The Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

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September 16, 2018

Isaiah 50:5-98; Psalm 116; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35

Jesus and his disciples were visiting several villages and preaching the kingdom of heaven when Jesus paused and asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” I imagine that he is asking us on our journeys that very question as we move through our crisis of credibility in the church today, and it is an important question for us to answer. I would like to add another question to his, which is, “Where is Jesus present to us in this crisis?”

How we answer the first question helps us to consider the second question. If we limit Jesus to only being present in the Bread and Blood at mass, then we have constrained him. If he is only present to receive our individual prayers, then we see him as passive and perhaps non-responsive. If we perceive him to be silent and powerless, then we will not recognize the work he is doing within the church. In the midst of this crisis, do we believe his power is at work? Is he an agent of transformation? Who is he to us today?

Often in the time of trauma, we often look at the suffering we face. Our feelings are strong and raw, and we need time to process what is happening to us. That is natural. But when we are strongly focusing on what we are going through, we are not always able to see all that is going on around us. When people are victimized or in trauma, they sometimes ask, “Where were you, O God, when I went through this bad episode in my life?” We do not want to be alone in our suffering, but that is a result of suffering – to separate us from the ones who love us, from the ones who care. We can become disconnected from Christ, cut off from our loved ones, and even separated from ourselves. This is the reason the second question is important, “Where are you, Lord Jesus, to us in this time of crisis?”

In order to see and hear the Lord, we have to move to a place of spiritual and emotional balance. Christ does want to reveal where he is and what he is doing to strengthen the church and to heal those who have been sinned against at the hands of the church. It is important to realize that he is active and that he is using his power and authority in ways that are not yet obvious to all of us. He is not ever going to abandon those who are hurt and are suffering; He is going to give them his mercy and healing graces and he will create a structure in which no one will get hurt ever again.

Pope Francis is working hard to help the church navigate these troubled waters. He emphasizes mercy over morals, he is striving to break clericalism and the pursuit of power of priests, seminarians, and bishops, he is appointing shepherds who will practice compassionate pastoral sensitivities in the place of adherence to church teachings, and he is listening to many so that he can reshape and rebuild the church closer to the way Christ, his friend, intended. Christ is helping him get it back on track, Christ’s Spirit is finally letting Vatican Two evolve and mature, Christ is sacrificing himself on the cross again and again so that we pay attention.

Jesus told Peter and the Disciples that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by people of power and influence. Victims of the church have been crucified, and parts of the church are suffering on the cross. The words of Jesus still have meaning today. If we are to be a disciple, we are to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him. The cross is our way forward because that is the place where Jesus shows his love; the cross is the place where new life can sprout; the cross is the place where Jesus hangs for us today.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (1 Corinthians 11) I hear that when you meet as a Church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it; there have to be factions among you in order that also those who are approved among you may become known. When you meet in one place, then,
it is not to eat the Lord's supper, for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk, a man living with his father’s wife. And you are inflated with pride.

Tuesday: (1 Corinthians 12) As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Wednesday: (1 Corinthians 12) Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Thursday: (1 Corinthians 15) Through the Gospel you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

Friday (Ephesians 4) I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Saturday (1 Corinthians 15) Someone may say, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?" So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible. It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 7) A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, "He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us."

Tuesday: (Luke 7) Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

Wednesday (Luke 7) “To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’

Thursday (Luke 7) A certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears.

Friday (Matthew 9) As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.

Saturday (Luke 8) When a large crowd gathered, with people from one town after another journeying to Jesus, he spoke in a parable. "A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil.

Saints of the Week

September 16: Cornelius, pope and martyr (d. 253) and Cyprian, bishop and martyr (200-258) both suffered in the Decian persecutions. Cornelius was being attacked by Novatian, but since Novatian's teachings were condemned, he received the support of the powerful bishop, Cyprian. Cyprian was a brilliant priest and bishop of Carthage who wrote on the unity of the church, the role of bishops, and the sacraments. Cyprian died under Valerius after supporting his church in exile by letters of encouragement.

September 17: Robert Bellarmine, S.J., bishop and doctor (1542-1621) became a Jesuit professor at the Louvain and then professor of Controversial theology at the Roman College. He wrote "Disputations on the controversies of the Christian faith against the Heretics of this age," which many Protestants appreciated because of its balanced reasoning. He revised the Vulgate bible, wrote catechisms, supervised the Roman College and the Vatican library, and was the pope's theologian.

September 19: Januarius, bishop and martyr (d. 305), was bishop of Benevento during his martyrdom during the Diocletian persecution. He was arrested when he tried to visit imprisoned Christians. Legend tell us that a vial that contains his blood has been kept in the Naples cathedral since the 15^th century liquefies three times a year.

September 20: Andrew Kim Taegon, priest, martyr, Paul Hasang, martyr, and companion martyrs (19th century), were Korean martyrs that began to flourish in the early 1800’s. The church leadership was almost entirely lay-run. In 1836, Parisian missionaries secretly entered the country and Christians began to encounter hostility and persecutions. Over 10,000 Christians were killed. Taegon was the first native-born priest while the rest were 101 lay Christians.

September 21: Matthew, evangelist and Apostle (first century), may be two different people, but we have not historical data on either man. Since Matthew relies heavily upon Mark’s Gospel, it is unlikely that the evangelist is one of the Twelve Apostles. The Apostle appears in a list of the Twelve and in Matthew’s Gospel he is called a tax collector. The Evangelist is writing to Jewish-Christians who are urged to embrace their Jewish heritage and to participate in their mission to the Gentiles. To Matthew, Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes of Jews and the inaugurator of a new way to relate to God.

September 22: Tomas Sitjar, S.J. and the martyrs of Valencia (1866-1936), were killed in the Spanish Civil War just a week after the war broke out. Sitjar was the Rector of Gandia and was formerly the novice director and metaphysics professor. The Jesuit Order was suppressed at the beginning of the war, which sent the men to disperse into apartments, but since they were known to the community, they were sought out, imprisoned, and later executed because of their belief in God.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Sep 16, 1883. The twenty-third General Congregation opened at Rome in the Palazzo Borromeo (via del Seminario). It elected Fr. Anthony Anderledy Vicar General with the right of succession.

·      Sep 17, 1621. The death of St Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church.

·      Sep 18, 1540. At Rome, Pedro Ribadeneira, aged fourteen, was admitted into the Society by St Ignatius (nine days before official papal confirmation of the Society).

·      Sep 19, 1715. At Quebec, the death of Fr. Louis Andre, who for 45 years labored in the missions of Canada amid incredible hardships, often living on acorns, a kind of moss, and the rind of fruits.

·      Sep 20, 1990. The first-ever Congregation of Provincials met at Loyola, Spain, on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the approval of the Society and 500th anniversary of the birth of St Ignatius.

·      Sep 21, 1557. At Salamanca, Melchior Cano wrote to Charles V's confessor, accusing the Jesuits of being heretics in disguise.

·      Sep 22, 1774. The death of Pope Clement XIV, worn out with suffering and grief because of the suppression of the Society. False stories had been circulated that he was poisoned by the Jesuits.