Photo: Bougainvillea

 

Poem: “The Slaughter of the Innocents” by” Giles Fletcher

And yet but newly he was infanted
And yet already he was sought to die;
Yet scarcely born, already banished,
Not able yet to go, and forced to fly:
But scarcely fled away, when, by and by,
The tyrant’s sword with blood is all defiled,
And Rachel, for her sons, with fury wild,
Cries, “O thou cruel king!” and “O my sweetest child!”

Photo: Pomelos, A citrus fruit for the new lunar year

 

Prayer: Alphonsus Liguori

Should it happen that you have insulted a neighbor, charity requires that you use every means to allay his or her wounded feelings. The best means for making reparation for the violation of charity is to humble yourself to the person you have offended.

Photo: The Embrace Monument (MLK-Coretta Scott King)

 

Prayer: Francis

Bringing the Gospel is bringing God’s power to pluck up and break down evil and violent, to destroy and overthrow the barriers of selfishness, intolerance, and hatred, so as to build a new world. Dear friends, Jesus Christ is counting on you. The Church is counting on you. The Pope is counting on you. May Mary, mother of Jesus and our Mother, always accompany you with her tenderness: Go and make disciples of all nation.

Join our Online Book review of Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted; Who He Was

 Please join us for an in-depth book reading of Jesus of Nazareth by Gerhard Lohfink, a German priest-scholar, in his work on the historical Jesus. We meet by Zoom each Tuesday morning from 8:00 to 9:00. Send   Fr. Predmore a message at jpredmore@bchigh.edu to get the Zoom link. Join our online community for our adult education services. 

Tuesday Morning Adult Education: Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He was; Gerhard Lohfink

Lohfink takes seriously the fact that Jesus was a Jew and lived entirely in and out of Israel's faith experiences but at the same time brought those experiences to their goal and fulfillment. Lohfink engages the perceptions of the first witnesses of his life and ministry and those who handed on their testimony. Tuesdays 8-9:00 am

Spirituality: Albert Camus

In the depth of winter, 
I finally learned 
that within me there lay 

an invincible summer. 

Photo: Covered

 

Poem: Those Winter Sundays, by Robert Hayden

 Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

 

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Photo: The Shack

 

Prayer: Francis De Sales

If you happen to do something you regret, be neither astonished nor upset, but, having acknowledged your failings, humble yourself quietly before God and try to regain your gentle composure. Say to your soul, “There, we have made a mistake, but let’s go on now and be more careful.” Every time you fall, do the same.

Our Extraordinary Call: The Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

                                                      Our Extraordinary Call:

The Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

January 29, 2023

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; Psalm 146; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12

 

           Last week we heard of the calling of the first disciples into the ministry of Jesus, and this week, we hear Jesus’s address to the crowds on the mountain, and this sermon is very much our call to discipleship. It is the universal call to holiness. The Beatitudes bring such comfort to our lives that we often say them at funerals as we send the person off from the church into eternal lives. These are the values by which we measure our lives as we stand before God, and there is always a part of these blessings that are meaningful to us.

 

          It is perhaps the greatest speech ever spoken and it outlines God’s plan for the world. In this homily, Jesus tells us of God’s values and priorities, and he gives us the criterion for how Jesus will judge our individual lifetime decisions. These words have given comfort to those throughout history who have been mistreated or misjudged or have sacrificed their lifetime goals for the sake of another person, for instance a family member who needs special care and attention. Many people have dedicated their lives in helping professions because they are called to live out Gospel values       and to forsake other choices or their own personal dreams. They choose to put God’s love into action.

 

          The Beatitudes tell us there is a place for everyone in God’s kingdom, even if they don’t find that space in the church or society. They have a place with God. The Beatitudes provide welcome in ways that we humans do not afford one another, and in our personal relationship with Christ, we know that he sees the heart the strives, the heart that loves, the heart that makes sacrifices for another person, the heart that knows God accepts our offering as best we can make. This knowing brings us consolation and comfort.

