Today you can achieve happiness and depth of meaning: The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today you can achieve happiness and depth of meaning

The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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September 8, 2019

Wisdom 9:13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-17; Luke 14:25-33

We treat matters concerning heaven and the divine realm far differently than we do our secular, ordinary life, but the Gospel encourages us to think about heaven with the same ingenuity that we do our earthly goals and pursuits. Just as an architect lays out plans for a firm foundation and a general assesses military tactics, Jesus encourages us to use those same skills to lay out our strategy for eternal life. It begins with an assessment of who we are, where we want to go, and how we plan to get there. Jesus indicates that the earthly life is part of eternal life and we need to be reflective about our small decisions because they are part of a much larger process.

         Where do we begin our assessment? Ask yourself these questions, “Am I fundamentally happy? Does my life have the depth of meaning I seek?” If the answers are “yes,” then continue on the good path you are on. Nourish your relationships, build upon your good choices, and enjoy the blessings you are experiencing. If the answer is “not really,” then seek help today. Not tomorrow, but today. Speak with a spiritual director, a counselor, a member of the clergy, and tell the person you need to get your life on track now. Why would you delay? Make the necessary changes in your life today because there is no reason to wait, and know that it is quite okay to get assistance from someone who has your best interest at heart.

         Does some part of your life have to be reconciled? Perhaps there is a broken relationship that needs mending or you are not treated right by someone and cannot find the courage or the tactics to change the dynamics, and you are stuck in a bad pattern of behavior. Don’t accept status quo any longer. You don’t need to and we want to help you move forward. Jesus wants to help you reconcile so the relationship will be restored, because when you restore the love that once existed in a broken relationship, you restore your life in Christ more fully.

         You may know an older person who hasn’t treated others kindly for most of his or her life, and then when is hospitalized and facing the reality of death suddenly wants to be forgiven for the a lifetime of poor manners or behaviors. You don’t want to find yourself in that situation because you know that reconciling today is better all-around for you and the ones you hurt and the ones who hurt you. Do it today while you have the energy and resources. You can start today to break the patterns and habit energy that keep you bound. You can have a fresh, life-giving way forward because we and Christ are on your side and will help you get there.

         Each one of us will have to reconcile with death, and we get glimpses of our finality at unexpected times. Injury, illness, and diminishment will one day face us and we examine whether we have lived with integrity and worked honestly to nourish and sustain the meaningful and not so meaningful relationships in life. As we imagine ourselves standing over our own graves and we see how we lived and what type of person we became, we have to realize that today we can begin to make the necessary adjustments to become the virtuous person God wants and knows us to be. Our job is to cooperate with God and become the radically loved, the righteously good person God knows we are deep down in our core.

         Today is the day. Use your resources as an architect painstakingly constructs a solid, long-enduring tower or a commander plots tirelessly so that no soldier is lost in battle and the key objectives are won. We have the skills. We have all the tools we need, and we have an advocate who will get us there. If your life needs adjustment, let us help you. Seek spiritual guidance. Seek spiritual direction. Strive to reconcile those fractured areas of your life. Heaven and earth are part of the same reality. Let’s use our time well to bring heaven to earth and the love of Christ to our loved ones. The happiness and depth of meaning you experience in this life will carry you into the next.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Colossians 1) I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church, of which I am a minister.

Tuesday: (Colossians 2) As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Wednesday: (Colossians 3) If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Thursday: (Colossians 3) Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

Friday (1 Timothy 1) I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.

Saturday (Numbers 21) In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us."

Gospel: 

Monday: (Luke 6) On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

Tuesday: (Luke 6) Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.

Wednesday (Luke 6) Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Thursday (Luke 6) To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.

Friday (Luke 6) Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.

Saturday (John 3) No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Saints of the Week

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.

September 9: Peter Claver, S.J. (1580-1654) became a Jesuit in 1600 and was sent to the mission in Cartegena, Colombia, a center of slave trade. For forty years, Claver ministered to the newly arrived Africans by giving them food, water, and medical care. Unfortunately, he died ostracized by his Jesuit community because he insisted on continuing the unpopular act of treating the slaves humanely.

September 10: Francis Garate, S.J. (1857-1929) was a Basque who entered the Jesuits and became a doorkeeper at the Univeristy of Deusto in Bilbao. He modeled his ministry after Alphonsus Rodriguez and became known for his innate goodness, humility, and prayerfulness.

September 12: The Name of Mary was given to the child in the octave that follow her birth on September 8th. Mary (Miriam) was a popular name for a girl because it means "beloved."

September 13: John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor (347-407) was a gifted homilist and was called "Golden Mouth" because his words inspired many. He was raised in Antioch and joined a community of austere hermits but the lifestyle damaged his health. He became the archbishop of Constantinople where he introduced many conservative and unpopular reforms. He fled to escape an uprising from the people and on the way to exile he died.

September 14: The Triumph of the Holy Cross remembers the finding of the true cross by the Emperor Constantine's mother, Helen in early 4th century. Two churches were dedicated in the name of the cross on this day in the 4th century. Therefore, the feast was applied to this day. In the 7th century, the feast was renamed, "The Triumph." The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 335 was also dedicated on this day.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      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.

·      Sep 9, 1773. At Lisbon, Carvalho, acting in the king's name, ordered public prayers for the deliverance of the world from the "pestilence of Jesuitism."

·      Sep 10, 1622. The martyrdom at Nagaski, Japan, of Charles Spinola and his companions.

·      Sep 11, 1681. At Antwerp, the death of Fr. Geoffry Henschen (Henschenius). A man of extraordinary learning, he was Fr. Jan von Bolland's assistant in compiling the Acts of the Saints.

·      Sep 12, 1744. Benedict XIV's second Bull, Omnium Sollicitudinum, forbade the Chinese Rites. Persecution followed in China.

·      Sep 13, 1773. Frederick II of Prussia informed the pope that the Jesuits would not be suppressed in Prussia and invited Jesuits to come.

·      Sep 14, 1596. The death of Cardinal Francis Toledo, the first of the Society to be raised to the purple. He died at age 63, a cardinal for three years.