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Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Known by our Words: The Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025

                                                   Known by our Words:

The Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2025 

March 2, 2025

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Sirach 27:4-7; Psalm 92; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45

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Sirach states that when one speaks, one’s faults are shown, and that one’s speech reveals the contents of one’s mind. Jesus tells us in the Gospel that a tree is known by its fruit, and therefore, a person is known by how one speaks. These are relevant words for our times because many people rush in to speak and are known by their interjections. So many problems are created by undistinguished words that cause hasty judgments. Sirach counsels us to pause before we speak and to reflect upon how we might be perceived. Do we want to be known as one with passionate beliefs who is quick to get a point across, or do we want to be regarded as one who is wise, slow to speak, compassionate, and seeks to understand? Our words reveal who we are, and many people do not realize how they come across to others. Our words matter.

 

Many people have been able to skillfully navigate difficult conversations over the past months, and yet we are prepared for those who fill the space with microaggressions or impose their ideologies upon others. We think of that concise line of truth: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Just because someone makes a fool of oneself does not mean that we must respond at that same level. We can choose how we respond. We can elevate the conversation and raise the standard of relating to each other. The art of communicating is a precious, acquired skill, and the one who does it well is highly regarded. 

 

          As Christians, we can help others see through the eyes of faith. Jesus is not the only Risen One, because we have been raised with him. We do not have to give in to the enemy of human nature. We can raise up those around us through our sight and our right speaking. We can notice the huge log in our eye first before seeing the splinter in the other. Who are we to judge? It is not our right. Our responsibility is to give mercy and to reconcile. When we are selfish, we want mercy for ourselves and justice for others. We are to help people see and we do it through our actions. When others act selfishly, we need courage to die to our own selfishness. When others condemn, we need to absolve and to commend. When others move to divide and destroy, we must speak words of union and communion. When others use words of violence, threat, and harm, we must work overtime to produce goodness because in the end, good will prevail over hatred. Love will be the ultimate power that endures. We must learn to love in difficult times because the balance of the world depends upon it. 

 

          Jesus speaks about blind guides as a warning to us. We must do all that we can to learn this unique love of God that unifies, does not give way to violence, that cannot destroy or degrade, that pledges no allegiance to an ideology, that does not seek victory or its own rightness. Rather, it is the way forward to one who wants to know God. Coming to sight, coming to know God, coming to love each person as God loves each person, will be the way of righteousness. We will then speak rightly of what we know, and all that we say will lift up those around us. 

 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Sirach 17) To the penitent God provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth. Return to him and give up sin, pray to the LORD and make your offenses few.

 

Tuesday: (Sirach 35) To keep the law is a great oblation, and he who observes the
commandments sacrifices a peace offering. In works of charity, one offers fine flour, and when he gives alms he presents his sacrifice of praise.

 

Wednesday: (Joel 2) Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.

 

Thursday: (Deuteronomy 30) Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

 

Friday (Isaiah 58) Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God.

 

Saturday (Isaiah 58) If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 10) As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, ""Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"" Jesus answered him, ""Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

 

Tuesday: (Mark 10) Peter began to say to Jesus, 'We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.

 

Wednesday (Matthew 6) Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others.

 

Thursday (Luke 9) The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. 

 

Friday (Mark 9) “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

 

Saturday (Luke 5) Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them.

 

Saints of the Week

 

March 7: Perpetua and Felicity (d. 203), were two catechumens arrest and killed during a persecution in North Africa. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who was killed alongside her husband, their young son, and their pregnant slave, Felicity. They were baptized while under arrest and would not renounce their faith. Felicity was excused from death because it was unlawful to kill a pregnant woman, but she gave birth prematurely three days before the planned execution. They were flogged, taunted by wild beasts, and then beheaded. They appear in the First Eucharistic Prayer. 

 

March 8: John of God (1495-1550), was a Portuguese soldier of fortune who was brought to Spain as a child. He was a slave master, shepherd, crusader, bodyguard and peddler. As he realized that he frittered away his life, he sought counsel from John of Avila. He then dedicated his life to care for the sick and the poor. He formed the Order of Brothers Hospitallers and is the patron saint of hospitals and the sick.


