A JESUIT'S BLOG
Monday 21 October 2024
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 - Do you live one moment of one day at a time or are you living only in the future?
To read the texts click on the texts: Ephesians 2:12-22; Lk 12:35-38
The sayings in these verses are a call
to watchfulness and readiness. The call to be dressed for action would mean
literally to draw up the longer outer garment and tuck it into the sash around
one’s waist so as to be prepared for strenuous activity. If the
servants/disciples are so ready, they will be able to be prompt in responding
to the master’s knock, and will be blessed. This blessing will take the form of
a reversal of roles. The master will become servant/slave. The time of the
coming of the master is not known and he may come at any time, but if the
servant/disciple is always ready, he/she will be blessed.
It is not difficult for us as Christians
to relate to this reversal of roles, simply because our God in Jesus has
already become slave. It is now left to us as servants to be ready at all
times.
Sunday 20 October 2024
Monday, October 21, 2024 - Do you possess things, or do things possess you? If God were to call you to himself at this moment would you be ready to go?
To read the texts click on the texts: Ephesians 2:1-10; Lk 12:13-21
The text begins with someone in the
crowd asking Jesus to serve as judge in the division of an inheritance. While
Jesus will not accept this role, he points the man and the crowd to a different
understanding of the meaning of wealth and life. This different understanding
is explicated through a parable, which is found exclusively in Luke. It is
about a rich man who had more than he required and soon became possessed by his
riches. This possession leads him to focus on making provision to store his
great wealth so that he can use it exclusively for himself in future. It is
self-centeredness at its worst. The only ones in the parable are the rich man
and his wealth. In the midst of all his planning and calculations, God speaks
to him addressing him as “fool”. There is a sharp contrast between the rich
man’s planning for “many years” and the “this very night” of God. It is clear
that first of all when God calls, he will have to go and second that when he
goes he can take nothing of what he has stored with him. There is the very real
danger of forgetting God if one allows oneself to be possessed by one’s riches.
The manner in which some of us
accumulate things seems to indicate on the one hand that we think we are going
to live forever and on the other hand that even if we have to die that we can
take all of which we have accumulated. The parable of today calls us to realise
first that we can be called at any time and hence must live in such a manner
that we will have no regrets no matter when that might be and second that
whenever we are called we can take nothing of what we have gathered together
but will have to leave it all behind. Thus while planning for the future may be
necessary, obsession with the future is uncalled for.
Saturday 19 October 2024
Sunday, October 20, 2024 - How does your way compare with Jesus' WAY?
To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 53:10-11; Heb 4:14-16; Mk 10:35-45
The
Gospel of Mark contains three passion, death, and resurrection predictions.
These are found in 8:31, 9:31, and 10:32-34. It is only in Mark that all three
predictions are “on the way”. This fact illustrates that Mark intends readers
of his Gospel to realize, not merely that Jesus spoke these predictions while
traveling with his disciples along the road, but also, and more importantly,
that Jesus was speaking about his WAY OF LIFE and the way of life to which
those who followed him were being invited.
After
each of these predictions, there was misunderstanding on the part of one or all
the disciples. After the first prediction, Peter is the one who
misunderstands. He protests Jesus’ going
to his cross. Jesus corrects this
misunderstanding by insisting that the cross is the only way. After the second,
it is all twelve who misunderstand. They discuss among themselves who is the
greatest. Again, Jesus has to correct
the misunderstanding by pointing out to them the least is the greatest. After
the third prediction, it might seem at first glance that James and John
misunderstand when they ask for places of honour. A closer reading indicates that, along with
them, the other ten also misunderstand because of their indignation with the
brothers. This indignation indicates that the ten were thinking in the same way
as James and John. Jesus, however, is not indignant and again, sets about
correcting their misunderstanding. He does this by explicating his way of life
and the way of life that he will expect those who follow him to live.
This
explication is done, not in words alone but, as both the first and second
readings of today point out, in and through inconceivable and mind-boggling
action.
The
first reading speaks of the prophecy of Isaiah. It is part of the fourth and
final servant song that is contained in the Book of Isaiah. The suffering of
the servant is a definite part of God’s incomprehensible and unfathomable plan.
It is he who will show, through his life, what true love and service really
mean. Appointed by God, he will use his
power, not to condemn, but to save. He will bring to completion and fruition
the plan of God to save all peoples everywhere and for all time. This is the
theme that Jesus takes up in his instruction to the disciples. His task in the
world, like that of the suffering servant whom Isaiah had prophesied about, was
to become ransom for all. This he would do, not by being served, but by
serving. If the disciples wanted to follow him, as fully as they ought to, they
had to realize that, in his view, authority meant service. They had to realize
that wanting to be first meant willingness to be last. They had to realize that being master and
Lord meant being slave and servant of all.