 

          We delight in this standard that we know is counter-cultural, where the truth of our lives can be known to God. Saint Paul reminds us of the biblical passages that repeatedly show us that God specially pays attention to those society hardly acknowledges. God’s values turn the world upside down, and it provides us comfort when we know those in leadership, in authority, in classes and castes, or with people of privilege do not see us, God will take care of us and provide us with the ultimate gifts – God’s presence and our eternal salvation. There is a place of us all in God’s wide embrace, and because of that, we know deep in our hearts that we are unduly blessed.

 

 

This homily is for the catechetical series on Christ’s presence in our worship.

 

In the age of Thomas Aquinas, he and theologians who followed him tried hard to find if there was a God particle in the bread and wine that had been transformed through faith into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Through faith, the gifts of the community that we offer to God are blessed and transformed. There was a tendency to objectify the consecrated host and wine and it is through our faith and God's remembrance of our action that what we offer has been transformed. Up until Vatican Council II, people tended to see the changed physical reality of the consecrated host and have treated it only as an object to be adored, revered, reserved, and consumed, and it missed a fundamental characteristic of the Eucharist, that it is, first and foremost an action. Vatican II has restored its original intent so that we see our crucial participation in the worship that is called the Eucharist, that is, the Eucharist is an action.

 

We have been focusing upon Christ's presence in the people who have assembled for worship, and we saw that the ministers reveal Christ's presence within them as they proclaim the Word of God in the Liturgy of the Word. We see that the People of God are crucial for the action of the Eucharist. We offer ourselves to God, and along with our gifts of bread and wine, we raise them up to the Lord, who remembers us. It is reminiscent of Noah's offering when, after the flood, he offered God the first fruits and the livestock he carried with him in a gesture of thanksgiving. God said to Noah, when you give thanks to me, I will remember you and bless you, and then God sent Noah a sign in the sky with the promise, "Every time you offer thanks, I will bless you." The same happens at our Eucharist as the People of God come together in thanksgiving, we raise ourselves and our gifts, and God remembers us. By faith, the wine and the bread are transformed. So are we. We are changed as we are made into a faithful people. We are the ones who are blessed. It is because we come together to be in God's presence that God remembers us and makes us the ones who are to be transformed. After God blesses us, we receive back the gifts God offered to us as the Body and Blood of Christ, and we experience communion with God and with the other people who have come to give thanks.

 

As Mass concludes, we are sent into the world nourished and transformed to live in fidelity to God. We are the Eucharist that we bring to others. We collect the extra hosts that are to be reserved for those who were not able to join us in the celebration so that we can bring it to them later in the week. 

 

Vatican II has restored the usage that the Eucharist is first and foremost an action by the People of God in the presence of his minister, who is reserved to be a servant of the people. The focus upon our action ought to make us people who fully participate in the Mass, rather than Mass be something that we watch and observe. The Mass is dependent upon the actions of the people who call upon God to remember us as we give thanks, and God blesses and transforms our gifts. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

Monday: (Hebrews 11) What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises.

 

Tuesday: (Hebrews 12) Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.

 

Wednesday: (Hebrews 12) Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as his sons. For what "son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

 

Thursday: (Malachi 3) Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

 

Friday (Hebrews 13) Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment,
and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.

 

Saturday (Hebrews 13) Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 5) When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.

 

Tuesday: (Mark 5) One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.”

 

Wednesday (Mark 6) When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? 
What kind of wisdom has been given him?  What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! 

 

Thursday (Luke 2) When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord.

 

Friday (Mark 6) King Herod heard about Jesus, for his fame had become widespread, and people were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead;
That is why mighty powers are at work in him."

 

Saturday (Mark 6) He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

 

Saints of the Week

 

January 31: John Bosco, priest (1815-1888), formed his Society to aid children who were imprisoned. He used Francis de Sales as his inspiration. He taught poor and working class boys in the evenings wherever it was possible to meet them - in fields, factories, or homes. A sister community was set up to assist young girls who were sent to work. 

 

February 2: The Presentation of the Lord is the rite by which the firstborn male is presented in the Temple as an offering to God. It occurs 40 days after the birth while the new mother is considered ritually unclean. Two church elders, Simeon and Anna, who represent the old covenant, praise Jesus and warn his mother that her heart will be pierced as her son will bring the salvation of many.