This Week in Jesuit History

 

  • March 2, 1606. The martyrdom in the Tower of London of St Nicholas Owen, a brother nicknamed "Little John." For 26 years he constructed hiding places for priests in homes throughout England. Despite severe torture he never revealed the location of these safe places. 
  • March 3, 1595. Clement VIII raised Fr. Robert Bellarmine to the Cardinalate, saying that the Church had not his equal in learning. 
  • March 4, 1873. At Rome, the government officials presented themselves at the Professed House of the Gesu for the purpose of appropriating the greater part of the building. 
  • March 5, 1887. At Rome, the obsequies of Fr. Beckx who died on the previous day. He was 91 years of age and had governed the Society as General for 34 years. He is buried at San Lorenzo in Campo Verano. 
  • March 6, 1643. Arnauld, the Jansenist, published his famous tract against Frequent Communion. Fifteen French bishops gave it their approval, whereas the Jesuit fathers at once exposed the dangers in it. 
  • March 7, 1581. The Fifth General Congregation of the Society bound the professors of the Society to adhere to the doctrine of St Thomas Aquinas. 
  • March 8, 1773. At Centi, in the diocese of Bologna, Cardinal Malvezzi paid a surprise visit to the Jesuit house, demanding to inspect their accounting books.

Conocido por nuestras palabras: El octavo domingo del tiempo ordinario 2025

                                            Conocido por nuestras palabras:

El octavo domingo del tiempo ordinario 2025

2 de marzo de 2025

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Eclesiástico 27:4-7; Salmo 92; 1 Corintios 15:54-58; Lucas 6:39-45

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El Eclesiástico afirma que cuando uno habla, se muestran sus defectos y que su forma de hablar revela el contenido de su mente. Jesús nos dice en el Evangelio que un árbol se conoce por sus frutos y, por lo tanto, una persona se conoce por cómo habla. Estas palabras son relevantes para nuestros tiempos porque muchas personas se apresuran a hablar y se las conoce por sus interjecciones. Son muchos los problemas que se crean por palabras indistintas que provocan juicios apresurados. El Eclesiástico nos aconseja que hagamos una pausa antes de hablar y reflexionemos sobre cómo nos pueden percibir. ¿Queremos ser conocidos como alguien con creencias apasionadas que es rápido para transmitir un mensaje o queremos ser considerados como alguien sabio, lento para hablar, compasivo y que busca comprender? Nuestras palabras revelan quiénes somos y muchas personas no se dan cuenta de cómo las perciben los demás. Nuestras palabras importan.

 

Muchas personas han sabido desenvolverse hábilmente en conversaciones difíciles durante los últimos meses, y sin embargo, estamos preparados para quienes llenan el espacio con microagresiones o imponen sus ideologías a los demás. Pensamos en esa línea de verdad concisa: los tontos se precipitan donde los ángeles temen pisar. El hecho de que alguien haga el ridículo no significa que debamos responder al mismo nivel. Podemos elegir cómo respondemos. Podemos elevar la conversación y el nivel de relación con los demás. El arte de comunicarse es una habilidad valiosa que se adquiere, y quien lo hace bien es muy valorado.

 

          Como cristianos, podemos ayudar a otros a ver con los ojos de la fe. Jesús no es el único Resucitado, porque hemos resucitado con él. No tenemos por qué rendirnos ante el enemigo de la naturaleza humana. Podemos levantar a quienes nos rodean con nuestra vista y nuestro hablar correcto. Podemos notar primero la gran viga en nuestro ojo antes de ver la paja en el otro. ¿Quiénes somos nosotros para juzgar? No es nuestro derecho. Nuestra responsabilidad es dar misericordia y reconciliar. Cuando somos egoístas, queremos misericordia para nosotros y justicia para los demás. Debemos ayudar a las personas a ver y lo hacemos a través de nuestras acciones. Cuando otros actúan egoístamente, necesitamos valor para morir a nuestro propio egoísmo. Cuando otros condenan, necesitamos absolver y elogiar. Cuando otros se mueven para dividir y destruir, debemos decir palabras de unión y comunión. Cuando otros usan palabras de violencia, amenaza y daño, debemos trabajar horas extra para producir bondad porque al final, el bien prevalecerá sobre el odio. El amor será el poder supremo que perdure. Debemos aprender a amar en los momentos difíciles porque de ello depende el equilibrio del mundo.

