, “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Like the sparrow who finds a home and the swallow a nest, let me find rest in you today.

Readings

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.