My Plan of Salvation
The Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 4, 2022
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Wisdom 9:13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-17; Luke 14:25-33
The Gospel talks about planning for one’s salvation and setting concrete steps to achieve it. Jesus gives examples of an engineer who draws up plans before erecting a building or a military commander surveying the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses before going into battle. If we are serious about salvation, then we will set short-term and longer-term goals for ourselves and how we want to be in this life.
As Christians, we live by the Ten Commandments and The Sermon on the Mount that outlines the Reign of God. Particularly important to us are the Beatitudes. Those give us the blueprint for our moral life. As people of faith, we need to come to terms with the reality that one day we will die. We cannot escape mortality, and many of us do not face it well.
To prepare for our end of life, we might want to take care of our affairs now with courage and energy. To start, if we are over 55, it might be good for us to start giving away those possessions that we hold dear. Many people still collect items when it is more prudent to downsize and these weigh us down and limit our choices. Some people hoard and do not part with useful things or keepsake items. Instead of letting the belongings accumulate, why don’t we give them away to others in a meaningful way – to the poor, the underprivileged, to refugees, to shelters, or even to relatives to whom you could dearly entrust a prized possession. We can give away those possessions and memories that will keep us present to a future generation. You can feel generative in settling affairs.
It helps to plan your funeral and burial. I hear what some may say: Don’t hold any services for me. No one will come to the service anyway. Just cremate me and toss me in the ocean or in my garden or at one of my favorite places. Don’t bother with any fuss. (Translates: I’m either not worth or I’m trying to be humble and to save money.) Know that the funeral and the burial are not for you, the deceased. It is for us, the living, so that we can mourn and grieve, and we want to give you dignity in death as well in life. It is a memorial that you once existed and have been meaningful to us. Whether you like it or not, we love you. You can give us a gift: Arrange your funeral liturgy, pick meaningful readings or favorite songs, so we honor you and your choices.
Also, work with a funeral director to set aside money for burial because expenses are costly, and those who are left behind might not have the funds to give you the dignity they want for you and you deserve. Ease the financial strain without putting others in debt. Consider getting a burial plot where people can visit you and recall memories of your life. Remember. We love you. It is important for the living to have you rest in a peaceful place. It is helpful for the survivors to know your intentions, which will limit family disagreements. Please help them out.
Death surfaces ambiguous relationships with friends and family. Begin a process of reconciliation. If you cannot do that, pray for the desire to want to reconcile. Keep praying for that goal. If we can reconcile with those who have harmed us or we have harmed in life, then we are doing the Gospel task that Jesus asks. If we do these things, then we are certainly picking up our Crosses and following him. I ask you: How ready are you to do this? This is the plan of salvation that Jesus asks you to set. Come. Let’s talk. This is important stuff, and we are here to help you.
End your time on earth boldly. Death does not have to debilitate. The way you treat your mortality will give others a chance to sit back and appreciate the gifts you leave behind. The way you die will show others how to live. Your whole life, including death, will be a mark of gratitude to Christ that you have loved well, enjoyed simple blessings, kept the faith, and will return home to a place of profound acceptance where all is reconciled in Christ’s mercy.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First Reading:
Monday: (1 Corinthians 5) Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Tuesday: (1 Corinthians 6) That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Wednesday: (1 Corinthians 7) I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully.
Thursday: (Micah 5) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.
Friday (1 Corinthians 9) If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
Saturday (1 Corinthians 10) I am speaking as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I am saying. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ?
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) And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.
Wednesday (Luke 6) Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Thursday (Matthew 1) Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.
Friday (Luke ) “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 (Luke 6) For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.
Saints of the Week
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.
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 University of Deusto in Bilbao. He modeled his ministry after Alphonsus Rodriguez and became known for his innate goodness, humility, and prayerfulness.
This Week in Jesuit History
- September 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.
- September 5, 1758. The French Parliament issued a decree condemning Fr. Busembaum's Medulla Theologiae Moralis.
- September 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.
- September 7, 1773. King Louis XV wrote to Clement XIV, expressing his heartfelt joy at the suppression of the Society.
- September 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.
- September 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."
- September 10, 1622. The martyrdom at Nagaski, Japan, of Charles Spinola and his companions.
