Thanksgiving on the Mission

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to seek patience and trust as we participate in the plan of God to transform our communities and our personal approach to life.

Crisis in Community

The reading from the Book of  Ezra is a penitential Prayer.

* [9:6–15] The prayer attributed to Ezra is a communal confession of sin, of a kind characteristic of the Second Temple period (cf. Neh 9:6–37; Dn 9:4–19; 1QS 1:4–2:1), but adapted to the present situation. (Ezra, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Response today is from Tobit’s Thanksgiving to God

* [13:1–18] Tobit’s hymn of praise is divided into two parts. The first part (vv. 1–8) is a song of praise that echoes themes from the psalms; the second (vv. 9–18) is addressed to Jerusalem in the style of those prophets who spoke of a new and ideal Jerusalem (Is 60; cf. Rev 21). Joyful praise: words for joy and gladness occur throughout this prayer (vv. 1, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18). (Tobit, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke declares the Mission of the Twelve.

* [9:1–6] Armed with the power and authority that Jesus himself has been displaying in the previous episodes, the Twelve are now sent out to continue the work that Jesus has been performing throughout his Galilean ministry: (1) proclaiming the kingdom (Lk 4:43; 8:1); (2) exorcising demons (Lk 4:33–37, 41; 8:26–39) and (3) healing the sick (Lk 4:38–40; 5:12–16, 17–26; 6:6–10; 7:1–10, 17, 22; Lk 8:40–56).

* [9:3] Take nothing for the journey: the absolute detachment required of the disciple (Lk 14:33) leads to complete reliance on God (Lk 12:22–31).

* [9:5] Shake the dust from your feet: see note on Mt 10:14. (Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Mary Lee Brock (2017) had her Gallup strength of Connectedness come to mind as she prayed with today’s Gospel from Luke.  We are all connected and part of a larger picture.

I pray for the grace to responsibility live in the tension of meeting people where they are while inviting them to live the good news.  And I pray for the grace to have the courage to “shake the dust from my feet” when I am called by God to do so.  And I will responsibly play to my strengths. (Brock, 2023)

Franciscan Media notes that Pope Leo XIII made St. Vincent de Paul the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam.

The Church is for all God’s children, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness, poverty, ignorance, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has become starvation, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live. (Saint Vincent De Paul, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Jesus gave power and authority to his apostles,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"The grace bestowed upon the holy apostles is worthy of all admiration. But the bountifulness of the Giver surpasses all praise and admiration. He gives them, as I said, his own glory. They receive authority over the evil spirits. They reduce to nothing the pride of the devil that was so highly exalted and arrogant. They render ineffectual the demon's wickedness. By the might and efficacy of the Holy Spirit, burning them as if they were on fire, they make the devil come forth with groans and weeping from those whom he had possessed... He glorified his disciples, therefore, by giving them authority and power over the evil spirits and over sicknesses. Did he honor them without reason and make them famous without any logical cause? How can this be true? It was necessary, most necessary, that they should be able to work miracles, having been publicly appointed ministers of sacred proclamations. By means of their works, they then could convince men that they were the ministers of God and mediators of all beneath the heaven. The apostles then could invite them all to reconciliation and justification by faith and point out the way of salvation and of life that is this justification." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 47) (Schwager, 2022)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Ezra 9:5-9 comments that like those returning from exile, we might have missed the mark. We might have forgotten that we are God’s sons and daughters, and that this truth should make a difference in our lives. And like them, we, too, can return to the Lord. We can count on God’s unconditional mercy to accompany us every step of our journey. As the old song says, “I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”

Even in your messiness, even when you’re not sure what’s in store for your future, you can fix your hope on this truth: right now, God is with you.

“Merciful and loving God, I trust that you are with me at this very moment.” (Meditation on Ezra 9:5-9, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the situation of Ezra in Jerusalem decades after the Persian Cyrus released them from exile in Babylon. The Kingdom of God begins when people live the Law and Love of God. Friar Jude reminds us that we proclaim Christ and trust that Providence will abide.

Barbara Holmes teaches about contemplation that arises in collective experiences of crisis. Against all odds, crisis becomes transformative “sacred space.” She describes the transformative benefits that can emerge from crisis—if we allow them.

I see crisis contemplation becoming a refuge. When everything around you is beyond your control and you shatter, you find within you a space of solitude, peace, and refuge that allows you to begin to gather yourself again. Howard Thurman talks about an inner island that no one can breach without your permission.

A second benefit is that crisis contemplation becomes a wellspring of discernment in a disordered life space. In other words, there is this moment of shattering where we can do nothing, and we have an opportunity to be still. We are told in Psalm 46:10 to “Be still and know that I am God,” but how many of us allow time or even have the capability to be still? Our nervous systems are such a jangle that sitting still can also be nearly impossible for some of us. When we have no choice but to be still, though, there’s an opportunity to discern what comes next. Many of us operate on instinct and impulse, but there is a way to live where we’re operating out of discernment and where there is a knowing that is beyond our own. [2] (Holmes, 2022)

We ask the Spirit to bolster our faith as we act as missionaries of Jesus Love and Law especially when relating to people in times of distress and suffering.

