Ignatian
Spirituality: Set the World Ablaze
predmore.blogspot.com
The Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 13, 2016
Wisdom 11:22-12:2;
Psalm 145; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10
“Keep calm and carry on” is the
message in the readings today. Lessen the effects of the drama by downplaying
them. You do not have to get caught up in the craziness of others. You simply
have to do your job quietly and pay little attention to turbulence around you.
Christ will guide you through the messiness, but it does not have to be your
personal chaos.
Have you ever been confronted by a
person that needs to constantly talk about their problems and does not listen
to any advice? You are handcuffed by that person’s hold on you and you cannot
get away from them or their drama. They suck you into their problems. You do
not even think they want their problems solved. You want to be polite. You see
they are in pain and you realize they need to be heard. You want to be kind to
them, but you realize something about them wants to hold onto the chaos and not
solve the problems. You realize there is no way you can help them. They are a
hornet’s nest of pain. You avoid them. Do you know anyone like that? Sometimes
those people hang around at church because they know kind people will listen to
them and give them the time they do not get elsewhere. Sometimes church is
where people with poor manners come and expect their behavior to be tolerated
and welcomed.
We cannot deal effectively with
cosmic realities if we do not do well with our local, personal drama. Malachi
says there will be a day of judgment when the proud and the evildoers will be
destroyed leaving only the faithful ones to stand before the sun of justice.
Luke tells us in the Gospel that the temple will knocked down leaving only
rubble. The people will face pestilence and hardships and life will be turned
upside-down. In the midst of this destruction, many will raise their voices
shouting that they have the solutions. Jesus says, “Do not trust them. Learn
how to read the signs of the times. Face your persecution calmly. It is going
to hurt your feelings, and you will be betrayed by those closest to you, but it
will not harm your soul.” He cautions us to simply believe, breathe
comfortably, and wait out the turbulence. In the end, all will be well, and if
all is not well, it is not the end.
We have to practice reading the
signs of the times and to lessen the drama around us in small matters first.
Through experience, we endure the larger drama. In other words, we have to set
positive boundaries around people with bad behavior so we are not pulled into
their mess. The anxieties of others do not have to make us anxious. We have
control over our demeanor by learning techniques to keep us in balance when the
bad behaviors of others assail us. We have to frame our relationship firmly
with proper boundaries.
St. Paul helps us to stay balanced
and keep focused on the important parts of life. We are to do our jobs well,
just like Paul and the elders did, and we are to provide for ourselves as best
we can. We do not accept handouts or expect excessive payments for usual
activities. We practice fairness and we do not let ourselves get sidetracked by
honor or shame. We keep focused on our main goals and do it quietly, without
drama.
The church year is ending and from
behind the scenes, Jesus is taking up everyone to himself in heaven. The whole
heavenly company is working for our good and helping us to persevere. Keep the
drama low and trust in God’s promises for you. Keep calm and keep matters
simple. Your lives will be secure. Keep calm and carry on.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First
Reading:
Monday:
(Revelation 1) To the church in Ephesus: I know your works, your labor, and
your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked. You have suffered for
my name.
Tuesday:
(Revelation 3) To the church in Sardis: I know your works, that you have the
reputation of being alive, but you are dead. A few of you will be spared because
they are worthy.
Wednesday:
(Revelation 4) I saw a vision from heaven: In the center were four living
creatures that surrounded the one who sits on the throne.
Thursday:
(Revelation 5) In the midst of the throne was a lamb ready to be slain. He was
the one worthy to open the scroll of scripture.
Friday
(Revelation 10) Take the scroll and swallow it. You must prophesy again about
many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.
Saturday
(Revelation 11) A great battle was waged between the beasts and the inhabitants
of the earth. All died, but after 3.5 days the breath of life from God entered
them. Those who fell stood on their feet. They went up to heaven in a cloud as
their enemies looked on.
Gospel:
Monday:
(Luke 18) A blind beggar heard Jesus was passing by: Son of David, have pity on
me. What do you want me to do for you? Lord, please let me see.
Tuesday:
(Luke 9) Zachhaeus, the tax collector, climbed a tree to see Jesus, who offered
him salvation. Because of his mercy, he repaid all those he defrauded.
Wednesday
(Luke 19) Jesus told a parable near Jerusalem: A nobleman went off for a while
and told his servants to engage in trade with his coins. Some invested wisely,
but one did not. He was chastised and all was taken away from him.
Thursday
(Luke 19) If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden
from your eyes.
Friday
(Luke 19) Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple and went teaching in the
temple area. Meanwhile, many were plotting his death.
Saturday
(Luke 20) Jesus settles the dispute about the resurrection and tells the people
that all who have died are alive to God and to us.
Saints of the Week
November 13: Francis Xavier Cabrini, religious
(1850-1917) was an Italian-born daughter to a Lombardy family of 13 children.