 

February 3: Blase, bishop and martyr (d. 316), was an Armenian martyr of the persecution of Licinius. Legends hold that a boy, choking to death on a fishbone, was miraculously cured. Blase's intercession has been invoked for cures for throat afflictions. The candles presented at Candlemas the day earlier are used in the rite of the blessings of throats.

 

February 3: Angsar, bishop (815-865), became a monk to preach to pagans. He lived at the French Benedictine monastery of New Corbie and was sent to preach in Denmark and Sweden. He was made abbot and then became archbishop of Hamburg. He is known as the Apostle of the North because he restored Denmark to the faith and helped bolster the faith of other Scandinavians. 

 

February 4: John de Brito, S.J., priest, religious, and martyr (1647-1693), was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary who served in India and was named “The Portuguese Francis Xavier” to the Indians. De Brito was martyred because he counseled a Maravan prince during his conversion to give up all but one of his wives. One of the wives was a niece to the neighboring king, who set up a round of persecutions against priests and catechists. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• January 29, 1923. Woodstock scholastics kept a fire vigil for several months to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from setting the college on fire. 
• January 30, 1633. At Avignon, Fr. John Pujol, a famous master of novices, died. He ordered one of them to water a dry stick, which miraculously sprouted. 
• January 31, 1774. Fr. General Laurence Ricci, a prisoner in Castel S Angelo, claimed his liberty, since his innocence had been fully vindicated. He received from the Papal Congregation the reply that they would think about it. Pope Clement XIV was said at this time to be mentally afflicted. 
• February 1, 1549. The first Jesuit missionaries to go to Brazil set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, under Fr. Emmanuel de Nobrega. 
• February 2, 1528. Ignatius arrived in Paris to begin his program of studies at the University of Paris. 
• February 3, 1571. In Florida, the martyrdom of Fr. Louis Quiros and two novices, shot with arrows by an apostate Indian. 
• February 4, 1617. An imperial edict banished all missionaries from China.

Nuestro llamado universal a la santidad: El Cuarto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

                                     Nuestro llamado universal a la santidad:

El Cuarto Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

29 de enero de 2023

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Sofonías 2:3, 3:12-13; Salmo 146; 1 Corintios 1:26-31; Mateo 5:1-12

 

          La semana pasada escuchamos sobre el llamado de los primeros discípulos al ministerio de Jesús, y esta semana, escuchamos el discurso de Jesús a las multitudes en la montaña, y este sermón es en gran medida nuestro llamado al discipulado. Es la llamada universal a la santidad. Las bienaventuranzas traen tal consuelo a nuestras vidas que a menudo las decimos en los funerales cuando enviamos a la persona de la iglesia a la vida eterna. Estos son los valores por los cuales medimos nuestras vidas cuando estamos ante Dios, y siempre hay una parte de estas bendiciones que son significativas para nosotros.

 

          Es quizás el discurso más grandioso jamás pronunciado y describe el plan de Dios para el mundo. En esta homilía, Jesús nos habla de los valores y prioridades de Dios, y nos da el criterio de cómo Jesús juzgará nuestras decisiones individuales de por vida. Estas palabras han dado consuelo a aquellos a lo largo de la historia que han sido maltratados o juzgados mal o han sacrificado sus objetivos de vida por el bien de otra persona, por ejemplo, un miembro de la familia que necesita cuidados y atención especiales. Muchas personas han dedicado su vida a profesiones de ayuda porque están llamadas a vivir los valores del Evangelio ya abandonar otras opciones o sus propios sueños personales. Eligen poner el amor de Dios en acción.

 

          Las Bienaventuranzas nos dicen que hay un lugar para todos en el reino de Dios, incluso si no encuentran ese espacio en la iglesia o la sociedad. Tienen un lugar con Dios. Las bienaventuranzas dan una acogida que los humanos no nos damos unos a otros, y en nuestra relación personal con Cristo, sabemos que él ve el corazón que se esfuerza, el corazón que ama, el corazón que se sacrifica por otra persona, el corazón que sabe que Dios acepta nuestra ofrenda lo mejor que podemos hacer. Este conocimiento nos trae consuelo y consuelo.

