October 20, 2014

Oct. 20

October 20, 2014:  Monday, 29th week, Ordinary Time

  • 'Ruler' suspenders:  "You once lived following the 'ruler' of the power of the air." (1st reading)
  • 'Sheep' tie bar:  "We're God's people, the flock he tends." (psalm)
  • 'Wheat' pin:  "I'll build larger barns to store my grain..." (gospel)
  • I didn't wear my 'money' tie so as not to mislead interviewees, but it fits the rich man parable (gospel)




     Listen

      Pope Francis Sunday homily

      To give God what belongs to God calls for acknowledging God alone is Lord, mastering fear of God’s surprises, being docile and devoted, and working for his Kingdom.  It's where our true strength and hope are found.  'Synod' means 'journeying together.'  Thank God for the Synod's work; may the Spirit continue to guide it over the next year.  Thanks to Pope Paul VI, whom I beatify today, for establishing the Synod and witnessing love for Christ and his Church.

      Synod corner

      Closing address of Pope Francis:  Thanks to the Lord and to the bishops, relators, auditors, assessors, delegates, transcribers, consultors, translators, and all who worked with fidelity and dedication.  We lived “Synod,” a path of “journey together.”  There were moments of running fast and fatigue, consolation and desolation, tensions and temptations (to inflexibility to the God of surprises, to deceptive mercy that binds wounds before treating them, to come down from the Cross to please people, to not guard the deposit of faith, to ignore reality...).  Don't let temptation discourage you; even Jesus was tempted.  We never questioned the truths of the Sacrament of marriage.  We rolled up our sleeves to pour oil and wine on wounds.  We don't judge or categorize people.  We seek to be faithful to Christ and open to the needy and penitent.  We see and want to encourage the fallen.  Many imagined a disputatious Church, but the Spirit guides us even through rough seas; we have to live through it with interior peace.  Our task is to serve.  We have a year to mature, discern, and find concrete solutions to families' difficulties and challenges; may the Lord guide us...

      Press conference:  We admire and are grateful for your witness of fidelity, faith, hope, and love.  We recognize the challenge to remain faithful.  Weak faith, indifference to values, individualism, impoverished relationships, and stress leave their mark, and crises can be confronted in haste and without courage to sacrifice and forgive.  Failures lead to situations where the Christian choice isn't obvious.  We admire families enduring suffering with courage, faith, and love, seeing the suffering Christ and giving.  Many forces weaken human dignity:  economic system difficulties, poverty, persecution, war, oppression, violence, exploitation, trafficking, abuse....  We call on governments and organizations to promote the rights of the family.  Thanks to our pastors, lay faithful, and all who accompany families and care for their wounds.

       Light and grace shine from encounters between spouses.  The love of man and woman teaches us that each needs the other.  The encounter begins with courtship and is realized in the sacrament where God sets his seal, presence, and grace. The path includes sexual relationship, tenderness, intimacy, and beauty capable of lasting beyond youth.  Conjugal love that lays life down for the beloved is a most beautiful, and common, miracle.  Love spreads through generativity, not only procreation but also baptism, catechesis, education, and offering life, affection, and values.  Families can become a sign for all.  The journey can have hardships and falls, but God accompanies us; families experience God in affection, dialogue, family prayer, listening to God's Word, and educating children in the faith.  The family is a domestic Church that expands to become the Church.  Charity to the poor, needy, lonely, sick, strangers, and families in crisis expresses communion.  We've reflected on how to accompany the divorced and remarried and on their participation in the sacraments because the Eucharist sums up the threads of communion with God and neighbor at the table where God gives himself to us.  Concluding prayer

       Synod Fathers' message:  Married life is a miracle, relationships are complex, and the Christian choice is not always the obvious one.  Lights and shadows are in every heart and home.  We aim to offer consolation and encouragement, to give hope to families in difficult situations while promoting family life's riches and beauty.  Our message touches the challenges of marital breakdown, sickness, bereavement, poverty, unemployment, conflict, persecution, and exploitation.  We call on governments and organizations to promote the rights of the family.  We need to be a house with open doors to welcome people in every situation.  Family values are being threatened.  We don't have all the answers, but we're committed to finding pastoral approaches based on Scripture, tradition, and openness.  We have disagreements, but so did the first disciples...
      More storage?
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       Read
      • Eph 2:1-10  You were dead in your sins, following the wishes of the flesh like we did.  But God brought us to life with Christ and seated us in heaven to show his grace and kindness.  You've been saved through faith, not works; it's God's gift.  We're created in Christ for good works.
      • Ps 100:1b-3, 4-5  "The Lord made us, we belong to him."  Sing to and serve the Lord God who made us.  He is good, kind, and faithful.
      • Lk 12:13-21  "Guard against greed; life isn't possessions.  Rich man without space to store harvest / God:  'I'll build larger barns to store my goods, then say, “You're set!"' / ‘Fool, tonight your life will be demanded of you.  Whose will your stuff be then?’  If you store treasure for yourself but aren't rich in what matters to God, it'll be like that for you."
      Reflect
        • Creighton:  The rich landowner was saving for a rainy day!  We too seek security and can forget the harvest isn't ours.  Paul:  it's not what we've done for God but what God's done for us. Planning can give a false sense of autonomy vs. dependence on God and others.  Whose we are matters more than what we have:  "the Lord made us, we belong to him."
        • DailyScripture.net:  St. Augustine:  Greed wants to divide; love, to gather.  “Guard against greed” means “fill yourselves with love.”  He said, “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me”; we, “Tell him he may have my inheritance.” (Sermon 265.9; see also Sermon 57)  Jesus faults the rich man for his selfishness, not his hard work or ability to acquire wealth.  In giving we receive; those rich towards God are rewarded.  St. Cyril of Alexandria:  Life isn't from possessions.  Those rich toward God are blessed and have hope:  they love virtue, are content with what they have, share with the poor, comfort the sorrowful, lay up treasure in heaven, and will be repaid with interest.(Commentary on Luke, Homily 89)  Where's my treasure?
        • Universalis:  BB. Daudi Okelo, Jildo Irwa, Ugandan catechists, martyred at 16 and 12
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