References

Brock, M. L. (2023, September 27). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092723.html 

Ezra, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ezra/9?5 

Holmes, B. (2022, October 2). Sacred Refuge. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/sacred-refuge/ 

Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?1 

Meditation on Ezra 9:5-9. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/09/27/792695/ 

Saint Vincent de Paul. (n.d.). Franciscan Media. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-vincent-de-paul/ 

Schwager, D. (2022, October 2). Jesus Gave Them Authority over All Demons and Diseases. Daily Scripture net. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=sep27 

Tobit, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/tobit/13?2 

Humble Allies for Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our experience of peace in compassionate service of others.

Our loving service

 

The reading from the Prophet Zechariah declares God’s promises to Zion.

* [8:3] Faithful city: a unique biblical epithet for Jerusalem, signaling the importance of the holy city and its leaders for establishing justice in society (see also vv. 8, 16, 19). Holy mountain: Jerusalem and its Temple, the sacred center of the holy land (2:16) and of the whole world.1 

Psalm 102 is a prayer to the Eternal King for Help.

* [Psalm 102] A lament, one of the Penitential Psalms. The psalmist, experiencing psychological and bodily disintegration (Ps 102:4–12), cries out to God (Ps 102:1–3). In the Temple precincts where God has promised to be present, the psalmist recalls God’s venerable promises to save the poor (Ps 102:13–23). The final part (Ps 102:24–28) restates the original complaint and prayer, and emphasizes God’s eternity.2 

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches true greatness in service and acceptance of others doing God’s work.

* [9:46–50] These two incidents focus on attitudes that are opposed to Christian discipleship: rivalry and intolerance of outsiders.3 

Julie Kalkowski reflects that this year people have repeatedly faced horrific situations… Her friend Nancy decided the one thing she could do was to help with the newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan. She felt a bit of hope seeping back into a mother from Afghanistan as she began to hear her children laughing and playing.

“The city (Jerusalem) shall be filled with girls and boys playing in the streets.” Nancy told me that hearing the laughter get louder and louder was the best medicine for that despairing mother. She knows it is a drop in the bucket, but it’s a start.  Sometimes just sitting with people in their pain is all we can do, but it helps not to be alone.  So, we do what we can where we are and trust in our God to see us through these ‘impossible days’.4 

Don Schwager quotes “Jesus, the Physician of souls, amputates vainglory,“ by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"The passion and lust of pride attacked some of the holy apostles. The mere argument about who of them was the greatest is the mark of an ambitious person, eager to stand at the head of the rest. Christ, who did not sleep, knows how to deliver. He saw this thought in the disciple's mind, springing up, in the words of Scripture (Hebrews 12:15), like some bitter plant. He saw the weeds, the work of the wicked sower. Before it grew up tall, struck its root down deep, grew strong, and took possession of the heart, he tears up the evil by the very root..."In what way does the Physician of souls amputate pride’s passion? How does he deliver the beloved disciple from being the prey of the enemy and from a thing hateful to God and man? "He took a child," it says, "and set it by him." He made the event a means of benefiting both the holy apostles themselves and us their successors. This illness, as a rule, preys upon all those who are in any respect superior to other people".(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 54.2)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:46-50 comments that St. Vincent de Paul, whom we celebrate today, liked to tell his followers, “Go to the poor. You will find God.” Sometimes we can harbor attitudes of judgment or superiority toward the people we are trying to help, and that can make them feel small or ashamed.

Jesus comes to meet us in the “least among us,” who are truly the greatest. Let’s take the risk of going out to the poor so that we can, as St. Vincent says, “Find God.” “Jesus, I don’t want to miss the opportunities to meet you in those the world might consider least.”6

 

Franciscan Media notes that Saint Vincent de Paul was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others.

The Church is for all God’s children, rich and poor, peasants and scholars, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness, poverty, ignorance, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today, when hunger has become starvation, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live.7 

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the images of normality that Zachariah understands that God will return to Jerusalem. Jesus uses the child to underline our mission to serve those who cannot pay us back. Friar Jude reminds us to rejoice in the actions of those not of our faith who do the works of service from their hearts.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces  Quaker author Richard Foster who has long written on themes of prayer and spiritual practice. Focusing on the Hebrew word ‘hesed’, Foster explores the many ways that compassion shows up in the Hebrew Bible, both in God and in how people relate to one another. Theologian Elizabeth Johnson understands acting with compassion to others in need as participating in the flow of God’s compassion.

But the great challenge for us is that this covenant love, this durable mercy that is so central to the character of God, is to be reflected in us as well. Through Hosea the prophet, God declares, “I desire steadfast love [hesed] and not sacrifice, / the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).8

 

We witness so many needs among people we encounter and we pray to be able to serve them with compassion.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Zechariah, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/zechariah/8
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 102 | USCCB. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/102
3	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092721.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=sep27
6	(n.d.). Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for September 27 .... Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/09/27/203587/
7	(n.d.). Saint Vincent de Paul | Franciscan Media. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-vincent-de-paul
8	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: 2021 - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 27, 2021, from https://cac.org/compassion-as-steadfast-love-2021-09-27/