 

          Nos deleitamos en este estándar que sabemos que es contracultural, donde la verdad de nuestras vidas puede ser conocida por Dios. San Pablo nos recuerda los pasajes bíblicos que reiteradamente nos muestran que Dios presta especial atención a aquellos a los que la sociedad apenas reconoce. Los valores de Dios trastornan el mundo, y nos brinda consuelo cuando sabemos que los que están en el liderazgo, en la autoridad, en las clases y castas, o con personas privilegiadas no nos ven, Dios cuidará de nosotros y nos dará lo último. dones – la presencia de Dios y nuestra salvación eterna. Hay un lugar para todos nosotros en el amplio abrazo de Dios, y por eso, sabemos en lo profundo de nuestro corazón que somos indebidamente bendecidos.

 

 

Esta homilía es para la serie de catequesis sobre la presencia de Cristo en nuestra adoración.

 

En la era de Tomás de Aquino, él y los teólogos que lo siguieron se esforzaron por encontrar si había una partícula de Dios en el pan y el vino que se había transformado a través de la fe en el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Jesús. A través de la fe, los dones de la comunidad que ofrecemos a Dios son bendecidos y transformados. Había una tendencia a objetivar la hostia y el vino consagrados y es a través de nuestra fe y del recuerdo de Dios de nuestra acción que lo que ofrecemos se ha transformado. Hasta el Concilio Vaticano II, la gente tendía a ver la realidad física cambiada de la hostia consagrada y la trataban solo como un objeto para ser adorado, reverenciado, reservado y consumido, y pasaban por alto una característica fundamental de la Eucaristía, que es , ante todo una acción. El Vaticano II ha restaurado su intención original para que veamos nuestra participación crucial en el culto que se llama la Eucaristía, es decir, la Eucaristía es una acción.

 

Nos hemos estado enfocando en la presencia de Cristo en las personas que se han reunido para adorar, y vimos que los ministros revelan la presencia de Cristo dentro de ellos al proclamar la Palabra de Dios en la Liturgia de la Palabra. Vemos que el Pueblo de Dios es crucial para la acción de la Eucaristía. Nos ofrecemos a Dios, y junto con nuestros dones de pan y vino, los elevamos al Señor, que se acuerda de nosotros. Recuerda la ofrenda de Noé cuando, después del diluvio, ofreció a Dios las primicias y el ganado que llevaba consigo en un gesto de acción de gracias. Dios le dijo a Noé, cuando me des gracias, te recordaré y te bendeciré, y luego Dios envió a Noé una señal en el cielo con la promesa: "Cada vez que me des gracias, te bendeciré". Lo mismo sucede en nuestra Eucaristía cuando el Pueblo de Dios se reúne en acción de gracias, nos elevamos a nosotros mismos ya nuestros dones, y Dios se acuerda de nosotros. Por la fe, el vino y el pan se transforman. Así somos nosotros. Somos transformados a medida que somos hechos un pueblo fiel. Nosotros somos los bendecidos. Es porque nos reunimos para estar en la presencia de Dios que Dios se acuerda de nosotros y nos convierte en los que deben ser transformados. Después de que Dios nos bendice, recibimos los dones que Dios nos ofreció como el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo, y experimentamos la comunión con Dios y con las demás personas que han venido a dar gracias.

 

Al concluir la Misa, somos enviados al mundo nutridos y transformados para vivir en fidelidad a Dios. Somos la Eucaristía que llevamos a los demás. Recolectamos las hostias adicionales que se reservarán para aquellos que no pudieron unirse a nosotros en la celebración para que podamos llevárselas más adelante en la semana.

 

El Concilio Vaticano II ha restablecido el uso de que la Eucaristía es ante todo una acción del Pueblo de Dios en presencia de su ministro, que está reservado a ser servidor del pueblo. El enfoque sobre nuestra acción debe convertirnos en personas que participen plenamente en la Misa, en lugar de que la Misa sea algo que miramos y observamos. La Misa depende de las acciones de las personas que invocan a Dios para que se acuerde de nosotros mientras damos gracias, y Dios bendice y transforma nuestros dones.

