Resurrection and Support

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to draw hope and resolve from the Resurrection to continue to support the Way to fullness of life in communion with Christ.

We Rise Again

In the reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul presents the results of denial of the Resurrection of the Dead.

* [15:12–19] Denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12) involves logical inconsistencies. The basic one, stated twice (1 Cor 15:13, 16), is that if there is no such thing as (bodily) resurrection, then it has not taken place even in Christ’s case.

* [15:17–18] The consequences for the Corinthians are grave: both forgiveness of sins and salvation are an illusion, despite their strong convictions about both. Unless Christ is risen, their faith does not save. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 15 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 17 is a Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors.

* [Psalm 17] A lament of an individual unjustly attacked. Confident of being found innocent, the psalmist cries out for God’s just judgment (Ps 17:1–5) and requests divine help against enemies (Ps 17:6–9a). Those ravenous lions (Ps 17:9b–12) should be punished (Ps 17:13–14). The Psalm ends with a serene statement of praise (Ps 17:15). The Hebrew text of Ps 17:3–4, 14 is uncertain.

* [17:8] Apple of your eye…shadow of your wings: images of God’s special care, cf. Dt 32:10; Prv 7:2; Is 49:2.

* [17:10–12, 14] An extended metaphor: the enemies are lions. (Psalms, PSALM 17 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke shares the Galilean Women who follow Jesus.

* [8:1–3] Luke presents Jesus as an itinerant preacher traveling in the company of the Twelve and of the Galilean women who are sustaining them out of their means. These Galilean women will later accompany Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem and become witnesses to his death (Lk 23:49) and resurrection (Lk 24:9–11, where Mary Magdalene and Joanna are specifically mentioned; cf. also Acts 1:14). The association of women with the ministry of Jesus is most unusual in the light of the attitude of first-century Palestinian Judaism toward women. The more common attitude is expressed in Jn 4:27, and early rabbinic documents caution against speaking with women in public. (Luke, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)

Steve Scholer comments that we live in a world where making an absolute statement is frowned upon. Claiming this or that to be an incontrovertible fact is almost a sure-fire way to start an argument. And we all know what that can lead to – an awkward conversation or, even worse, the loss of a cherished friend who finds our position untenable.

So, as we go about our Daily Examen, maybe today is a great time to spend a little more time in prayer to express our profound, heartfelt gratitude for what Christ did for us. Not only dying for our sins, but more importantly, conquering death through his resurrection. And because of these two diametrically opposed events, we have the hope of eternal salvation and can live our lives full of hope and promise. (Scholer, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Everyone has something to give,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Frankly, even the poor have something they can share with others. Let one lend feet to the lame, another become the eyes of the blind, another visit the sick, and another bury the dead. These are the things that everyone can do. Lastly, bear one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ." (excerpt from Sermon 41,9) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Corinthians 15:12-2 comments that because of Christ’s resurrection, we have the freedom to call God our Father, to experience the forgiveness of our sins, and to receive the grace to follow the Lord.

What a day that will be! You will have your same body, but it will be glorified, as Jesus’ body was. You will have the same memories and personality, but you will be transformed by God’s love, without your tendency to sin. Isn’t that amazing?

Today, fill your mind with this hope. Set your heart on Jesus and all the graces that flow, even now, from his risen body to you.

“Lord, I wait in joyful hope to be with you one day, body and soul, in heaven.” (Meditation on 1 Corinthians 15:12-2, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the declaration of Paul on the importance of Jesus' Resurrection from the Dead to the resurrection of all. The division from Greek philosophy between the spiritual and the material is healed. Friar Jude reminds us that Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, was healed from seven demons and her erroneous association with prostitution originates in the 5th Century.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, emphasizes the inner transformation necessary for the work of peace. John Dear describes the importance of connecting with our core identity as children of God.

Peacemakers throughout history testify to the need for quiet meditation if we are to live the nonviolent life of peace. The [ministry] of the nonviolent Jesus, according to Luke’s account, begins with him sitting in silent prayer by the Jordan River. In that quiet time of contemplative listening and opening to the Spirit of peace, he heard that he was God’s beloved [Luke 3:21–22]. In this sacred space, he was able to take that message to heart, to claim that truth as the core of his identity.  

Like the nonviolent Jesus, we too need to sit still in silent meditation and open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit of peace and let the God of peace call us God’s beloved. We need to give God permission to love us, name us, and claim us if we want to be disarmed, healed and freed to practice loving nonviolence.  

That is why quiet meditation is so crucial to the life of nonviolence. In that silent meditation, we can hear God say to us, “You are my beloved.” We learn who we are, we remember who we are, and we are strengthened once again to be who we really are. In that strength and confidence, we feel liberated from our inner violence and freed to get up and walk outside into the world of violence to offer the hand of peace and nonviolence. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)

We respond with hope and joy to the phrase “We will rise again” as it resonates with the Spirit of Christ and His resurrection and we are restored in our faith and hope for goodness, truth, and beauty to triumph.

References

Luke, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/8?1 

Meditation on 1 Corinthians 15:12-2. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/09/20/1076801/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 15 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/15? 

Psalms, PSALM 17 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/17?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/peacemaking-and-contemplation/ 

Scholer, S. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. OnlineMinistries. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092024.html 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=sep20 

Rich Support

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to examine the way in which the Spirit may be prompting us to use our resources to build up the Body of Christ.

Building with our resources

The reading from the First Letter of Timothy contrasts false teaching with true riches in the good fight of faith.

