God’s presence in each relationship
The Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021
October 3, 2021
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Numbers 11:25-29; Psalm 19; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-48
These bottom line in today’s message is that God is at the heart of every human relationship because we are built for community. In Genesis, humans are given a special privilege and responsibility to care and protect the environment and all living things, but there is special bond between humans that echoes God’s relationship with us. In the Gospel, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that our commitment to one another in sacred, whether it is in the sacrament of marriage, the care and protection of children, or in human friendship. We cannot cut ourselves off from meaningful relationships easily; it requires thoughtful discernment when we can always respect the image of God that is present in each person.
While we are made for community, it is common for us to pull ourselves apart from each other when we most need human compassion. I think of two situations I encountered this week. A man in his mid-70’s placed his wife in elderly day-care as her dementia increases. He does not want to answer emails or talk on the phone because he feels extra sensitive and may break down because he can no longer take care of the love of his life the way he wants. He is afraid of showing his tears even though his tears show the deep extent of his care and concern. He wants prayers and yet does not want anyone to know how much he is hurting. Because he has withdrawn, the community does not know how to support him.
A woman approached me and asked to pray for a dear relative who may be pregnant after suffering two previous miscarriages. The young woman is full of hope but does not want anyone to know because of her history, but she is a bundle of nerves because she wants to bear a child. She has asked that her relative keep her secret, so people do not worry. They each suffer in silence, and it is precisely the time they need the prayerful support of those who love them. These are the privileged times we need to come together to bear with one another’s burdens.
If we do not work at reconciling ourselves with loved ones, it will be difficult for us to experience the harmony that gives us the integrity we seek in relationships. A friend recently told me that she found out at her brother’s funeral that he duped her for many years for her generosity. Though she took him at his word, he deceived her, which only became known upon death, and there was not chance at reconciliation. Think of how different this relationship could have been in they saw the presence of God in each other. God is one who heals, unites, reconciles, calls forth goodness, and brings harmony. None of us want to betray or mistreat God, and we would treat each person with such goodness if we recognized that God is always at the heart of our relationships. As we move through this coming week, perhaps we can look at each of our relationships, the solid ones, and broken ones, and ponder how we can honor God through each person. We may need to pause, and look hard, but if we do, we may find that God is struggling to keep us committed to one another.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Jonah 1) “Set out for the great city of Nineveh and preach against it;
their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish, away from the LORD.
Tuesday: (Jonah 3) The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh.
Wednesday: (Jonah 4) Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry that God did not carry out the evil he threatened against Nineveh. And now, LORD, please take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the LORD asked, “Have you reason to be angry?”
Thursday: (Malachi 3) You have defied me in word, says the LORD, yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?” You have said, “It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts?
Friday (Joel 1) Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming.
Saturday (Joel 4) The LORD roars from Zion, and from Jerusalem raises his voice;
The heavens and the earth quake, but the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the children of Israel.
Gospel:
Monday: (Luke 10) But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.”
Tuesday: (Luke 10) Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”
Wednesday (Luke 11) Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come.”
Thursday (Luke 11) “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked.’
Friday (Luke 11) When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.”
Saturday (Luke 11) “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Saints of the Week
October 3: Francis Borgia, S.J. became a duke at age 33. When his wife died and his eight children were grown, he joined the Jesuits. His preaching brought many people to the church and when he served as Superior General, the Society increased dramatically in Spain and Portugal. He established many missions in the new territories.
October 4: Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was from the wealthy Bernardone family who sold silk cloths. After serving as soldier as a prisoner of war, Francis chose to serve God and the poor. He felt called to repair God's house, which he thought was a church. His father was angry that he used family money so he disinherited him. He began to preach repentance and recruited others to his way of life. His order is known for poverty, simplicity, humble service, and delighting in creation.
October 6: Bruno, priest (1030-1101), became a professor at Rheims and diocesan chancellor. He gave up his riches and began to live as a hermit with six other men. They had disdain for the rampant clerical corruption. The bishop of Grenoble gave them land in the Chartreuse mountains and they began the first Carthusian monastery. After serving in Rome for a few years, Bruno was given permission to found a second monastery in Calabria.
October 7: Our Lady of the Rosary recalls the events in 1571 of the Christian naval victory over the Turks at Lepanto near Corinth. Victory was credited to Mary as confraternities prayed the rosary for her intercession.
October 9: Denis, bishop and martyr, and companion martyrs (d. 258), was the first bishop of Paris. He died during the Decian persecutions by beheading at Montmarte, the highest hill in the city. Lore has it that he picked up his head after the beheading and walked six miles while giving a sermon. Denis was sent to Paris to bring Christianity and was thereby called, “The apostle to the Gauls.”
October 9: John Leonardi (1542-1609), was a pharmacist’s assistant before studying for the priesthood. He became interested in the reforms of the Council of Trent and gathered laymen around him to work in prisons and hospitals. He contracted the plague while ministering to those who were sick. He founded the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God to care for the sick.
This Week in Jesuit History
- October 3, 1901. In France, religious persecution broke out afresh with the passing of Waldeck Rousseau's "Loi d'Association."
- October 4, 1820. In Rome, great troubles arose before and during the Twentieth General Congregation, caused by Fr. Petrucci's intrigues. He sought to wreck the Society and was deposed from his office as Vicar General, though supported by Cardinal della Genga (afterwards Leo XII).
- October 5, 1981. In a letter to Father General Arrupe, Pope John Paul II appointed Paolo Dezza as his personal delegate to govern the Society of Jesus, with Fr. Pittau as coadjutor.
- October 6, 1773. In London, Dr James Talbot, the Vicar Apostolic, promulgated the Brief of Suppression and sent copies to Maryland and Pennsylvania.
- October 7, 1819. The death of Charles Emmanuel IV. He had been King of Sardinia and Piedmont. He abdicated in 1802 and entered the Jesuits as a brother in 1815. He is buried in San Andrea Quirinale in Rome.
- October 8, 1871. The Great Chicago Fire. Most of the city was destroyed, but it missed Holy Family, the Jesuit parish, as the fire turned north thanks to the prayers of Fr. Arnold Damen. The fire lasted three days; 250 were killed.
- October 9, 1627. Jansenius left Louvain for Salamanca to foment antipathy against the Jesuits and thus prevent Philip IV from giving the Society a large college in Madrid. The theological faculty at Salamanca were hostile to the Society.
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