 

Escritura para la misa diaria

 

Primera lectura: 

Lunes: (Hebreos 11) ¿Qué más diré? No tengo tiempo para hablar de Gedeón, Barac, Sansón, Jefté, de David y Samuel y los profetas, que por la fe conquistaron reinos, hicieron lo justo, alcanzaron las promesas.

 

Martes: (Hebreos 12) Ya que estamos rodeados de una nube tan grande de testigos, 
despojémonos de toda carga y pecado que nos aferra y perseveremos en correr la carrera que tenemos por delante, manteniendo la mirada fija en Jesús, el líder y perfeccionador de la fe.

 

Miércoles: (Hebreos 12) Soportad vuestras pruebas como “disciplina”; Dios los trata como a sus hijos. Porque ¿qué "hijo" hay a quien su padre no disciplina? Toda disciplina parece en un tiempo no motivo de alegría sino de dolor, pero más tarde da fruto apacible de justicia a los que en ella son instruidos.

 

Jueves: (Malaquías 3) He aquí, envío mi mensajero para que prepare el camino delante de mí; Y de repente vendrá al templo el SEÑOR a quien vosotros buscáis, y el mensajero del pacto a quien deseáis.

 

Viernes (Hebreos 13) No descuidéis la hospitalidad, porque por ella algunos, sin saberlo, hospedaron ángeles. Acordaos de los presos como si participarais de sus prisiones, 
y de los maltratados como de vosotros mismos, porque también vosotros estáis en el cuerpo.

 

Sábado (Hebreos 13) Por medio de Jesús, ofrezcamos continuamente a Dios un sacrificio de alabanza, es decir, el fruto de labios que confiesan su nombre. No dejéis de hacer el bien y de compartir lo que tenéis.

 

Evangelio: 

Lunes: (Marcos 5) Cuando salió de la barca, en seguida le salió al encuentro un hombre de los sepulcros que tenía un espíritu inmundo. El hombre había estado habitando entre las tumbas, y nadie podía retenerlo más, ni siquiera con una cadena.

 

Martes: (Marcos 5) Uno de los oficiales de la sinagoga, llamado Jairo, se adelantó. 
Al verlo, se postró a sus pies y le rogó encarecidamente, diciendo: “Mi hija está al borde de la muerte. Por favor, ven y pon tus manos sobre ella para que se mejore y viva”.

 

Miércoles (Marcos 6) Cuando llegó el día de reposo, comenzó a enseñar en la sinagoga, 
y muchos de los que lo escuchaban se asombraban. Dijeron: “¿De dónde sacó todo esto este hombre? ¿Qué tipo de sabiduría se le ha dado? ¡Qué obras poderosas son obra de sus manos!

 

Jueves ( Lucas 2) Cuando se cumplieron los días para su purificación según la ley de Moisés, María y José llevaron a Jesús a Jerusalén para presentarlo al Señor, tal como está escrito en la ley del Señor.

 

Viernes (Marcos 6) El rey Herodes oyó hablar de Jesús, porque su fama se había generalizado, y la gente decía: "Juan el Bautista ha resucitado de entre los muertos; 
por eso grandes poderes actúan en él".

 

Sábado (Marcos 6) Él les dijo: "Vengan ustedes solos a un lugar desierto y descansen un poco". La gente iba y venía en gran número, y no tenían oportunidad ni siquiera de comer. Así que se fueron solos en la barca a un lugar desierto.

 

santos de la semana

 

31 de enero: Juan Bosco, presbítero (1815-1888), forma su Sociedad para ayudar a los niños encarcelados. Usó a Francisco de Sales como su inspiración. Enseñaba a los niños pobres y de clase trabajadora por las noches dondequiera que fuera posible encontrarlos: en campos, fábricas u hogares. Se creó una comunidad hermana para ayudar a las jóvenes enviadas a trabajar.