 

          Jesús habla de los guías ciegos como una advertencia para nosotros. Debemos hacer todo lo que podamos para aprender este amor único de Dios que unifica, que no da lugar a la violencia, que no puede destruir ni degradar, que no se apega a ninguna ideología, que no busca la victoria ni su propia justicia. Más bien, es el camino a seguir para quien quiere conocer a Dios. Llegar a la vista, llegar a conocer a Dios, llegar a amar a cada persona como Dios ama a cada persona, será el camino de la rectitud. Entonces hablaremos correctamente de lo que sabemos, y todo lo que digamos elevará a quienes nos rodean.

 

 

Escritura para la misa diaria

Primera lectura: 

Lunes: (Eclesiástico 17) Dios ofrece a los penitentes un camino de regreso, anima a los que están perdiendo la esperanza y les ha elegido la suerte de la verdad. Vuelve a él y abandona el pecado, reza al Señor y reduce tus ofensas.

 

Martes: (Eclesiástico 35) Guardar la ley es una gran oblación, y quien observa los 
mandamientos sacrifica un sacrificio de paz. En las obras de caridad se ofrece harina fina, y cuando se da limosna se presenta el sacrificio de alabanza.

 

Miércoles: (Joel 2) Volveos a mí con todo vuestro corazón, con ayuno y llanto y lamento; rasgad vuestro corazón, no vuestros vestidos, y volved al Señor vuestro Dios. Porque él es clemente y misericordioso, lento para la ira, rico en misericordia y arrepentido del castigo.

 

Jueves: (Deuteronomio 30) Hoy he puesto delante de ti la vida y el bien, la muerte y el mal. Si obedeces los mandamientos del Señor tu Dios que yo te ordeno hoy, amándolo, andando en sus caminos y guardando sus mandamientos, estatutos y decretos, vivirás y te multiplicarás, y el Señor tu Dios te bendecirá en la tierra que vas a tomar posesión de ella.

 

Viernes (Isaías 58) Clama a voz en cuello y sin cesar; alza tu voz como un toque de trompeta; anuncia a mi pueblo su maldad, y a la casa de Jacob su pecado. Me buscan día tras día y desean conocer mis caminos, como pueblo que ha practicado la justicia y no ha abandonado la ley de su Dios.

 

Sábado (Isaías 58) Si en el día de reposo retienes tu pie para no seguir tus propios caminos en mi día santo; si al día de reposo llamas delicia y al día santo de Jehová, glorioso; si lo honras no siguiendo tus caminos, ni buscando tus propios intereses, ni hablando con malicia, entonces te deleitarás en Jehová, y yo te haré cabalgar sobre las alturas de la tierra.

 

Evangelio:

Lunes: (Marcos 10) Mientras Jesús emprendía un viaje, un hombre corrió hacia él, se arrodilló ante él y le preguntó: "Maestro bueno, ¿qué debo hacer para heredar la vida eterna?" Jesús le respondió: "¿Por qué me llamas bueno? Nadie es bueno sino solo Dios.

 

Martes: (Marcos 10) Pedro comenzó a decirle a Jesús: "Nosotros lo hemos dejado todo y te hemos seguido". Jesús dijo: "En verdad les digo que no hay nadie que haya dejado casa, hermanos, hermanas, madre, padre, hijos o tierras por mí y por el Evangelio, que no reciba cien veces más ahora en este siglo.

 

Miércoles (Mateo 6) Cuídense de hacer obras de justicia para que los demás las vean, pues de lo contrario no recibirán recompensa de su Padre celestial. Cuando den limosna, no toquen trompeta delante de ustedes, como hacen los hipócritas en las sinagogas y en las calles para ganarse la alabanza de los demás.

 

Jueves (Lucas 9) Es necesario que el Hijo del Hombre padezca mucho y sea rechazado por los ancianos, los principales sacerdotes y los escribas, y sea asesinado y resucite al tercer día.

 

Viernes (Marcos 9) “¿Por qué nosotros y los fariseos ayunamos mucho, pero tus discípulos no ayunan?” Jesús les respondió: “¿Acaso los invitados a la boda pueden estar de luto mientras el novio está con ellos? Llegarán días en que les será arrebatado el novio, y entonces ayunarán”.

 

Sábado (Lucas 5) Jesús vio a un recaudador de impuestos llamado Leví, sentado al banco de los tributos. Le dijo: «Sígueme». Y dejándolo todo, se levantó y lo siguió. Entonces Leví le ofreció un gran banquete en su casa, y una gran multitud de recaudadores de impuestos y otros estaban a la mesa con ellos.