Jesus
showed them how this was done through his willingness to embrace the cross,
even if it meant scandal to those who did not believe and foolishness to
others. He was willing to embrace the cross even if meant the end of his days,
the end of his life. He was willing to embrace the cross even if it meant that
he would be abandoned by all, abandoned even by his God and father.
This
is why the second reading from Hebrews expresses, as confidently as it does,
that we, as believers, need have no fear. We have before us a model that we can
imitate. This model is not merely a heavenly model but rather, he is a model
who has been, in every way, like us even to the point of being tested as we
are. He did not show us the way from on high, but by becoming human, so that he
could inspire, encourage, invite, and challenge us. Thus, he is able to
understand us in all of our weaknesses and in our striving for position and
honour and power.
While,
on the one hand, we may be too quick to judge and even condemn the disciples
for their striving, any attempt to practice detachment ourselves indicates how
difficult it can really be. We often experience feelings of jealousy, envy,
resentment, and antipathy or hostility towards those who have more than we, or
who are in a “better’ position than we are. We keep craving for things that we
mistakenly believe will satisfy.
Jesus
shows us, in the Gospel text of today, what it means to be a true disciple. He
challenges us to give up our acquisitiveness and take on, instead, the attitude
of detachment. He has shown through his life, his mission, and his death, that
this detachment is possible. He has shown us this by the totally human life
that he led. He has shown us this by going ahead of us and leading the way. The
way to do this is to be bold and to approach the throne of God’s unconditional
love, mercy, and grace. The way to do this is in knowing that, even if we fall
or fail, we can lift ourselves up because of his graciousness to us all. The
way to do this is to believe that, with his help, we can be true disciples. Are we willing to believe that this is so?
Friday 18 October 2024
Saturday, October 19, 2024 - Will you depend on God today? How will you show this dependence?
To read the texts click on the texts: Ephesians 1:15-23; Lk 12:8-12
The sin against the Holy Spirit that
Jesus speaks about in the Gospel reading of today does not refer to a
particular sin or action. It is not an impulsive, momentary rejection of Jesus,
such as Peter’s denial of Jesus in the courtyard, but a persistent, obdurate
rejection of God’s saving grace through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is, in
other words dependence only on self and not on God.
Today the sin against the Holy Spirit is
to no longer believe that the Holy Spirit can transform me. It is to give up
before one can begin. It is to give in to despair and to lose hope. It is not
to make a resolution for fear of breaking that resolution. It is not to trust,
not to hope and not to believe.
Thursday 17 October 2024
Friday, October 18, 2024 - St. Luke, Evangelist - Luke wrote a Gospel to share his experience of Jesus? What will you do to share your experience?
To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Tim 4:9-17; Lk 10:1-9
St. Luke is regarded as the patron of physicians and surgeons. He wrote one of the major portions of the New Testament, a two-volume work comprising the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. In the two books he shows the parallel between the life of Christ and that of the Church.
He is the only Gentile Christian among the Gospel writers. Tradition holds him to be a native of Antioch, and Paul calls him "our beloved physician" (Col 4:14). His Gospel was probably written between C.E. 70 and 85.
Luke appears in Acts during Paul’s second journey, remains at Philippi for several years until Paul returns from his third journey, accompanies Paul to Jerusalem and remains near him when he is imprisoned in Caesarea. During these two years, Luke had time to seek information and interview persons who had known Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the dangerous journey to Rome where he was a faithful companion. "Only Luke is with me," Paul writes (2 Tim 4:11).
The Gospel text chosen for the feast is the Mission Discourse to the seventy (seventy-two), a text found only in the Gospel of Luke. The number seventy/seventy-two seems to have their origin the list of nations in Gen 10, where the Hebrew text lists seventy nations and the Septuagint lists seventy-two. It may also recall Moses’ appointment of seventy elders to help him (Exod 24:1; Num 11:16, 24). The more likely interpretation, however, is that the number is related to the biblical number of the nations (Gen 10), so that the commissioning of the seventy/seventy-two foreshadows the mission of the church to the nations (Lk 24:47).
In these verses Jesus instructs his disciples how they are to do Mission and conduct themselves in Mission. The key to Mission is detachment. The disciples are to be detached from things, persons and place. They are also to be detached from the outcome of Mission. They must constantly keep in mind that the Mission is the Lord’s and not theirs.