 

2 de febrero: La Presentación del Señor es el rito por el cual se presenta en el Templo al primogénito varón como ofrenda a Dios. Ocurre 40 días después del nacimiento mientras que la nueva madre es considerada ritualmente impura. Dos ancianos de la iglesia, Simeón y Ana, que representan el antiguo pacto, alaban a Jesús y advierten a su madre que su corazón será traspasado cuando su hijo traerá la salvación de muchos.

 

3 de febrero: Blase , obispo y mártir (m. 316) , fue un mártir armenio de la persecución de Licinio . Cuentan las leyendas que un niño, que murió atragantado con una espina de pescado, se curó milagrosamente. Se ha invocado la intercesión de Blase para curar las dolencias de la garganta. Las velas presentadas en la Candelaria el día anterior se utilizan en el rito de las bendiciones de gargantas.

 

3 de febrero: Angsar , obispo (815-865), se hizo monje para predicar a los paganos. Vivió en el monasterio benedictino francés de New Corbie y fue enviado a predicar a Dinamarca y Suecia. Fue nombrado abad y luego arzobispo de Hamburgo. Se le conoce como el Apóstol del Norte porque restauró la fe en Dinamarca y ayudó a reforzar la fe de otros escandinavos.

 

4 de febrero: Juan de Brito, SJ, sacerdote, religioso y mártir (1647-1693), fue un misionero jesuita portugués que sirvió en la India y fue llamado “El portugués Francisco Javier” por los indios. De Brito fue martirizado porque aconsejó a un príncipe de Maravan durante su conversión que renunciara a todas menos una de sus esposas. Una de las esposas era sobrina del rey vecino, quien inició una serie de persecuciones contra sacerdotes y catequistas.

 

Esta semana en la historia jesuita

 

• 29 de enero de 1923. Los escolásticos de Woodstock mantuvieron una vigilia contra incendios durante varios meses para evitar que el Ku Klux Klan incendiara la universidad.
• 30 de enero de 1633. En Avignon, el P. Muere John Pujol, un famoso maestro de novicios. Mandó a uno de ellos a regar un palo seco, que brotó milagrosamente.
• 31 de enero de 1774. P. El general Laurence Ricci, preso en Castel S Angelo, reivindicó su libertad, ya que su inocencia había sido plenamente reivindicada. Recibió de la Congregación Papal la respuesta de que lo pensarían. Se dijo que el Papa Clemente XIV en este momento estaba mentalmente afligido.
• 1 de febrero de 1549. Los primeros misioneros jesuitas en ir a Brasil zarparon de Lisboa, Portugal, al mando del P. Emmanuel de Nobrega .
• 2 de febrero de 1528. Ignacio llega a París para iniciar su programa de estudios en la Universidad de París.
• 3 de febrero de 1571. En Florida, el martirio del P. Luis Quirós y dos novicios, fusilados por un indio apóstata.
• 4 de febrero de 1617. Un edicto imperial desterró a todos los misioneros de China.

Photo: A Forest in Snow

 

Prayer: St. Francis de Sales in Introduction to the Devout Life

If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently... And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed.

Photo: Snow on field

 

Spirituality: David Budbill, "What Issa Heard"

Two hundred years ago Issa heard the morning birds
singing sutras to this suffering world.
I heard them too, this morning, which must mean,
since we will always have a suffering world,
we must also always have a song.

Photo: Boston and Bill Russell

 

Prayer: Gregory

O God, help us to bring our world concerns under control so that they never turn our minds from higher things. Help us have earthly things for our use but not as objects of our desires. May there be nothing to hold back the desire of our mind; and do not let the delights of this world ensnare us.

Photo: Boston's Holocaust Museum

 

Poem: Rainer Maria Rilke

 Silent friend of many distances, feel

how your breath enlarges all of space.
Let your presence ring out like a bell
into the night. What feeds upon your face

grows mighty from the nourishment thus offered.
Move through transformation, out and in.
What is the deepest loss that you have suffered?
If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine.

In this immeasurable darkness, be the power
that rounds your senses in their magic ring,
the sense of their mysterious encounter.