* [6:2b–10] Timothy is exhorted to maintain steadfastly the position outlined in this letter, not allowing himself to be pressured into any other course. He must realize that false teachers can be discerned by their pride, envy, quarrelsomeness, and greed for material gain. 1 Tm 6:6 is rather obscure and is interpreted, and therefore translated, variously. The suggestion seems to be that the important gain that religion brings is spiritual, but that there is material gain, too, up to the point of what is needed for physical sustenance (cf. 1 Tm 6:17–19).

* [6:6] Contentment: the word autarkeia is a technical Greek philosophical term for the virtue of independence from material goods (Aristotle, Cynics, Stoics). (1 Timothy, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 49 addresses the folly of trust in riches.

* [Psalm 49] The Psalm affirms confidence in God (cf. Ps 23; 27:1–6; 62) in the face of the apparent good fortune of the unjust rich, cf. Ps 37; 73. Reliance on wealth is misplaced (Ps 49:8–10) for it is of no avail in the face of death (Ps 49:18–20). After inviting all to listen to this axiom of faith (Ps 49:2–5), the psalmist depicts the self-delusion of the ungodly (Ps 49:6–13), whose destiny is to die like ignorant beasts (Ps 49:13, 18; cf. Prv 7:21–23). Their wealth should occasion no alarm, for they will come to nought, whereas God will save the just (Ps 49:14–20). (Psalms, PSALM 49 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke identifies some women who accompany Jesus.

* [8:1–3] Luke presents Jesus as an itinerant preacher traveling in the company of the Twelve and of the Galilean women who are sustaining them out of their means. These Galilean women will later accompany Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem and become witnesses to his death (Lk 23:49) and resurrection (Lk 24:9–11, where Mary Magdalene and Joanna are specifically mentioned; cf. also Acts 1:14). The association of women with the ministry of Jesus is most unusual in the light of the attitude of first-century Palestinian Judaism toward women. The more common attitude is expressed in Jn 4:27, and early rabbinic documents caution against speaking with women in public. (Luke, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)

Jay Carney comments that as our gospel antiphon tells us, to be a Christian leader is to be a “little one” — open, curious, humble, and teachable. May we seek to be poor in spirit this day.

Pope Francis did not make up his oft-repeated line that “the love of money is the root of all evils,” as St. Paul reminds us today. Thankfully, our faith journeys are also shaped by the leaders who exemplify the Pauline virtues of the “man of God”—righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Such Christians truly exemplify the “noble confession” to which each of us is called in baptism….

In first-century Palestine, it would have been unusual and even scandalous for women to participate in a Jewish rabbi’s public ministry. And yet here is Susanna, stepping forward as a patroness to provide for Jesus and the Twelve out of her own means. Herod was a capricious and licentious king, and yet here is Joanna, the wealthy wife of his chief steward, walking with the Twelve as Jesus inaugurates the Kingdom of God. When her life was racked by possession and pain, Mary of Magdala was far from the leading candidate to become the “Apostle to the Apostles.” And yet it was Magdalene who stayed with Jesus at the Cross, only to be surprised by joy in the garden of resurrection. (Carney, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “Everyone has something to give,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Frankly, even the poor have something they can share with others. Let one lend feet to the lame, another become the eyes of the blind, another visit the sick, and another bury the dead. These are the things that everyone can do. Lastly, bear one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ." (excerpt from Sermon 41,9) (Schwager, 2022)

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Timothy 6:2-12 that today’s Gospel gives us an example of what a healthy relationship to money can look like. The women who supported Jesus were wealthy; they clearly had abundant “resources” (Luke 8:3). But their generosity with the gifts God had given them shows that they were not driven by the desire to attain more just for the sake of having more (8:3). They used money as a tool by freely sharing it to support Jesus and his ministry.

How does God want you to think about money? Remember that you can’t take it with you. So be content with what you have, and be as generous as you are able.

“Lord, I want to think about money the way you do.” (Meditation on 1 Timothy 6:2-12, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes how the teaching in 1 Timothy resonates with the call of Paul in 1 Corinthians to hold on to the noble confession. Evangelization is supported by the community in harmony. Friar Jude notes how  Luke stresses the role women played in the early Christian community.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that a compassionate presence is one of the fruits of contemplation. Fr. Richard writes about the great compassion St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) had for others, which is inspired by the great compassion of Jesus.

We see this movement toward a shared compassion in all true saints. For example, St. Francis was able to rightly distinguish between institutional evil and the individual who is victimized by it. He still felt compassion for the individual soldiers fighting in the crusades, although he objected to the war itself. He realized the folly and yet the sincerity of their patriotism, which led them, however, to be un-patriotic to the much larger kingdom of God, where he placed his first and final loyalty. What Jesus calls “the Reign of God'' we could call the Great Compassion. [2] (Rohr, 2022)

Catholic author Judy Cannato (1949–2011), who worked to integrate the gospels with the new cosmology, believed this Great Compassion was Jesus’ primary objective. She writes: 

The realm of God that Jesus preached and died for was one that was known for its kindness and generosity, its compassion and healing. There was no one deemed outside the love of the Holy One whom Jesus called “Father.” No one was excluded from fellowship, not the rich or poor, male or female, slave or free. Jesus went beyond superficial divisions and called for a culture of compassion. (Rohr, 2022)

We may tend to categorize the goodness or suitability of people to be disciples of Christ by standards and categories of our material culture rather than by the gifts of the Spirit which are operating in their lives.

References

Carney, J. (2023, September 14). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092223.html 

Luke, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/8?1 

Meditation on 1 Timothy 6:2-12. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/09/22/789602/ 

1 Timothy, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1timothy/6? 

Psalms, PSALM 49 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/49?6 

Rohr, R. (2022, October 2). With Compassion We Change Sides. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/with-compassion-we-change-sides-2023-09-22/ 

Schwager, D. (2022, October 2). The Women Provided for Jesus. Daily Scripture net. Retrieved September 22, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=sep22