She wanted to become a nun, but needed to stay at her parents’ farm because of
their poor health. A priest asked her to help work in a girls’ school and she
stayed for six years before the bishop asked her to care for girls in poor
schools and hospitals. With six sisters, she came to the U.S. in 1889 to work
among Italian immigrants. She was the first American citizen to be
canonized.
November 13: Stanislaus Kostka, S.J., religious
(1550-1568) was a Polish novice who walked from his home to Rome to enter
the Jesuits on his 17th birthday. He feared reprisals by his father
against the Society in Poland so we went to directly see the Superior General
in person. Francis Borgia admitted him after Peter Canisius had him take a
month in school before applying for entrance. Because of his early death,
Kostka is revered as the patron saint of Jesuit novices.
November 14: Pedro Arrupe, S.J., Superior General
(1917-1991) was the 28th Superior General of the Jesuits. He was
born in the Basque region of the Iberian Peninsula. He is considered one of the
great reformers of the Society because he was asked by the Pope to carry out
the reforms of Vatican II. November 14th is the commemoration of his
birth.
November 14: Joseph Pignatelli, S.J., religious and Superior
General (1737-1811) was born in Zaragosa, Spain and entered the Jesuits
during a turbulent era. He was known as the unofficial leader of the Jesuits in
Sardinia when the Order was suppressed and placed in exile. He worked with
European leaders to continue an underground existence and he was appointed
Novice Master under Catherine the Great, who allowed the Society to receive new
recruits. He secured the restoration of the Society partly in 1803 and fully in
1811 and bridged a link between the two eras of the Society. He oversaw a
temperate reform of the Order that assured their survival.
November 15: Albert
the Great, bishop and doctor (1200-1280), joined the Dominicans to teach
theology in Germany and Paris. Thomas Aquinas was his student. With his reluctance,
he was made bishop of Ratisbon. He resigned after four years so he could teach
again. His intellectual pursuits included philosophy, natural science,
theology, and Arabic language and culture. He applied Aristotle's philosophy to
theology.
November 16: Roch Gonzalez, John del Castillo, and
Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J. (1576-1628) were Jesuit priests born to
Paraguayan nobility who were architects of the Paraguayan reductions, societies
of immigrants based on religious faith. They taught the indigenous population
how to plant farms and other basic life skills that would protect them from the
insidious slave trades of Spain and Portugal. By the time the Jesuits were
expelled, 57 such settlements were established. Roch was a staunch opponent of
the slave trade. He, John, and Alphonsus were killed when the envy of a local
witch doctor lost his authority at the expense of their growing medical
expertise.
November 16: Margaret
of Scotland (1046-1093) was raised in Hungary because the Danes invaded England.
She returned after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and sought refuge in Scotland.
She married the king and bore him eight children. She corrected many wayward
abuses within the church and clarified church practices.
November 16: Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) was placed for childrearing into a Benedictine monastery at age 5
in Saxony. She lived with two mystics named Mechthild and as she developed her
intellectual and spiritual gifts, she too became a mystic. Her spiritual
instructions are collected into five volumes. She wrote prayers as a first
advocate of the Sacred Heart.
November 17: Elizabeth
of Hungary, (1207-1231) was the daughter of Andrew II, king of Hungary. She
married Ludwig IV of Thuringia and as queen supported many charities. When her
husband died in a crusade in 1227, she entered the Third Order of Franciscans.
November 18: The Dedication
of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul celebrates churches in honor of the two
great church founders. St. Peter's basilica was begun in 323 by Emperor Constantine
- directly over Peter's tomb. A new basilica was begun in 1506 and it was
completed in 1626. Many great artists and architects had a hand in building it.
St. Paul Outside the Walls was built in the 4th century over Paul's tomb. It
was destroyed by fire in 1823 and subsequently rebuilt.
November 18: Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852) joined the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and at age 49, traveled to
Missouri to set up a missionary center and the first free school west of the
Mississippi. She then founded six more missions. She worked to better the lives
of the Native Americans.
This Week in Jesuit History
·
Nov 13, 1865. The death of James Oliver Van de
Velde, second bishop of the city of Chicago from 1848 to 1853.
·
Nov 14, 1854. In Spain, the community left
Loyola for the Balearic Isles, in conformity with a government order.
·
Nov 15, 1628. The deaths of St Roch Gonzalez and
Fr. Alphonsus Rodriguez. They were some of the architects of the Jesuit
missions in Uruguay and Paraguay.
·
Nov 16, 1989. In El Salvador, the murder of six
Jesuits connected with the University of Central America together with two of
their lay colleagues.
·
Nov 17, 1579. Bl Rudolph Acquaviva and two other
Jesuits set out from Goa for Surat and Fattiphur, the Court of Akbar, the Great
Mogul.
·
Nov 18, 1538. Pope Paul III caused the governor
of Rome to publish the verdict proclaiming the complete innocence of Ignatius
and his companions of all heresy.
-->
·
Nov 19, 1526. The Inquisition in Alcala, Spain
examined Ignatius. They were concerned with the novelty of his way of life and
his teaching.
No comments:
Post a Comment