And if the earthly no longer knows your name,
whisper to the silent earth: I'm flowing.
To the flashing water say: I am.

Spirituality: Preaching at Mass

For next week, think about these questions:

 

We know that the church and society are polarized. What might please us in a homily may anger another person or make them feel disconnected and disengaged. Some people like to hear about Pope Francis’s reforms of the church, while others will receive that news as a dagger to their dreams. We also have people who are in the 80’s and 90’s and are facing the late stages of life, while seven- and eight-year-olds are trying to find something interesting in what the priest says. We have young people looking for beauty and mystery, and middle-aged people looking for the blessings of the ordinary. We have people who are sick, getting ready for surgery, and those who are starting new jobs and careers. We have women and men who have not found a suitable person to be one’s spouse at the same time that we have young parents celebrating the pregnancy of their first child. There are people in the congregation with PhD’s and those who have not finished high school. Some have studied theology; others basically skipped Confirmation classes. We have people who are eager to learn from the congregation about this person, Jesus, who they just met, while others are virtually done with the church, and still others have been brought to church though they have no foundational faith in their background. We have those who are wealthy, white, like-minded, as well as those who are black or brown, discriminated against, and placed on the margins of society. Some people have mental illness, are nearly homeless, have addictions to alcohol and drugs, while others hold position of status and prestige in society and are quite generous to many causes. Many other categories of people sit in the pews. 

 

The question is: How does one preach?

 

A hermeneutic I use is:

 

                                                Does my preaching reach a person who is hearing about Jesus for the first time? 

                                                Does my preaching reach a person who will hear about Jesus for the last time? 

 

How does one preach to reach these different categories of people?

 

What should Catholic preaching focus upon?

 

What makes the preaching Catholic? What should a priest say in his homily? What should we tell our local priest we want to hear?

 

And, of course, the purpose of the homily is to move a person to deeper faith, increased holiness, to form a bond with God and the community.

 

Let’s discuss our thoughts. 

Spirituality: Beauty

Beauty reveals God to us in ways we cannot describe, but we know we must gaze upon it. Beauty stirs something inside us, and it calls us to freedom we did not know we needed. It tends to draw us away from selfishness and brings us into a virtual communion. It is an antidote to narcissism because we must look outward to stand in awe. It directs us to God by drawing us out of ourselves to seek the divine Creator, the one who participates in all that is created.

The Goal of Unity: The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

                                                          The Goal of Unity

The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

January 22, 2023

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Isaiah 8:23-9:3; Psalm 27; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; Matthew 4:12-23

 

          The story of the young ministry of Jesus advances following his baptism, and he sets us his base of operations in the coastal town of Capernaum, the land that was once regarded as desolate, the land that is to become the place when God’s light shines upon the people gathered around Jesus. It is from this historically dismissed place where the prophetic words are fulfilled, and Jesus begins his preaching ministry. His mission is to preach: rejoice, the kingdom of God is at hand.

 

          We see that he calls his first disciples, two sets of brothers, who, like him, have no great formal religious education, for they are people of commercial trade. We know that one’s calling from God is a mystery. Why do some people feel specially called and others do not? Why do some people answer, and others respond in different ways. These are great questions to ponder as we are in the middle of the Week for Christian Unity, a consciousness that was begun from the Second Vatican Council.

 

          The second reading from Saint Paul to the Corinthians urges unity. We know that we have people in the Roman Catholic Church that align with Pope Francis or they are against him, or they prefer a specific way of living out their faith through their style of being church, and this is where Saint Paul’s words are crucial. We do not belong to one group or another. We are called to be united. Paul says that there are to be no divisions among you, lest the Cross be in vain. Believers are to be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. 

 

          In the great Council, the bishops realized that Christian churches must come together to acknowledge their common mission and are to find points of agreement rather than to find differences. Christian churches share the same baptism and the same mission – to preach the kingdom of God through Christ. All who are baptized are part of Christ’s church. If we share a common baptism, then we ought to come together more often for worship, dialogue, and communion, because we do not belong to Apollos or Cephas or Paul; we belong to Christ. It is the kingdom of God that we are about.

