The Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

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September 2, 2018

Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18; Psalm 34; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

For the past two weeks, I have been a juror sitting on criminal trial and I learned the most important function of a juror. The juror’s responsibility is to listen, to hear. A case is called a hearing because the jury has to hear the prosecutor and the defense make a case. A juror cannot ask a question. A juror cannot investigate or make preliminary conclusions or judgments. A juror is expected to be fed by the lawyers all the details of a case in which one has to render a verdict. Only when a juror has listened deeply and the evidence of the case is detailed, then a decision can be made.

I bring up my experience as a juror because of what I find in the readings today. Moses said to the people: Listen, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees. Moses knows the meaningful listening is the key to keeping the commandments. In the Gospel, Jesus is pressed by the Pharisees about a case, much like a prosecutor will do in a trial. Just as Moses summoned the people together, Jesus does the same. He calls them all together and says, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.” And he continues to say that sin and evil come from within the human heart that is not settled, a heart that does not hear, a heart that does not strive to understand. In effect, Jesus calls us to listen more deeply than we usually do.

Love is born from understanding and understanding comes from listening. We all want to be understood, but when we are not mindful of our own suffering or if we have not listened to our own selves, we are anxious for others to understand us right away. Talking first does not satisfy what we want. Deep listening needs to come first. Becoming aware of the presence of suffering that we and others carry will move us to mutual understanding that is satisfying. Deep listening moves us to become more compassionate people.

We can acquire and practice deep listening skills through various techniques, like mindful breathing, deciding when to respond to someone’s pain, and setting an attitude that seeks to help a person suffer less. When we learn to respond to others with this mindset, we can help the other person suffer less because compassion grows within us.

Listening deeply and compassionately helps us understand another person better, and love is nourished because we understand that person’s suffering. Listening to suffering is an essential ingredient for generating understanding and love. Happiness is the capacity to understand and to love. Notice when we are not happy. It is because we suffer a lot and we want someone to know our situation.

Moses wants people to do more than listen. He wants them to hear God’s commands and statutes because it is for their happiness because they are suffering. He wants the people to know that God listens deeply to them and wants to respond. Jesus replies in the same way. Listen and understand. If our hearts are peaceful and satisfied, we will not develop an attitude that leads to evil. No, listen to God’s commandments and your hearts will be settled. God can respond to your suffering and you will have a community of friends who want to know how you suffer and offer you genuine compassion because we are a community of sufferers. Pausing, listening, mindful hearing will lead us to hold your suffering with compassion, which leads to an increase of our love for you, which brings you and us great happiness.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (1 Corinthians 2) I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Tuesday: (1 Corinthians 2) The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among men, who knows what pertains to the man except his spirit that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.

Wednesday: (1 Corinthians 3) While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and walking according to the manner of man? Whenever someone says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men?

Thursday: (1 Corinthians 3) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God. So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.

Friday (1 Corinthians 4) Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Saturday (Micah 5) You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 4) He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Tuesday: (Luke 4) He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

Wednesday (Luke 4) At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. And demons also came out from many, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ.

Thursday (Luke 5) Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Friday (Luke 5) "The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink." Jesus answered them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

Saturday (Matthew 1) The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Saints of the Week

September 3: Gregory the Great (540-604) was the chief magistrate in Rome and resigned to become a monk. He was the papal ambassador to Constantinople, abbot, and pope. His charity and fair justice won the hearts of many. He protected Jews and synthesized Christian wisdom. He described the duties of bishops and promoted beautiful liturgies that often incorporated chants the bear his name.

September 7: Stephen Pongracz (priest), Melchior Grodziecki (priest), and Mark Krizevcanin (canon) of the Society of Jesus were martyred in 1619 when they would not deny their faith in Slovakia. They were chaplains to Hungarian Catholic troops, which raised the ire of Calvinists who opposed the Emperor. They were brutally murdered through a lengthy process that most Calvinists and Protestants opposed.

September 8: The Birth of Mary was originally (like all good feasts) celebrated first in the Eastern Church. The Roman church began its devotion in the fifth century. Her birth celebrates her role as the mother of Jesus. Some traditions have her born in Nazareth while others say she hails from outside of Jerusalem.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Sep 2, 1792. In Paris, ten ex-Jesuits were massacred for refusing to take the Constitutional oath. Also in Paris seven other fathers were put to death by the Republicans, among them Frs. Peter and Robert Guerin du Rocher.

·      Sep 3, 1566. Queen Elizabeth visited Oxford and heard the 26-year-old Edmund Campion speak. He was to meet her again as a prisoner, brought to hear her offer of honors or death.

·      Sep 4, 1760. At Para, Brazil, 150 men of the Society were shipped as prisoners, reaching Lisbon on December 2. They were at once exiled to Italy and landed at Civita Vecchia on January 17, 1761.

·      Sep 5, 1758. The French Parliament issued a decree condemning Fr. Busembaum's Medulla Theologiae Moralis.

·      Sep 6, 1666. The Great Fire of London broke out on this date. There is not much the Jesuits have not been blamed for, and this was no exception. It was said to be the work of Papists and Jesuits. King Charles II banished all the fathers from England.

·      Sep 7, 1773. King Louis XV wrote to Clement XIV, expressing his heartfelt joy at the suppression of the Society.

·      Sep 8, 1600. Fr. Matteo Ricci set out on his journey to Peking (Beijing). He experienced enormous difficulties in reaching the royal city, being stopped on his way by one of the powerful mandarins.