 

Santos de la semana

 

7 de marzo: Perpetua y Felicidad (f. 203), Dos catecúmenos fueron arrestados y asesinados durante una persecución en el norte de África. Perpetua era una joven noble que fue asesinada junto con su esposo, su hijo pequeño y su esclava embarazada, Felicidad. Fueron bautizados mientras estaban arrestados y no renunciaron a su fe. Felicidad fue excusada de la muerte porque era ilegal matar a una mujer embarazada, pero dio a luz prematuramente tres días antes de la ejecución planificada. Fueron azotados, acosados por fieras y luego decapitados. Aparecen en la Primera Plegaria Eucarística.

 

8 de marzo: Juan de Dios (1495-1550), fue un soldado portugués que llegó a España siendo niño. Fue amo de esclavos, pastor, cruzado, guardaespaldas y vendedor ambulante. Al darse cuenta de que estaba desperdiciando su vida, buscó el consejo de Juan de Ávila. Luego dedicó su vida a cuidar a los enfermos y a los pobres. Formó la Orden de los Hermanos Hospitalarios y es el santo patrón de los hospitales y de los enfermos.


Esta semana en la historia de los jesuitas

 

  • 2 de marzo de 1606. Martirio en la Torre de Londres de San Nicolás Owen, un hermano apodado "Little John". Durante 26 años construyó escondites para sacerdotes en casas de toda Inglaterra. A pesar de las severas torturas que sufrió, nunca reveló la ubicación de estos lugares seguros.
  • 3 de marzo de 1595. Clemente VIII elevó al padre Roberto Bellarmino al cardenalato, diciendo que la Iglesia no tenía igual en saber.
  • 4 de marzo de 1873. En Roma, los funcionarios del gobierno se presentaron en la Casa Profesa del Gesú con el propósito de apropiarse de la mayor parte del edificio.
  • 5 de marzo de 1887. En Roma, funerales del P. Beckx , fallecido el día anterior. Tenía 91 años y había gobernado la Sociedad como General durante 34 años. Está enterrado en San Lorenzo en Campo Verano.
  • 6 de marzo de 1643. Arnauld , el jansenista, publicó su famoso tratado contra la comunión frecuente. Quince obispos franceses lo aprobaron, mientras que los padres jesuitas expusieron inmediatamente los peligros que encierra.
  • 7 de marzo de 1581. La Quinta Congregación General de la Compañía obligó a los profesores de la Compañía a adherirse a la doctrina de Santo Tomás de Aquino.
  • 8 de marzo de 1773. En Centi , en la diócesis de Bolonia, el cardenal Malvezzi realizó una visita sorpresa a la casa de los jesuitas, exigiendo inspeccionar sus libros de contabilidad.

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Photo: A Bird of Paradise


 

Poem: Prayer, by Kahlil Gibran

 Then a Priestess said, Speak to us of Prayer.

And he answered, saying:

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?

And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.
And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing.

When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet.
Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you shall not receive:
And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted:
Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.
It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.

Monday, February 24, 2025

Photo: The College of the Holy Cross




 

Spirituality: Joanna Macy, Active Hope

Active hope is a practice. Like tai chi or gardening, it is something we do rather than have. It is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First, we take a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we'd like things to move in or the values we'd like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Photo: Heart


 

Poem: Victoria Stafford, "The Gates of Hope"

Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope—
Not the prudent gates of Optimism,
Which are somewhat narrower.

Not the stalwart, boring gates of Common Sense;
Nor the strident gates of Self-Righteousness,
Which creak on shrill and angry hinges
(People cannot hear us there; they cannot pass through)
Nor the cheerful, flimsy garden gate of
"Everything is gonna' be all right."

But a different, sometimes lonely place,
The place of truth-telling,
About your own soul first of all and its condition.
The place of resistance and defiance,
The piece of ground from which you see the world
Both as it is and as it could be
As it will be;

The place from which you glimpse not only struggle,
But the joy of the struggle.
And we stand there, beckoning and calling,
Telling people what we are seeing
Asking people what they see.

Friday, February 21, 2025

Photo: A window into one's heart


 

Prayer: Christina Rossetti

O Lord Jesus, because we often sin and have to ask pardon, help us to forgive as we would be forgiven, mentioning neither old offenses against us, nor dwelling on them in thought, nor being influenced by them in heart, but loving each other freely, as you freely loved us.