 

          This week is one in which we can reflect upon who we are in the larger world. Do we ever think of the church as one made up of Presbyterians, Methodists, Nazarenes, and Holiness churches as close siblings to our Roman Catholic expression of church? If the church are those who are baptized, then the church is possibly much larger than we believe, and Christ is acting in different ways within distinct communities, and this is what we celebrate in this Week of Christian Unity. We are one in Christ. It is his church.

 

 

This homily is for the catechetical series on Christ’s presence in our worship.

 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

Monday: (Hebrews 9) Christ is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

 

Tuesday: (Hebrews 10) Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year.

 

Wednesday: (Acts 22) “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.

 

Thursday: (2 Timothy 1) I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

 

Friday (Hebrews 10) Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated.

 

Saturday (Hebrews 11) Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance;
he went out, not knowing where he was to go.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 3) The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons."

 

Tuesday: (Mark 3) A crowd seated around him told him, "Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you." But he said to them in reply, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"

 

Wednesday (Mark 16) Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.

 

Thursday (Mark 4) The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given;  from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

 

Friday (Mark 4) This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.

 

Saturday (Mark 4) A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

 

Saints of the Week

 

January 23: Marianne Cope (1838-1918), was a German-born woman who settled with her family in New York. She entered the Franciscans and worked in the school systems as a teacher and principal, and she helped to establish the first two Catholic hospitals. She went to Honolulu, then Molokai, to aid those with leprosy.

 

January 24: Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor (1567-1622), practiced both civil and canon law before entering religious life. He became bishop of Geneva in 1602 and was prominent in the Catholic Reformation. He reorganized his diocese, set up a seminary, overhauled religious education, and found several schools. With Jane Frances de Chantal, he founded the Order of the Visitation of Mary.

 

January 25: The Conversion of Paul, the Apostle, was a pivotal point in the life of the early church. Scripture contains three accounts of his call and the change of behavior and attitudes that followed. Paul's story is worth knowing as it took him 14 years of prayer and study to find meaning in what happened to him on the road to Damascus.

 

January 26: Timothy and Titus, bishops (1st century), were disciples of Paul who later became what we know of as bishops. Timothy watched over the people of Ephesus and Titus looked after Crete. Both men worked with Paul and became a community leader. Timothy was martyred while Titus died of old age. 

 

January 27: Angela Merici (1474-1540), was the founder of the Ursuline nuns. Relatives raised her when her parents died when she was 10. As an adult, she tended to the needs of the poor and with some friends, she taught young girls at their home. These friends joined an association that later became a religious order. Ursula was the patron of medieval universities.

 

January 28: Thomas Aquinas, priest and Doctor (1225-1274), studied in a Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino as a boy. He joined the newly formed Dominicans where he studied in France and Italy. He is a giant scholar. He wrote much on Scripture and theology, including his summation of theology (Summa Theologiae). He wrote several songs for liturgy, such as the Tantum Ergo, Pange Lingua, and Adoro Te Devote.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• January 22, 1561. Pius IV abrogated the decree of Paul II and kept the life term of Father General. 
• January 23, 1789. John Carroll gained the deed of land for the site that was to become Georgetown University. 
• January 24, 1645. Fr. Henry Morse was led as a prisoner from Durham to Newgate, London. On hearing his execution was fixed for February 1, he exclaimed: "Welcome ropes, hurdles, gibbets, knives, butchery of an infamous death! Welcome for the love of Jesus, my Savior." 
• January 25, 1707. Cardinal Tournon, Apostolic Visitor of the missions in China, forbade the use of the words 'Tien' or 'Xant' for God and ordered the discontinuance by the Christians of the Chinese Rites. 
• January 26, 1611. The first Jesuit missionaries sailed from Europe for New France (Canada). 
• January 27, 1870. The Austrian government endeavored to suppress the annual grant of 8,000 florins to the theological faculty of Innsbruck and to drive the Jesuit professors from the university, because of their support of the Papal Syllabus. 
• January 28, 1853. Fr. General John Roothaan, wishing to resign his office, summoned a General Congregation, but died on May 8, before it assembled.