The Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

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October 29, 2017

Exodus 22:20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40

Scripture clearly writes that we are to have a compassionate responsibility towards people whose existence is vulnerable. God asks us to have compassion upon their plight just as God has boundless compassion. We are not to impose any burdens or cut off their livelihood. 

The Gospel sums up the Law by saying love has to be at the root of our actions. Love of God, love of self, and love of neighbor are demanded by our faith. Love penetrates beyond the rules and regulations and it frees us to live our faith well. We are very familiar with this teaching on love, but the question becomes: what does this love look like?

Many types of people are vulnerable in our society. Children are always our most precious gifts, but we have to look out for our ill and infirm, those with addictions, undocumented immigrant families, those with mental illnesses, and a group that we too often take for granted – women. The recent #MeToo campaign has begun to reveal the extent of the danger and discrimination women face on a daily basis. The time has come for society to examine its predominant culture to determine how it treats women in general and to change the policies that make them feel unsafe so that we can create environments in which each woman receives the dignity she deserves.

Over the next few months, we will read more reports of sexual advances made in the workplace against women (and men). We are only at the beginning of journey. Lots of money has been paid out to settle cases, which only keep the stories in the dark. As these stories come to the light, how are we to respond? As the Lord says in Scripture: with compassion. It is time for us to honor that stories that will make us uncomfortable. We have to be able to listen to increase our understanding, to refrain from making quick responses that shut down a woman’s telling of her story, and to be courageous enough to shed a tear with them.

Our job as hearers of the story is to stay out of the way and to let the Lord do the work. That does not mean that we are to be passive. We are to listen, then pray, and then pray some more. When we are ready, the Lord will let us know what do to and when to do it. We have much to learn. Let us start by praying for the grace to be compassionate to the stories we will hear. Honor these women, who are our mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, and colleagues, by making room in your hearts for their stories. Together, as brother and sister, we will find a way forward as the Lord guides us in his tender wisdom.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Romans 8) For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption,
through which we cry, "Abba, Father!"

Tuesday: (Romans 8) I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God.

Wednesday: (Revelation 7) "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."

Thursday: (Wisdom 3) The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; But they are in peace.

Friday (Romans 9) They are children of Israel; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them,
according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.

Saturday (Romans 11) The deliverer will come out of Zion, he will turn away godlessness from Jacob; and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 13) A woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit;
she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, "Woman, you are set free of your infirmity."

Tuesday: (Luke 13) "What is the Kingdom of God like? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches."

Wednesday (Matthew 5) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

Thursday (John 6) This is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.

Friday (Luke 14) In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, "Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?" But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him.

Saturday (Luke 14) When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say, 'My friend, move up to a higher position.'

Saints of the Week

October 30: Dominic Collins, S.J., priest and martyr (1566-1602), was a Jesuit brother who was martyred in his native Ireland. He became a professional solider in the Catholic armies of Europe after the Desmond Rebellion was put down in 1583. He joined the Jesuits in 1584 at Santiago de Compostela and was sent back to Ireland in 1601 with a Spanish contingent. He was captured, tried for his faith, and sentenced to death.

October 31: Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J. (1532-1617) was widowed at age 31. When his three children died, Alphonsus joined the Jesuits as a lay brother at age 40 after attempting to complete the rigors of study. He was sent to the newly opened college in Majorca where he served as a porter for 46 years. His manner of calling people to sanctification was extraordinary. He served obediently and helped others to focus on their spiritual lives.

October 31: All Hallows Eve (evening) owes its origins to a Celtic festival that marked summer's end. The term was first used in 16th century Scotland. Trick or treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling when poor people would go door to door on Hallomas (November 1) receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2.)

November 1: All Saints Day honors the countless faithful believers - living and dead - who have helped us along in our faith. Our liturgical calendar is filled with canonized saints, but we have many blesseds and minor saints who no longer appear on it. We have local saints across the world. We have many people who live Gospel values who we appreciate and imitate. We remember all of these people on this day.

November 2: All Souls Day is the commemoration of the faithful departed. November is known as All Souls Month. We remember those who died as we hasten towards the end of the liturgical year and the great feast of Christ the King. As a tradition, we have always remembered our dead as a way of keeping them alive to us and giving thanks to God for their lives.

November 3: Rupert Mayer, S.J., priest (1876-1945), resisted the Nazi government and died while saying Mass of a stroke. In 1937, he was placed in protective custody and was eventually released when he agreed that he would no longer preach.

November 3: Martin de Porres, religious (1579-1639) was a Peruvian born of a Spanish knight and a Panamanian Indian woman. Because he was not pure blood, he lost many privileges in the ruling classes. He became a Dominican and served the community in many menial jobs. He was known for tending to the sick and poor and for maintaining a rigorous prayer life.

November 4: Charles Borromeo, bishop (1538-1584), was made Bishop of Milan at age 22. He was the nephew of Pope Pius IV. He was a leading Archbishop in the Catholic Reformation that followed the Council of Trent. During a plague epidemic, Borromeo visited the hardest hit areas so he could provide pastoral care to the sick.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Oct 29, 1645. In the General Chapter of the Benedictines in Portugal, a statement published by one of their order, that said St Ignatius had borrowed the matter in his Spiritual Exercises from a Benedictine author, was indignantly repudiated.

·      Oct 30, 1638. On this day, John Milton, the great English poet, dined with the Fathers and students of the English College in Rome.

·      Oct 31, 1602. At Cork, the martyrdom of Dominic Collins, an Irish brother, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his adherence to the faith.

·      Nov 1, 1956. The Society of Jesus was allowed in Norway.

·      Nov 2, 1661. The death of Daniel Seghers, a famous painter of insects and flowers.

·      Nov 3, 1614. Dutch pirates failed to capture the vessel in which the right arm of Francis Xavier was being brought to Rome.

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·      Nov 4, 1768. On the feast of St Charles, patron of Charles III, King of Spain, the people of Madrid asked for the recall of the Jesuits who had been banished from Spain nineteen months earlier. Irritated by this demand, the king drove the Archbishop of Toledo and his Vicar General into exile as instigators of the movement.